Business Talk
Welcome to Business Talk, where we dive deep into the stories behind the businesses that shape our communities. We bring you conversations with inspiring entrepreneurs who share their journeys, challenges, and the unique value they bring to their customers.
In this podcast, we explore the passion and vision behind successful businesses, uncovering the secrets to their success and learning about the innovative products and services they offer. Whether you're a fellow entrepreneur looking for insights or simply curious about the businesses in your area, this podcast is your go-to source for inspiration and practical advice.
So, sit back, relax, and join us as we explore the dynamic world of business, one story at a time."
Business Talk
AI in Business: Danger or Opportunity?
Get ready to explore the dynamic landscape of IT solutions with Enzo Zenuni, the owner of ITX Solutions, in this episode that blends expert insights and practical advice. From the inception of ITX Solutions, Enzo shares his journey from consulting to providing tailored technology services that empower businesses to focus on growth and efficiency. With an emphasis on understanding core technological needs, he explains how businesses can strategically leverage IT to shape their future success.
Our conversation dives deep into Enzo’s latest initiative, ITX Campus Connect, designed to provide vital tech infrastructure to schools. In a world where education increasingly relies on effective technology, this program stands as a beacon for how organizations can innovate to meet modern demands. Moreover, we discuss the pivotal role of AI in revolutionizing business operations. While AI can evoke concerns about job displacement, Enzo reassures listeners about its capacity to enhance productivity by relieving tedious tasks, making room for creativity.
Throughout the episode, we offer actionable advice for aspiring entrepreneurs. Enzo’s perspective highlights the importance of discipline and smart delegation to avoid burnout and maintain forward momentum. Tune in to learn how combining technology with a human touch can lead to innovation and success in today’s fast-paced business environment.
We invite you to subscribe to our podcast and share your thoughts! What technologies are you excited about implementing in your business this year?
Welcome back everyone. We got another great guest on our show today. His name is Enzo. He owns a company called ITX Solutions. We're going to get more into what that's all about with his company, but good morning, enzo, how you doing? Hey, didier, good morning Doing good. How are you? I'm doing awesome. Like I said, man, I love that background. It's your office, but it's very, it's very soothing. You know it's so awesome and I know you mentioned you like to have a soothing environment. So, everybody, for our listeners, my name is DDM, your host today, and we're going to be going behind the scene and speaking to Enzo about his business and learning. This show is all about learning about businesses and what shape our communities and discovering how to make the most of their services. And, with that being said, if you like this video, please feel free to comment, subscribe. We're going to dive right in and learn a little bit about Enzo's background. So, enzo, welcome to the show again and if you can, tell us a little bit about your business yeah, thank you again, didier, for having me.
Speaker 2:Um, so my name is enzo zanuni. I'm the owner and ceo of itx solutions and actually a few other companies, but for today's show, um, itx solutions originally started off as a business where we were consulting other businesses in regards to their tele communication services whether that was fiber internet, doing dark fiber, which I can explain a little bit later on VoIP services for businesses and then eventually just grew into becoming this larger umbrella company that offers those services now directly in-house to our clients.
Speaker 1:Interesting and when I was looking at your website, you know I like how you just bought it down to simple. It's the smart, zero cost way to source IT. Basically, you're kind of your positioning statement and if you go dig a little deeper, talks about your business is the heart of everything you do. It can be the difficult time to find time to research, select, purchase and manage new technology, and that's pretty powerful, especially in today's environment where technology is is so important, correct?
Speaker 2:Right now exactly, and you know, when you're starting up a business and I think everybody's been there it's you're trying to figure out what is needed to really operate efficiently so you can get the job done and, most importantly, generate revenue. When it comes to the technology aspect, a lot of businesses usually get either confused or very overwhelmed with what they need. Some go extremely bare bones and encounter a lot of issues, you know, wondering why certain aspects of their technology is not working and then others will just go completely overkill, which is nice. But you're it's now. You're wasting money on things. That's completely unnecessary and that's where we come in.
Speaker 2:So originally, as we were doing consulting, now you know, we offer those solutions in-house. We offer managed IT in-house, voip in-house and even merchant processing, um. But we've simplified it for our clients because the best way to think about it is, if you have, if there's a medical issue that you have, for example, with within your body maybe you have a cut or broken arm are you going to spend the time researching it, trying to figure it out? You know how to fix and repair yourself and maybe the issues that might even cause more issues doing it as opposed to just going to the doctor, getting it checked out and getting the proper treatment and getting things done correctly.
Speaker 1:And from an expert that's absolutely well stated. I like that. And when you're talking about, it's kind of diagnosing right, using the word diagnosis or diagnosing so let's talk about maybe one or two of your services that are pretty high on your list.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely so. We launched a new program called ITX Campus Connect and it mainly caters towards schools. So we don't just service schools, we service all kinds of different industries and medical attorneys, engineers, restaurants but schools have been having, I would say, a special place in our hearts lately just because we've been finding out specifically private and charter schools. They don't have the necessary technology in place to continue to provide, you know, more modern, up to date educational content and resources to their students and staff. So what ITX Campus Connect does is that offers a school the overall, on the technology aspect for their network solutions cybersecurity, firewall switches, wi-fi completely financed in-house over a certain term agreement, which is very cost effective as opposed to for a school having to come out of their budget 30, 40, $50,000. It's a, you know, affordable couple hundred dollars a month which is tagged into their MSP costs as well.
Speaker 1:So and and speaking when you're talking about technology and transitioning from what a business is currently using, if they're using anything to transition over to your platform, if that's the right word is that something that's pretty easy to do for those business owners out there?
Speaker 2:um, it can. So for the business owner, in a sense, there's not that much involvement. We we really take over a lot of the the hard work and that little grease is going to be put into place. We like to use our own products and solutions. Uh, mainly because it is not for the revenue aspect, but it's mainly for the support and experience aspect. Because if we're using a hodgepodge of a setup that's got different types of products and brands that are implemented, it becomes very difficult to not just support, but when there is an issue, the means to get back up and running is a lot longer, just because you're having to figure out these different types of brand products and different types of technologies.
Speaker 2:So we use our own stuff that we've been. Whether it's schools, medical clinics, whatever it is, it's the same setup. It's in a way, almost cookie cutter, but it works extremely well. Um, it's our, it's a unified system from ubiquity. I will also use use some Cisco gear as well, or Sophos, if the client has a request for it, but it allows us most of the time. I would say when a client does call in to get support, usually the issue is resolved within 15 minutes, and that's just because we're able to jump on so quickly.
Speaker 1:So, with that being said, I guess those are some valuable things you said in reference to what sets you apart from your competitors, right?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so we heavily invest into our clients. It's a big risk, but we invest into our clients a lot, and the reason why is it? Not only is a better experience for the client, but it makes our jobs so much easier. So you know what would require the size that we currently have? We would probably require a team two, three times bigger than what we currently are to support our clients, but because of the technology that we use, we can be efficient in that manner and we don't have to have such a large team.
Speaker 1:So what trends are there? Any trends, because every business has trends that are shaping their industry.
Speaker 2:Anything that stands out for your business yeah, and honestly, I think it's the same thing that applies to every other business today. It's ai. I mean, ai is completely changing the game. There's there's no question about it. It it's even changing the game. There's no question about it. It's even changing the way that we interact with each other. I've seen so many times where it's two people on both ends interacting with each other using AI in the sense of like how to respond to this email. And by the time that email's done, you find out it's just been two AIs that have been communicating with each other, but with human interaction. On the back end trying to operate it. Ai has been communicating with each other, but with human interaction on the back end trying to operate it.
Speaker 1:So how is that? Let's go into that. That's a big subject right now. Can you expand a little bit more on artificial intelligence and how it plays out? Yeah, absolutely, and that was a good example too. But is there anything else that comes to mind?
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely so. A lot of people are scared about, um, you know, ai taking jobs, and I don't think that's really the case. I think if you look back at time and history of telephone operators, for example, you know there's these people sit in a big room flipping switches back and forth, and now it's done completely autonomously by a system, right? Um, there's no, really not that many telephone operators, at least from what I've seen today. So AI is kind of going to be doing the same thing and really is taking away the mundane task work that you know. In a way, if you think about it, it just kind of kills your inner spirit because you're just doing the same thing over and over again. It's very monotonous. Where AI will be able to take care of that type of work and allow us as humans to be more creative, right, be more in touch with ourselves, just have more creative juices flowing and enjoying the work that we do. So I'm sure nobody wants to sit there and just move a lever up and down all day. It's quite boring.
Speaker 1:No, that makes sense. And I guess the human element, like you said, you're always gonna need, so yeah, go ahead To get back to that.
Speaker 2:so the human element, you can't remove it. Right? If you remove it, then what do you have? You have nothing. Nothing at that point. Yeah, and at the end, I actually used to work for a company where we did automation processing. It involved a lot of AI and there was still a human element that needed to manually validate things. Right, you can have the smartest software out there, but again, you got to understand the software is trying to adapt to humans, so we're constantly evolving, and so does that software. That AI has to also constantly be evolving, and who has to teach it? We do, so I think it's going to make our lives better. I think it's going to make our lives better. I think it's going to make our lives easier. There are some scaring components to it if you think of it in the skynet type of way from the movie terminator um, but you know, everything that's good is also bad. So it's just the right amount of doses, I would say very good, very well stated.
Speaker 1:So you know, we do have business. Uh, people who are wanting to become business owners, entrepreneurs, those that are business owners. Any advice? What say you on moving, keeping that needle, moving forward for those who want to be business owners or those who are business owners that are maybe struggling at this time?
Speaker 2:yeah, I mean.
Speaker 2:So I I uh heard a quote, or read a quote, just about maybe two, three years ago, and it said motivation gets you going, but discipline keeps you going and you gotta find a way to be disciplined. You also have to find a way to be able to delegate, because if you're constantly doing everything, wearing all these hats, you're gonna eventually get burnt out and you're gonna lose that fire passion that you originally had. So you know, I think as a business owner I had to do this recently. I had to sit down and really figure out what am I really good at, and once I narrowed that down, I was able to go ahead and delegate certain tasks that I was doing, so I can continue doing what I'm good at, to continue to grow the business tasks that I was doing, so I can continue doing what I'm good at, to continue to grow the business. You know it is difficult, especially when you're having to continuously be innovative and challenged in the market, but I think as long as you have passion, you will find your way through it.
Speaker 1:Very good. Now, as we start to wrap up here, is there a story of an existing client or a past client? You don't need to give the name of it. That really was the aha moment for them regarding your services. Anything come to mind?
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, we actually had a very, very large-sized client. Everybody's very familiar with them. I won't be able to drop the name now. Correct, we had hired three other IT companies to overhaul their network. Well, technically solve a specific problem. They're having a blackout 2.30 pm to 4.30 pm Monday through Sunday, all day, every day and so they hired these three other companies.
Speaker 2:Two of them said they don't even want to touch it. The other one said they don't even know where to begin, and so they were kind of desperate at this point. And, uh, they were. We were referred to them, so over the phone I said, hey, can you fix? You know, can you come take a look at this and fix it? And I said, yeah, absolutely, we can definitely fix it. Um, and he goes, how do you know? You haven't even seen it. So we stopped by. It took us about four days to do a survey to figure out what's going on and, uh, you know, we ended up giving him a proposal on it. It was very, very expensive and the client had some, uh, hesitations on moving forward because of the cost, and I made him a guarantee that I think no other company really would have been able to. I said if this doesn't fix your issue, we will give you a hundred percent refund and you keep everything. And that's where, yeah, you saw the confidence in us.
Speaker 1:That's awesome, and for you to be able to say that is powerful in itself, and so thank you so much, man. You know, can you provide our listeners a way to get ahold of you? Your website, your phone number, yeah, absolutely so.
Speaker 2:you can visit our website. At itxsolutionscom. You can reach me directly. My personal cell phone, where my wife reaches me at, it's a 407-808-2362. And my email is at ezanuni Z-E-N-U-N-I at itxsolutionscom.
Speaker 1:And so thank you so much for you know taking time out of your busy schedule to share your business, your practices, with our listeners and hopefully we can have you back again in the near future.
Speaker 2:Absolutely no. Thank you, didier. Thank you for having me on. You're very welcome.
Speaker 1:Thank you for tuning in to First Media Consulting Podcast. If you enjoyed the podcast, subscribe today To nominate a business you would like to recommend to be on our show. Go to firstmediaconsultingcom or call. Thank you for listening.