Rodrigo Alabarce, Network Specialist and Nap IT CEO, tells how he idealized his company and consolidated innovation and transparency concepts for his clients
Nap IT – Network Solutions reached the information technology market in 2011, with the mission of acting within a new concept – Network Tuning, a service that customizes technologies so that they operate in high availability. The company was conceived by Rodrigo Alabarce, a specialist in the network area that took advantage of its differentials in the corporate market – such as high experience level, charisma and improvements vision in services – to undertake a business that was the expression how it acted and worked professionally with clients.
In an interview for Nap IT’s blog, Alabarce tells us a bit about his trajectory from working in renowned technology companies, such as HP, the Nap IT creation, a company that consolidates itself as a specialist in corporate network and integration consulting of IT solutions.
Read about this professional experience who is Nap IT founder and CEO.
Tell your trajectory and experiences gained before Nap IT creation.
The company I formerly served at Nap IT was HP. And before that, Telsinc. They were great schools, I learned a lot from the teams, managers and practical situations from day to day. I worked for about five years at HP and went through various functions. I arrived at the station that at the time was one of the highest within the structure in Porto Alegre, the Account Delivery Manager.
I earned a lot more than the average for a network specialist, and my career was promising, but I lived with a nuisance. The work environment in the organizations, at times, was hostile, based on permanent competition.
In their view, internal fiefdoms pushed people away and diverted attention from what should bring everyone together: meeting goals and promoting business growth.
I remember that when I was in charge of HP’s Networking area, customers were satisfied, the projects were profitable and delivered on time. Perhaps one of the areas that most cooperated with revenue for the company structure. I also remember that when I visited this company clients, I greeted all the staff, the doorman, the analyst, the manager, and the director. I noticed that this gesture was
not applied by other companies professionals, which I think is a great disrespect to the client.
I asked myself several times: why this growing revenue, this gift of being charismatic with customers, these magnificent results that the entire president wants to see by the end of the fiscal year, all this could not be managed by one of my own companies? The answer came after a few deep reflection months.
How was the time when Nap IT was idealized?
I realized that there would be enormous chances to start when I began to analyze the work delivered by some companies within their clients. The view was that there were many dissatisfied clients, managers almost being fired, the exorbitant projects values, and all this dissatisfaction was due to the poor quality in the solutions choice proposed by the suppliers.
Before the company, the cause must be born, the purpose. Then comes the deal and if it seems too dreamy, far from reality, look for another. Undertaking is to believe that there is no limiter to do what one wants.
Nap IT was born to solve customer network problems, period. Coupled with this, high quality on deliveries, fair price and no headaches.
Alabarce chose well-known terrain, the one of computers networks, area in which already it acted in the HP and Telsinc time.
I felt that a consulting firm specializing in high-performance network solutions could be a reference for the companies that are there and the ones that will emerge, inspiring and transforming management and leadership models.
Entrepreneurship is the risk marriage with strategy, opportunity with planning, intuition with science, passion with reason!
The business approach would have to speak about the customer’s problems, not the product or service. It was like carrying an acupuncture to the business world: to locate the nerve end that creates some problem for the client, to attack it and thus to stop the pain.
It was the company origin and until this day, it is the main source of its revenues: network tuning. We find the problem with a magnifying glass, apply the solution directly to the nerve, and solve the problem. If the client wants a network health analysis, or if it starts to operate with a larger capacity, it becomes safer, we will do so.
Our services vein is to solve customer problems, not create them.
How was the process of choosing the people who were going to work on this project?
The concept is that Nap IT would not reach out to the customer to sell a ready-made services package, like a little box. Nap sells no box!
First, we would understand exactly what the customer needs, then we would present a complete solution, which would include consulting, equipment or software.
Without people with “blood in the eye” or “knife in the teeth”, willing to delve into the client’s reality, it is not possible to walk the path that starts in the problem and arrives at the solution.
The entrepreneur has his own vision about the teams formation: “Do not build one in your image and likeness. Diversity is harder to manage, but produces better results”.
Which experiences were essential for you to identify them?
I knew exactly the technological scenarios that we would find ahead, so I had a team notion that might be able to start the activities. Within the structures I worked for, I led by example, not words.
Certainly, I would depend on the sum of many small things to have some success. It was then that I realized that the biggest challenge would not only be to choose people, but to stonen them; to make their posture different when entering the group. The new colleagues would need to be humble and ambitious at the same time, which would make it easier for me to run the company’s business.
After starting the operation, with a small group, I realized how interesting it was to learn new things, but I always tried to make it clear the Nap IT way of seeing things.
How do you define how to cut professionals to align with the company profile?
As time passed, I began to include this group in many other issues discussion, from the strategic directions to how to lead with success. And that’s one more difference of Nap IT: everything it’s been getting, results, exposure and media, could leave them deluded and held hostage to what they’ve already achieved. But every time I talk to them, I marvel at the awareness, the maturity, and the detachment with which they deal with everything.
I thought it was going to be boring and fast work, but today I am proud to say that if I mentor the team, they also teach me a lot, in a stimulating, true and growing process of how we can do better and always better.
It is a checks and balances game, which balances an informal and motivating environment with a strong results collection, preventing that freedom creates an accommodation climate. Traditional working relationships are based on mistrust between employee and employer. Therefore, the company feels the need to control every employee step: knowing where (s)he is, what (s)he is doing, what time (s)he arrives, what time (s)he leaves, etc. In Nap IT, it’s different.
Since its inception, we have relied entirely on people. And they must deliver the combined results. Commitments are our exchange currency in this relationship. We have strong colleagues in finance and planning who put “order in the house”. Others, strong in the control and budget areas, which act as counterpoint in decision-making. We have the SNIPER network team, which arrives at the client and simply gives a show regarding the answers to the network problems. Solve problems, present solutions, and generate revenue. The styles are different and complementary, and the vision is identical.
In this whole story, I have learned to be proud of doing things knowing that I can improve them.
Did you even rate Nap IT as a Startup?
Since its inception, Nap IT has been growing rapidly in its market.
In some conversations with the team, I usually mention that we should have a Startup company spirit where the functions blend together. But in fact, we are a small, lean company, but with a high potential to deliver services in an escalating manner.
Because of these factors, I only do a comparison with a Startup.
Qual diferencial você implantou na Nap IT?
Our differential begins with our employees conduct. We always use maxims: Spend less than your competitors and work harder than them. Do not compare yourself to your competitors, or at most you will be a little better than them.
We position ourselves differently in the market, which, despite the difficulty, has been shown to be a much more advantageous model.
What differential did you implant in Nap IT?
In front of all these notes, we started to offer a service type that was not a commodity, and what made the game was precisely the doing something different possibility.
We follow one of the entrepreneurship maxims: “sell what you do not have and fit where it does not fit”.
We created a new market that did not exist, not even abroad. In the early company days, we had difficulty explaining what we were doing. We began to tell relationships success stories we had already experienced with our clients. And good stories helped build and build brand identity.
We are precursors in Network Tuning and nothing will change that.
