The evolution of an MSP: WBM’s 75-year journey and the “curse” of the entrepreneur

Robert Dutt: Hello and welcome to In the Channel from ChannelBuzz.ca, bringing news and information to the Canadian IT channel community for the last 16 years. I’m Robert Dutt, editor of ChannelBuzz.ca, and your host for the show.

My guest today is JoeAnne Hardy, president of WBM Technologies. WBM is one of those companies that if you’re in the Canadian channel, you’ve probably seen on the lists—the CRN Elite 150, nine years running, FastRiser on the SP500—but the story behind those rankings is more interesting than the rankings themselves.

WBM started in 1950 as Western Business Machines, a storefront in Saskatoon selling typewriters. 75 years later, it’s a managed services provider with more than 500 IT professionals across five cities in Western Canada and a growing US operation. JoeAnne has been there for more than 20 years. She started as a sales assistant, worked in virtually every department, led a management buyout, and today runs the whole show.

We talk about what it actually feels like to reinvent a company across multiple technology eras; the moment she realized her own success was making her life worse and what she did about it; building and keeping a team from a prairie base; the decision to take growth capital from Westcap; and what’s ahead in a market where supply chains are under serious pressure and AI is reshaping what managed services even means. Let’s get right into it. My chat with JoeAnne Hardy.

JoeAnne, thanks for taking the time. I appreciate it.

JoeAnne Hardy: Good to be here. Thanks for having me.

Robert Dutt: WBM opened its doors on May 1st, 1950 in Saskatoon as Western Business Machines, obviously pre-computer by any definition we know. Now you’re a CRN Elite 150 MSP for nine consecutive years. What does it actually feel like from the inside to lead a company through that many transitions, and how do you decide when it’s time to let go of something that’s still working?

JoeAnne Hardy: Well, what a big question to start with! Full disclosure, I have not been here since 1950. My journey at WBM started in 1996, but it is really a privilege to be part of an organization that does have this tremendous history in Western Canada.

I think our history is really a testament to evolution around the right things. For us, that evolution has been evolving around our customers and our customer needs. We’ve got a picture that hangs in our Saskatoon Operations Centre from the 50s. The shingle says Western Business Machines and in the window there are posters for typewriters and adders. If we had clung to being experts in typewriters, we wouldn’t be here today.

What we know with certainty is that we existed before the internet, and our business is not centered around technology evolutions—it’s centered around our client community. That makes sure we’re relevant, whether what we do today exists in 18 months or not.

Robert Dutt: You mentioned the anxiety that can come with some of these pivots. Was there ever a pivot point that was scarier or one where you’re looking around the table like, “I don’t know what the outcome is going to be here”?

JoeAnne Hardy: There is one thing that comes to mind. In 2008, myself, Brett Bailey, and Bob Hardy did a management buyout. We closed our deal right before the financial collapse. We reached a point where we had our partnership meetings on Tuesday mornings, and the business was doing great.

But I came to one of those meetings and I wasn’t feeling so great. I felt like something was really upside down—that the better the business did, the worse my life was getting. It’s the “curse of the entrepreneur.” I didn’t know if I had another hour in the day to give.

I said that out loud, and both Bob and Brett felt the same way. We decided in that moment that we wanted to create an environment where the better the business did, the better our lives got. The secret was building a leadership team around us. Since that point, we’ve completed nine acquisitions, expanded across Western Canada, opened a US entity, and taken on a private equity partner. And we’ve had fun the entire time.

Robert Dutt: How has that been reflected throughout the ranks of the organization since you made that change?

JoeAnne Hardy: We see it in all different ways. A number of years ago, we set a goal to contribute a million dollars back to the communities we live and work in over a five-year period. We hit that goal in 2025—which was our 75th anniversary—just three years in. These initiatives aren’t decided in a boardroom; they come from the connections our team members have in the community.

Robert Dutt: You worked your way up from being a sales assistant. How does having been throughout the business in different roles shape how you lead it now?

JoeAnne Hardy: I grew up on a cattle ranch in Maple Creek, Saskatchewan. I learned the value of hard work and understanding how things work. Because that was my upbringing, it felt natural at WBM to be curious.

Probably the biggest way it impacts my leadership is that when we have a problem, you have to go right to the people doing the work. They’re in front of the customers. Decisions shouldn’t just be made by “smart people in a boardroom.” You have to maintain that curiosity about what the frontline roadblocks are.

Robert Dutt: You have offices in Regina, Calgary, Vancouver, and Winnipeg, with headquarters still in Saskatoon. Is being outside the big city tech hubs a disadvantage, or is it part of the value proposition?

JoeAnne Hardy: I think it’s part of the value proposition. When we sit down in a governance meeting and we’re telling stories about a local restaurant in their community, it’s a differentiator.

One of our customers, Federated Co-op, has retail locations far and wide. When the team supporting them through our enterprise service desk showed up for their first meeting, they introduced themselves by their local Co-op member numbers.

Robert Dutt: When you’re hiring, how do you think about values or gut-based “feel” versus technical credentials?

JoeAnne Hardy: It has to be a fit on both sides. Hiring isn’t an individual sport; it’s a team sport. It’s important for many members of our team to be involved so they can give an honest assessment of how an individual would thrive here. We want to live up to being a great place to build a career.

Robert Dutt: Let’s talk about right now. Your monthly procurement update has become must-read for me. You’re telling customers to “buy the RAM” for the life of the system right now. What are you seeing day-to-day on that front?

JoeAnne Hardy: Our customers look to us for expertise in supply chain management. Our role is helping them manage their lifecycle, and that insight comes from deep relationships with manufacturers and distributors.

Our ability to help our customers be insulated from the impact of these things is a big differentiator. We have warehouses across Western Canada, so we can help customers think proactively. Our job is to make our customers heroes in their own organizations so they can take that information to their leadership teams.

Robert Dutt: In 2022, Westcap made a growth investment in WBM. Walk me through how you thought of that as a leadership team.

JoeAnne Hardy: We cast a wide net to see what opportunities were available. We had clear goals: Bob’s retirement, fueling acquisitions, and staying in control of the organization.

Before we started the process, we were rooted in what our goals were. That gives you a framework to evaluate everything from strategic takeovers to private equity. We chose Westcap because their value proposition was that they invest in management teams they believe in. They proved it through the process. My advice to other MSPs is to be rooted in what you’re trying to accomplish before you turn the page to looking at options.

Robert Dutt: Bell just announced a $1.7 billion AI data center outside Regina. Does that change the opportunity for WBM, and what does AI look like as a service line for you?

JoeAnne Hardy: AI has been part of our world for many years, so a news release about a data center isn’t the “turning point.” What’s different now is the rate of acceleration.

We’re excited because this is now a conversation in every boardroom. Every CIO has AI initiatives underway, and we’re helping them enable technology they likely already own but need to understand how to leverage.

Robert Dutt: You have a patent-pending Enterprise Experience Platform. How do you think about that kind of proprietary IP?

JoeAnne Hardy: It takes all the individual service items we offer and looks at them through the customer lens—the end-user experience.

If you have disconnected services, the end user feels it. Why doesn’t the service desk know I’m a new employee? Why is there no plan for my old device? The platform allows us to create a governance model built around making that experience seamless. The “end-user” isn’t just the person at the computer—it’s the IT department, the finance department, and the HR department.

Robert Dutt: Last question. If you could go back to the JoeAnne who was just starting as a sales assistant and tell her one thing about what this journey was going to look like, what would it be?

JoeAnne Hardy: I would say that everything that doesn’t work out is just as valuable as the things that do.

As a young woman starting out, I had a fear of making a mistake. But I reached a point where I realized the “butterflies” in my stomach were just the feeling I got before something awesome happened. Those mistakes are the growth moments. They’re way more valuable than the days everything goes exactly as planned.

Robert Dutt: “We win or we learn,” right?

JoeAnne Hardy: Yes, exactly.

Robert Dutt: JoeAnne, thank you so much for your time.

JoeAnne Hardy: Thanks, it was great to visit with you.

Robert Dutt: There you have it, JoeAnne Hardy from WBM Technologies.

I’d like to thank JoeAnne for her time—and for her candour. It’s not often you hear a company president talk openly about the moment they realized the business was winning but they were losing, and then walk you through exactly how they fixed it.

A few things I’m taking away from this one. First, the idea that growth should make your life better, not just your revenue bigger. Second, her framework for evaluating outside capital—know your non-negotiables before you start the conversation. And third, the way WBM thinks about the end-user experience as a platform.

If you’re enjoying the podcast, find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. Follow or subscribe so you don’t miss an episode. Until next time, I’m Robert Dutt for ChannelBuzz.ca, and I’ll see you in the channel.