For many service businesses, growth means adding more customers, more services, and more complexity. Jared Humiston, Owner and President of ADKtechs, has taken the opposite approach.
During a conversation on The Fractional Operator podcast, Humiston explained how narrowing ADKtechs’ focus, standardizing its services, and embracing a proactive IT strategy allowed the company to grow while dramatically reducing customer count and employee turnover.
After more than 21 years in business, Jared Humiston and ADKtechs have evolved from a traditional break-fix IT provider into a managed services company and a virtual Chief Information Officer (vCIO) for clients. Rather than waiting for problems to occur, the company now focuses on preventing them entirely.
From Break-Fix IT to Proactive Technology Leadership
Humiston said the biggest transformation over the past two decades has been shifting away from reactive support toward preventing issues before they happen.
“The biggest thing that’s changed is… no more late nights. Technology simplified things. If your IT provider is bragging about working through the weekends, they haven’t really embraced the new technology that’s been out there.”
He explained that ADKtechs once spent much of its time responding to printer failures, server crashes, and emergency support requests. Today, the company’s work centers on cybersecurity, monitoring, cloud accessibility, and long-term technology planning.
The business also expanded to provide virtual Chief Information Officer services, helping organizations align technology decisions with business strategy rather than simply purchasing hardware or fixing technical issues.
“We kind of take that alignment of your technology with where your business is going. It’s not just, ‘What do you need to do with laptops?’ It’s, ‘What do you see your workforce looking like in the next three to five years?'”
For fractional executives and consultants, Humiston’s approach mirrors the growing shift toward strategic advisory work rather than transactional services.
Why ADKtechs Reduced Its Customer Base
One of the most surprising insights Humiston shared was that ADKtechs intentionally reduced the number of customers it serves.
“So did we lose customers? Yeah. We were like 300-and-some customers. I think right now we have 56 agreements. We’re a bigger business, but we’re a more efficient business.”
Instead of offering multiple service tiers and customized contracts for every client, ADKtechs standardized its security and service offerings. Humiston said managing dozens of different service levels created unnecessary complexity for employees while making customer relationships more transactional.
“We had so many competing factors here that were outside of doing what we do. We just had to simplify it.”
The results extended beyond operational efficiency. Humiston shared that employee turnover dropped from approximately 48 percent annually to under 7 percent, while customers now consistently work with familiar engineers who know their environments.
Standardization Creates Better Fractional Partnerships
Humiston believes one of the biggest lessons for growing businesses is resisting the temptation to scale too quickly. ADKtechs intentionally limits itself to onboarding just two new customers each month to ensure every implementation follows the company’s standards.
“It’s not about quantity. It’s about quality.”
That discipline helps eliminate chaos, gives the team time to fully understand each client’s environment, and creates a stronger foundation for long-term advisory relationships.
For Humiston, success ultimately comes down to serving both employees and customers equally well.
“It can’t just be about money. It can’t just be about getting that project done or closing that ticket out. It has to be focused on the quality of how the team is treated.”
As ADKtechs continues building its proactive managed services and virtual CIO practice, Jared Humiston’s philosophy remains simple: reduce complexity, build repeatable systems, and focus on preventing problems instead of reacting to them. For fractional executives helping clients scale, it’s a reminder that sustainable growth often comes from doing fewer things exceptionally well rather than trying to be everything to everyone.
