667: Michael Thomsen of Origin 84 on Building a Process-Driven MSP and Using Compliance Frameworks for Strategy

About this episode

Michael Thomsen discusses building a process-driven MSP and the importance of compliance frameworks.

CCP welcomes returning guest Michael Thomsen of Origin 84 from Sydney, Australia and discusses how he prepares to leave his business for long travel by relying on organizational design, documentation, and clear accountability, using Confluence and EOS-style role success criteria to prevent gaps and duplication. They explore perfectionism versus "good enough," emphasizing repeatable standards a team can deliver, protecting integrity, and avoiding preventable mistakes. The conversation shifts to why SOC 2, HIPAA, and ISO 27001 matter as clients face more vendor-risk questions, and how policies differ from procedures by enabling decentralized decisions. Michael explains Origin 84's fixed-fee, services-first model and a "magic quadrant" approach that moves from help desk and IT admin to account management and strategy, using root-cause fixes across all clients. He details standardizing on Microsoft-first tooling (including Entra SSO for Google), vendor-risk concerns, and how certification frameworks drive continual improvement and practical, auditable policies. 00:00 Welcome Back Michael 00:35 Travel Rituals Offline 01:14 Leaving the Business 03:23 Planning Like Military 04:47…

People in this episode

Hosts: Jerry Zigmont, Joe Saponare, Sam Valencia

Guest: Michael Thomsen

Topics covered

• MSP
• organizational design
• compliance frameworks
• vendor-risk
• service model
• accountability
• standards

Keywords

• process-driven
• MSP
• compliance
• vendor-risk
• organizational design
• accountability
• standards
• certifications
• fixed-fee model
• root-cause fixes

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Origin 84, Confluence, EOS, SOC 2, HIPAA, ISO 27001, Microsoft

Products: Entra SSO

Places: Sydney

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