#60 – From the Trenches: Dispatch Discipline, AGP & Security-Focused MSP Growth (Luis Alvarez – Alvarez Technology Group)

What happens when an MSP owner takes dispatch seriously, insists on real-time time entry, and uses data instead of gut feel to run the business? In this episode, Luis M. Alvarez, President & CEO of Alvarez Technology Group, sits down with Josh Peterson to walk through 25 years of lessons building a security-focused MSP on the California Central Coast.

Luis shares how he moved from break-fix to managed services, why agreement gross profit (AGP) became a non-negotiable metric, and how tools like ConnectWise and Cognition360 help his team decide which clients to grow and which ones to fire. Along the way, he explains why dispatch owns the tickets, the day, and the hours—and how a strong dispatcher protects both profit and client experience.

🎙 What We Cover in This Episode

• Luis’ journey from Air Force linguist to MSP CEO

• Building Alvarez Technology Group from 2-person shop to leading regional MSP

• The transition from time-and-materials to flat-fee managed services

• Hosted vs on-prem PSA/RMM and the real cost of switching tools

• Why AGP, utilization, and pull-through revenue matter more than MRR alone

• Using Cognition360, Power BI, and ConnectWise data to run the business

• Dispatch as the control tower for tickets, tech time, and client expectations

• Guardrails for scope creep and protecting project margins

• Becoming a security-focused MSP and making the stack non-negotiable

• How EOS, KPIs, and weekly rhythms keep a 25-person MSP aligned

👤 Guest Links

• Guest Website: https://www.alvareztg.com/

• Guest LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/luismalvarez

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