What happens when two Northeast Ohio technology companies see collaboration as an opportunity rather than competition? Becky Cross, Vice President of Client Partnerships at FIT Technologies, sits down with FIT CEO Adam Tubbs and Lake Business CEO and President Jeremy Wood to discuss the partnership between their organizations.

They share how aligned cultures, complementary services, and a mutual commitment to clients brought the companies together. The conversation also explores how the partnership can expand client capabilities, accelerate growth, deepen technical knowledge, and strengthen the Northeast Ohio business community.

In this episode of What the Tech, FIT celebrates a new strategic partnership with NCompas Technology Solutions as host Becky Cross interviews founder and CEO Ramana Bhavaraju about moving from talking about digital transformation to building it through process streamlining, automation, custom applications, and AI.

They discuss how FIT's IT strategy, cybersecurity, and managed services combine with NCompas's application development and automation to help organizations replace spreadsheets, automate workflows, and achieve measurable outcomes, including identifying automation opportunities and avoiding common pitfalls around data and governance.

Raam shares his background as a lifelong software engineer who came from Dubai to Cleveland, worked with Saks Fifth Avenue, Rosetta/Publicis, and major clients as a consultant, and explains the “NCompas” name.

00:00 Partnership Kickoff

01:10 Welcome and Setting

01:35 Ram’s Origin Story

03:26 Why This Partnership Works

04:30 Real AI Automation Wins

06:58 Team Culture and Quality

08:30 Speed Through Process and AI

09:43 Next Five Years Vision

Pax8 Beyond Recap: From Managed Services to Managed Intelligence (and What’s Next for AI Agents)Fred and Adam reflect on Pax8 Beyond, noting that despite the focus on AI, the human element and face-to-face relationships remain the core reason people attend conferences, alongside highlights of visiting Salt Lake City. They discuss the industry shift from managed services to “managed intelligence,” emphasizing that AI adoption has accelerated rapidly and is now AI-first, with early wins in automating internal operations like ticket triage.Both stress being “client zero” by testing AI readiness, data governance, chat and voice agents internally so they can guide clients with real examples. Fred advises starting with understanding and mapping business processes before choosing platforms, while Adam warns organizations must begin adopting AI to stay competitive as barriers to entry fall. They predict growth in agent marketplaces, token/credit-based billing, new platforms for managing and training agents, and continued MSP demand to help translate and implement these changes.