Since joining ARG in 2022, Messner has expanded enterprise solution depth, driven more than 36% practice growth, and reinforced the firm's disciplined approach to platform-led advisory.
MCLEAN, Va., March 25, 2026 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- ARG, a leading technology advisory and consulting firm that helps organizations make thoughtful, well-informed technology decisions, today highlighted the continued success of Managing Partner Sue Messner whose practice has seen significant growth since ARG acquired GNS in 2022.
Messner's story is featured in a newly released case study that demonstrates how ARG's fully integrated platform, combining dedicated product specialists, centralized operational infrastructure, and established vendor relationships, delivers exceptional client outcomes.
With nearly 30 years of experience in telecommunications and enterprise technology advisory, Messner built GNS into a highly regarded, relationship-driven practice before joining ARG. Since integration, the results have been measurable. GNS residual commissions have increased over 36% within three years. Today, 73% of the open projects the team is actively engaged in involve technologies the practice had limited capacity to support prior to joining ARG, including contact center, mobility, managed IT services, security, AI and technology expense management. In 2025, 44% of the projects won were in technologies where the team had little to no prior engagement before joining ARG. Overall, Sue and her team can now answer more of their client's needs and deliver greater value to the organizations they have served for years.
Messner's experience reflects a broader shift occurring across the technology advisory market. Her clients needed more. They wanted Sue's team to help in other areas of their IT strategy after delivering exceptional results in the areas they had core expertise. In their mid-market and enterprise relationships they hadn't found the depth in client-side engagement that was required to navigate their clients increasing complex demands. As the channel's opportunity to serve client needs expands beyond traditional telecom into cloud platforms, security, contact center technology, and managed infrastructure, many independent advisors have found it increasingly difficult to support the full scope of client needs on their own. ARG allows experienced advisors to maintain the client relationships that built their practices while gaining access to the engineering, analytics, and operational resources required to deliver enterprise-scale engagements.
This combination of measurable growth, expanded solution capability, and deeper client engagement reflects what distinguishes ARG in a market that has undergone significant consolidation over the past five years. While many technology advisory firms have grown through acquisition, few have built the infrastructure required for true enterprise-scale delivery. ARG is a rare exception—a status recently validated by a major growth investment from Bear Creek Partners, one of the largest deals in the sector's history. This structure allows ARG to scale nationally in a market that increasingly demands true platform companies over simple aggregators.
"At ARG, we believe, to serve the increasing demands of the mid-market and enterprise, our channel needs to deliver more. In our experience it is critical to have a consistent and repeatable engagement methodology, regardless of the tech stack being evaluated. Having shared referenceable clients is also critical as we move in to more complex requirements. Also, engineering depth that isn't just there for an initial discovery call but connected through the entire evaluation leads to better client outcomes."
The model has increasingly attracted founder-led advisory practices looking to scale their capabilities while preserving the client relationships and independence that built their businesses.
For Messner, the difference became structural from day one. ARG's 24/7 network operations center absorbed after-hours support obligations that had strained her team. ARGenius (powered by Salesforce) replaced fragmented visibility across the business. Dedicated product specialists, working within ARG's delivery model rather than shared resources spread across hundreds of partners, joined client engagements with defined processes and pre-call alignment. The platform expanded what GNS could offer without requiring Messner to build a larger internal organization. From day one, the companies aligned resources, integrated teams and capabilities. Within weeks of closing expanded resources and capabilities were methodically introduced to clients. Today, the team operates under a single brand, ARG.
"Joining ARG allowed us to preserve our high-touch service model while expanding the depth of expertise behind it," said Messner. "The platform's specialist resources and operational backbone enable us to support increasingly complex client environments and pursue larger-scale opportunities while delivering the quality of outcomes our clients have grown to know my team for."
That scale is evident in a recent engagement with a publicly held roofing and building supply company operating more than 600 locations. The company had grown through acquisition and accumulated roughly 80 telecom providers and over 3,000 accounts, with fragmented billing and escalating costs. Messner led the engagement alongside ARG's analyst team to inventory contracts, consolidate vendors, standardize network circuits, and centralize inventory and billing into a single management portal. The project has generated approximately $3 million in annual savings and created a standardized deployment template that now supports the client's future acquisitions.
"Sue's leadership exemplifies the type of founder-led partnership that strengthens our platform," said Shonholz. "She preserved the relationship-first model that made GNS exceptional while unlocking growth and enterprise scale that only a true platform can support. As we grow through acquisition, we are looking for the right fit. Culture is critical and aligning with high quality businesses is paramount. Sue's team has been an exceptional fit."
ARG is looking to expand its M&A activities, selectively looking for partners with founder-led advisory practices that share its disciplined, client-first approach.
About ARG
ARG is a leading technology advisory firm dedicated to helping organizations make thoughtful, informed technology decisions. By combining deep industry expertise, rigorous analysis, and a client-first mindset, ARG delivers objective guidance that drives measurable business outcomes. The firm serves mid-market, enterprise and public sector clients across a wide range of industries, helping them navigate complexity and invest in technology with confidence.
Media Contact
Erica Lord, ARG, 1 703.770.2407, [email protected], https://www.myarg.com/
SOURCE ARG
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