About MGX Beverage Group
MGX Beverage Group is a supply chain solutions company serving the beverage alcohol industry. Operating under a family of brands that includes Milton’s Distributing and Gordon Logistics, MGX provides end-to-end logistics services on behalf of large retailers and beverage brands across the country. This includes warehousing, transportation, inventory management, wholesale distribution, importing, and third-party logistics (3PL).
It’s a demanding industry. Federal and state regulations govern where and how alcohol can be sold. Partners and competitors often overlap. And the complexity of managing a fourth-party logistics operation means that technology isn’t just a support function, it’s a competitive differentiator, especially when supported by the right managed IT services partner.
Scott Gardner, who has led IT at MGX Beverage Group for nearly four years, knows this well. And after years of wrestling with underperforming vendors, he found a partner that finally matched his standard.
The Challenge: A Complacent IT Vendor in a Complex Logistics Environment
When Scott joined MGX, the company already had a reasonably modern technology stack. Problem was, the operational model around it wasn’t keeping pace. End user support was handled by a long-tenured vendor that had grown comfortable and complacent, limiting the effectiveness of their outsourced IT support model. “They were underutilized and were quite fine being underutilized,” Scott recalls.
The problem wasn’t just poor service, it was the structural inefficiency it created: Help desk requests would flow from employees to Scott’s internal team, who would then route them to the vendor. The extra step consumed time and attention that Scott needed his team spending on major business initiatives and infrastructure projects, not ticket forwarding.
On top of that, the vendor had been acquired twice by private equity firms. With each acquisition, the personal relationship with leadership eroded further. For Scott, that loss of continuity was a strategic liability. “I really wanted a partner that’s going to be a partner,” he says. “Not just a record on their book of business.”
Scott also had a broader vision. He didn’t just want to replace a helpdesk vendor. He wanted to consolidate and simplify by moving from three separate technology partners down to two, with a trusted firm anchoring the relationship.
Why Vertikal6 for Managed IT and Infrastructure Services
Scott had worked with Vertikal6 before. At a previous company, he had successfully brought them in to replace a failing vendor. Years later, when he called his former colleagues to ask how things were going, the answer was clear: still excellent.
“There hadn’t been a repeat of the same pattern,” Scott says. “I knew that even after three years of being in place, the same problems weren’t happening.”
That track record mattered. So did two other factors: Vertikal6 is locally based, and independently owned. For Scott, both of those qualities signal something that private equity-backed firms often can’t offer: genuine investment in the client relationship over the long term.
The scope of the engagement grew naturally through the evaluation process. What started as a conversation about end user support expanded to include full infrastructure management, evolving into a broader managed IT services and infrastructure management engagement. The Vertikal6 team didn’t just sell a package; they listened, asked the right questions, and helped Scott scope the work that actually made sense for his organization.
The Onboarding Experience for IT Support Services
The transition to Vertikal6 went smoothly in part because the relationship didn’t start at contract signing. Vertikal6’s Senior Consultant, Jon, was involved from the scoping phase, visiting MGX’s locations, meeting the team, and developing a real understanding of the business before any agreement was finalized.
“You guys took time to come in, look at our operation, talk to our people, understand what we did as part of the onboarding,” Scott says. “So it didn’t happen after the contract was signed. It was part of scoping the work.”
That same level of engagement carried through onboarding, where the project manager led a structured, hands-on approach to documenting MGX’s existing IT environment. This created a clear, comprehensive view of the infrastructure, establishing a strong foundation for ongoing management while proactively identifying and addressing potential challenges early on. Vertikal6 also ran user-training sessions to help MGX employees engage directly with the support team, cutting out the internal middleman that had slowed things down for years. The response from staff has been overwhelmingly positive, and the few issues that have come up have been addressed quickly and honestly.
“Anytime there’s an issue, it’s been handled quickly, and then we’ve sat down and said: how do we get better at this?” Scott notes.
Results: Operational Efficiency, Cost Savings, and IT Vendor Consolidation
Operational efficiency: Scott’s internal team is no longer fielding and forwarding help desk requests. That reclaimed bandwidth is being directed toward strategic priorities such as disaster recovery planning, application management, and infrastructure improvements supported by a managed IT services model.
Cost savings: The Vertikal6 team audited MGX’s Microsoft licensing and Azure environment, improving overall Azure cost optimization and identifying redundancies MGX didn’t know it had. The result: several thousand dollars per month in eliminated costs.
Vendor consolidation: MGX went from three technology partners to two. Vertikal6 now holds the majority of the work, including all infrastructure and Azure management, while coordinating effectively with MGX’s security partner.
Proactive planning: One of the most valued, and unexpected, benefits has been Vertikal6’s approach to budget preparation. In September, our Senior Consultant, Jon, delivered a comprehensive forward-looking cost analysis that covered current spending, anticipated price changes, and hardware recommendations. It arrived exactly when Scott needed it. “I didn’t even have to ask,” he says. “It was a really pleasant surprise.”
Looking Ahead: Scalable IT Infrastructure and Managed Services
MGX is growing. As the company continues consolidating its service offerings into a coherent customer story, Scott sees Vertikal6 playing a larger role.
Conversations are already underway about disaster recovery planning and testing, expanded application management support as part of a more comprehensive managed IT services roadmap, and deeper monitoring and management of MGX’s Microsoft Fabric environment. Scott is also considering how Vertikal6 can help fill gaps created by retiring internal resources, particularly around security advising and infrastructure management.
“It’s not like I have to start from scratch,” Scott says. “They know our locations, they know the kind of work we do. It’s just an easy transaction.”
That’s the kind of relationship Scott always wanted.
MGX Beverage Group is headquartered in Mansfield, MA and operates across multiple states, providing supply chain solutions to the beverage alcohol industry.
