Cinch I.T.

One of the first Huntress tools Cinch I.T. deployed went in by accident, and it immediately flagged two threats the previous security stack had missed. For Jack Wilson, that was all the proof he needed.

When Wilson and his partners acquired Cinch I.T., fixing the security stack sat at the top of the list.

Cinch I.T. runs as a nationwide managed service provider (MSP) franchise network with 16 locations, roughly 300 clients, and nearly 10,000 endpoints under management. Wilson knew the business from almost every angle. He'd been part of Cinch I.T.'s early growth and then stepped away for a brief period. When he rejoined through one of the franchisees, he helped grow it into the largest in the network before ultimately uniting with partners to acquire the whole company.

That gave Wilson a rare view from both sides. He knew what frustrated franchisees and what clients were complaining about, and he knew Cinch I.T. needed security tools the whole network could trust.

Challenge | When security tools create their own problems

Before Huntress, Cinch I.T. ran endpoint detection and response (EDR) and security information and event management (SIEM) tools from two well-known vendors. But Wilson wasn't happy with the experience. The tools were creating operational pain for clients while missing real threats.

One client kept seeing random computer slowdowns across their business. They ran overnight 3D rendering jobs, and the existing EDR appeared to keep triggering against the rendering application until latency interrupted the job. When that happened, someone on the client's team had to restart it. If nobody caught it, the render sat all night, and the client walked in the next morning having lost a full day of productivity.

At the same time, the tools were missing real threats. In one case, they failed to catch repeated attempts to log into a client's system with the wrong password. Every day at the same time, someone tried over and over to reach the same user account. That's the signature of someone who'd found a way in before and was trying to get back in.

For Cinch I.T., that was a serious problem. A missed signal could become a client breach, and it could create doubt across the franchise network, where franchisees depend on the franchisor's chosen stack to protect their own customer relationships. When the tools were noisy or slow, Cinch I.T.'s local teams were the ones left explaining what went wrong.

Solution | A trial that made the decision obvious

Wilson had known Huntress since the early days, back when the company showed up at channel events with a small booth and a threat-hunting story MSPs were already talking about.

Years later, Cinch I.T. was on a long trial. As a franchisee at the time, Wilson couldn't make the final call, but he knew the acquisition was coming and wanted Huntress lined up early.

"We knew we were actually going to make a play to do the acquisition," Wilson says. "One of our first strategic moves was to rebuild our tech stack around Huntress."

The trial delivered a fast proof point. During setup, one of Wilson's team members accidentally deployed Huntress Managed Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR).

"It's that easy to deploy," Wilson says. "He accidentally deployed the tool, and instantaneously, it popped two alerts."

The Huntress incident report laid out the attack. It identified traces of files and applications still in the environment and explained the types of threats typically associated with them. It also shut out the user, reset and replaced any compromised login credentials, and provided easy-to-follow remediation guidance.

For Wilson, the takeaway was simple. Huntress found what the previous tools had missed, and it did it immediately.

After the acquisition closed in 2026, Cinch I.T. signed with Huntress inside the first 15 days.

Results | A new baseline for every franchise

Wilson describes Huntress as, "Push button, get Huntress," but he still chose to roll the solutions out slowly. He wanted to avoid the rushed, poorly planned deployments franchisees had lived through before, so he used the time to get his team's internal processes organized and consistent. Even at that deliberate pace, Cinch I.T. had Huntress deployed across the franchise network in about 45 days.

The biggest benefit was strategic. Before the acquisition, EDR lived in Cinch I.T.'s "Secure" package, SIEM was an add-on, and ITDR wasn't part of the offering at all. Afterward, Cinch I.T. decided security could no longer be treated as an extra.

"We can't charge a premium for security," Wilson says. "It has to be table stakes."

Cinch I.T. moved Huntress Managed EDR into the core package, so customers can no longer operate without endpoint protection. For the Secure package, they added the broader Huntress security suite, including Managed SIEM and Managed ITDR.

The Huntress Security Operations Center (SOC)—a 24/7 team of elite threat analysts backed by AI—also changed how Cinch I.T. could talk about security. Wilson says the company had always been careful about claiming true 24/7 SOC coverage, because he knew the limits of his previous tools and the teams behind them.

"With Huntress, I can confidently talk about 24/7 coverage with customers," Wilson says.

That shift landed with franchisees. Wilson came into ownership with disgruntled franchisees and clients frustrated by tools that didn't work. Within 15 days of the acquisition, he told franchisees he'd heard the feedback and had run into the same problems himself, and he had a new solution ready.

"Huntress was a welcome change," Wilson says. "Everyone celebrated it."

The move gave franchisees a stronger sales story, too. Wilson says Cinch I.T. is now more confident recommending higher-value security packages because the teams believe in the tools behind them. In some cases, clients were already asking for Huntress by name.

Conclusion | Confidence that carries after hours

During business hours, Cinch I.T. can masterfully handle alerts and security work for clients. The gap came after hours, when the previous tools might report a problem but didn't give the team enough confidence to let automated actions run without creating more noise.

"After hours is really where Huntress has made a big difference," Wilson says. "This is the cliche of knowing I can sleep better at night."

For a fast-growing franchise with big expansion plans, that confidence is everything. Cinch I.T. needed a security partner that could raise the company's standard and give franchisees a stronger story, all while protecting clients without adding noise.

Wilson puts the relationship bluntly: "I know they give a sh-t."

By rebuilding the stack around Huntress, Cinch I.T. gave every franchise a stronger security foundation and a clearer promise to bring to their clients.