The onyx stone is believed to carry special powers—the ability to protect its bearer during dangerous situations and ward off negativity consciously directed toward you. Black onyx is also the gemstone of choice for the 10th wedding anniversary. Perhaps someone felt the extra karma was necessary to sustain a marriage beyond the first decade?
For Steve Tamburrino, the name ONNYX popped into his head during a 4 a.m. burst of creativity. The senior vice president of sales didn’t exactly need the mystical powers of the stone to ward off competitors of his Sandusky, OH-based dealership—its rich product and service offerings, particularly in the MPS realm, were already taking care of those evil spirits. But after decades of doing business as RS Business Machines, and a six-year stint as MCPc Imaging & Printing, the company was in need of a new moniker.
(from left) Paul Tamburrino Jr., vice president, service and support; Gina Selvey, president and CEO; Steve Tamburrino, senior vice president of sales
The new name goes hand in hand with the company’s decision to join forces with the Flex Technology Group, a move that traces its origins back three years, but was officially consummated last summer. A $14 million dealership serving northern Ohio, western Pennsylvania and southern Michigan, ONNYX boasts a strong relationship with HP on the A3 and A4 segments. Aside from copiers and MFPs, ONNYX provides wide-format and label printers, and serves the production print market (commercial shops, in-plants) with solutions from HP, Canon and Konica Minolta.
But it is in managed print where ONNYX continues to grow and evolve, and in Flex Technology Group, the dealer has found a kindred spirit. The dealer—founded in 1976 by Paul Tamburrino Sr. and now led by his children (Steve; Gina Selvey, president and CEO; and Paul Tamburrino Jr., vice president, service and support)—is hoping to leverage FTG’s prowess in managed print to blaze a path toward double-digit annual growth.
ONNYX President and CEO Gina Selvey with her husband, Jake
ENX Magazine sat down with Steve Tamburrino to discuss the Flex union, the company’s rebranding and how ONNYX plans to parlay its excellence in differentiated managed print into winning the hearts and minds of its customer base.
How was business in 2018?
Tamburrino: We enjoyed a solid year. Hardware revenues increased by double digits, which drove high single-digit increases on the aftermarket side. The entire year has gone by so quickly with the whole merger/acquisition. We’ve landed some net-new global company accounts. But there’s no one defining moment for the year outside of becoming a partner of the Flex Technology Group.
What does ONNYX pride itself on?
Tamburrino: We take great pride in creating a family culture here with our employees. That flows all the way out to our clients. Beyond the culture, ONNYX is truly focused on managed print and creating value beyond the traditional managed print offerings. We want to have a unique value proposition when it comes to MPS.
ONNYX employees kick back and enjoy their holiday celebration
This past summer, you decided to join the FlexPrint collective under Oval Partners. What intrigued you about Oval’s value proposition as opposed to other M&A platforms?
Tamburrino: (FlexPrint Founder and CEO) Frank Gaspari and I first discussed the idea about three years ago. We nurtured it for a couple of years, because the timing wasn’t right on our end. Once we got our ducks in a row, we started moving quickly toward the deal. Frank jokes that we were one of the first companies that he started talking to, and it took us three years to say “yes.”
During the last 10 years, we generally received three to four calls a year from companies looking to acquire us. Gina, Paul and I never gave them serious consideration. Even though we’ve been in the business a long time, we’re still relatively young and not ready to walk away. We shot down most of the other offers pretty quickly. We spoke with one roll-up company in particular, and it was apparent that the culture fit was not there.
I’ve known Frank for eight years. When we first talked, it was clear that the culture they have at FlexPrint was really aligned with what we have here in regards to taking care of the employees. We’d had a discussion around managed print. I always felt we did a decent job in growing that side of the business. But Frank and his people took it to another level, and were very much in sync with our vision of MPS.
What do you believe Flex Technology Group brings to the table that will enable you to facilitate growth? By the same token, what does ONNYX offer to the Flex Technology Group collective?
Tamburrino: FTG brings resources that I couldn’t tap into previously, and experience in different areas. Sometimes, you get to the point where you think you know it all, and then you realize that you don’t. Frank and his team knew so much more about managed print, and we can really capitalize on those resources. The quality of talent that they’re bringing into this group is amazing. That’s going to enable us to unlock growth that we weren’t seeing, at a faster pace than we had envisioned.
The way Frank is assembling this team of entrepreneurs, everyone seems to have unique skill sets. ONNYX is going to bring our advanced analytics process that we use for understanding managed print, along with our strong relationship with HP. I think that relationship is going to benefit the rest of the Flex Technology Group.
Your dealership underwent a rebrand from MCPc to ONNYX. Can you provide some insight into the dynamics of the decision, and why the name ONNYX was chosen?
Tamburrino: We grew up as RS Business Machines. In 2012, we were looking to do an acquisition, and I called my buddy, John Patterson, who worked at MCPc in Cleveland, to pick his brain. He said, “If you’re looking to buy, we’re looking to sell our managed print division.” At the time, MCPc was a $250 million VAR with a $6 million managed print program. They were looking to exit managed print because they were struggling—the business model was much different than anything they had done for their clients. We decided to partner and created a new company called MCPc Imaging and Printing, which was a combination of MCPc’s managed print customers and our business machines customers. RS Business Machines was the majority owner, and we ran the business for six years.
When this opportunity with Flex Technology Group came along, our board of directors—which is myself, Gina, Paul and Mike Trebilcock, the owner of MCPc—felt it was a good idea. However, MCPc did not want to participate in it, so that ended our relationship with MCPc from a contractual basis. As a result, we were no longer able to use the name. That facilitated the need for us to rebrand, so there would be no confusion between the organizations. We had an incredible relationship with MCPc; we complement what they do and the two companies worked extremely well together. We still do projects with them on a weekly basis. It was a great marriage for the time that it lasted, and it’s actually getting stronger as we’re morphing into ONNYX.
As for the name, we entertained the idea of using FlexPrint. But (FlexPrint President) Tom Callinan wanted us to come up with a name that was unique; in case we decide to consolidate to one name in the future, we’d have another option. ONNYX popped into my head one morning. The name itself connotes high class. We’d been called RS Business Machines, then MCPc Imaging and Printing, which were both a mouthful. I wanted something that was two syllables long. There’s no sexy reason behind the name, other than it is simple and catchy.
Casual Friday takes on a new meaning at ONNYX…actually, the crew shows off its Halloween
How has your dealership been able to establish such a strong foothold in the managed print services realm? What separates ONNYX from its competitors in this regard?
Tamburrino: In 2006, we made the commitment to transition from a copier company to managed print. We’ve steadily grown the business. Two aspects truly separate us from our competition. The vast majority of our competitors have a one-size-fits-all program that they present to clients. They’ll service and supply printers, and promise to cut the client’s costs by 30 percent, and they utilize compatible supplies to drive the savings. Today, less than 50 percent of enterprise companies have their fleets under a managed print program. It’s not because companies haven’t targeted them, it’s because a one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t work. We’ve probably got six variations of managed print that we customize to the client’s need.
Our second competitive advantage is the ability to provide security. We’re weaving security into all of our managed print offerings, which none of our competitors are even talking about at the MPS level. Between customized programs using OEM supplies and weaving security into the mix, we have a unique value proposition.
What prompted ONNYX to move into the world of label printers?
Tamburrino: It was really driven by a couple of key clients for whom we managed large fleets of printers. They asked for help in managing their label printers. One client, with 5,000 HP devices, had a different vendor for label printers, but the quality of service was nowhere close to what we were providing them in managed print. They asked us to take over their label printer fleet. At that point, we had zero experience in working with label printers, and we were honest with the client about it. But over the course of the next 18 months, we got fully trained and up to speed. We’re now able to deliver the same level of SLA and service experience that seems to be missing in supporting label printers. Now that clients have seen that it’s possible to have printing devices managed in a particular way, they want to expand it into other devices.
What do you look for in your employees, and how do you recruit and retain good ones?
Tamburrino: It goes back to our culture. In the past, we would look for specific skill sets and experience, like everyone else does. With our new recruiting process we implemented in recent years, we’re looking to have a good cultural fit, first and foremost, when hiring someone. Many candidates have the aptitude, and we can train on skill sets. For recruiting, we do a lot of word of mouth, particularly when it comes to sales. We have some internal and external recruiters. As far as retention, the atmosphere is what keeps people here. Like any other company, you have to have a competitive compensation plan that offers some advantage over others. We have an extremely aggressive sales comp plan.
What was your dealership’s biggest win last year?
Tamburrino: We had some key wins in 2018, but it really pales in comparison to ONNYX becoming a part of the Flex Technology Group. Hands down, it’s the biggest win I’ve ever had, and nothing else comes close.
What was your biggest challenge in the past year?
Tamburrino: The key was how to integrate into Flex Technology Group without disrupting our normal business. We were successful in that regard because we paid a lot of attention to the process from the start. On a side note, we’ve seen a lot of other companies get acquired, and the deal just completely blows up. We wanted to make sure that did not happen here. During the whole process, there was not one departure of an employee related to joining FTG. We let our key employees know pretty far in advance, and the general workforce population knew weeks before it actually happened. We had time to answer questions and reassure people. We had conversations with the top 20 percent of our clients prior to the go-live date. There really were no surprises.
What are your goals for the next 12-18 months?
Tamburrino: As Frank would say, “Organic growth, baby!” I’ve been tasked with attaining double-digit growth in both hardware and services. Now that we have the resources at our disposal and a wealth of talent at FTG that we can tap into, it’s just a matter of executing a solid plan. We’ve almost completed the expansion of our sales force. As for degree of difficulty, I would say it’s a five out of 10. I think it’s a very achievable goal for the year.
ONNYX capped off 2018 by making the holidays a little brighter for OHgo with a donation toward the mobile community outreach organization that serves disadvantaged families
How do you view the industry changing in the future, and what are you doing to adapt?
Tamburrino: In the immediate future, the next 12-24 months, I don’t see that much change in managed print. On the other hand, security has not been talked about much at all. Bringing security into the mix is a critical component that the industry needs to achieve in the next three to five years. There are so many security holes related to print, and that is where the industry is evolving.
What do you enjoy most about your job?
Tamburrino: I love strategizing and figuring out ways to grow ONNYX. I got into this business 33 years ago, and it’s turned out to be a phenomenal industry. I like getting up and doing what I do, and I enjoy the customer and employee aspects of it.
Outside of work, what do you do for fun?
Tamburrino: Travel, travel and travel. Domestically and internationally, I just love to travel. I started doing it about nine years ago and just got hooked on it. I had an amazing trip to Italy six years ago, and I had never been to Europe. To see buildings that are 800 or 900 years old, it’s just something you can’t see here in the United States. I fell in love with it.
