http://impactmybiz.com
Waukegan, IL
President/Owner: Frank Cucco
Year founded: 1999
Number of employees: 170
Primary hardware vendors: Konica Minolta, Kyocera, Muratec, KIP, Bowe Bell+ Howell
Primary solutions and services offerings: Docuware, Objectif Lune, Nuance, Smart Search, PaperCut, Darwin VDP Software, Planet Press Suite, PrintShop Mail
Approximate/Average yearly revenues: $35-$40 million
Biggest sale/win of the past year: Impact’s largest win in the past year was with a large (more than 25,000 employees), publicly traded corporation for a contract worth close to $2 million. At initial takedown Impact secured a contract for 54 copy machines in seven nationwide locations. Ten months later, Impact has increased their contract by 298 percent with the client, now supplying and servicing 161 machines. Every quarter Impact has been signing, on average, an additional 30-50 devices that have leases expiring with the prior vendor. This rate of acquisition would put Impact around the $5-7 million mark in three years, which is the potential to be the biggest deal in Impact history.
Any discussion as to why we consider Impact Networking a 2013 Elite Dealer has to begin with its Creative Services Group (CSG). This is the business segment that differentiates them from so many other dealerships in our opinion. CSG supports other Impact departments with custom client solutions, in addition to offering direct services to Impact’s customers, including branding, marketing collateral creation, custom Website design and development as well as CRM and backend database development. Not many other dealers are treading in that territory.
One of the new projects CSG has developed that we find impressive is a Client Portal. The Portal simplifies and organizes client interactions with Impact; keeping track of client invoices, displaying their equipment information and allowing clients to order supplies with one click. The portal provides all contact information (for service, supplies and sales) and serves as a place for Impact to advertise additional Impact services that, giving the opportunity to cross-sell and increase the client’s contract with Impact.
Impact has made great strides in re-positioning itself as a total document solutions provider and we applaud them for that initiative. This includes investing in and expanding the services it offers clients, including document management software, managed print services, and of course, creative services.
We also admire the way that Impact re-invests profits back into the organization as a way to ensure its future. Nearly all profits from 2012 were reinvested into the Impact infrastructure. Major investments were made to upgrade its technology infrastructure within its offices, including fiber optic communications, upgrading the Enterprise Resource Management system and CRM system along with new laptops or tablets for all sales professionals.
Investing in manpower was another major investment as Impact hired a new corporate recruiter to improve its recruiting efforts and invested in sales incentives to attract and retain talent.
One can’t help but applaud Impact’s efforts in creating a culture that supports employee growth, empowerment, recognition, and rewards employees with great benefits and incentives. “We want our employees to build a career at Impact, which is why we invest heavily in providing continual internal trainings, encouraging employee certifications, and building a straightforward promotion path for sales professionals,” states Cucco.
This is a dealership that is also a solid community citizen and gives back to the community through several charitable organizations. Since Impact is now located in three states, it has made a conscious effort to make an impact in all of its local communities. In Illinois, it offers the ‘Letters to Santa’ program, Indiana is Project Endure, and in Wisconsin it has adopted Hometown Heroes.
These are all sure indicators of an Elite Dealer and we haven’t even discussed the numbers yet. High growth areas include document management (46% year-over-year growth rate in annual revenues over the past three years), production print (annual revenues have increased 26% year-over-year for the past three years), and MPS (200% year-over-year revenue growth the past three years).
Impact’s most significant accomplishment this past year has been its record-breaking revenue growth. By the end of the first quarter, the dealership set a new revenue record for the month of March at $2.2 million, and a record-breaking profit month in February. Three out of four consecutive months in its first quarter resulted in revenues higher than $2 million—the previous record. By the end of the second quarter, five out of the eight months were considered record-breaking. Much of this was due to the growth of several departments and record growth in maintenance billing.
Customers like doing business with Impact because it offers clients more than products. Its sales teams include expert consultants on document management, managed print services, production print, and digital office equipment, who can recommend an entire system of customized solutions. In addition to offering clients’ value-added consulting, Impact’s customer service is reportedly unmatched in the industry while its customer retention rate is an inspiring 93 percent.
Impact Networking is a prime example of a dealership that goes above and beyond what it takes to be successful and to ensure it can continue to compete in a highly competitive and changing industry. That’s what makes them a 2013 Elite Dealer.
COORDINATED BUSINESS SYSTEMS, LTD.
Burnsville, MN
President/Owner: Jim Oricchio
Year founded: 1983
Number of employees: 85
Primary hardware vendors: Kyocera, Sharp, HP, Lexmark, Dell, Barracuda
Primary solutions and services offerings: Document Management, Workflow, Rules-based Managed Print, Unified Communications, Managed Network Services
Approximate/Average yearly revenues: $16 million
Biggest sale/win of the past year: A grocery retailer that had been lost to a direct manufacturer branch. Coordinated went through the process and delivered a competitive proposal, but was unable to meet the price point of the direct operation. When the implementation failed and the deliverable was not meeting the needs of the customer they came back to Coordinated and they were able to successfully implement the original solution and surpass customer expectations.
What better way for Jim Oricchio and the staff of Coordinated Business Systems to celebrate their 30th year in business than with another Elite Dealer award.
Plus we love the way Coordinated is leveraging this anniversary in its marketing efforts.
“The Power of 30” was chosen as Coordinated’s advertising theme this year because it captures the essence of Coordinated Business Systems success. “In addition it represents the staying power of an industry leader and the ongoing commitment to customer service that has allowed us to build so many long-lasting relationships within the local business community,” states Oricchio. In June, Coordinated Business Systems launched a major B2B Facebook promotion. The Power of 30 Giveaway is a three-month social media campaign. Customers who “Like” Coordinated on Facebook have an opportunity to win an 80-inch Sharp Aquos Board, Golf trip for two at Pebble Beach, CA, or the Grand Prize, a two-year lease on a 2013 Jeep Wrangler. Even as Coordinated has been enjoying its 30th anniversary, there’s been substantial growth leading up to this year in three significant business segments. Although Managed Print Services has many definitions and interpretations, at Coordinated it’s defined and measured as Cost per Impression Service on customer-owned, single- function printers. “Our revenue in this area has increased more than 1,000 percent over the past three years, going from an inconsequential revenue contribution to a substantial portion of overall revenue,” beams Oricchio.
Color placements are also on the upswing. With the adoption of the color capabilities of the Kyocera TaskAlfa Series of machines Coordinated has increased its placement of color MFP’s by more than 35 percent, which is in turn having a significant positive impact on overall service revenue. Also doing well is Smart MFP’s. “By instilling a clear understanding of the different technology platforms offered by our various manufacturers as well as a focus on some specific applications we have been able to sell over 30 percent of our MFP placements with some sort of Smart MFP application that extends the capability of the device,” reports Oricchio.
It’s a given that customer service is one of the hallmarks of an Elite Dealer and that’s underscored by Coordinated Business Systems growing customer base, many of whom share similar business ethics and value systems. “Our customers and prospects are familiar with our company based on years of experience and consistent exposure,” notes Oricchio. “Our partnerships with local community based non-profit organizations as well as our strong affiliation with the Minnesota Twins has made us a familiar name from which people know what to expect. We are ethical and honest, win or lose, in a market where the majority of our competitors are not. Our customers stay with us because we take care of them and produce strong, predictable results while bringing value and expertise to the partnership with clearly defined and understood concrete operational differences.”
Coordinated’s biggest accomplishment this year was adding two additional teams to its base territory as well as expanding into a new market. This is all related to the challenge of developing the leadership necessary to take the company to the next level. The net results have been reflected in an increase in hires, a decrease in turnover and a massive increase in first year top-line revenue from new hires. By increasing leadership, decreasing the number of reports, and focusing on development with specifically defined developmental benchmarks that are measured in addition to the traditional management benchmarks Coordinated has tripled first-year revenue average of rookie reps. That’s an impressive accomplishment that few dealers can claim.
Meanwhile, Oricchio and company have their sights set on the future with a special focus on three areas that are expected to have the greatest impact on the stability, growth, and profitability of the organization. Those include:
1) Career Path/Employee Development. “With a focus on career path we can help our employees develop into the producers and leaders of tomorrow,” observes Oricchio. “Without well-trained personnel that have a desire for personal growth, a healthy respect for development, and a clear defined path of what they want you cannot grow your company. By providing an environment that is professionally fulfilling, monetarily rewarding and in tune with the goals of the employee we are cementing our future.” 2) Product and Service Expansion. “As we continue to broaden our offerings to include telephony and Managed Services, we increase our ability to service our customer and bring value to their business,” states Oricchio. “The increased level of expertise that is brought to our organization by adding these products and services make us better in every area of our company.” 3) Continued transition to an MPS model. “By providing a clear definition of MPS and focusing on that we have been able to increase revenue, strengthen the relationship with our customers and provide a much higher level of value to the end user,” adds Oricchio. “Our continued focus on managed print will build our future as it relates to hardware placements. When you provide a customer with a service that changes the way they operate instead of replacing a service for less than the other guy it changes the relationship and “ensures your dealership’s long term growth and profitability.”
With initiatives like those in place, and particularly those focusing on developing young leaders, this is an Elite Dealer that will likely be celebrating many more anniversaries in the coming years.
ADVANCED COPY TECHNOLOGIES
Cromwell, CT
President/Owners: Greg Gondek, President; Cindi Gondek, CFO, Principal
Year founded: 1974
Number of employees: 35
Primary hardware vendors: Ricoh, Kyocera, Riso, HP, Xerox, DocuClass, 3D Systems
Primary solutions and services offerings: Document workflow solutions, Asset Management, MPS, 3D printing, Additive Manufacturing support.
Approximate/Average yearly revenues: $5-$10 million
Biggest sale/win of the past year: Three different sales in equal size and revenue, adding up to a total of over 300 units, and 180 net new placements.
Advanced Copy Technologies takes pride in what they do and they’re not exaggerating when they say that they’ve been the finest service provider in its marketplace for years. “We are always looking for ways to improve our support to every client,” says President Greg Gondek. “The biggest compliment I hear almost every day is that ‘you aren’t just trying to sell me something but help make our organization work better, or smarter, or solve our problems.’” Indeed, Advanced Copy Technologies places the highest value on its reputation for honesty and integrity and every employee upholds that philosophy. “We do the things that most companies forgot about a long time ago,” states Gondek. “Our service response for all service calls averages less than three hours. We typically do between 60 to well over 100 courtesy calls per month. The cost of being overstaffed in our service department is well made up by our outstanding customer retention.”
Business is doing well, particularly in emerging services and technology areas such as asset management analysis, which has created some valuable partnerships with new and existing clients, followed by document workflow, and 3D printer sales and support. All three areas are growing at an annualized rate well above 30 percent.
Advanced Copy Technologies is nearly finished with a complete rebranding initiative supporting its diversification with five divisions under the ACT Group. Each division has a marketing program and approach that all overlap to not only focus on their specific expertise, but to expand the awareness of the dealership’s other capabilities. Those divisions include ACT Office Equipment, ACT 3D, ACT Asset Management, ACT Document Solutions, and ACT Customer Support.
“We are fortunate to have our own internal marketing specialist who can focus on the needs for each area,” notes Gondek.
The recent launch of a new Website is further embellishing Advanced Copy Technologies’ image as an Elite Dealer.
We are especially impressed at the way a dealership of this size is at the forefront of 3D printing. A series of educational seminars for 3D printing has been extremely popular with customers and prospects. “Our goal with 3D is to bring a level of expertise to our clients in additive manufacturing that they have not experienced before and we are exceeding our expectations,” says Gondek. “Having a brilliant support team, including one of the top minds in engineering and physics to solve very diverse and difficult challenges for our clients is quickly earning us the reputation as the go to resource in 3D.”
Becoming experts in additive manufacturing is another notable accomplishment. The dealership began this journey two years ago knowing that it wanted to expand into a growing market. “We kept it a secret for over a year while we trained service and sales specialists, built the infrastructure to be better than anyone else in this area, and learned more than we ever knew existed in this vastly different arena,” notes Gondek. “3D printing isn’t like anything we presently do even though it requires the same efforts in sales and service. Taming, training and being able to win the race with the beast in the past year has to be one of our proudest accomplishments as an organization.”
One hears this often in business, and that’s how a company is one big family. That’s not hyperbole at Advanced, it’s the way the Gondek’s run the operation. They also understand that family should come first. “We want every employee to enjoy their lives and know that work should be fun but their own families come first,” emphasizes Gondek. “When clients visit us very frequently they mention the sense of pride all or our employees have. That makes everything we do special as that’s not something that we can preach or ask of our employees, but comes from the heart.”
The rebranding and developing of specific divisions where each one has the highest levels of expertise in Advanced Copy Technologies’ market remains the key to its success and are just a couple of reasons why the company has earned a second consecutive selection as an Elite Dealer.
Recognizing changes in the market also sets them apart. “The days are long gone where you can have everyone of your employees trying to be all things to all clients,” notes Gondek. “There is a definite advantage when someone asks about document management software or 3D manufacturing and our software specialists or physics engineer works directly with them to solve their problems. We can compete against anyone and win and it has nothing to do with slick salesmanship and everything to do when people recognize expertise and honesty when they see it.”
CELL BUSINESS EQUIPMENT (CBE)
Irvine, CA
President: Tarek Hafez
Year founded: 1992
Number of employees: 83
Primary hardware vendors: Sharp, Ricoh, Francotyp-Postalia Mailing Equipment. Primary solutions and services offerings: Nuance eCopy, Prism Software DocFOrm and GoldFax for image capture and distribution; EMC2 ApplicationXtender, Prism Software, Record, Digitech Systems PaperVision Enterprise for document management and workflow; Microsoft Office 365, DigitechSystems ImageSilo, DocuPeak for cloud storage; Lantronix xPrintServer, EFI PrintMe Mobile, Canon uniFLOW for mobile printing; Nuance Equitrac Professional Canon uniFLOW, Print Audit for cost recovery and document security.
Approximate/Average yearly revenues: $22+ million
Biggest sale/win of the past year: A recent sale to Hathaway-Sycamores, a not-for-profit child and family services corporation, is projected to extend to $400,000 worth of business this year. This lead came from a referral from a long-time non-profit CBE client.
We are big fans of CBE’s Tarek Hafez and everything he’s done to make CBE what it is today. We appreciate the efforts he and his team have taken to ensure that CBE is part of the local community. As a result CBE has achieved double-digit machine population growth by concentrating on keeping connected with current clients and the challenges within their businesses.
“The old adage ‘people don’t care what you know, until they know that you care’ rings true,” states Hafez. “The CBE staff asks questions and really listens to the answers. They focus on the client’s particular work processes and company culture.” Plus CBE doesn’t focus on making equipment replacement its number one priority. “By rarely mentioning new equipment, we earn the client’s trust,” says Hafez. “We are able to increase our managed print and document management business as we provide new of used hardware when requested.”
People still buy from people they know, like, and trust. Much of CBE’s success is created by providing state-of-the-art products and services in the old fashion way. “We still do cold calls, ask for and receive referrals,” notes Hafez. “Our sales staff is extremely stable and involved in the community.” Maintaining a tenured sales staff is sometimes easier said than done, but that’s exactly what CBE has been able to achieve, especially as they’ve transitioned from office equipment hardware sales to a broader scope of integrating solutions and print management.
“Our goal was to keep our current long-tenured sales staff,” explains Hafez. “We tried a mix of several commission and bonus programs before we found a successful mix of solution product training and sharing leads between the groups. Our Solutions and Print Management group personnel become the lead people in future client sales needs analysis, price determination, and product negotiations. Commissions are shared between those involved in the team effort of closing the sale.”
Meanwhile, CBE continues to grow. Having become a Canon Dealer in 2010, (in addition to being an authorized Sharp and Ricoh dealer) CBE’s sales of Canon hardware went from zero to over 50 percent of total hardware sales in 2012.
But CBE hasn’t forgotten about Sharp nor has Sharp forgotten about CBE.
“In 2013 Sharp became extremely attentive to our needs,” recalls Hafez. “The regional and local DSMs have become active business partners again offering support, training, rebates, and special pricing. Sharp has returned to being our number one vendor representing over 50 percent of our total equipment sales.
Underscoring the climate of growth so integral to successful dealerships, CBE opened its fourth branch office in the Inland Empire of Southern California which encompasses Riverside and San Bernardo Counties. “We had been selling in this area for many years. The addition of the new branch enables our customers and sales staff to have a more convenient base of operations and a nearby show room,” says Hafez. “It has extended our community involvement and sphere of influence.”
Inland Empire sales have increased by more than 25 percent thanks in large part to those efforts.
In 2012, CBE added a Print Management group, resulting in expanded software sales, implementation, and training revenue. Managed print service sales have more than doubled as a result. Additionally, software sales, installation implementations, and ongoing accompanying service revenue growth continues to more than double each of the past three years. Spurring future growth within CBE’s menu of solutions are security and cloud services, which have been on a steady rise over the past 12+ months.
Customer satisfaction has long been a hallmark of CBE and its foundation for quickly and appropriately solving any client concern, starts by asking the question; “What is the customer’s expectation?” Once that question is answered, CBE’s staff is authorized to do it. Once the customers’ expectations are fulfilled; staff and management will review the situation and modify company guidelines to make sure a similar situation is avoided in the future. CBE has long term and loyal staff and client base. Many customers have been doing business with CBE for more than 15 years. The company’s willingness to be flexible has made a big difference. “Through the economic downturn, we were especially sensitive to the financial realities of our clients,” states Hafez. “Contracts were restructured, minimum usage and costs reduced, and rentals took the place of off-lease equipment.”
As the dealer community transitions into a solutions sales model, CBE is near the head of the pack with the number of solutions available to customers. The dealership activity sells, installs, and implements more than a dozen software solutions while its sales and implementation staff have gained the knowledge to be able to quickly identify the right software solution partner to fulfill the needs of its clients.
We admire too the way that CBE is committed to giving back to the local community that supports its business. For example, 5 percent of all profits are donated back into the local community; including Arch of Southern California, Habitat for Humanity, Share for SELVES, Orange County Mission and the Southern California chapter of Easter Seals. During the 2012 year-end holiday season, CBE sponsored a food drive; donating 2500+ pounds of food to local families.
They also set an example for the rest of the dealer community in the way they value their employees. CBE believes educating their staff makes better employees, parents, spouses, and community members. To ensure this, CBE offers tuition reimbursement for educational expenses for technical, general education, college, and graduate work. “If it is educational, CBE supports it,” says Hafez.
Owner Tarek Hafiz sums up the CBE philosophy. “We acknowledge and thank all those people who have helped CBE grow and prosper over the past 20 years. We are honored by the longevity of our employees, vendors and clients. Sales, solutions/IT, service, warehousing and administration working together create a seamless package for our clients.”
If one were to take a vote of CBE’s customers to find out if they are deserving of Elite Dealer status, chance are that its long-term customer base of more than 3,500 businesses would attest to that Elite Dealer status. “Having the ability to sell and support MPS, document management, SoS, security, recovery and cloud based services as well as hardware allows for one-stop shopping for our clients,” says Hafez. “By offering a wide range of hardware and software we can quickly and economically put together an appropriate group of hardware, software, training, and service to fulfill our client’s needs.”
And that’s what CBE has been doing year in and year out since 1992 and we recognize them once again as an Elite Dealer.
NORTHERN BUSINESS MACHINES, INC.
Burlington, MA
President/Owner: William Tracia
Year founded: 1985
Number of employees: 80
Primary hardware vendors: Sharp, Konica Minolta, HP, KIP, OKI
Primary solutions and services offerings: MPS, Managed IT, Document Management, Cost Recovery
Approximate/Average yearly revenues: $20 million
Biggest sale/win of the past year: A contract with a local private school in July. It was a six-figure transaction and net new business for NBM.
Being in business since 1985, there aren’t many challenges that Northern Business Machines (NBM) hasn’t encountered and successfully overcome. “We have been able to adapt to the changes in our industry that have reshaped our business model over the past 20 years,” emphasizes Bill Tracia, president. “We successfully transitioned first to digital technology, then to business color products and wide-format devices.”
NBM’s early adoption to MPS has been critical to its success over the past five years as MPS now represents 10 percent of total revenue, growing from 0 to $2-million in annual revenue over the past five years. Tracia is hoping to see similar growth in Managed IT services.
“We are just at the beginning stages with Managed IT, but are optimistic that we will surpass $1 million in revenue in 2014,” he predicts. “We have signed more than 20 Managed IT customers in the past two years.”
Customers tend to be small to mid-sized businesses, the sweet spot for the independent dealer channel. Although NBM is frequently competing with OEM direct branches, the dealership has found their clients prefer to work with a smaller, privately held dealership that is based in the community. “We are able to engage our clients on a variety of levels with a broad range of products and services,” states Tracia.
MPS customers tend to be larger accounts while the Managed IT accounts are likely to have fewer than 25 employees.
One area that truly separates NBM from its competitors is its Network Operating Center (NOC), which was added to their facility in the past year. “Customers with printing/scanning issues or service codes are often able to have the call cleared within 30 minutes by one of the Help Desk technicians instead of waiting 2-4 hours for a field service call,” says Tracia.
For IT clients, NBM offers firewall protection, e-mail services, data back-up and recovery, and manages their networks with remote monitoring software.
The past two years have been stellar years at NBM. Surpassing $20-million in sales is a major accomplishment and the perfect punctuation point to 2012, NBM’s biggest year to date as they billed just over $19 million.
“We are currently at 106 percent of last year’s run rate and if that continues through the end of the year, we will hit the target that we established last December,” states Tracia.
We admire the way NBM recognizes individual employee accomplishments. All employees that have been with the company ten years or longer are invited to the annual President’s Dinner. This year, 37 percent of employees were in attendance. Among that group were 15 individuals that have been with NBM for over 20 years. “We are extremely fortunate and proud to have such a talented and loyal staff,” says Tracia.
An Elite Dealer is open minded about new business opportunities and willing to invest resources to enter new segments of the market. That’s another hallmark of NBM. “We still believe in our core business and are able to maintain good margins in MFP hardware and services,” adds Tracia. “As always, it’s important to bring in young, talented individuals that will allow us to continue to grow over the next five years. Although we have never done an acquisition, that’s something that we will explore as part of the growth plan.”
Based on the past two years, NBM is well on track for continued growth, which helps secure its place among this year’s group of Elite Dealers.
STRATIX SYSTEMS
Wyomissing, PA
President/Owner: Brent Simone
Year founded: 1970
Number of employees: 70
Primary hardware vendors: Ricoh, Riso, Samsung
Primary solutions and services offerings: IT & Proactive Managed and CloudServices: Microsoft, Dell, LabTech, Datto, Mailprotector, Cisco, WatchGuard and Symantec; EC/DM: Microsoft SharePoint and Office365, PlanetPress Suite, NSi AutoStore, Colligo, KnowledgeLake, Nuance and Fujitsu; PrintFleet, Equitrac, EFI Fiery.
Approximate/Average yearly revenues: $10-$15 million
Stratix Systems has been on a mission during the past two years and it’s now mission accomplished as they have successfully completed the transformation into a true business technology solutions provider. Although the dealership is still showing strong growth in traditional printing/imaging (including hardware, service, supplies, etc.), it has developed and grown two other lines of business—IT Services and Electronic Content (Document) Management (ECM). This planned evolution speaks to Stratix Systems’ messaging of being a, “client-focused, business technology and managed services provider that focuses on the unique computing, networking, document management, and printing needs of small- to medium-sized businesses of all breed and industry.”
“Likewise, we’ve carefully examined our business model to ensure we can offer high-quality products, services, solutions and support on the same level as VARs who specialize solely in one of the aforementioned industries,” observes Brent Simone, president. “This is an approach that has helped Stratix Systems work closer and deeper with our existing customer base—adding value to their solution(s) as they look to us a single, go-to technology partner—as well as uncovered opportunities for new business that were not previously available.”
Stratix Systems refers to the people and organizations who favor them with their business as clients.’ That’s because the word “client” implies a close relationship in which Stratix Systems, as a company, is helping them change their business for the better. “Projects and implementations may produce revenue, but clients produce relationships, which are the strength and backbone of our organization,” states Simone. “Stratix Systems is so devoted to getting the relationship right that we diligently work to know our clients’ businesses, and how technology supports their business.” The dealership’s client-focused approach means they understand that their solutions are only as good as the subsequent support and service provided. Proactive methods aim to prevent issues from arising, thereby minimizing any potential for client difficulties and downtime. If there are requests or issues, they respond promptly, knowing that clients depend upon Stratix to do so with timely and accurate information.
“We do all of this because we desire to have long-term relationships built upon mutual respect and trust—it’s about more than just the revenue,” acknowledges Simone.
Stratix Systems’ IT and managed services, ECM, and printing/imaging solutions—while independent and distinct, but complimentary and cohesive as well—have ushered in the next step of its evolution; progressing from “strategic document solutions” to the more apt “strategic technology solutions.”
In the spirit of the company’s three core ideals—Client Service, Technical Excellence and Innovation—Stratix Systems continues to focus on and invest in its people, best practices and technology in order to create and deliver scalable, cost-effective solutions that work. What we also find admirable about Stratix is that having recognized the uniqueness of certain markets, they focus sales efforts and marketing strategies on technology solutions specifically geared to vertical markets such as AEC, education, financial, healthcare, legal, local government entities, manufacturing, poly-subs and NPOs. In a commoditized industry, Stratix continues to find ways to further differentiate itself by: • Pursuing further industry-leading certifications—on both an individual- and company-level. • Refreshing product and service offerings for more up-to-date technologies and client value. • Developing solutions based on emerging technologies such as cloud computing and storage services. • Expanding IT and ECM teams, resources and capabilities. • Remaining steadfast in the ideals and methods that have achieved a 96 percent client retention rate. As more dealers look to transition into services, Stratix Systems has found opportunities to build on existing services that have already placed themselves at the head of the curve in the dealer community. Starting in late 2011 and continually growing into 2013 and beyond, Stratix Systems’ IT Services spawned another line of business—Proactive: Managed and Cloud Services, which is the new model of how businesses view and use their everyday technologies.
“It is a shift from traditional on-site resources and reactive support, to more efficient methods such as real-time computing/networking monitoring, management and maintenance, as well as hosted data and applications,” explains Simone. On staff, Stratix Systems maintains a team of full-time network/systems engineers with various IT certifications that include Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE), Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP), Microsoft Certified Technical Specialist (MCTS), WatchGuard Certified Systems Professional, and CompTIA A+ Certified. Additionally, the company works with a supplemental certified IT consultant for a handful of clients who have highly-specialized solutions in place. The Proactive: Managed and Cloud Services portfolio now includes: • Managed Network Services • Backup and Disaster Recovery • E-mail Management and Hosting • Managed Print Services • Microsoft Office365 Solutions • Hosted Microsoft Exchange • Hybrid Cloud
All of these are all compelling reasons for recognizing Stratix Systems as a 2013 Elite Dealer.
Cleveland, OH
President/Owner: Paul Hanna
Year founded: 1995
Number of employees: 150-200
Primary hardware vendors: Konica Minolta, Lexmark, KIP, CREO, Fiery
Primary solutions and services offerings: eCopy, PrintShop Mail, PageScope Unity, Prism DocForm, Prism DocRecord, Prism DocSystem, Prism DocTransform, Prism ScanPath/AnyDoc, Equitrac, PrintAudit, Print Manager Plus, Digital StoreFront, Planetpress, OnBase, FileBound, Autonomy.
Approximate/Average yearly revenues: $32 million
Biggest sale/win of the past year: A customer whose world headquarters is in Cleveland with annual revenues of $3 billion. This deal was for the company’s locations across the country and included over 120 MFP’s and printers.
Blue Technologies may have started as an office equipment dealership, but during the past three years it has evolved into much more than that. A lot of the credit goes to the growth of professional services, which provides Blue Technologies’ customers with a wider range of product options and more office solutions. The dealership’s Imaging Solutions, Managed Print Services, and Managed Services divisions allow customers to customize the business solutions their companies need while also being able to provide exceptional service to these solutions. Those three divisions do a superior job of complementing its Hardware division.
Although the variety of offerings is a compelling reason for customers to do business with Blue Technologies, the most important reason why customers choose to do business with Blue is its Commitment to Excellence – Every Day.
“We implement a 5-point pledge that protects each customer after an acquisition is complete, covering product performance, product service, supplies, easy acquisition, and complete customer satisfaction,” explains Beth Palamara, director of communications.
Blue Technologies operates under the motto, “A satisfied customer isn’t loyal… only a truly satisfied customer is loyal.” That motto certainly describes the Blue Technologies customer.
Managed Print Services, Managed Services, and Imaging Solutions also have their own set of service guarantees through Blue’s Commitment to Excellence. These guarantees reduce a customer’s risk of doing business with Blue Technologies. “We have been able to improve our service response time and end-user satisfaction,” adds Palamara. “Blue’s Commitment to Excellence – Every Day is not just a statement but how we operate daily.”
We’re impressed too by the way Blue communicates with its customers, especially with its latest initiative—the Customer Care Program. Through the program, Blue Technologies has created a newsletter, sent out direct mailings, and allowed customers to receive self-service through a customer portal, BlueNET.
The Newsletter, BT Connect, is an e-mail that goes out to the current customers that Blue regularly communicates with so they are able to stay up-to-date with all of the newest information at Blue Technologies. “The newsletter features “What’s New at Blue?”, a section dedicated to sharing innovative products or events and a Featured Employee section allowing customers to get to know the faces of our company they are in contact with day to day,” notes Palamara. “The most important portion of BT Connect is the section where any customer can provide positive or negative feedback to me. This helps us continue to build genuine relationships with our customers and provide them with a voice so we can deliver the best service possible.”
The dealership also sends out formal, direct mailings to update customers about recent news, like patent trolling, and other important information.
The self-serving customer portal BlueNET is another way that Blue Technologies extends a helping hand to customers. Here they are able to request service, send in meter reads, and order supplies.
Another positive development has been the redesign and refocusing of its Insight Articles with Smart Business Network (SBN). With the growth of the company has come more and more industry knowledge and expertise. Whether the reader has a Konica Minolta, Canon, Ricoh, Xerox, or Toshiba, they are still able to get useful, cutting edge information from the articles. These articles are valuable to anyone looking for insight in office management. SBN featured articles on material such as uncovering office inefficiencies, how to get the most of your office equipment, understanding cloud technology, and other pertinent issues. “Blue Technologies firmly believes office equipment is not just a copier anymore; it’s about making each business department work together as one cohesive entity to create a more efficient workspace for everyone,” states Palamara.
An innovative marketing strategy that Blue Technologies has been using throughout the year is its media calendar. “While we already have in place social media, blog, and advertisement strategies, we needed something that tied all of these different pieces together,” explains Palamara. “With the redesign of our Insight articles, we knew this expert information was something worth sharing with our different audiences. In order to share this knowledge, we filled each social media outlet with corresponding information that tied in with the featured Insight article for that month. To make this strategy as effective as possible, we created a color-coding system to ensure that we have an even spread of educational, engaging, and promotional content. Incorporating our social media outlets cohesively gave Blue Technologies the opportunity to strengthen our relationship with customers, businesses, and the community to its fullest potential.
Blue Technologies most significant accomplishment in the past year has been the development and launch of its Managed Services division. This involved recruiting top-of-the-line and highly experienced management, sales representatives, service engineers, and customer satisfaction specialists to back the initial investment of the division. Managed Services analyzes a company, defines processes internally and externally, and then creates a cohesive program that the company can build based off of their needs.
Blue started out with basic networking services and has enhanced them with solutions such as data backup, virtual CIO, disaster recovery, anti-virus management, and most recently the addition of VoIP solutions. It also has defined service contracts and project management for this division so it can assist company’s IT departments or become a company’s main IT service provider.
“Regardless of the prospect’s IT state, we can either support or improve their current situation,” says Palamara. “We have created this division knowing that it will continue to grow as the customer grows and changes.”
We’ve known for a long time that Blue Technologies is a dealership that strives to be a great place to work and that counts a lot in our estimation when making our Elite Dealer selections. Annually, it recognizes employees who have gone above and beyond Blue’s Commitment to Excellence. These employees are selected based on customer and employee recommendations with endorsements posted on the office intranet. All managers in the company vote on which story embodies the spirit of each award. Respectively, every award is based on the 5-point pledge of accountability and reliability.
Blue also earns bonus points for providing options for continuing employee education. There’s a program that offers financial assistance to any full-time employee interested in continuing education at the collegiate level. Blue also provides education programs for administration, service representatives, and sales representatives on product services and internal training sessions on their job requirements, such as using CRM. Blue also provides educational meetings for administration, service representatives, and sales representatives that answer commonly asked questions within our industry, cover customer service benchmarks, and ensure that Blue’s Commitment to Excellence is followed through daily.
“Through all of these educational seminars, Blue Technologies has created a culture that undoubtedly cannot be beat,” says Palamara. “We assure the satisfaction of our employees as heavily as we assure it with our customers.”
Blue Technologies operates under the motto of a disciplined, well-trained, and highly motivated staff representing sales, service, and support. With continuing education, employee developmental programs, and reviewing benchmarks from Blue’s Commitment to Excellence, Blue continues to solidify the effort it puts forth to ensure long-term growth and profitability.
Those are the hallmarks of an Elite Dealer.
DEAN’S OFFICE MACHINES, INC.
Greensboro, NC
President/Owner: Steve Cobb
Year founded: 1972
Number of employees: 48
Primary hardware vendors: Canon, Toshiba, Lexmark, HP, OKI, Fujitsu, Destroy-It, MBM Primary solutions and services offerings: Docuware, Paper Cut, Drivve , Uniflow, FM Audit, Lexmark Solutions, and Toshiba’s suite of solutions.
Approximate/Average yearly revenues: $5-$10 million
Biggest sale/win of the past year: A new hospital system, resulting in more than 140 MFP placements.
The most significant accomplishment at Dean’s Office Machines this past year was implementing new technologies and processes within managed services, service dispatch, supply processes, virtual server, solutions portfolio, and watching this vision produce an annual increase in revenue of more than 15 percent. Meanwhile, Managed Print Services has been the dealership’s top growth segment growing at a rate of over 30 percent with wide format growing at more than 20 percent annually. In addition Dean’s solutions-based offerings are trending upward as well as this segment of their business becomes more diverse. Dean’s Office Machines may not be one of the largest dealers in the country, but they’re still big enough to service any size customer and are flexible enough to handle any needs and personal enough to address issues locally. That’s why customers love doing business with Dean’s. “Our management is stable and we have the ability to do what needs to be done to assure complete customer satisfaction,” maintains President Steve Cobb. Customers also choose Dean’s because they offer a broad spectrum of products, services, and represent some of the best suppliers in the industry. “The equipment and software we place is a part of a complex solution therefore, we are able to provide best in class products and services for all size accounts,” adds Cobb. The company has a reputation for taking a vested interest in their customers and treating them as partners, realizing its commitment to their long term success is really a commitment to Dean’s future.
While Dean’s was founded in 1972, they’re not old school in their approach to marketing and are now active on social networks such as LinkedIn and Facebook. Plus they understand the intrinsic value of keeping their Website updated as frequently as possible.
They’ve done a nice job too with their lead-generation program, tweaking their MPS programs, and creating a solutions guide so customers are aware of the vast array of Dean’s offerings. “We have developed innovative wide-format programs based on customer demands,” adds Cobb. “And we have developed processes and programs that take an idea from inception, to process and implementation. These include capturing scanning, printing, faxing, routing, improvement of business process, retrieval and even security and destruction.”
Making changes doesn’t come without a fair amount of pain, but Dean’s has been up to the task, developing solutions paths and strategies from available platforms into comprehensible mainstream integration and organization of unstructured data. “We were able to introduce, implement and train our customer partners and employees on these new technologies,” notes Cobb.
The future remains bright for Dean’s Office Machines thanks in part to its creative financing options, constant staff training, and discovery of new software as well as business models that may be considered unconventional, but promising.”
In addition we believe that Dean’s is on the right track with its complete team approach from each department. Each employee understands and embraces the responsibility and authority to make sure customers are satisfied. And satisfied customers are a good indication that a dealer like Dean’s is Elite.
DES PLAINES OFFICE EQUIPMENT (DPOE)
Elk Grove Village, IL
President/Owner: Chip Miceli
Year founded: 1955
Number of employees: 50-75
Primary hardware vendors: Sharp, Kyocera, Konica Minolta, Copystar, HP, Microsoft
Primary solutions and services offerings: MPS, IT Solutions, Presentation Technology
Approximate/Average yearly revenues: $10-$15 million
Biggest sale/win of the past year: The unveiling of the DPOE Video Wall featuring Sharp monitors. This new product is a joining of Sharp and DPOE in a way that the dealership has never experienced before, creating a high-tech, high-quality visual and audio experience.
DPOE used to be an office equipment dealer, but today this Elk Grove Village dealership is much more than that thanks to an ongoing initiative of growing and marketing its IT department. The IT department now has a distinctive name, Tech-Flex, which DPOE began to slowly introduce to clients, explaining how its new technology and services work with the products clients already have.
“After that, we built ourselves a Network Operating Center and had a grand opening to show off all that our NOC and Tech-Flex team could do,” explains President Chip Miceli.
Those efforts have paid dividends as DPOE’s IT services has grown 150 percent in the past three years. That’s not the only area where DPOE is growing. With the introduction of Sharp presentation technology, the dealership was one of the first Sharp dealer’s in the country to truly embrace this product category and has seen a rapid expansion in that portion of the business this year.
Miceli reports that DPOE’s biggest accomplishment this year was becoming a certified zero-landfill dealership, incorporating recycling and green practices into all areas of the business. “This then trickled down to our customers through toner recycling , energy efficient machines, and strategies to reduce waste,” reports Miceli.
Customers continue to do business with DPOE because of their friendly and professional staff. Technicians are certified by every vendor the dealership works with and it has a reputation for responding to problems within four hours. “We make sure our customers know when to expect us and that every call is completed to 100 percent satisfaction,” notes Miceli. “They also love that we follow up with courtesy calls and surveys.”
DPOE does a nice job too of giving back to the community, volunteering and sponsoring various charities and Chambers of Commerce. Employees are also active in local networking groups, and the company burnishes its reputation as a leading technology provider by hosting free educational B2B events quarterly.
The company culture also helps make this dealership special.
“Working at DPOE means that you are joining a family,” adds Miceli. “The entire organization has an excellent support structure from the owners to the sales reps to the technicians. We are team oriented, forgoing competition for the sake of the company as a whole.”
An eye to the future is a quality shared by all Elite Dealers and that’s the reason why DPOE’s number one strategy is investing in its employees. It devotes a significant amount of resources to training and growing employees from the moment they step through the doors.
“We also invest ourselves in our customers, making sure we are helping to support them as they are supporting us, and taking a personal interest,” states Miceli. “We constantly research the latest technology and look for new ways to create business solutions while being community and environmentally conscious.”
That emphasis on nurturing employees along with the ability to embrace new technologies, services, and solutions are apt reasons for once again acknowledging DPOE as an Elite Dealer.
FISHER’S TECHNOLOGY
Boise, ID
President/CEO: Chris Taylor
Year founded: 1936
Number of employees: 75
Primary hardware vendors: Canon, Konica Minolta, Lanier, KIP
Primary solutions and services offerings: Managed Network Services, Laserfiche, DocuWare, LincDoc, xMedius, ABBYY
Approximate/Average yearly revenues: $14 million
Biggest sale/win of the past year: Fisher’s biggest win was the fact that there were no big wins even though they had the largest revenue in history with all deals of less than $300K.
It’s probably no coincidence that Fisher’s has been awarded Best Place to Work in Idaho for the last five consecutive years. That’s because of the dealership’s culture of doing what is right for the customer at all cost and employees who seem to have fun making that happen.
Coming off a year where Fisher’s enjoyed the largest revenue in history is cause for celebration throughout the company and an example of its sustainable, diversified business. Those revenues and the company’s growth can be attributed to acquisitions, a diversified offering of products and services, its facilities management operation, a focus on solutions, and the introduction of managed network services.
Acquisitions can sometimes be a painful process, but that didn’t stop Fisher’s from making two over the course of three months, resulting in an overload of work for everyone in the organization. “We tackled the resulting morale problem by giving Christmas bonuses in August and by being transparent that we knew where the issues were and what we were doing about it,” explains President and CEO Chris Taylor.
Expansion into managed network services posed another challenge after acquiring a small managed services company. “We performed several roundtable lunch studies with companies to determine what the perfect IT company looked like, and then built a differentiated company around that feedback,” reports Taylor.
It’s that willingness to listen to their customers and then deliver that has historically been a big part of Fisher’s culture for creating happy customers. “The culture permeates everything we do and every employee lives and breathes it,” states Taylor.
Fisher’s approaches its customers’ printing needs from a consulting perspective instead of a sales standpoint. That may not be unique, however, it’s a necessity as the industry has become more solutions centric. “This approach allows us to create unique solutions to each customer’s situation instead of proposing a ‘one size fits all’ package,” notes Taylor. “We also strive for a customer-centric internal culture at Fisher’s and are always looking for customer feedback and ways that we can improve.”
Maintaining a presence within the business community has helped the company grow as well and Fisher’s regularly holds technology shows and after-hours networking events so that customers, friends, and community members can get to know them in a less-formal manner. For the past two years they’ve hosted a tailgate tent and party trailer at local college football games. The events and customer-focused attitude have helped create customers who gladly recommend Fisher’s to their contacts while also fostering a positive view of Fisher’s within the community.
Looking forward expect to see more product and service diversification and the development of a professional services business providing project management, business process redesign, and change management.
You can also count on Fisher’s to focus on hiring and retaining the best people it can find and maintaining the tradition of taking great care of customers.
And growth will continue through geographic expansion to leverage what Taylor calls “our magic” in underserved markets.
Those are tough initiatives to focus on for any business, but what else can you expect from an Elite Dealer?
CENTURY BUSINESS PRODUCTS, INC.
Sioux Falls, SD
President/Owners: Aaron Gerdes, Brett Gildemaster, Kevin Jergenson
Year founded: 1984
Number of employees: 50+
Primary hardware vendors: Kyocera, Konica Minolta
Primary solutions and services offerings: MPS, document management, and business applications that securely integrate into various business platforms.
Approximate/Average yearly revenues: $10-$15 million
Biggest sale/win of the past year: A hospital in the region who decided to go with Century Business Products, resulting in more than 100 machines placed in the main location and satellite offices.
Serving a rural market serves Century Business Products well while new initiatives are helping expand its reach and presence in the Sioux Falls market. A major rebranding campaign to create a consistent look and message with a new logo, Website, company shirts, literature, television commercials, electronic marketing, and signage has been a step in the right direction—upwards.
“This year we are reaching out to potential customers searching for our products electronically in our region, once pinpointed we can follow those individuals utilizing searches for our products and then we serve up ads to grab their attention,” explains Kyle Ruhland, marketing director. “In conjunction with this we have paid for placement positions on the Web and are continually optimizing our new Website so we are near the top of pages during searches.” Century also sends out a monthly electronic newsletter to more than 5,000 contacts with local news articles and national articles dealing with information and technology advancements in the office technology industry.
The dealership’s biggest area of growth has been Managed Print Services, growing at 30 percent year over year. “The growth started with managing a business’s current printer fleets to analyzing the process of a business so we could develop a plan to consolidate and migrate new products within the facility while controlling cost,” notes Ruhland.
Elite Dealers thrive on providing great service and Century Business Products is no exception. “We have many customers tell us our service is why they keep coming back to us when upgrading products,” states Ruhland.
Century Business products prides itself on sending its service technicians to manufacturer training to ensure they have a complete understanding of the products they’re working on. Its technicians are held to rigorous standards, are astute at analyzing the problem, then getting the appropriate parts, completing the repairs, cleaning the machine, and double-checking their work to ensure the customer has the utmost up time.
Century’s manufacturer holds a nationwide service technician of the year contest annually and the dealership has finished number one, two of the last four years, and had a third place finish. Not a bad showing for the Sioux Falls-based dealership.
Like many other dealers in the industry Century has struggled with transitioning its sales reps from copier sales people to solutions salespeople. They’re also struggling with declining print output. Based on past history and performance and a willingness to embrace new opportunities, Century is already taking the appropriate steps to overcome these challenges. The company is diversifying the portfolio of products and services as they look to become more of a one-stop shop for its customers than ever before.
Century Business Products is making all the right moves and has secured a place among this year’s Elite Dealers.