Centric’s New Headquarters in Owings Mills, MD
It’s not every day a dealer makes a multi-million dollar investment in a new headquarters, and when they do, it’s a reflection of the success of the business. A perfect example is the new headquarters of Centric Business Systems in Owings Mills, Maryland which fulfills the vision of Centric President Rick Bastinelli.
Centric’s new headquarters is a beautiful, well-designed, flexible space with room for growth and is adaptable to another type of business should the unthinkable happen and Bastinelli decide to exit the business and another tenant not focused on office technology and solutions moves in.
- Centric’s Lobby
“We built this as a flexible space building for our use today and post-Centric use,” says Bastinelli. “We didn’t want to build something that was so specific that it didn’t have a future.”
The building is LEED-certified and Centric recycles virtually everything. Skylights in the center of the structure bring in natural light. There is no fluorescent lighting anywhere in the building and you won’t find any light switches either except in a couple of private offices. Motion sensors turn lights on and off. What’s especially refreshing for employees is that they can see outdoors even when they’re in the center of the building. Solar panels on the roof generate energy, and Bastinelli reports that the building’s HVAC system is 30 percent more energy efficient than your typical HVAC system.
When he first budgeted for the new space he wasn’t planning on LEED certification. That added an additional $500,000 to the bill, which also included the aforementioned energy efficient lighting as HVAC as well as water efficiency. Altogether these initiatives have reduced energy consumption by 35 percent and water consumption by 20 percent.
Rick Bastinelli
“It was important to do this because the number one mission of Centric is to be a green company and provide green solutions to our clients,” states Bastinelli. “It shows we’re serious about sustainability.”
Bastinelli doesn’t expect to see the ROI on the sustainability initiatives in his lifetime, but that’s okay. He’s been in the business for 40 years and is proud to say that Centric is debt free. The building is a personal venture. As an FYI, his daughter Andrea also works for the company.
Centric’s Demo Room
This is clearly a building that is right at home in the 21st century. From the demo room, to the sales offices, to the meeting rooms, Centric’s headquarters have the look and feel of a modern office technology dealership that’s focused on selling solutions and services in addition to the hardware that’s helped grow the company over the past 20 years.
Adjacent to the lobby is Centric’s HR department where you’ll find a full-time HR manager and three full-time recruiters.
“We’re growing so much we find that’s the best way to do it,” says Bastinelli.
Centric’s Call Center where the goal is first-call efficiency.
Centric’s Call Center illustrates the progressive nature of the company. What started with three employees has grown to seven, including a network-certified help desk technician. There’s plenty of space in the Call Center to accommodate 11 more employees as Centric grows.
Centric uses OMD, MWAi, and GPS for managing the service aspect of the business. Out in the field, 39 service techs from five branches cover a path from Washington DC to Southern Pennsylvania.
“We are efficient at driving first call efficiency,” boasts Bastinelli.
The Distribution Center at Centric.
Centric sells, builds, and delivers more than 200 units a month, with most of those originating in its distribution center. All sales people work in an open office, configured in a way that allows for easy collaboration. The day of my visit the space was empty with Centric’s sales reps busy in making sales calls.
Two training rooms are used to bring new hires up to speed and for sharpening critical sales and service skills.
Bastinelli has thought of everything and even has a fitness center on site so employees can work out before or after work or during the lunch hour.
Adjacent to the lobby is Centric’s demo room where you’ll find the latest technology that they sell, configured to show visitors how that technology and corresponding solutions can be integrated within an office environment. Solutions on display include mobile printing, document management, and accounting software—three key market opportunities for Centric. Beneath the demo room floor is a power grid with plenty of circuitry and connections, enabling the space to be easily reconfigured to accommodate new technologies and solutions.
The Conference Rooms that Run Parallel to Centric’s Demo Room.
Parallel to the showroom are conference rooms with glass walls. These were designed to integrate with the showroom while also providing privacy for client and staff meetings. A nearby presentation room with stadium seating and an 80-inch electronic whiteboard offers visitors an opportunity to delve deeper into the technology and solutions.
“I wanted a space like you would find in higher education with video and audio,” says Bastinelli. “This is an efficient way to present Centric and the Sharp and Ricoh products.”
When you listen to Bastinelli recap his history in the business, purchasing a bankrupt Savin dealership in 1990, then growing it into a $55-million business, one can’t help but marvel at the entrepreneurial spirit of this man and the people around him who have helped Centric achieve that growth. And growth is still a big part of the plan. From 2009-2012 Centric enjoyed a 62 percent growth rate. Over the next three years Bastinelli is looking to grow from $55 million to $60 million.
“These initiatives have been done to fuel the growth of Centric,” states Bastinelli. “The larger you get the easier it is to grow at a faster pace.You have experience, knowledge, and resources to move at a faster pace.”
The planning phase for the new space, which is located on six acres and encompasses 40,000-square feet, took a year and construction another year. Now that it’s pretty much completed Centric has a building that fits the image of a cutting-edge office technology and solutions dealership and one that will likely be the envy of other office technology dealers.
Centric’s headquarters may not be the Hearst Castle, that testament to its larger than life owner William Randoph Hearst, but the building in Owing Mills is a modern marvel and without a doubt a testament to the vision of Rick Bastinelli.
