Nick Pegley
It’s been nearly five years since Konica Minolta acquired All Covered and all indications are that the acquisition has been an unqualified success. The All Covered networked continues to grow with the company recently completing its fifteenth and sixteenth acquisitions in Detroit and Atlanta. Prior to those two acquisitions, All Covered had grown from 300 to 700 employees. Indeed, the company just keeps getting bigger and bigger.
In February we sat down with All Covered’s Vice President, Marketing Nick Pegley to talk about the organization’s growth and performance along with what’s in store for the coming year.
It was hardly a surprise that Pegley predicts more acquisitions and more growth. “It’s going to be a big year for our organization. The growth curve is going to accelerate and acquisitions will be part of that.”
Pegley points out that the acquisitions bring with them new ideas, diversity, opportunities in new markets, and technology expertise for different vertical markets.
One of All Covered’s previous acquisitions added SharePoint development to the mix. “We’ve always wanted to have real application development and now we have it,” states Pegley.
Prior to being acquired by Konica Minolta in what’s almost ancient history by now, All Covered was no stranger to acquisitions. “The difference is because of Konica Minolta’s resources we can acquire bigger companies,” says Pegley. “We’re not just looking at 10 or 15-person companies, we’re now looking at 50-60 person companies.”
SMBs, companies with 10-150 employees, represent the prime market for All Covered services. But even that’s evolving as the company targets midsized enterprises. In fact, All Covered now provides a Help Desk for a company with 24,000 employees.
Could All Covered have handled a customer of that size before the acquisition?
“They wouldn’t have looked at us,” acknowledges Pegley.
Thanks to the various acquisitions All Covered has virtually all major markets well covered. Now they’re building out their footprint in the Midwest and markets such as Pittsburgh, Detroit, and Cleveland. They’re also making inroads in Des Moines and Kansas City. “Kind of that middle of the market,” reveals Pegley.
The goal, ultimately, is to fill be in any market where Konica Minolta has a strong presence. “If they’re strong in a city and we’re not there, we kind of have to do a deal there,” notes Pegley.
Also key to its growth strategy is building up its expertise within certain vertical markets. Legal, education, and finance are areas where All Covered has done an excellent job of strengthening its vertical expertise. For example, one acquisition in Philadelphia added an organization that was knowledgeable about FDIC compliance and specialized in servicing community banks.
Healthcare is the next big opportunity. “We already have a foot in that marketplace so we have some confidence in security and compliance with HIPAA-type services,” says Pegley.
Besides looking for an IT company that specializes in healthcare, they’re also looking for companies that are strong in manufacturing as well as state and local governments.
Does he see a point where the All Covered network hits maximum capacity and there are no more markets to conquer?
“I don’t think so because you’re talking about companies with between 10-100 employees in the U.S. or 1.1-1.4 million businesses. If you look at the bigger opportunities, Konica Minolta has 100,000 clients so I don’t think we’ll run out,” responds Pegley. “It’s just getting to them all.”
All this growth means nothing if Konica Minolta’s dealers aren’t buying into the Konica Minolta/All Covered message. Apparently, growing numbers are taking advantage of the resources All Covered offers. Plus because IT is complicated All Covered can be an asset to a dealer even if they are already offering some sort of IT services.
“Some of bigger ones have own IT and sometimes we can help fill some gaps,” states Pegley. “IT is a complicated game. It’s not 9-5, it’s 24/7.”
As Pegley explains, some dealers might be able to provide support during regular business hours, but can’t provide the after-hours support. In addition, All Covered can provide them with application development, something many dealers don’t offer. “We can be complimentary,” states Pegley. “The message Rick Taylor gave us was build a program that helps Konica Minolta dealers transform their business in the same way we’re transforming Konica Minolta.”
Pegley says he’s satisfied with the number of dealers who have signed up for the program so far—about one third of Konica Minolta’s dealers. “I think it’s great,” says Pegley.
In his line of work, Pegley talks to a lot of dealers and they’ve got a lot of questions. Most want to get a better understanding of the basics of Managed Services while others are more interested in new technology—cloud and security. There’s also a lot of interest in the virtual desktop environment. “That’s a great way for the dealer to present next-generation technology to a customer,” says Pegley. “The more sophisticated ones want to know about technology, how do I go to market, and how do I hire sales people with the IT skills?”
If Managed Services is inevitable, what’s the key to success?
“If you just dabble, you’re going to have a problem,” opines Pegley. “But if you go all in and say we’re going to make this work, everyone in the company will take their signals from the leader. If they get the signal that this is serious and not just an experiment that’s going to go away, it catches the light.”
Can he discourage dealers from dabbling?
“We encourage them to try. We’ve made the program accessible so there’s no high hurdles. It’s flexible, there’s no upfront cash, but we do encourage them to make the commitment.”
And making the commitment is what Konica Minolta has done with All Covered and that growth is an example of a commitment that’s paying dividends.
