As our nation celebrated yet another birthday, Visual Edge Technology (VET) was busy setting off fireworks of its own, announcing the acquisition of four more companies to fortify its unprecedented growth explosion. The deals bring the total number of VET acquisitions to 30.
The latest moves see VET obtain Business Technology Partners (BTP) of Orlando, FL; N2N Technologies of Indianapolis; Office Systems, with operations in Barre, VT and Concord, NH; and Dunn’s Business Solutions of Gaylord, MI. BTP will move its operations into neighboring AXSA Imaging Solutions—acquired by VET last October. N2N, a core managed IT services provider, will transition its two locations over to VET’s Netwise Resources. Office Systems will remain an independent operating company with advisory support from Visual Edge-owned Axion Business Technologies. Dunn’s will be led by Danny Brady, president of Brady’s Business Systems, another Visual Edge Technology-owned company, as longtime Dunn’s President Theresa McNamara transitions into retirement.
Business Technology Partners
With a legacy built on attentive service, BTP has been a leading provider of Xerox and HP multifunctional, wide format, and inkjet office equipment to a number of small businesses across Central Florida.
Bob Christensen, president of AXSA and leader of Visual Edge Technology’s Florida growth strategy, commented on the deal, “Our goal at Visual Edge is very specific—to work with owners of small dealerships who need help with succession planning. We not only give them good value for their company, but we also carry on their legacy by taking care of their key employees and customers.”
“BTP’s president, Eric Williams, has done a great job of building the company. This is really the passing of the baton. He wants to make sure that his company, his people, and his employees are in good hands,” added Christensen.
Notably, AXSA only recently got into the copier market, as its heritage had long been in the wide-format sector, serving architects, engineers, and construction markets. Recognizing an opportunity to go deeper and wider within its own base, AXSA expanded its reach through a series of small dealer acquisitions.
N2N Technologies
A national leader in the engineering and K-12 education IT spaces, N2N has been a full-service IT provider of information and business technology solutions since 2008. N2N is known for its state-of-the-art private cloud hosting platform, a high point of the deal, that will now provide Visual Edge clients with a private cloud hosting option.
“N2N has had considerable growth in the past five years, and we’ve been approached by many companies about a merger,” says N2N co-founder and chief operating officer, Todd Eaton. “After many conversations with Netwise and Visual Edge, we found that our companies are very similar in management styles and how we work with our customers. It’s a really good fit.”
The merger supports Visual Edge’s national strategy of exponential managed IT growth. “This will increase our ability to offer managed IT services to our base of over 75,000 clients nationwide,” says Mark Gibson, vice president of managed IT services for Visual Edge Technology, “and gives Netwise a centralized 24/7 nationwide service desk operated right from the company’s Indianapolis headquarters.”
Office Systems
In joining VET, Office Systems will reap the financial support from a national company while maintaining its roots in New England and growing the business together with Axion Business Technologies.
“This really completes our overall strategy to have a footprint in all of the New England states. The potential for growth here is huge,” said Robert Ferland, president of Axion Business Technologies. “We also get the added bonus of Office Systems’ market share in New Hampshire. One of the benefits for Office Systems’ customers is that we will bring new services to market that they would not have otherwise had access to, such as production print, managed print, and managed IT services.”
Office Systems President Richard Lowrey said that the decision to join Visual Edge was easy, as Office Systems marks the second dealership that he has sold, both while being under the age of 52. “Being locally owned isn’t as important as it used to be. In a world where people can buy just about anything online, people are technology driven to get the best products with the best deal, but still be taken care of,” he said.
Dunn’s Business Solutions
This deal is a bit of a departure for VET, which generally seeks to onboard the acquired dealer’s current leadership. But when McNamara started looking into a succession plan, she wanted to find a company that would take care of both her employees and customers, and continue her legacy. McNamara saw VET as the catalyst to take her company to the next level.
For Dunn’s, it will be business as usual after the acquisition. “The same faces, the same products, the same great service,” McNamara said. “We hope to add new services and products to increase our customers’ efficiency. That has always been our number one goal.”
The transition is expected to be smooth. Both Dunn’s and Brady’s are based in Michigan, and McNamara and Brady have been friends in the business for some time. Like Dunn’s, Brady’s is also an authorized KYOCERA reseller, but it will bring the added bonus of expertise in managed print services, document management, and managed IT solutions to Dunn’s customer base.
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About Business Technology Partners (BTP)
Business Technology Partners is Central Florida’s oldest and most reliable small business imaging solutions provider. BTP provides the sales and service of color and monochrome Xerox and HP multifunctional office equipment, and plotters. The 25-year-old dealership is known for its commitment to serving its customers long after the initial sale.
About AXSA Imaging Solutions Inc.
A Visual Edge Technology company, AXSA Inc. is the largest Pagewide XL dealer in the southeastern U.S. and has also served this area with HP Design Jet, KIP wide format printers and Samsung office solutions for several years. Led by president Bob Christensen, AXSA, Inc. is headquartered in Orlando, FL. Christensen also oversees the operations of Visual Edge-owned and Florida-based WBS Technologies, FastForward Digital Solutions, Zymphony Technology Solutions, and Business Technology Partners.
About N2N Technologies Inc.
N2N Technologies is a full-service IT provider, offering information and business technology solutions. N2N delivers practical experience utilizing industry-leading tools and proven best practices to ensure that its customers consistently receive a level of managed network, data center, and hosting services that exceed their expectations. N2N’s public cloud, private cloud, colocation, offsite backup, data storage, and disaster recovery solutions serve the needs of small businesses and large enterprises across the Midwest.
About Netwise Resources
Netwise Resources, a Visual Edge Technology Company, is a Managed IT Services provider in Indiana. Providing managed IT and print services for over 400 corporate, healthcare, educational, and non-profit clients, Netwise, an LLC partnership, was started by Mark Gibson in 2000. With offices in Indianapolis and Lafayette, Netwise’s core product is “IT in a Box,” which provides service desk, remote monitoring, remote support, on-site support, back up and disaster recovery, antivirus and spam protection, managed security, and infrastructure project support. The core of Netwise’s service delivery system is its ITIL-based service desk, which provides 24x7x365 client support and systems monitoring.
About Office Systems
Office Systems is one of the leading independent office equipment providers of Toshiba and HP multifunctional products, and Canon and KIP wide format products. The dealership has 20 employees across its two locations in Barre, Vermont and Concord, New Hampshire, and over 100 years combined industry experience. Office Systems is committed to delivering outstanding customer service and monitors its customer’s loyalty using the Net Promoter Score methodology.
About Axion Business Technologies
Axion Business Technologies, a Visual Edge Technology Company was founded in 2004 by Robert Ferland, a 35-year veteran in the office products industry. Currently, Axion is the product of 12 acquisitions over the past decade. This rapid growth has enabled Axion to be a driving presence in the industry, proudly representing the Greater Boston, Greater Worcester, Rhode Island, and Southern Massachusetts marketplaces, along with Cape Cod and the Islands. Axion’s product lines include Konica Minolta, Toshiba, Okidata and HP multifunctional products.
About Dunn’s Business Solutions
Since 1978, Dunn’s Business Solutions has specialized in providing northern Michigan businesses and organizations with state-of-the-art office equipment, technology, furniture, and supplies while solving some of their biggest workflow and productivity issues. From small non-profits to large, multi-location corporations, Dunn’s has helped hundreds of organizations trim their product and operating expenses and get their hands on the highest quality products and services available on the market, most recently as an authorized reseller of Kyocera multifunctional and KIP wide-format products.
About Brady’s Business Systems
A Visual Edge Technology Company, Brady’s Business Systems was founded by Danny Brady in 2000 in Grand Blanc, MI, and has now grown to represent more than 17 counties in Michigan, with locations in Grand Blanc, Saginaw, and Port Huron. Their success is a direct result of their team’s dedication to the community of customers, superior products, and unparalleled service guarantees. The one-supplier philosophy ensures that they can take care of all your IT, networking, print, fax, and copy needs. They believe that it is their duty to create and maintain user-friendly, streamlined business systems to guide your company into the future of the “networked office environment.”
About Visual Edge Technology Inc.
Visual Edge Technology, a family of Office and IT Solutions Companies, incorporates a strategy of operating through established dealerships across the U.S., focused on providing a broad line of office solutions, including the sale and service of automated multifunction products, wide-format solutions, managed print services, document management software, network management services, and IT solutions. Visual Edge sells products supplied by Konica Minolta, Canon, Xerox, HP, Kyocera, Sharp, Samsung, Muratec, Okidata, Toshiba, Kip, Lexmark and Ricoh. Through its acquisition strategy, Visual Edge will continue to identify successful companies that focus on providing simple solutions to complex challenges.
