Edition 4 | March, 2009
Welcome to the Fourth Issue of Quip Notes, the newsletter presented to you by Compuquip.
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CEO’s Corner:
It is a pleasure to write the first “Chairman’s Corner” for our quarterly newsletter. We hope that you enjoy the new look and feel. I am grateful to our marketing department for doing a terrific job and giving our organization another avenue to communicate with our clients, partners and community.
As we wrap up the first quarter of 2009, the economy continues to be a primary focus of our attention. Managing cash flow has become more critical than ever before as lines of credit have become difficult to establish and maintain. Fortunately, Compuquip has always been very conservative – my executive team even calls it “old fashioned.” We have never had external debt and have remained profitable every year that our business has been in operation.
However, the technology sector (and certainly Miami) is not immune to the overall economic downturn. Like all organizations, we have been prudent with our expenses and have found ways to gain efficiencies with our internal processes. More importantly though, I believe these are times of great opportunity.
During the fourth quarter of 2008, we “re-launched” our Managed IT Services practice throughout South Florida through an expansive marketing campaign that highlights the cost-savings and operational efficiencies this service provides to our clients. Since the “re-launch,” we have added a number of new clients, invested in our infrastructure and brought on new personnel to manage the demand. In November, we also established a new subsidiary: Compuquip Professional Services (CPS). Led by Jack McCarthy, CPS offers a full array of IT staff augmentation nationwide and complements the range of products and services we provide to our enterprise clients.
As we continue our 29th year in business, we are as committed to our clients, partners and community as we were in 1980 when I opened the doors at Compuquip. I am confident the economy, our nation and Compuquip will come out of the downturn stronger and smarter. Our doors are always open, and we welcome you to let us know how we can help!
Alberto Dosal, President & CEO
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New @ Compuquip
On March 12, the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce recognized Compuquip Technologies as one of the Top-100 Minority Businesses in South Florida at an awards luncheon held at Jungle Island. Compuquip’s chairman and CEO, Alberto Dosal, accepted the “2009 Outstanding Expansion Plans” award for the company’s growth through the expansion of Managed IT Services which helps local busineses reduce costs and improve IT efficiencies.
Compuquip Technologies is pleased to announce it has been selected by MetroBank to provide Managed IT Services for the 25-year-old South Florida community bank. By selecting to work with Compuquip, MetroBank sought to reduce its monthly IT expenditures and outsource the day-to-day management of its network, data security, servers and workstations.
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Another IT Problem Solved:
Challenge: Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center (FIAC), a not for profit legal assistance organization was challenged to dedicate the time, operating revenue and expertise to effectively manage its evolving IT demands as the organization grew five-fold over a 12 year period.
Solution: FIAC turned to Compuquip’s Managed IT Services solution to provide a comprehensive and cost effective method for managing their technology issues. To meet the escalating technology performance needs of FIAC’s users in three locations, Compuquip assigned two certified engineers to provide dedicated monitoring, management and support of their network. Compuquip further unified FIAC’s enterprise-wide IT support by funneling their end user calls through Compuquip’s Service Desk.
This single point of communications enables Compuquip to proactively manage all of FIAC’s devices and respond immediately to calls for assistance, either remotely or through on-site visits. As a result, FIAC is assured consistency in its dedicated IT personnel backed by the resources of a larger team of experienced professionals.
“Compuquip handles everything — from soup to nuts — so we don’t have to worry about technological glitches or the integrity of our network,” said Chris Salisbury, FIAC’s Director of Development and Communications. “Moreover, we’re receiving better IT support and increased productivity with costs that are well within our means.”
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Managed Services – What is it…Really?
by Brian Dosal
In the IT industry, “Managed Services” has become a general “buzz” term for something that virtually every solution provider, distributor and manufacturer claims to provide – from a software manufacturer with 2,000 employees to a hardware reseller with 10 employees. Because there are no widely accepted standards to this service and no embedded connotation to the phrase, the offering is marketed with the same anonymity as “dot com” was in the 90′s. Unfortunately, this confusion has discouraged a vast number of businesses from taking advantage of the benefits of “Managed Services.” So let me strip this down and explain what “Managed Services” means to an organization and to our clients.
To do this, we must first call “Managed Services” what it truly is: Business Process Outsourcing (BPO). So why not call it that? Well, for two reasons: First, BPO is typically employed in HR, finance, payroll and call center processes, whereas “Managed Services” typically involves IT infrastructure support (networks, help desk, servers, etc). Secondly, the word “outsourcing” carries with it a negative connotation to a majority of business owners/executives and IT employees, who assume that it means business owners lose control over their IT functions and employees lose their jobs (often to overseas workers…thank you, Lou Dobbs). “Managed Services” providers distance themselves from this term and rightly so, since this is not the model offered by most “Managed Services” providers.
Fortunately, the benefits of “Managed Services” are the same as those offered by BPO providers. By contracting with a third-party provider, businesses receive increased levels of service and greater flexibility and speed in reactions to business changes as well as lower costs. And to Compuquip clients, “Managed Services” provides business owners/executives with more control over their IT systems and IT employees receive relief from the burden of mundane responsibilities and cost efficient IT standardization and support.
To be fair, many companies that market “Managed Services” in some way or another do provide a level of BPO. For example, security software manufacturers outsource the process of, let’s say, managing an organization’s data security defense process. A small finance firm may outsource the business process of “IT support” to a 10-person IT organization. It all depends on what is considered business processes for a specific organization. While the definitions can fluctuate between industries and between the size of an organization, the good news is that there are providers out there that can help an organization achieve the benefits of BPO no matter what their size or industry.
As any executive who contracts for BPO will tell you, the agreement for services is about trust, partnership and long-term commitment. Sounds like a marriage between two companies? It really is treated as such so that the agreement is mutually beneficial to both parties.
The question is then this:
How do organizations determine which “Managed Services” provider to trust? My response to our clients is always the same: Ask if the “Managed Services” provider can truly explain what “Managed Services” means.
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Employee Spotlight
Eric Rodriguez, Enterprise Engineer, 19 years
Eric Rodriguez is a rare gem in the technology industry and a treasured asset to Compuquip Technologies. While most IT engineers stay with one employer for an average of three years, Eric has dedicated the past 19 years to exemplary service and professional development with Compuquip.
With a degree in electronic engineering, Eric started work at Compuquip as a field engineer supporting the IT needs of clients in the financial services sector. In the 1990s, with the explosive growth of the Internet and increased demand for sharing data across various users in remote locations, Eric earned certification with Novell, Cisco, Microsoft, Check Point and VMWare, to name a few. As a result, he has become one of Compuquip’s lead enterprise engineers specializing in network infrastructure, WAN connectivity and storage solutions.
“Because Eric has the rare initiative to expand his knowledge base, stay ahead of evolving technology and offer clients a greater variety of solutions for their IT needs, he is my go-to-guy for any major network issues,” said Eric Dosal, Compuquip’s Director of Services. “His level of experience, certifications and unwavering dedication to client demands is a great benefit to our company and our valued clients.”
Married, with two daughters, Eric considers Compuquip his second family.
“During my tenure with Compuquip, I’ve been privileged to grow my career and given the honor to partner with customers – many for 19 years – to help them grow their businesses. It’s rewarding to develop recommendations, implement solutions and earn satisfaction from both my customers and my managers.”
For the future, Eric is looking forward to working with emerging technologies that increase productivity and reduce customer costs, such as virtualization, as well as open-source systems and managed IT services to a greater audience of South Florida businesses.
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Upcoming Events
The Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce Technology Committee will be hosting a cocktail networking event on May 28th. It is being sponsored by Check Point Technologies. For more information, go to www.miamichamber.com.
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Q&A
Who should I contact with questions about my Compuquip account?
Call your Compuquip Account Rep at 305-436-7272 between the hours of 8AM to 5PM EST Monday through Friday.
For more Information, visit our website at www.compuquip.com/support or call 305-436-8853 • 8399 NW 30th Terrace, Miami, FL 33122
