Compuquip

To download a printable version of the newsletter, click Compuquip 30th Anniversary Quip Notes

As Compuquip’s 30th year comes to a close, we could not be more excited for the future of the business. As you will see from our father’s reflection, Compuquip is a company full of history and with a great reputation in South Florida. We are looking forward to continuing that momentum and building upon it.

As we begin this new chapter of our history it has given us an opportunity to reflect on what we have accomplished and, more importantly, to consider where we are headed. As everyone knows these are complicated economical times, however, we as a company have never been more financially sound and operationally focused as we are today.

It starts with our most important asset, our people. Over the past few years we have assembled a well-balanced team in Accounting, Sales, Service, Administration and Operations that work as a cohesive unit marching towards the same goal of providing the highest quality IT support & service. Although the team has grown and changed, our past 30 years have taught us to always maintain that laser focus on the Client Experience. The agility and smarts that our entire team possesses allows us to continue to be a top performer and consistently grow our business.

Our service offerings continue to evolve with our Security division constantly providing clients with new solutions to protect their network, our Infrastructure division always maximizing technology to enable us to build our clients’ complex networks, and our Managed Services team adapting to the needs of small and medium sized businesses with new and comprehensive service offerings.

What keeps us working hard, of course, is our great relationships with many clients in this community and around the country. We are fortunate to have a diverse group of clients that we are proud to steadily grow each month. They (you) always keep us engaged and push us to deliver what is needed.

As we look to the future we see great things. Technology is not an industry that allows you to plan years in advance as you can imagine. But what we are sure of is that technology will always change and that Compuquip has the people and the passion to continue to be a premier partner in this community for many years to come.

We hope to celebrate with each and every one of you this important milestone in our history. And we especially look forward to, and will work hard to achieve, another 30 years of success.

Sincerely,

Eric and Brian Dosal

Compuquip Timeline

CEO’s Reflection

It has been an amazing journey to start a business and then run it for 30 years. To put this in perspective, Eric was two years old when Compuquip started and now he is our COO; Brian would come two years later and he is now our Director of Sales and Marketing. Along the way there have been some challenging moments, but more importantly, there have also been many tremendous accomplishments and great friends, clients and employees.

In the early 1980ʼs, Larry Mero and his team from NCR were instrumental in partnering with us and helping us grow what was then a technology leasing company. We traded out the old equipment and Larry sold them new. In those inflationary days, leasing was a tremendous option that we provided to most of our clients.

Virginia Rodriguez came to work in 1983 and was key in helping us manage our growth. I was selling while Virginia was taking care of the administration. Carlos Cuervo and his team did all the maintenance, repairs and deliveries.

The 90ʼs brought great opportunities for the IT industry with the transition from legacy to open systems. It was a difficult change for our existing business but we knew it was a necessary one to make and we looked for someone to help lead us through it. In 1993, we hired Tom Ewing who “came to our rescue” and joined the Compuquip family. Tom was a long time IBM employee who had just retired and was looking for a new challenge. From the first weekend we met, I knew he would be a great fit to help lead our organization. Thanks to him we were able to make the necessary changes to our organization and be a stronger and larger company. Tom officially retired from Compuquip in 2007 and now resides in Ocala with his wife, Barbara.

The new century brought a technology recession like never before to our industry. Due to all the spending prior to Y2K, our business went from booming to very slow in a few short months. Thanks to our client base though, and a fiscally responsible management style, we got through it. At the same time we also made a commitment to the future and growth. We moved into new offices that brought us a completely different image for both our prospective clients and our vendors. One of those key vendors was Check Point Software Technologies. Thanks to the vision of their regional manager Phil Humphrey, we established a Security practice in Tampa run by Brad Reed, our Director of Internet Security. Brad and Check Point have done an outstanding job working together and creating a nationally renowned security division within Compuquip.

In 2005, we made another commitment to growth and invested substantial dollars to create a managed services practice. We felt that the outsourcing of IT for small businesses was a natural progression for our industry and wanted to be on the forefront of the trend. Today it is the fastest growing area of our business and a major focus for our Infrastructure division.

Looking ahead, this year has begun the formal transition of management to my sons. I could not be prouder of their hard work, passion and vision for our business. The business has never been in better hands as they take over more and more of the day-to-day operations. With their leadership and the team we have assembled, Iʼm very bullish, excited, and optimistic for another great 30 years in business.

In closing, our clientsʼ success has always been and will always be our only focus and we look forward to growing with you. Please remember that our door is always open and we welcome you to let us know how we can help!

Alberto Dosal

President & CEO