Office Systems Business Boosts Value with N-able Technologies Products and Support by Vanessa Simmons

Office Systems Business Boosts Value with N-able Technologies Products and Support CASE STUDY

When he and a co-worker purchased the office printers and copiers company they were working for in 1982, Ron Taylor knew he was on to a good thing. His new company, Office Systems Northwest, posted 10 solid years of growth as a supplier of office products. But, when the copier market began going digital, Taylor and his business partner had to regroup. "Suddenly, we were hooking up copiers and printers to networks, but we knew nothing about computers and networks. Office Systems Northwest decided to expand into networking, purchasing a computer and network services company. "Almost immediately, we wanted to change the business model of the network services division," Taylor remembers. Working under the "break-fix" model, the computer company sold clone computers "and spent a lot of time chasing around to fix the clones." One of the biggest problems was distinguishing between the customer's and the service provider's responsibility. "When a computer breaks down, information that used to reside on the computer has to be retrieved or restored," Taylor recalls. "It was a nightmare to try to explain why that wasn't our responsibility." Although a project approach with statements of work, milestones and signoffs - improved things, Taylor still remembers it as a tough business.

Office Systems Northwest Provider of copiers, printers and imaging solutions for business and government Location: Washington State Website: www.osnw.com

"Every six months, we had to change the business model again - one model never seemed to remain profitable for more than a year. Everyone else in the industry who I talked to was in the same boat."

Challenges Customers required increasing network services and support Merging network services business into the hardware sales and service model Increase customer loyalty and expand revenue opportunities with existing accounts The trusted provider of choice for all customers' IT needs

Transforming the Business The company's engineers believed that a remote network monitoring approach would change things for the better, and "N-able Technologies really hit the target." After receiving a demonstration of N-central, Taylor says he was sold. "N-central had features we could really use for our clients, it was functional for the engineers, and the price point was excellent."

Solution N-able Technologies N-centralÂŽ, an IT management software suite designed for managed service providers N-able customer support, including consultation and transformation services

business

Benefits Realized Network services business stabilized and remained profitable with N-able products and services Acquired 33 new contract customers within nine months of rolling out the services based on N-able products and support Existing accounts nearly doubled in value prior to sale of the division After 10 years, the network services division of the business became stable and profitable, leading to a successful sale in 2005

N-central enabled Office Systems Northwest to proactively monitor network availability, performance, security and service management for multiple customers from one central Web console. And that, coupled with business transformation support from N-able, finally resulted in a stable business model that really worked. "N-able helped us find a way to remotely respond to customers and bill for it, as well as to be proactive and escape the break-fix cycle," Taylor says. They drilled into what was wrong with how we were running the services division and their consultation helped us change our model to be more cost effective."

"With N-able, we were able to do something new: charge recurring monthly fees. That gave us a stable income stream and a business model that was very attractive to customers who were used to the old break-fix way of doing things." Ron Taylor Co-owner & Secretary, Office Systems Northwest

N-able MONITOR â&#x20AC;˘ MANAGE â&#x20AC;˘ OPTIMIZE'

More Sales, Fatter Pipeline, Recurring Revenue

"N-central had the features we could really use for our clients, it was functional for the engineers, and the price point was excellent."

Taylor says that it also became simpler to sell the services. "Remote network monitoring and response is so salable," he emphasizes. "The logic of it is so clear: let your machines tell us what's going on so you have no downtime and never have to call us. We closed 95% of the business we presented the new solution to." In fact, he says, "The N-able product helped us land about 33 contracted clients within nine months. We were still adding new clients when we sold off that division." Even better, "Clients outsourced more to us over time. We almost doubled revenues with new business from existing customers, and that trend is still taking place." So why would the partners sell the thriving business? Because they could. Taylor notes that most businesses in the computer and network services industry, "just sort of die out after a while. When the owners are ready to get out, there's not much to sell. The clientele is loyal to an engineer and will tend to follow the engineer." In contrast, Taylor says, "N-able allowed us to build a model that made our customers loyal to the business. We could respond to any customer request at any time, so their relationship was with Office Systems Northwest, not with a particular engineer." And that, he contends, made the company's services division an attractive acquisition target. "The time to sell a business is when it's really doing well, when it's growing. We sold the business on an upswing."

"The N-able product helped us land about 33 contracted clients within nine months. We were still adding new clients when we sold off that division."

180 Degrees of Synergy Taylor still believes in the outsourcing model and in the network services company he worked with N-able to create. Office Systems Northwest (now a provider of office printers and copiers) and the new, independent services company share a bilateral contract whereby Taylor's team resells network services to clients who need it, and the services company provides Office Systems Northwest with managed network services. Taylor notes that the value N-able provided went far beyond good product and support. "We knew that we had a problem but we didn't know how to fix it. N-able really understood our business and what we were going through. They helped us make the services company into something that could be sold."

About N-able Technologies Founded in March 2000, N-able Technologies is the market leader in transforming service organizations into managed service providers (MSPs). N-able's combination of products, people and processes help service providers, OEMs, resellers, VARs, Telcos and ISPs develop, sell and deliver highly profitable managed services to the small- and medium-sized business (SMB) and midenterprise markets. N-able's product line provides complete solutions to monitor, manage and optimize information technology and security from a business perspective to evolve IT services from reactive to proactive to managed.