Manatee Small Business Awards: SouthTech finds IT success going it alone
SARASOTA -- In 2007, the three founders of information technology and business communications company SouthTech Solutions broke away from the Sarasota accounting firm that spawned its line of business.
That year, the Florida economy was beginning to labor under a housing market crash and a growing recession. Going out on its own after working through parent company Kerkering Barberio Group since 1994, SouthTech entered the market with debt, limited infrastructure and no capital. But what it did have were clients and a team of people that could provide them the IT support and voice-over-internet communications that had grown so rapidly since the start of the decade.
The company also started small. Company President Paul Hoffman and infrastructure solutions and operations vice presidents Chad Goble and Nathan Bailey knew they wouldn't be in the 800-square-foot office where they started up on Fruitville Road for long.
That proved to be true in the best way. Now running a 33-employee workforce out of 6,000 square feet, SouthTech is the 2015 Manatee Small Business of the year for companies grossing sales between $3 million and $6 million.
A network support services company at the start of the recession, SouthTech changed its business model by moving into managed service products such as data backup, enhanced security solutions, VoIP communications and wireless technologies. This, Hoffman said, made its products appealing to technology-dependent small businesses that could not afford full-time IT employees.
"As companies were looking to reduce costs, SouthTech's managed services provided a solution to get more services and a better ROI for the technology investment," he said.
A designer, manager and support provider for business computer and phone systems throughout Manatee and Sarasota counties, SouthTech has seen its revenues grow by 84 percent in the past year. At the same time, its focus has remained local. The company partnered with Tallevast VoIP hardware maker Star2Star and has installed the manufacturer's systems in more than 140 business locations over the past two years.
The company is working toward getting its customers to live telephone support as quickly as possible. In 2014, the average time to reach a SouthTech support technician was 32 seconds. That time is expected to drop in 2015.
Also this year, the company is holding more frequent business strategy meetings with clients and is investing in other resources that will improve service.
As SouthTech's employees take care of clients, the company takes care of its employees. Throughout the year, the company holds training days during which staff members get both technical and soft skills training. Outside work hours, the company schedules employee junkets to the bowling alley, for go-cart racing and baseball games. The company even rented a movie theater for the opening of the latest Star Trek movie.
Matt M. Johnson, Herald business reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7027 or on Twitter@MattAtBradenton.
This story was originally published September 19, 2015 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Manatee Small Business Awards: SouthTech finds IT success going it alone ."