Feature Article: Cash In With A Single Vertical Focus

By Gennifer Biggs, Business Solutions magazine.

When a managed services provider (MSP) tells me it has a single vertical focus, I always wonder how successful that is in terms of long-term growth. So, when I talked to Safe Systems, an MSP that services only community financial institutions, I asked my question. Curt Frierson, CTO for Safe Systems, explains that a single vertical focus requires a great deal of expertise, and when that market gets tight, it takes strategy to pull you through. When it does work, however, you can enjoy the same kind of growth as Safe Systems, a nearly $7 million company that saw 7% growth during the 2009 recession and is projecting 16% in 2010.