Where Are They Now? Systems Technology Group (May 2010)
A couple years ago, I interviewed Gary Kielich from Systems Technology Group (STG), a point of sale VAR out of Buffalo, NY. During our conversation, Kielich explained that Buffalo wasn't a large enough market to grow STG at the rate he wanted, so the company had a national sales focus. In fact, nearly 75% of his company's annual revenue came from outside of Buffalo. At the time, he credited custom software development, kitchen video sales, and video surveillance as driving STG's estimated 20% sales growth in 2010. I recently followed up with Kielich to see how 2010 -- and 2011 -- turned out for STG.
How has your business fared since we last spoke with you?
Kielich: Business has been excellent. We now do business in 31 states and 8 countries. We have clients in Germany, Chile, The Bahamas, Curacao, Mexico, Switzerland and Canada, so our “National Footprint” is growing. The old model of protected territories is going away quickly. Customers want to deal with experts and modern technology allows STG to leverage our expertise anywhere.
What has contributed most to your success since we last spoke?
Kielich: It always comes back to having great people and keeping them! We have extremely low turnover because we really value our employees and we have a maniacal focus on quality. We invested heavily in a powerful internal information system so we can have accurate, up to date information about the state of our client’s systems and how effective we are supporting them. We sell information systems and we wanted to make sure that our internal systems where top notch as well. We outsource our HR, 401 (k), and employee benefit packages to industry professionals so we can focus on our core competencies and make sure STG employees get high quality HR services.
We also are using open architecture mobility platforms for all external STG employees to stay connected to our offices and be able to react to our clients’ needs quickly.
Additionally, we acquired a POS reseller in mid-state New York this year and this allowed us to leverage our infrastructure and gain a whole new set of clients quickly. The acquisition worked well because these clients were using a solution that we support and where STG has great experience. It was a win for the new clients and a win for STG.
One of the most powerful factors for our growth was our decision to grow our software development staff. We now have three software developers on staff and this allows us to quickly customize solutions for our clients and give them exactly what they need to grow their business. It is not enough to offer “off the shelf” solutions. Our clients expect us to deliver value and our solutions must be able to grow as our customer’s businesses evolve.
Are there any new technologies/solutions you're offering which are impacting your business?
Kielich: Mobility and web stores are part of everything we sell. The traditional POS terminal is now interconnected to multiple sub-systems including security video, accounting, ERP packages, and handhelds. The portfolio of SaaS (software as a service) offerings from Aloha are truly amazing. The value that we now provide can be turned on quickly with very little up-front investment. Times are changing and we are changing with the industry.
Speak to any failings you've experienced since we last spoke.
Kielich: I wish we would have been involved in providing credit processing solutions for our clients 10 years ago. The fact is, now that we are involved we provide a better customer support system because we enjoy a close relationship with the processor and we have a “stickier” relationship with our clients. I did not like the finger pointing that occurred before we got involved and the revenue streams are very nice as well. It is better for the customer and better for us.