April 2010
In this issue

√ The Green Flag is Up
√ Upcoming Events
√ Quick Tip
√ Networking Corner
√ Client Spotlight
 

The Green Flag Is Up!
By Ted Swanson, CEO, IT Solutions

At IT Solutions we have a diverse perspective. We don't service a particular industry or business type the way a manufacturer might. We don't limit ourselves to a specific neighborhood the way a dry cleaner or a deli does. And we don't discriminate on size. We have clients with one employee and clients with 50,000 employees. We are a cross section of business in the Mid-Atlantic region and, even better than that, much of what our clients purchase from us is an investment in growing their business. To put it another way, when someone calls IT Solutions it means they're planning to get bigger. Or because their Blackberry crashed. It's usually one of the two.

So here's the good news - in the last six months things have picked up dramatically. From the doldrums of last summer when it seemed like no one wanted to think about the future because it was so grim, to today, the tenor of business is completely different. Call it hope, call it opportunism, call it "bad news fatigue", whatever the feeling is it's a whole lot better than it was this time last year. More businesses are investing now than they did just eight months ago and the difference is noticeable. This feeling is across the board from businesses of all shapes and sizes.

I'm not an economist, and I doubt anyone would call one IT company outside of Philadelphia a leading economic indicator, but after 16 years in business and a couple of recessions we've noticed a trend or two during their aftermath - risk is greatly rewarded in these early growth stages. I can name a dozen clients who pounced on the beginning of the last recovery and are market leaders today. I can see many who are getting ready to do the same right now. Microsoft was started during a recession. So was Apple. Those guys did OK.

This article isn't meant as business advice or as a sales pitch. Far from it. The lack of any significant startups knocking on our door like they did after the last two recessions is the bad news in this story. If this recovery is underway it certainly doesn't feel like the explosion of new businesses we saw in 2002 or 2003. For all we know this could be a giant economic head-fake followed by the dreaded double-dip. But what is very clear to us from our unique vantage point is that something is definitely different. The green flag is up and it feels like a very cautious race has begun. Some of us in the race may be guessing wrong, but sitting at the starting line waiting for some other sign seems so "2009".

Upcoming Events to Cover Variety of Informative Topics

Overview: IT Solutions will partner with Adaptive Planning for a free joint seminar on improving your budgeting and planning processes along with cutting costs and improving data security/accessibility through our expanding cloud computing services. Visit our Events page for full information and contact jim.higgins@itsolutions-inc.com to register.

Overview: IT Solutions and Gildea Group will partner for a free seminar on optimizing marketing operations. The event will focus on a highly successful recent collaboration on marketing optimization/custom software between ITS and Gildea Group. Highlights will include Gildea Group's extensive expertise in workflow and process improvement for marketing and creative services departments and companies along with detailed demonstrations of IT Solutions' custom software systems expertise for similar clients. Contact jim.higgins@itsolutions-inc.com for further information or to register.

Client
Spotlight

Model
Consulting Inc.

Model Consulting is a privately held employee benefits organization founded in 1990 by company President Neil Model. Model combines over 30 years of benefits expertise, health risk management capabilities and an exclusive relationship with a state-of-the-art pharmacy benefit risk management company. Acting as their clients' advocate, Model strives to develop mutually beneficial relationships with clients and benefit providers to maintain the highest level of service, ethics, integrity, and client satisfaction.

The staff of Model Consulting consider themselves an extension of their clients' benefits department, in that they provide an account executive, full-service team as well as a risk management research team which allows their underwriters to design the best program for their clients' needs. In addition to their standard services, Model Consulting partners with various other professional firms to bring expertise to their clients in all areas of human resources, employee benefits and business management.

IT Solutions has been partnering with Model to provide all of its network support for over three years. ITS offers full support for Model's servers, back-end infrastructure, and individual user support for about 30 employees through our SharedVision Guardian Plan. Recently, our close working relationship led to a direct referral by Model Vice President Sherri Model, who recommended ITS to the owner of another business services firm.

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