ICS Solutions Group runs like a gazelle

ENDICOTT — In a 1979 report titled “The Job Generation Process,” David Birch, the president of Cognetics, Inc., a research firm headquartered in Cambridge, 

Massachusetts, determined that only 3 percent of U.S. companies generated 70 percent of all new jobs. He found that most job generators were small companies (with a revenue base of $100,000 or more) that increased their revenue at least 20 percent compounded annually for four or more years. Birch called them “gazelles.” He went on to identify other companies as “elephants” and “mice”— Fortune 500 companies and mom-and-pop shops — which generated very few new jobs.

 

ICS Solutions Group (ICS), which fits Birch’s description of a gazelle to a “tee,” also identifies its business in terms of animals: turtles, monkeys, lions, and camels. “I attribute a lot of our rapid growth to Dr. Larry Little,” says Kevin Blake, president of ICS. “He coached us based on his book, “Make a Difference,” which explains the power of relationships and how to understand your own personality as well as the personalities of the people you lead. Dr. Little challenged us to strategically perform at a high level in order to make a difference … The four animals represent four different personality characteristics. All the employees here have a stuffed animal at their desks to identify themselves so we can communicate effectively.”

 

ICS must be communicating well. Since Blake and his partner Travis Hayes bought the company in 2005, employment has grown from four to 62 people (48 in Endicott, 14 in Syracuse). The company, which currently occupies 7,000 square feet in its Endicott headquarters and another 4,500 square feet in the Syracuse location, is focused on opening a third office in Elmira by the first quarter of 2016. 

 

The company is exploring buying an existing business with similar products/services and corporate philosophy, as well as the alternative of creating the new office de novo. Blake is also looking to buy or lease between 10,000 and 15,000 square feet in Endicott to provide adequate space for the company’s explosive growth. His goal is to occupy the new space by year-end. 

 

CNYBJ estimates that ICS will generate revenue of $8.5 million this year, based on 20 percent growth in Endicott and 25 percent to 28 percent growth in Syracuse. All of the revenue growth in the past five years has been organic. Blake and Hayes are the sole stockholders in the operating company and are shareholders in several other ventures.

 

Change in strategy

“When Travis and I bought the business, we inherited a reactive business model,” recalls Blake. “A customer’s hardware broke, and we fixed it. We changed the model to be proactive and set up a maintenance-monitoring program that would minimize a customer’s downtime. Today, ICS does a lot more than repair hardware. [Our menu of services includes] … IT-managed services, telephony, cyber-security, project design and implementation, business continuity and disaster recovery, helpdesk services, virtualization, and IP security cameras and access control. Our sweet spot is small- and mid-sized businesses with 20-100 employees on the company network. We serve a number of markets, including health care, dental, insurance, accounting, professional services, auto dealerships, manufacturing, convenience stores, financial, legal, and nonprofit. 

 

“The company’s geographical reach has also expanded. A decade ago we focused on the … [Triple Cities]; today, ICS services 19 counties of Upstate and three across the border in Pennsylvania.” In an Aug. 10 research list in CNYBJ, entitled “Computer/IT Consultants” in Central New York, ICS Solutions Group was listed as the largest. The ranking was determined by the number of IT consultants on staff.

 

How does ICS sustain its rapid growth? “There are four things that make us successful,” Blake says. “First, we are customer-oriented. That means we listen to our customers, and we respond quickly. We also anticipate their needs and offer a one-stop shop to solve their problems. For many companies which don’t have technologists on staff, we act as the chief technology officer. The customer, then, can rely on our company to assume the responsibility to keep the network and IT systems running.

 

“Second, Travis and I spend a lot of time working with our employees and motivating them to make a difference,” continues the company president. “We stress Dr. Little’s model of not only communicating internally with staff but also communicating with our customers. Many who are very skilled technicians are not comfortable communicating with the customers. Finding qualified technicians who can also communicate is the biggest challenge in sustaining our growth. Finding the best talent and ensuring a low turnover rate through job satisfaction requires a full-court press.”

 

The third key to success involved ICS joining a group called HTG (Heartland Technology Group). “We joined HTG because it was comprised of a national peer group of similar size technology-support companies. The group of 12 businesses meets quarterly to share best business practices, solve common problems, and anticipate customer needs. It’s like having a board of directors. HTG has helped us capitalize on successful strategies and avoid costly mistakes.

 

“Fourth, everyone has bought into the corporate culture,” observes Blake. “There are three principles we subscribe to: family, integrity, and loyalty. These aren’t principles made up by management: the entire staff considered a variety of options and collectively chose these three. The key is to live the values.”

 

The partners

Blake and Hayes divide their functions at ICS. The former focuses on business development and management while the latter focuses on the technology side. To keep up with the rapid company growth, ICS hired Joseph Williamson in December 2014 to manage the Syracuse office. Also in 2014, ICS hired Robert LaFave as the COO, allowing Hayes to devote full time to overseeing the technology. ICS also depends on key professional advisers to support the company: M&T Bank for financial services, Salvatore R. Peretore, CPA (Endicott) as the company’s accounting firm, and John G. Dowd (Binghamton) for legal matters.

 

Blake, 42, is a 1992 Maine-Endwell High School graduate who started working at ComputerLand in Binghamton in 1990. He graduated SUNY Oswego in 1996 with a degree in business and joined ICS two days after graduation. Hayes, 41, graduated from Alexandria Central High School in Jefferson County. He met Blake at SUNY Oswego where the two were classmates. Hayes majored in political science and history. After graduation, Hayes worked at Eastman Kodak in Rochester before joining ICS in 1999.

 

ICS is well positioned to continue running like a gazelle: The markets it serves are all projected to enjoy substantial, long-term growth. The International Association of Managed Service Providers reported on April 1 that the North American market generated $154 billion in revenue in 2014. According to a 2015 report by Deloitte & Touche, the traditional telecommunications sector is rapidly becoming more of an “interconnected ecosystem.” This offers new opportunities as well as an increasing demand for cyber-security and privacy solutions. Transparency Market Research reports that the video-surveillance market in the U.S. alone will grow at a 32 percent rate between now and 2020, when it will top $16 billion.