Kishmish continues growth trend

SYRACUSE — With a newly created leadership position to head up the sales and marketing department, network and IT services provider Kishmish, Inc. is on track to generate double-digit growth this year.

Founded in 1999, Syracuse–based Kishmish (www.kishmish.com) has produced steady growth yearly since its inception, averaging sales increases between 28 and 30 percent annually, says President Matthew Holt. But now the company is ready to take things to the next level with the goal of reaching sales of $2 million this year.

To facilitate and service that sales growth, Holt expects to increase employment as well. He currently has 18 employees, which are a mix of full-time staffers and independent contractors. While he didn’t divulge the ratio of full timers to contractors, Holt says he expects to transition one to three of his contractors to full-time status by the end of the year to keep up with the company’s growing workload.

Kishmish, headquartered in a 3,500-square-foot office at 217 Montgomery St., provides network services and IT services, including assisting a company’s IT department or acting as a client’s IT department. “Our goal is to be a partner to all our clients and be able to service them in all levels of technology,” Holt says. “I think we’re pretty special in that we can deliver infrastructure from soup to nuts” and pair that with support right on down to the end-user level. The firm can provide its services on premises or in the cloud and also include web and web-application services.

So far, Kishmish has had a winning combination of services and client support that has generated strong sales and the steady year-over-year growth, Holt says. If Kishmish hits its $2 million revenue goal this year, that will equal growth of about 28 percent. Much of that has come from expanding services with existing clients, he notes.

Kishmish has also seen growth from client referrals, and Holt credits the company’s mission of providing great service while breaking away from some of the IT stereotypes. “IT is not a very well respected part of an organization,” Holt says. Often people view IT employees as rushed and not taking the time to explain things such as how to perform a certain task. “We like to help redefine what the IT guy looks like,” Holt says, noting the firm does so by providing exceptional service.

Mark Hollingshead, president of sales and marketing, says that has helped build a solid reputation for Kishmish and helped make his new job a little easier. Hollingshead joined the company about two months ago in the newly created position and is tasked with bringing sales to the next level, Holt says.

Hollingshead, who previously served as vice president of small business banking at Bank of America, says a big part of his job is educating companies about how to leverage technology to improve efficiency and increase sales. Most businesses, he says, approach technology reactively instead of taking a proactive approach. Kishmish can conduct a technology evaluation to help businesses develop not only a plan to update their technology but also a budget.

“Most people look at technology as an expense, not an investment,” Hollingshead says. He’s out to change their minds. “You have to be serious about technology because it’s not going away.”

Currently, Kishmish does not do much in the way of “cold calling” potential clients. Instead, Hollingshead says the firm prefers to leverage existing clients who recommend their services to others. Kishmish serves clients across New York and in 15 other states around the country. “We can do excellent work from anywhere,” Holt notes. The goal is to provide services in all 50 states eventually, however there is a lot of growth opportunity right here in Central New York that Kishmish hopes to capture first, Hollingshead says. That opportunity could even include acquisitions if the right company came along. Ideally, Hollingshead says he sees Kishmish acquiring a number of small independent contractors whose business has started to grow too large for them to manage on their own. Those types of acquisitions would bring new clients to Kishmish while bringing new support and services to the former contractors and their clients.

Kishmish provides web services ranging from website design to interactive marketing; network services including network design, carrier services, and cloud services; and a full range of support. Some of the company’s clients include The Redford Center in Sundance, Utah; the U.S. Green Building Council Connecticut Chapter; and The Ritz-Carlton Residences in Vail, Colo.

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