SYRACUSE — After doubling revenue over the past seven years, Usherwood Office Technology President Lou Usherwood plans to double it again in the next five years. The information technology service and solutions and managed print company expects that it generated $35 million in revenue in 2019. Usherwood predicts revenue will hit $70 million in the […]
SYRACUSE — After doubling revenue over the past seven years, Usherwood Office Technology President Lou Usherwood plans to double it again in the next five years.
The information technology service and solutions and managed print company expects that it generated $35 million in revenue in 2019. Usherwood predicts revenue will hit $70 million in the next five years as the company continues to expand in the New England market.
“The growth is a result of becoming a better company,” Usherwood notes. By that, he means the company’s expansion as both an IT solutions provider as well as its geographic expansion.
Usherwood Office Technology began laying the plans for its expansion into New England in 2017, he says. At the time, the company had six branches in New York and set its sights on opening a branch in Burlington, Vermont. Locations in Manchester, New Hampshire; Providence, Rhode Island; Hartford, Connecticut; and Boston soon followed. As a result, Usherwood serves customers across a six- to seven-state region with a territory of 120,000 square miles.
New England was the perfect market for the company, Usherwood says, because there was a genuine need for a company that provided the full spectrum of information-technology services.
“No one looks like us in any of our markets,” he contends. Along with its IT and managed print services, Usherwood also sells security solutions, video-conferencing technology, digital signage, and mailing solutions. None of its competitors bundle all those services together, which can mean a lower price point along with more thorough protection and security for clients, he stipulates.
Having multiple vendors can lead to gaps in coverage and service, he says, and might leave a company vulnerable to attacks. One vendor might overlook something it thought another vendor was covering, he notes, and that doesn’t happen with Usherwood Office Technology.
One of the areas where Usherwood has seen significant client growth is from the legal industry in the Boston area.
Employment at the company has been expanding along with the number of locations. Usherwood says one of his main reasons for expanding the company was to provide a market for the third generation of Usherwoods — his three daughters — to manage. He fleshed out the staff with industry veterans, and the company’s New England locations now employ 22 people between the offices and a distribution center in Auburn, Massachusetts.
Usherwood Office Technology, which employs a total of 140 people, will also continue to hire people to fill the 23 new hires called for in this year’s budget, Usherwood says. To date, the company has filled six of those positions. He anticipates employment will reach between 175 and 200 employees over the next five years.
Usherwood expects the New England offices to drive much of the company’s growth, but says the firm will also expand with locations in secondary markets that fill in gaps between current markets.
Usherwood Office Technology will add 11 markets in the coming years, including areas in northern Pennsylvania; Rutland, Vermont; and Elmira. “I think we’re looking at Poughkeepsie as well,” Usherwood says.
Headquartered in Syracuse, Usherwood (www.usherwood.com) has offices in Albany, Auburn, Binghamton, Buffalo, Jamestown, Potsdam, Plattsburgh, Rochester, Utica, and Watertown, N.Y.; Boston and Auburn, Massachusetts; Burlington, Vermont; and Manchester and West Lebanon, New Hampshire.
