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By Scott H. Cytron, ABC
Scott Cytron: Tell me about your background. What did you do prior to SWK?
Jeff Roth: Most of my experience has been on the corporate side in various positions and industries. From 1992 to 1999, I worked in South Hackensack, N.J., as vice president of The Lilli Group, a private label manufacturer of knitwear for Gap and Old Navy. From 1999 to 2000, I was the director of Business Affairs for National Artists Management Company in New York City, a well-known producer on Broadway. Then, in 2000, I was president of United Payroll, LLC, which I sold to a New Jersey competitor in 2002.
SC: How did SWK Technologies get its name and how did it start?
JR: SWK was founded by Lynn Berman, who is still actively involved as the president and as a sales executive with the company. She named it after her son, Shaun W. Klein.
SC: So with a background on the corporate side, how did you get involved on the technology side of the business?
JR: In every one of my endeavors, I was always engaged in some type of technology aspect of the business. I selected software applications, established new ways of managing inventories and always attempted to improve the dissemination to management of financial data. |
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SC: I know your company is very involved with Sage. What does your alignment bring your clients?
JR: We were a Sage Select Partner until June 2008, when we took on QuickBooks Enterprise in our upstate New York markets. Sage and Sage-related business still account for more than 96 percent of our business. With complex client sites that often require programming and modification, we view Sage as a true partner in every sense of the word. We collaborate, consult and exchange ideas with one another, and more importantly, the long-term affiliation shows clients and prospects our commitment to Sage products.
Depending on what we need, Sage’s staff is available to us during every step of the sales process, and we get a quick response to technical questions when we deal with Sage staff at the highest levels. I also serve on the MAS 90/200/500 Business Partner Advisory Council, contributing my time, insight and perspective to upper management at Sage. As a Gold-Certified Sage partner, we have proprietary products that we sell through the Sage channel. MAPADOC Integrated EDI is our “crown jewel” and we are very proud of it, its integration with Sage products and its functionality. For an example of what integrated EDI can do, we have a case study available on our Web site.
SC: What kind of work are you doing in the CRM space, and how does your relationship with Sage solutions help with your work?
JR: Not only do we sell Sage CRM; it is used by every member of our 40-person SWK Team and extensively customized to fit our business. I am a huge proponent of Sage CRM – and that makes it easy for me to demo and sell. We use it internally for support cases, sales leads and opportunities, all communications, client history, and renewal dates of support and maintenance plans. Better yet, our clients who use it really love it.
We also partner with other providers to build on our own solutions. We are ACT! certified, and when prospects require SalesLogix, we partner with others. One of the newest solutions we provide is SpeedTax, a Software-as-a-Service sales tax compliance and management solution for Sage MAS 90 and 200, and QuickBooks Enterprise.
SC: I understand you have a Help Desk. What do you think is unique about this offering for clients?
JR: We have four dedicated people who are never in the field and usually available to take a call within minutes of receiving it. We have a variety of skills on the help desk and rarely are unable to resolve client problems.
In addition, an internal escalation system helps programmers and others take calls when necessary. This makes it easier for the clients. They know our staff, the staff knows their sites and the clients don’t have to go on wild goose chases to solve problems. If the issue relates a network or infrastructure, we have three full-time staff who get those calls. Rarely do we need to go outside for assistance.
SC: There’s always a lot of talk in the marketplace about the “trusted advisor” role. What is SWK’s strategy on building itself as a trusted advisor? Why do you think you have succeeded?
JR: It all boils down to service, attention and staying one step ahead of our clients. For example, we offer site analyses to prospects for free. We come highly recommended from CPAs and others who have dealt with us for years and know we take good care of their clients. Since those CPAs are trusted advisors and we don’t compete with them, we have a knack for “piggy-backing” on the role they already have, but provide a completely different array of services.
In short, we are a one-stop shop and clients like that. We survey our clients and strive to discover how we can serve them better and give them things that we currently aren’t providing them. We listen and react. It’s not lip service.
SC: “Managed Services,” as an offering, is becoming very popular. Tell me about this service line and how your clients are using it.
JR: We private label Zenith Infotech as “NETUP,” charge a monthly fee per server and/or workstation, and give our clients 24/7 proactive service. For example, we know when they have a power, virus or other problem long before they usually do! Peace of mind at an affordable cost is something we aggressively promote. We also use Zenith to provide clients with on-site and remote data backup – again, for a monthly affordable fee.
SC: If you were stranded on a desert island with only one technology or tool available to you, what would it be and why?
JR: A short-wave radio to communicate with someone who could hear me and get me off the island!