Applied Imaging
Grand Rapids, MI
www.appliedimaging.com
Year Founded: 1987
President/Owner: John Lowery
Number of Employees: 433
Primary Vendors: Ricoh, Canon, Kyocera, HP
Primary Solutions Offerings: Hyland, Microsoft, DocuWare
Primary Leasing Partners: GreatAmerica, U.S. Bank, Canon Financial Services, Wells Fargo
Approximate Yearly Revenue: $100+ million
Fastest-Growing Business Segments: NetSmart Plus IT division
Biggest Accomplishment of the Past Year: Not only was Applied Imaging able to maintain its employee roster during the pandemic, it set a company record for equipment sales.
Why We Consider Applied Imaging Elite:
- Marketing mavens. The dealer’s marketing department has elevated its brand recognition to another level on the strength of television and radio interviews in addition to newspaper and online articles in all of its local markets. Industry publications have also shed a light on the dealer’s value proposition.
- Client testimonials. Since its marketing department began focusing on customer testimonials in 2003, more than 150 end-users have recorded radio commercials discussing how they’ve benefitted from their relationship with Applied Imaging. The dealer has a 12-month slate of advertising spots with more than 30 radio stations in Michigan, northern Ohio and Florida.
- Dealer identity. Long known for its Applied Chemistry approach to culture, as well as its 12 Elements of Success (complete with a periodic table), Applied Imaging found that its growth—both organic and through acquisition—has magnified the importance of office culture. In the process, it has driven the recruitment of quality team members and allowed employees from acquired companies to fit in seamlessly with Applied Imaging’s culture.
- Charitable endeavors. Applied Imaging provides employees with 10 paid hours per calendar year to dedicate to charitable organizations of their choice, and plays host to a Casino Royale fundraiser that benefits a number of causes. Employees also support Samaritas, a Michigan organization that supports troubled families and disadvantaged individuals throughout the state.
Atlantic Tomorrow’s Office
New York, NY
www.tomorrowsoffice.com
Year Founded: 1959
President/Owner: Larry Weiss
Number of Employees: 371
Primary Vendors: Ricoh/Savin, Toshiba, Konica Minolta, HP, Kyocera
Primary Solutions Offerings: DocuWare, EFI, PaperCut, UniTrend, Microsoft, DataBank
Primary Leasing Partners: DLL, Wells Fargo, CIT, HP, GreatAmerica
Approximate Yearly Revenue: $140 million
Fastest-Growing Business Segments: DocuWare (100%), MPS (19%), MNS (9%)
Biggest Accomplishment of the Past Year: During the three-week period of its annual December Blitz, Atlantic Tomorrow’s Office generated roughly $5.7 million in revenue and 513 unit sales.
Why We Consider Atlantic Tomorrow’s Office Elite:
- Marketing innovation. The company recently created a Virtual Tour Experience that invites customers to compare their current technology infrastructure against best practices. Following the tour, clients receive a personalized opportunity request.
- Managed mojo. Atlantic Tomorrow’s Office enjoyed a banner year in serving non-profit organizations, with three-year managed service agreements realizing $62,000 per month.
- Jaw(s) dropping. Another marketing initiative was a Netflix-esque Managed IT Services/Network Security series, a look at industry trends featuring panel discussions with professionals, clients and dealer personnel. The series premiere—a journey into the company’s Virtual Tour Experience—featured an interview with Daymond John of “Shark Tank” fame, who provided insight as to what the sharks seek when investing in a company, as well as other business trends. It attracted more than 650 attendees.
- Pandemic pivot. With its staff still largely operating remotely, the dealer invested in fun activities to promote togetherness. From a pasta cooking class to wine tasting, game nights and a party suite at Yankees baseball games, Atlantic devised a number of ways to show value and appreciation to its workforce.
Gordon Flesch Company (GFC)
Madison, WI
www.gflesch.com
elevityIT.com
Year Founded: 1956
President/Owner: Thomas Flesch
Number of Employees: 650
Primary Vendors: Canon, Ricoh, Lexmark, Duplo, Sharp
Primary Solutions Offerings: Microsoft, Amazon, Scale Computing, Nutanix, Laserfiche
Primary Leasing Partners: GFC Leasing (in house)
Approximate Yearly Revenue: $161 million
Fastest-Growing Business Segments: Managed IT services (66%), hardware (3%)
Biggest Accomplishment of the Past Year: Gordon Flesch Company acquired a trio of businesses—Advanced Systems, Jim Gordon Inc. and IBE—that helped increase revenue during the past two years.
Why We Consider Gordon Flesch Company (GFC) Elite:
- Data delivery. Given the challenges facing clients, GFC provides real-time, on-demand data during its strategic business review meetings, providing insight into fleet status and service performance to yield recommendations. The offering, a rarity among office dealers, is driven by Microsoft’s Power BI analytics platform.
- Let’s talk. In an effort to bolster the customer experience, GFC implemented a pop-up chatbot feature to help clients and prospects get immediate answers for their questions. In addition, the dealer assumed control of the RFP process for the entire company, which significantly improved its win rate to a high of 39% with 65% net-new customers.
- Industry recognitions. GFC continues to show the path among Canon dealers, capturing the manufacturer’s Top Dollar Volume/Seven Consecutive Years award as the nation’s largest independent reseller of the OEM’s office technology hardware from 2014 to 2020. Its Elevity managed IT division also garnered a spot on CRN’s 2021 Solution Provider 500 list.
- Charitable spirit. Since its 2002 inception, the Gordon Flesch Charitable Foundation has donated more than $2.1 million to various philanthropic organizations in Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Ohio and South Dakota. The foundation also targets giving for emergency disaster relief, including donations to help the Cedar Rapids, Iowa, area recover from devastating storms.
Impact Networking, LLC
Lake Forest, IL
www.impactmybiz.com
Year Founded: 1999
President/Owner: Frank Cucco (CEO)
Number of Employees: 800
Primary Vendors: Konica Minolta, Kyocera, Ricoh, HP, Planar
Primary Solutions Offerings: Microsoft, SentinelOne, Datto, Cisco, Huntress, Perch, Qualys, Mendix
Primary Leasing Partners: GE, TIAA Bank, Citi National, DLL, Wells Fargo
Approximate Yearly Revenue: $140 million
Fastest-Growing Business Segments: Enterprise solutions (151%), managed IT (27%), managed marketing (11%)
Biggest Accomplishment of the Past Year: Impact Networking formed a subsidiary, DOT Security, to provide advanced managed security services for businesses of all sizes.
Why We Consider Impact Networking Elite:
- Connecting DOT. The aforementioned DOT Security operates out of the company’s new, state-of-the-art security operations center (SOC) adjacent to its Lake Forest, Illinois, headquarters. It provides around-the-clock cybersecurity monitoring and incident response. The SOC monitors, prevents, detects, investigates and responds to cyber threats. It also provides 24/7/365 access to certified in-house cybersecurity professionals.
- Astronomical support. Impact Networking is the new managed IT service provider of the Houston Astros baseball team. The five-year deal includes complete internal network and server support along with maintenance and support for workstations across 10 locations in the U.S. and Dominican Republic. As part of the deal, the party deck in the center field mezzanine level of Minute Maid Park has been renamed Impact Networking Party Deck.
- Visual enhancements. The dealer made significant investments in its digital and visual presence, hiring an in-house video and photo team that consists of a creative operations manager, video producers, editors, animator and photographer. The move was made to leverage opportunities for producing content in-house that could be promoted across all channels and bolster client conversion.
- Supporting youth. Impact Networking donated $35,000 to the Jesse White Tumbling Team, a program with a mission to help guide at-risk youth toward success. The team, founded by White in 1959 to promote positive youth development in Chicago, helps inner-city kids stay away from gangs, drugs, alcohol and smoking. The donation helps provide uniforms, performance equipment and travel expenses for the team.
Loffler Companies, Inc.
Bloomington, MN
www.loffler.com
Year Founded: 1986
President/Owner: Jim Loffler (CEO/founder), James Loffler (president)
Number of Employees: 600
Primary Vendors: Canon, Konica Minolta, Xerox, Océ, HP, Lexmark, NEC, 8×8, Ring Central, Mitel, GBC, Duplo, FP Mailing Solutions
Primary Solutions Offerings: ABBYY, Square 9, Canon, PaperCut, Y Soft, Dell, Datto, SonicWall, HPE, Ruckus Wireless, WatchGuard, Arctic Wolf
Primary Leasing Partners: U.S. Bank, GreatAmerica
Approximate Yearly Revenue: $114 million
Fastest-Growing Business Segments: IT solutions (16%)
Biggest Accomplishment of the Past Year: Loffler Companies is slated to move into a new, cutting-edge facility during the second quarter of 2022. The headquarters will serve as a cultural hub, uniting employees to collaborate and build on its brand as a national leader in the office technology market.
Why We Consider Loffler Companies Elite:
- Garnering traction. Launching a line of temperature-screening kiosks that generated more than $1 million in revenue opened the door to new clients outside the dealer’s traditional market area. Loffler Companies plans to expand to a national market and is designing its campaigns to introduce the company and meet the needs of a new national client base.
- Growth areas. Loffler Companies continues to see significant double-digit growth in its IT revenue and has captured large imaging agreements as well, including a $1.5 million renewal of a national health care provider. This entailed a production and walk-up hardware refresh, MPS and 12 full-time employees located onsite.
- Employment destination. As a testament to the family-based business environment it’s established, Loffler Companies has been named a Top Workplace by the Minneapolis Star Tribune for 11 consecutive years. The dealer seeks employees who embrace the culture and are committed to an environment that is positive, professional and dependable.
- Giving spirit. Loffler Companies supports many of its client outreach activities by furnishing silent auction items such as sporting event tickets and by sponsoring golf outings and other events. The Loffler team also rallies around fellow workers who have experienced traumatic events such as family deaths and illnesses with PTO donations, cards and other forms of support.
RJ Young
Nashville, TN
www.rjyoung.com
Year Founded: 1955
President/Owner: Chip Crunk
Number of Employees: 600
Primary Vendors: Ricoh, Canon, Kyocera, HP, Lexmark, Mimaki, Océ, Sharp, Lenovo, ViewSonic, Intermedia, Formax, GBC, Duplo, Xanté, Intoprint, iJetColor, Colex, Kala
Primary Solutions Offerings: Verkada, DocuWare, Sophos, Cisco, Microsoft, StorageCraft, Synology, VMware, Luxer One
Primary Leasing Partners: In-house leasing
Approximate Yearly Revenue: $135 million
Fastest-Growing Business Segments: Technology solutions (65%)
Biggest Accomplishment of the Past Year: In response to the pandemic, RJ Young enhanced its focus on technology solutions such as managed IT, smart security cameras and unified communications—all of which have yielded 300% year-over-year growth.
Why We Consider RJ Young Elite:
- Technology momentum. The dealer continues to thrive with the rollout of its Modern Office platform, which steps beyond the MFP realm to provide managed IT, business communication platforms, smart cloud-based business security systems, document management systems and digital lockers, among others.
- Contractual success. RJ Young scored a major win with one of the largest school districts in Alabama, a deal which included more than 360 interactive white boards and digital lockers.
- Sustained excellence. Local publications, including the Nashville Business Journal and Memphis Business Journal, honored RJ Young’s operating environment in 2021 by bestowing the dealer with Best Places to Work designations. The Mississippi Business Journal lauded the dealer as a 2021 Top in Tech, while the aforementioned Nashville publication cited Chip Crunk among the Most Admired CEOs. DocuWare added the dealer to its 2021 Diamond Club as its No. 1 Partner in North America.
- Making a difference. For the past 15 years, RJ Young’s Hands & Hearts Committee has raised funds while participating in community service projects. This year, the annual Crawfish Boil raised more than $18,000 in support of Dreams and Wishes. Employees and the community also participate in the annual Pumpkin Run each fall to benefit the American Heart Association. And as a member of Habitat for Humanity, RJ Young team members have built six houses in the Nashville community and another in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.
TGI Office Automation
Brooklyn, NY
www.tgioa.com
www.goipower.com
Year Founded: 1964
President/Owner: Frank Grasso
Number of Employees: 450
Primary Vendors: Ricoh, Toshiba, HP, Lexmark, Dell, Cisco, Microsoft, FP Mailing
Primary Solutions Offerings: Dell, Cisco, Microsoft, Nutanix, SonicWall, Fortinet, Veeam, VMware, Citrix, Zerto
Primary Leasing Partners: DLL, CIT, Wells Fargo, HP Finance
Approximate Yearly Revenue: $110+ million
Fastest-Growing Business Segments: Equipment (35%), MPS (35%), document management (15%), network services (15%)
Biggest Accomplishment of the Past Year: TGI Office Automation continues to address the evolved needs of customers by providing the tools they require for doing business in a remote fashion.
Why We Consider TGI Office Automation Elite:
- Cup of joe. One of the dealer’s innovative marketing programs is its Coffee Chat Program, a cross-selling initiative between TGI and its iPower Technologies division. Clients are sent Ember coffee mugs, locally roasted Brooklyn coffee and an invitation to speak with iPower Technologies’ Jarrett Pavao. This gives customers the opportunity to learn more about TGI’s acquisition of iPower and the solutions jointly offered.
- Marketing makeovers. New videos are being created to showcase the full-service technology offerings for both TGI and iPower. They’ll be utilized in the dealer’s showroom displays, presentations, email campaigns and website. A complete refresh of both entities’ websites is also in progress
- Major score. TGI landed a deal with a nationally ranked hospital and academic medical center in New York, an agreement including 1,800 MFP placements and management of more than 10,000 devices. In the process, TGI was able to increase security and compliance, and also implemented a centralized system to manage the client’s enterprise-wide fleet.
- Rewarding environment. A second-generation family-owned business, TGI fosters an engaging work experience by defining clear expectations for what success looks like in each job role. TGI seeks to promote from within and has invested in opportunities for employees to learn, progress and grow by developing their skills and leadership capabilities.
