{"id":6645,"date":"2014-02-19T08:54:25","date_gmt":"2014-02-19T13:54:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theweekinimaging.com\/?p=6645"},"modified":"2014-02-21T09:02:57","modified_gmt":"2014-02-21T14:02:57","slug":"nbm-rolls-with-the-industrys-flow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/feature-articles\/2014\/02\/nbm-rolls-with-the-industrys-flow\/","title":{"rendered":"NBM Rolls with the Industry’s Flow"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The<\/a>

The Staff of Northern Business Machines<\/p><\/div>\n

It\u2019s always fascinating to revisit some of our past Elite Dealers, such as Northern Business Machines, particularly if you missed their profile when it originally ran last fall. If you\u2019re a dealer, which the majority of TWII’s readers are, it\u2019s helpful reading\u00a0about what makes your peers in the industry successful.<\/p>\n

Northern Business Machines, Inc.<\/strong><\/p>\n

www.nbminc.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Burlington, MA<\/p>\n

President\/Owner: <\/strong>William Tracia<\/p>\n

Year founded: <\/strong>1985<\/p>\n

Number of employees:<\/strong> 80<\/p>\n

Primary hardware vendors:<\/strong> Sharp, Konica Minolta, HP, KIP, OKI<\/p>\n

Primary solutions and services offerings: <\/strong>MPS, Managed IT, Document Management, Cost Recovery<\/p>\n

Approximate\/Average yearly revenues:<\/strong> $20 million<\/p>\n

Biggest sale\/win of the past year:<\/strong> A contract with a local private school in July. It was a six-figure transaction and net new business for NBM.<\/p>\n

Being in business since 1985, there aren\u2019t many challenges that Northern Business Machines (NBM) hasn\u2019t encountered and successfully overcome. \u201cWe have been able to adapt to the changes in our industry that have reshaped our business model over the past 20 years,\u201d emphasizes Bill Tracia, president. \u201cWe successfully transitioned first to digital technology, then to business color products and wide-format devices.\u201d<\/p>\n

NBM\u2019s early adoption to MPS has been critical to its success over the past five years as MPS now represents 10 percent of total revenue, growing from 0 to $2-million in annual revenue over the past five years. Tracia is hoping to see similar growth in Managed IT services.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are just at the beginning stages with Managed IT, but are optimistic that we will surpass $1 million in revenue in 2014,\u201d he predicts. \u201cWe have signed more than 20 Managed IT customers in the past two years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Customers tend to be small to mid-sized businesses, the sweet spot for the independent dealer channel. Although NBM is frequently competing with OEM direct branches, the dealership has found their clients prefer to work with a smaller, privately held dealership that is based in the community. \u201cWe are able to engage our clients on a variety of levels with a broad range of products and services,\u201d states Tracia.<\/p>\n

MPS customers tend to be larger accounts while the Managed IT accounts are likely to have fewer than 25 employees.<\/p>\n

One area that truly separates NBM from its competitors is its Network Operating Center (NOC), which was added to their facility in the past year. \u201cCustomers with printing\/scanning issues or service codes are often able to have the call cleared within 30 minutes by one of the Help Desk technicians instead of waiting 2-4 hours for a field service call,\u201d says Tracia.<\/p>\n

For IT clients, NBM offers firewall protection, e-mail services, data back-up and recovery, and manages their networks with remote monitoring software.<\/p>\n

The past two years have been stellar years at NBM. Surpassing $20-million in sales is a major accomplishment and the perfect punctuation point to 2012, NBM\u2019s biggest year to date as they billed just over $19 million.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are currently at 106 percent of last year’s run rate and if that continues through the end of the year, we will hit the target that we established last December,\u201d states Tracia.<\/p>\n

We admire the way NBM recognizes individual employee accomplishments. All employees that have been with the company ten years or longer are invited to the annual President’s Dinner. This year, 37 percent of employees were in attendance. Among that group were 15 individuals that have been with NBM for over 20 years. \u201cWe are extremely fortunate and proud to have such a talented and loyal staff,\u201d says Tracia.<\/p>\n

An Elite Dealer is open minded about new business opportunities and willing to invest resources to enter new segments of the market. That\u2019s another hallmark of NBM. \u201cWe still believe in our core business and are able to maintain good margins in MFP hardware and services,\u201d adds Tracia. \u201cAs always, it’s important to bring in young, talented individuals that will allow us to continue to grow over the next five years. Although we have never done an acquisition, that’s something that we will explore as part of the growth plan.\u201d<\/p>\n

Based on the past two years, NBM is well on track for continued growth, which helps secure its place among this year\u2019s group of Elite Dealers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s always fascinating to revisit some of our past Elite Dealers, such as Northern Business Machines, particularly if you missed their profile when it originally ran last fall. If you\u2019re a dealer, which the majority of TWII’s readers are, it\u2019s helpful reading\u00a0about what makes your peers in the industry successful. Northern Business Machines, Inc. www.nbminc.com Burlington, MA President\/Owner: William Tracia Year founded: 1985 Number of employees: 80 Primary hardware vendors: Sharp, Konica Minolta, HP, KIP, OKI Primary solutions and services offerings: MPS, Managed IT, Document Management, Cost Recovery Approximate\/Average yearly revenues: $20 million Biggest sale\/win of the past year: A contract with a local private school in July. It was a six-figure transaction and net new business for NBM. Being in business since 1985, there aren\u2019t many challenges that Northern Business Machines (NBM) hasn\u2019t encountered and successfully overcome. \u201cWe have been able to adapt to the changes in our industry that have reshaped our business model over the past 20 years,\u201d emphasizes Bill Tracia, president. \u201cWe successfully transitioned first to digital technology, then to business color products and wide-format devices.\u201d NBM\u2019s early adoption to MPS has been critical to its success over the past five years as MPS now represents 10 percent of total revenue, growing from 0 to $2-million in annual revenue over the past five years. Tracia is hoping to see similar growth in Managed IT services. \u201cWe are just at the beginning stages with Managed IT, but are optimistic that we will surpass $1 million in revenue in 2014,\u201d he predicts. \u201cWe have signed more than 20 Managed IT customers in the past two years.\u201d Customers tend to be small to mid-sized businesses, the sweet spot for the independent dealer channel. Although NBM is frequently competing with OEM direct branches, the dealership has found their clients prefer to work with a smaller, privately held dealership that is based in the community. \u201cWe are able to engage our clients on a variety of levels with a broad range of products and services,\u201d states Tracia. MPS customers tend to be larger accounts while the Managed IT accounts are likely to have fewer than 25 employees. One area that truly separates NBM from its competitors is its Network Operating Center (NOC), which was added to their facility in the past year. \u201cCustomers with printing\/scanning issues or service codes are often able to have the call cleared within 30 minutes by one of the Help Desk technicians instead of waiting 2-4 hours for a field service call,\u201d says Tracia. For IT clients, NBM offers firewall protection, e-mail services, data back-up and recovery, and manages their networks with remote monitoring software. The past two years have been stellar years at NBM. Surpassing $20-million in sales is a major accomplishment and the perfect punctuation point to 2012, NBM\u2019s biggest year to date as they billed just over $19 million. \u201cWe are currently at 106 percent of last year’s run rate and if that continues through the end of the year, we will hit the target that we established last December,\u201d states Tracia. We admire the way NBM recognizes individual employee accomplishments. All employees that have been with the company ten years or longer are invited to the annual President’s Dinner. This year, 37 percent of employees were in attendance. Among that group were 15 individuals that have been with NBM for over 20 years. \u201cWe are extremely fortunate and proud to have such a talented and loyal staff,\u201d says Tracia. An Elite Dealer is open minded about new business opportunities and willing to invest resources to enter new segments of the market. That\u2019s another hallmark of NBM. \u201cWe still believe in our core business and are able to maintain good margins in MFP hardware and services,\u201d adds Tracia. \u201cAs always, it’s important to bring in young, talented individuals that will allow us to continue to grow over the next five years. Although we have never done an acquisition, that’s something that we will explore as part of the growth plan.\u201d Based on the past two years, NBM is well on track for continued growth, which helps secure its place among this year\u2019s group of Elite Dealers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":6057,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[82],"tags":[1206,797,794,1207],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6645"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6645"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6645\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6647,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6645\/revisions\/6647"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6057"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}