By: Deborah Johnson Wood
In August, INC Magazine named Grand Rapids-based Open Systems Technologies (OST) to the INC 5000 list of fastest growing companies in the US. A bit of research by OST President Dan Behm showed that the magazine's ranking priority made OST the fastest growing company in West Michigan.
This came on the heels of CRN Magazine's article naming OST one of the 100 fastest growing technology solution providers in the country—for the second consecutive year.
And that came after the company logged an astounding 360 percent sales growth—from $5.4 million to $23 million—in just four years.
Behm says the growth started in 1996 when the employees bought out the former owner, G/S Leasing.
"An employee buyout makes a big difference in commitment and in limiting turnover," Behm says. Of the 29 employees, 13 have ownership.
OST offers a host of technological services, including complex systems architecture, high availability, disaster recovery, and ERP technology support. The services align under five "practices," which Behm describes as "a business within a business."
"We gave ownership to each of our practice managers and they grew their individual practices," Behm says. "If we had just allowed me to manage everything it wouldn't have worked."
OST has a sales rep in Chicago and an office in Akron. They incorporated in India. But Behm is quick to say that it's not for outsourcing; it's to build a company similar to the parent company to sell software and tech services, and resell Hewlett-Packard hardware to India, China, and Singapore.
Source: Dan Behm, Open Systems Technologies; Craig Clark, Clark Communications
Deborah Johnson Wood is development news editor for Rapid Growth Media. She can be contacted at [email protected].
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