News

June 2012
Dallas Business Journal

IT services company shifted from its roots in computer supplies

Twenty-five years ago this August, Jack Safrit opened a one-man shop selling printer cartridges and other computer supplies.

Today, the president and CEO of Plano-based Axxys Technologies leads a $3.1 million business with 18 employees who provide a far more complex array of services.

“I think if you’re an entrepreneur, you worry about how it’s going to turn out, but I don’t think you’re ever really nervous because I think that’s just the way you live,” Safrit said. “The biggest concern is, can you transition from always being an entrepreneur that starts a company to one that can grow, run ...

May 2012
CRN

VARs Giving Back

As part of Heartland Tech Group's 2012 Summit, VARs and vendors gave their time and money to help Mission Arlington, a Dallas-area charitable organization that helps local families. HTG helped Mission Arlington last year too, but this year the group, led by local VAR Networking Results, as well as HTG, Intel, Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard, provided an "Extreme IT Makeover" for the organization, upgrading almost its entire IT infrastructure.

Pictured here, HTG members and vendors get off the busses at Mission Arlington to do the big "reveal" and put helping hands to work.

Read more: HTG VARs Provide Technology Makeover For Texas Charity

May 2012
MSPmentor

SonicWall CEO Matt Medeiros connected with managed services providers (MSPs) and VARs yesterday, during the HTG Peer Groups gathering in Dallas. But this wasn’t an attempt to pitch MSPs on the Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) buyout of SonicWall. Instead, Medeiros and other industry leaders spoke with HTG members about business and company leadership, a growing theme in the MSP market.

During the Leadership Track discussion, there was “not one word on technology,” said HTG Founder Arlin Sorenson. “The focus was that people are the only thing that matters. The responsibility of a leader is to identify and hire the right people, to invest in them, and to be training those who will take over the tasks and roles that the entrepreneur/leader has been doing themselves. In other words, we have to be focused on building the leaders who will replace us. That is our highest priority and call.”

Read more: HTG Dallas: SonicWall CEO Talks Leadership with MSPs

April 2012
PRWeb.com

Small Business Technology author Karl Palachuk announced that Arlin Sorensen – widely regarded for his passion in serving and educating small businesses and IT consultants around the world – will present a keynote address entitled “Your CEO Transition Plan” at the first major Online Conference for Small Business IT Consultants, Managing for Success 2012.

“We are absolutely thrilled to have Arlin presenting at this conference,” said Palachuk. “He is one of the great thought leaders in the world of IT consulting, with influence that stretches from the heartland of America all around the world.”

Sorensen is the founder and CEO of both Heartland Technology Solutions and the HTG Peer Groups. Heartland Technology Solutions has seven offices in five states (Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and Oklahoma) and more than 75 employees. HTG is now comprised of 270 member companies throughout the U.S., Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom.

Read more: Arlin Sorensen to Present Keynote Address at First-Ever Online Conference for Small Business Consultants

March 2012
CRN.com

Robert Betzel, president of Macon, Ga.-based Infinity Network Solutions, is wrestling with a transition all solution providers have to make: the move into cloud computing where hardware resale and maintenance agreements are no longer big moneymakers and where the channel's key vendors and go-to service delivery models aren't quite the same as they were even five years ago.

Unlike most solution providers, however, Betzel has taken his ideas for how to make that transition and put pen to paper. For Betzel, it all comes down to a company culture tirelessly committed to customer service.

His new book, "The Company Culture Challenge," co-authored with longtime executive coach David Russell, takes both a broad and deep look at how companies create and preserve successful cultures. But rather than a few platitudes on development and a few tossed-off "you'll be all right in the cloud era if you do X, Y and Z," the book offers a step-by-step plan to identify cultural strengths and weaknesses and then solve those challenges.

Read more: VAR Pens How-To Book On Surviving In The Cloud Era

February 2012
JoplinGlobe.com

After the May 22 tornado, Jane Cage opened her home to two friends who had lost theirs.

For many people, extending a helping hand like that would be enough to say they had done their part.

Not for Cage.

Not only did she give her friends a place to live for a couple of months, she volunteered to serve on the citizens’ group asked to produce a long-range recovery plan for Joplin.

That group put Cage, a longtime Joplin businesswoman, in charge of that recovery plan and its implementation.

Community leaders are now saying that decision was the right one.

Read more: The Joplin Globe: Right Person At The Right Time

January 2012
Varvid.com

HARLAN, Iowa / BELLINGHAM, Wa. – Jan. 16, 2012 – In a move typical of Heartland Technologies CEO and Founder Arlin Sorensen, the industry veteran is once again betting on the future of the IT channel. What’s perhaps unusual this go-around is that he and his brother Brad are doing it with their own cash. The pair is making a sizeable financial commitment to Varvid, a digital media services company, as part of a strategic alliance aimed at expanding business-changing educational content via an online video platform.

“Our interest in Varvid enables us to offer a wide array of digital media services to HTG Peer Group members either through real-time, interactive sessions or on-demand programming that’s not only available when they want to receive it, but how they want to receive it,” said Arlin. “I’m a big believer that digital communication is going to be the separator between those that do well in the marketplace and those that don’t.” 

Read more: HTG Strategic Partner, Varvid, plans growth through capital investment from Sorensen brothers

January 2012
SanLuisObispo.com

Tech company moving into former A&R Furniture location in San Luis Obispo

Clever Ducks, an information technology services company in San Luis Obispo, is moving into the building that formerly housed A&R Furniture.

Clever Ducks employs 10 people. However, Clever Ducks Chief Operating Officer Amy Kardel said the company is expanding, and several new employees will be hired in the coming year.

In anticipation of its growth, Clever Ducks purchased the A&R Furniture & Interiors building for $825,000.

Read more: HTG Member, Clever Ducks Expands Office Space and Employees

December 2011
Microsoft Partner Network

CONGRATULATIONS 2011 IMPACT AWARDS WINNERS!

On November 30th, 2011, Microsoft Canada Inc. was proud to announce the 2011 IMPACT Award Winners at an award ceremony in Toronto.

"Our annual IMPACT Awards celebrate the great work done in the Partner Community to help customers respond to their business challenges through the benefits of technology," said Eric Gales, President of Microsoft Canada Inc. "Technology partners are always finding new and exciting ways to develop and deliver innovative technology solutions, making them true leaders in their respective fields."

The ninth annual IMPACT Awards recognize excellence across the large and diverse community of Microsoft's Canadian technology partners. Congratulations to all of our winners!

Read more: Impact Award Winners for 2011 Includes HTG9 Member

November 2011
focus profile

Sometimes a business owner needs to talk to another owner who will understand. David Binning looks inside one peer review group that’s made support its business

Founder and director of Sydneybased integrator Nortec solutions David Norris had been agonising over how to deal with staff whose negative attitudes had been eating away at company morale and performance.

“It was a poison pill. These two staff were always very negative; I didn’t realise the effect it was having on the rest of the staff,” he said.

Read more: Peers keep partners grounded