YOUR BUSINESS AUTHORITY

Springfield, MO

Log in Subscribe

Jeremy Hill, left, director of business development; Thomas Douglas, president and CEO; and Chris Huels, senior service director
Jeremy Hill, left, director of business development; Thomas Douglas, president and CEO; and Chris Huels, senior service director

2016 Dynamic Dozen No. 6: JMark Business Solutions Inc.

Posted online
SBJ: What has been key to your recent growth?
Thomas Douglas: Fundamentally, it starts with an amazing team that believes in the vision of the company, who provide a great service to clients, who understand their client’s challenges. In addition to that, there’s an inherent shift in businesses, where they don’t just look at technology as an expense; they are starting to see technology as an enabler.

SBJ: What has the company’s growth enabled you to do?  
Douglas: We shifted to teams that focus on different industry verticals. That proprietary knowledge associated with those industries has really helped us to have more success in the sales process because we have a deeper appreciation for the challenges each type of business goes through. As an example, in the medical services arena, a lot of companies talk about (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act), but our team is HIPAA certified. We do specialized training for those individuals to make sure they know how to deal with the HIPPA challenges.

SBJ: What are your top issues when it comes to managing growth?
Douglas: Making sure that we don’t grow too fast is a big part of it, because we can certainly outgrow our ability to deliver quality service.

Making sure that we’ve got the right leadership, the right talent aligned with the incoming workload is probably one of the big challenges. In our world, one of our biggest challenges is technical talent and development. We have our existing, amazing team and we want to continue to grow, so we have to create career paths and we have to bring outside people in as well.

SBJ: Is your fast growth sustainable?
Douglas: Potentially, it might even get faster. We’re growing more regionally, more nationally. We have some international clients now. We went to a 24/7 environment just this last month.

Now, we have engineers in the operations center 24/7. That is opening the doors for us to a new set of opportunities and prospective clients.

SBJ: Where is the tipping point?
Douglas: Not in the next five years. I think in the next five years, it continues to grow exponentially, probably some more acquisitions on the road map in late 2016, early 2017. I would anticipate that we’ll blow right by ($20 million) and probably blow right by 30 as well.

SBJ: What is the worst business advice you’ve received?
Douglas: Worry about money more than people. I think the opposite is true.

SBJ: Where do you see the company headed in the next five years?
Douglas: We’ll be rolling for ($20 million) all the way close to 25 in the next five years. A lot more national accounts. Our core customer is still 50 employees, and I don’t really see that changing. It’s just we’re going to have a larger reach.

Comments

No comments on this story |
Please log in to add your comment
Editors' Pick
From the Ground Up: Republic Intermediate School

The Republic School District is on track to open its Intermediate School for fifth- and sixth-grade students for the 2025-26 academic year.

Most Read
Update cookies preferences