2015 Business Class Honoree: JMark Business Solutions Inc.

“Grandma service” is part of JMark Business Solutions Inc.’ people-first approach. That’s to say JMark’s network engineers treat clients like their grandmas: with patience and an understanding that people just want their computers to work absent the techie jargon.

 “We should be profitable when our clients are happy, not when they’re mad,” says Thomas Douglas, JMark’s president. “Our ‘why’ is changing lives. We want to change the lives of our team so they can change the lives of our clients.”

JMark was founded as a small Cabool-based computer company in 1988. Douglas joined JMark in 1997, by which time it had moved to Springfield. Douglas, who was in the U.S. Navy, had been contemplating re-enlisting when a mentor encouraged him to take his computer skills into the private sector. Douglas became JMark’s president in 1999 and majority owner in 2001.

With offices in Missouri, Arkansas and Colorado, JMark has clients in some 25 states and supports 12,000 devices, from computers to servers to routers, Douglas says. That doesn’t include mobile devices. JMark’s revenue grew 10 percent in 2014.

Last year, JMark was named one of the Top 20 Most Promising Enterprise Security Companies by CIOReview magazine; ranked No. 4141 on Inc. 5000; and was named to CRN magazine’s Managed Service Provider 500 and Fast Growth 150 lists.

JMark supports existing information technology departments or completely manages an organization’s IT with services such as reputation management, security monitoring, disaster recovery and cloud management.

And as technology becomes more ubiquitous, JMark wants to partner with clients in strategic planning and is investing heavily in account managers who understand both the client and the technology, Douglas says. “We aren’t just geeks. We really do know how to drive success through technology,” he says.

To help find IT employees, JMark offers a paid, six-month apprentice program, the JMark Apprentice Model, that accepts up to five participants – from single mothers to people changing careers – and teaches them the trade. Douglas says he’s learned to hire ahead in order to properly serve clients, and the apprentice program helps fill in gaps.

“It’s been a huge asset to our company, because IT talent is so hard to find. We’ve been able to train our own,” he says. “You see it gaining more momentum, because businesses that are doing really well are desperate for more talent and they’re willing to invest to get it.”

JMark also has a leadership program that is evolving as it works to develop new leaders, part of a process designed to set the company up to handle larger clients.

“We want to create this ‘wow’ customer-service organization ... and we want to create the leadership that can take the company to the next level,” Douglas says.[[In-content Ad]]