2016 W. Curtis Strube Small Business Award: Interactive Dynamics LLC

Jody Chaffin and David Rutter are no strangers to the W. Curtis Strube Small Business Award.

Their app development company, The App Pros LLC, was a 2014 finalist for the award by the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce.

Two years and a merger later, the Strafford-based company known as Interactive Dynamics LLC has its two primary vertical markets across three companies aligned and primed for growth. Interactive Dynamics was recognized May 4 with the chamber’s award for small businesses based on corporate philosophies, responses to challenges, innovative products or services, and community contributions.

The multipronged company comprises plastic enclosure manufacturer DustShield LLC, interactive kiosk manufacturer Phoenix Kiosk Inc. and software and mobile app development company The App Pros. A merger and rebranding came in June after DustShield relocated from Florida and Phoenix Kiosk from Arizona and Taiwan, and DustShield purchased The App Pros LLC.

While Interactive Dynamics’ breadth is wide, its mission is focused: Assist “entrepreneurial-minded leaders” with the transformative process.

“Everything we’re about is helping people take their ideas and turn them into solutions that technology can assist with,” said Chaffin, president of the parent company. “That leader may be coming out of a large organization or someone who was sitting at a stoplight and had an epiphany.”

Chaffin and Chief Technology Officer Rutter, along with Director of Development Bob Allen and Vice President of Sales John Dodson, previously worked together at McKesson Corp., a No. 11 finisher on the 2015 Fortune 500 list with an emphasis on pharmaceuticals and software.

It’s little surprise, then, the Interactive Dynamics team is heavily geared toward health and wellness.

Take the Hands-Only CPR Kiosk, which teaches users how to perform CPR and allows them to practice. The App Pros and Phoenix Kiosk teams developed it with input from the American Heart Association.

“The cool thing about that is someone learned hands-on CPR at a kiosk in the airport at Dallas,” Chaffin said. “Then, two days later when he was on a campus and somebody got struck by lightning, he used what he had learned and saved that person’s life.”

Closer to home through The App Pros, the company is developing software to enable virtual doctors’ office visits by video conferencing. The telemedicine product called DirectConnect currently is under testing for CoxHealth.

“We’re creating an app to notify the doctors, kind of like an Uber situation, where the doctor can say, ‘I’m available.’ They can see the patients queuing up for them and manage the visits,” Chaffin said.
 
Also being locally tested – this one by CrossFit enthusiasts – is a new plyometric box made with DustShield’s plastics. Traditionally made from wood, the boxes built by DustShield, Chaffin said, use the same plastic found in Lego toys. The result? A lighter, more durable piece of equipment that doesn’t crunch joints or damage shins. Once marketing research is complete and a price point is determined, Chaffin said a broad product rollout and new brand name under Interactive Dynamics are a few months away.

Less than one year into its life as Interactive Dynamics, the company has high hopes in the five-year plan, including putting out a major product every year between now and 2020. Declining to disclose company revenue, Chaffin said management also would like to triple 2015’s sales and its employee count of 23.

“As we put it together, some areas are growing faster than others,” Chaffin said, pointing to The App Pros’ 40 percent revenue growth 2014-15.

“That’s not necessarily across all the brands, but it’s exciting,” he said. “Putting the companies together is starting to show results.”