Business Spotlight: McMurtrey, Whitaker & Associates Inc.

Most industry sectors have been hit hard by recent economic developments, and the information services sector is no exception.

Despite the current slowdown, Springfield e-commerce development company McMurtrey, Whitaker & Associates Inc. posted its strongest quarter to finish 2008, pushing annual revenues 15 percent higher than 2007, which itself grew 25 percent compared to 2006.

The company has weathered difficult times before.

"Surviving the dot-com bubble was our biggest challenge as a company," says President Shannon McMurtrey. "It was a very hard period."

McMurtrey established the firm in 1989. Vice President and Chief Information Officer Bryan Whitaker joined in 1994 and wrote the first versions of Cart32, the company's flagship product. The software allows companies to sell products and services and securely receive payment information online.

More than 3,000 merchants use Cart32 with approximately 95 percent of them based in the United States. Other clients are in Australia, the United Kingdom and Canada. Web sites employing Cart32 include www.charliedaniels.com, www.fuddruckers.com, www.spanglercandy.com and www.yakov.com.

Since Cart32's release in 1996, the company has added versions 2.0 through 6.4.

Whitaker estimates version 7.0 of Cart32 will debut in March. Scheduled features include an integrated payment gateway, an integrated e-commerce site builder dubbed Store32 and support for Amazon Payments. New features are based primarily on merchant feedback, a key component of the company's growth, McMurtrey says.

"When our merchants do well, we're going to do well," he notes.

Branson-based Ozarks Kirkwood Tour & Travel has been a client since 1995. The company uses Cart32 to sell Branson travel packages, which include lodging, entertainment, and meals for individuals and groups. The appeal, says owner Denise Greeno, is the software's credit card security features.

"I want the assurance myself that my clients are protected," says Greeno.

McMurtrey, Whitaker & Associates is a Level 1 Visa Payment Card Industry service provider. The PCI data security standard is a "set of comprehensive requirements for enhancing payment account data security," as described by the PCI Security Standards Council at www.pcisecuritystandards.org.

All McMurtrey, Whitaker & Associates' customer payment data is hosted at the underground SpringNet datacenter in Springfield.

McMurtrey focuses on business development, direction and vision, and relationships with partners such as Google, Paypal, Amazon and BuySafe.

The company was one of the first 12 that Google invited to integrate Google Checkout into e-commerce software. McMurtrey is working on a partnership with McAfee, which a year ago acquired ScanAlert, a company specializing in e-commerce security.

Whitaker's responsibilities include programming and project management. Whitaker also runs a group of four online radio stations, including ChristianRock.net, as a side project. The stations are set up as a separate nonprofit corporation.

The company's most recent offering is merchant account services, which allow merchants to accept credit cards online and at retail settings.

"There are a lot of pieces that have to be in place when someone wants to sell something on the Internet," McMurtrey says, naming the shopping cart, merchant account and payment gateway.

Monthly e-commerce hosting plans range from $49.95 to $249.95. Hosting, including Cart32, and merchant account services make up 80 percent of the company's business. Custom back-end development accounts for the rest, the owners say, though they declined to disclose revenues.

Looking toward the future, McMurtrey expects more businesses to integrate online sales as a cost-cutting measure. McMurtrey says many companies have an online presence, but the Internet doesn't figure into their core strategy.