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Sunday August 26, 2001
By William Freebairn
 C
Computer Systems Integrator Inc., or CCSI, has operated for seven
years in Palmer. A year ago, however, its future was uncertain.
“We had to almost shut it down,” said Ken Vaishnav, the
chief financial officer for the small firm. Since then, it has
‘turned around.
The company has more than
400 dial-up Internet access customers and is seeking to add to that
number aggressively. The company will soon begin an aggressive
advertising campaign for its $14.95 unlimited dial-up Internet access
in areas far from Palmer, seeking customers in Westfield, Sturbridge
and Greater Springfield.
The company managers are convinced they can make a profit in
the competitive Internet access market.
In addition, like most Internet service providers, it offers
domain name registration, Web hosting and Web design features.
The ‘business had its origins in selling and setting up
computers for businesses. That remains about half the business, with
Internet access making up most of the rest of the revenue.
The company was
established in 1994 by Jitu C. Changela, an engineer who had just been
let go from a job at a Needham computer company. He was doing upgrades
and computer repairs as a sideline, and moved to Palmer to run a
Computer business in a relative’s office space,
The new company started doing extended warranty service selling
computers to larger companies.
“From there on it kind of grew” Changela said.
In 1998, the company began getting requests for Internet
access.
Changela added the service, buying top-of-the-line equipment.
Marketing was a secondary consideration, Changela said, until more
recently.
By last year, bills were threatening to overwhelm the small
company. They had paid recruiting fees and a high salary to hire a
salesman to sell more computer products.
Companies owed CCSI money and were slow in paying.
Vaishnav,
a Walpole business consultant and long-time friend of Changela, agreed
to join the firm in exchange for an equity stake.
Vaishnav worked for two years as a consultant for Andersen Consulting,
now known as Accenture. After helping many high-tech companies grow,
he decided he wanted to start his own consulting firm.
“We have brought in tremendous financial control, our overhead
has been brought down significantly in the last nine months,” he
said.
Vaishnav and Changela, both 35, agreed to focus on what the
company did well and did profitably
Gone were computer training classes and the new salesman. Web
design was contracted to an outside company.
Cash was in short supply, Vaishnav said. “I almost paid our
payroll through a credit card one week,” he said. The company’s
full-time bookkeeper offered to put $5,000 of her money into the
company, although the offer was turned down.
Vaishnav called the companies that owed CCSI money. A line of
credit was converted into a three-year loan, and several vendors were
paid in full.
Changela called customers and pushed sales.
“We were hungry, we were poor, and we weren’t going to let
it go down,” Vaishnav said.
Soon, some large customers signed service contracts. Unneeded
inventory, which had built up virtually unnoticed, was sold off.
Revenue grew, and one initial investor was paid off in full.
Today, the company is profitable. The company expects sales of
more than $300,000 this year, and 20 percent sales growth or more.
Vaishnav believes the company can succeed in increasing revenue
from the Internet services part of the business as well as technical
support. Sales of computers offer low profit margins, he said.
“We offer a bundle of services. Not only do they
get our hardware, they get networking and software and value-added
services.”
Vaishnav, who also operates a business consulting
company called VentureXcelerator Inc. and has written a short book
about building a business, said the experience of CCSI is right out of
a business textbook.
“Businesses fail, and they always will fail, not
because of the idea, not because of the money, but because of the
execution.”
The
Union News-Sunday Republican, Sunday August 26, 2001.
Business Section
News
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