There’s another city council we’ve represented for eight years now – we actually had them before we even started the company – and they followed recommendations all the way through to our five-year perspective on their shoe- string budget. Eighteen months ago I actually visited with that city council and we did a bit of a history lesson with them and showed them the outcome of our recommenda- tions. They weren’t only impressed with the savings, which was significant, but also with the energy we brought with us and infused in and between their departments. Now we are upgrading their council room for some new needs of theirs that have come up like electronic locks. We do a lot of cross-platform work and have a much more extensive product line than most of our competitors. Everything we install interacts directly with a central system. It’s all about creating silos of technology that all feed into the main network with just one cable fromeach silo. All of the cameras we install are the same technology, all of the printers, the phone systems. Our forward-thinking approach, our belief in the necessity of a core infrastructure, comes from a business perspective. We know our clients want a complete IT system that supports their long-term growth without having to add to it every other month – we get why that’s important. We were able to tell that city council that we never really broke budget. Our five-year projections right on par. I’m interested – and I’m sure the readers are interested – to know about the company culture at Forward Slash. IT companies have a reputation for unconventional work environments. Is that true in this instance? MB: We work hard, and we play hard, you could say that. We are kind of a Google environment. We have shuffleboard in the office. We barbeque almost daily and provide catered lunches. And there are fish fries on Fridays. We have a full- staff kitchen. When you get hired we ask you what you like to eat, what you like to drink and that’s because they’re working so much, they’re in their office so much that we try to make everyone feel at home as much as we can. We’re big on keeping the place stocked with whatever sodas or teas or coffee people want – we try to accommodate. We also do a lot of IT for craft breweries, too, so we’ve learned to brew our own beer – it’s a part of team building. Your commitment to your community in St. Louis is truly something to admire. Can you please tell the readers why giving back is so important to company culture at Forward Slash? MH: We are huge non-profit supporters. We’re currently actively supporting seven non-profits to the extent that I personally put on parties and hold wine tastings at my house. For example, once a year we host golf tournaments to support Angel Farms and The Center for Head Injury Services here in Missouri. We’re also the largest sponsor of Coordinated Human Services for Nurses for Newborns. We donated a whole network infrastructure to them and did all of their website development all pro bono. I’m very proud
of a lot of the work we’ve been up to with Angel Farms these days, too. We took on a program for kids who are aging out foster care who need help moving onto the next stage of their lives. It offers avenues to employment and educa- tion – it’s called JumpStart. We’ve actually started a co-op program with JumpStart that provides a six-month intern- ship with us. Positions range from the help desk to working with engineers to telecommunications to docking. We also take advantage of how diverse our clientele is. Sometimes a kid has a particular need to meet requirements for schol- arships and things like that, so we reach out in the commu- nity using our connections and see what internships are out there. We’re also building our own programs here at the office. We’ve been going to nursing homes and community events to play music at Christmas time, for example. What about day-to-day challenges in the IT industry? What else do you want prospective clients to know about your proactive approach? MB: I think that if you were going to identify one particular challenge as our biggest challenge it would be that tech- nology changes every 45 minutes. We are always on top of that, new technology I mean, and we’re aware of new threats. We are always working to mitigate the risk provided by those threats and one of the things that we do when we are selecting products and partners is to ensure that we’re working only with partners that have a good track record. It’s all about doing your homework. We put in a lot of work ahead of time so that we’re in a good position to respond when things quickly change. JD: We are of course dealing with people’s equipment that has all of their data and information in it. Making sure that they feel comfortable knowing that what they have saved is truly saved and they can find it when they need it is what it’s all about. For more information about the benefits of working with a computer consulting firm, please visit www.forward- slashtechnology.com or www.facebook.com/forward- slashtechnology.
115 DECEMBER 2018 • SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE
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