Earthcharter

SBA Case Study: I.T. Authorities

Friday, 26 February 2010 18:39

SMALL BUSINESS CATEGORY

Company Name: I.T. Authorities

Contact: Jason Caras. CEO
Website: www.itauthorities.com

Certifications/Affiliations: ISO 14001:2004 certification; 2009 #1 best company to work for in the State of Florida by Florida Trend Magazine; 2008 & 2009 one of the best places to work for in Tampa Bay by the Tampa Bay Business Journal; 2009 5th fastest growing company in Tampa Bay Business Journal “Fast 50”
Year Established:
Industry: IT Management

Introduction: The IT Authorities expert team works hand-in-hand with each customer to develop, implement and proactively monitor managed IT services. Their services, combined with their on-site Network Operations Centre (NOC), enables their team to always have their fingers on the pulse of their customers network and systems, while following strict best practices in IT management.
As a true MSP, it is in the company’s own best interest to ensure all existing devices and systems are operating at peak efficiency. However they go further through a policy of continuous improvement of their services and recommendations for additional value in operations efficiencies. As one of the Top 100 managed service providers in the world, IT Authorities has the technology, tools and services required to bring the benefits of true managed services to their customers.  (itauthorities.com)

Sustainable Practices and Initiatives (Planet)

IT Authorities tries their best to be sustainable with regards to our planet. The company strongly promotes and encourages sustainable practices such as the reuse of paper, enforcing light policies with the intention of reducing electrical consumption, make use of environmentally friendly products when possible, they use recycled soda bottles to make their panels in the office, and 80% of their furniture has been re-manufactured saving tons of raw material and harmful emissions energy. In addition to these practices the company have made the Intel vPro technology-based PCs their standard and preferred platform. The vPro-based PCs offer new energy efficient ways to connect to their customers with the intention of troubleshooting and remediating. They can now turn off groups of PCs after hours and then power them back up before the start of the next business day. This will therefore reduce their customer’s energy usage. They have estimated that a vPro-based PC replacing an older PC saves $187 per year in energy costs per machine. They also use virtualized systems to reduce the amount of heat and energy required.

Economic Impact (Profit)

IT Authorities have been able to remain very profitable over the years. They have reported a 100% increase in free cash flow, return on assets, and return on equity for 3 consecutive years. 10% of their profits are reinvested into good environmental practices that improve company value. This investment most includes the implementation of the Virtual environments and vPro technology. The company also conducts and encourages customer surveys after each job is done with the intention of receiving useful feedback on work performance. This helps the company to adapt to the economy by carefully identifying the needs of customers in relation to trends and target industries that thrive during different economical scenarios. IT Authorities also utilizes and monitors local suppliers within the Tampa Bay area.

Community Commitment (People)

IT Authorities employee turnover has been minimal. They have only had one person leave the company for a better opportunity. Their staff has doubled in the last twelve months and based on their current revenue growth they are anticipating quadrupling the current number of employees in the next 12 months. The company currently employs 25 individuals which make up a very diverse group. There are 20 males and 5 females currently working at the company with 20% of them being from a minority group. The company does enforce health and safety policies which they take very seriously. Employees are also offered specific benefits which include life insurance, health insurance, dental/vision insurance, short term disability, long term disability, and 401K. They also offer training and development programs to their employees. The company sends employees to regular training and also brings specialized training in house in relation to technical and sales training. It Authorities are also the recipients of a number of prestigious awards which include; in 2009 they were ranked as the #1 best company to work for in the State of Florida by Florida Trend Magazine, in 2008 & 2009 they were classified as one of the best places to work for in Tampa Bay by the Tampa Bay Business Journal and in 2009 they were the 5th fastest growing company in Tampa Bay Business Journal “Fast 50”. They basically believe that companies have a responsibility far above and beyond financial security, employment, and payroll. They believe companies must focus on personal development of their employees followed by professional development to reach extraordinary and lasting success.