Lindon firm doubles in size, prepares for global expansion

Enterprise, The, Jan 7, 2008 by Olson, Debbi

DirectPointe, a managed IT outsourcing services company, has spent the past year preparing to launch a new division that will perpetuate a new revenue stream and catapult it into new markets throughout the world.

The preparation has consisted of acquiring four companies that have the intellectual property, technology and employee expertise to expand DirectPointe's services to include not only managed IT services for small businesses, but also managed IT services for the individual consumer and the creation of a technology platform that will allow other firms around the world to replicate DirectPointe's IT services model.

The new division platform, officially launching this month, is CentralPointe, which will allow other IT service providers the opportunity to use the DirectPointe model in their markets, something that would not be feasible for the Lindon-based company to enter into and still gain revenues.

"We're fostering our own competition," said Justin Beck, vice president of marketing for DirectPointe. " It may seem like it doesn't make a lot of sense, but it does in the fact that DirectPointe Managed Business services isn't going to grow on the same scale globally, but the technology platform will and there is an opportunity to make revenue on that technology platform. So, in effect, by sponsoring our competition it continues to drive revenue for the core business."

Through providing IT solutions for its current clients, DirectPointe has been developing the technology platform that has become CentralPointe.

As more companies are being created to provide managed IT services, which in DirectPointe's model includes procurement, deployment, management, protection and support of customer's computer systems, the company saw an opportunity to provide a universal technology platform that would serve as a model for new companies.

"Our plan for 2008 is to spin out that technology as a platform and let other businesses that are in a managed IT services environment, or that want to become in that environment, to use that technology to do the same thing that DirectPointe is doing," Beck said. "Here is a model where businesses can have recurring revenue streams coming into their business and build sustainable customer relationships. It's where technology is moving and we've proven you can make money at it andwe're giving businesses the tools and keys necessary to go out and do it themselves."

In the process of creating CentralPointe, during the past year DirectPointe acquired Provo-based iTOK and System Technology Inc. (STI), Boston-based TechnologyWorks and Mesa, Ariz.-based Sweet Spot Solutions (S3).

"What's driven the acquisition was to acquire intellectual property and certain capabilities as well as talent to be able to provide that platform that can be used not only in the DirectPointe managed services business but for other businesses around the world," said Beck, who was previously the chief executive officer of S3.

The most recent acquisition, iTOK, will allow the company to offer services to individual clients rather than to just small and medium-sized businesses, which have been DirectPointe's core customers since the company was started in 2000.

"iTOK has built a successful business in that consumer side and there are very many complements between the DirectPointe business and the iTOK business and so iTOK will be the impetus for going out to the consumer market as well," Beck said. "A lot of the technologies they [iTOK] have,which is derived around PC support, is proprietary technology built around that, and that will be incorporated into the CentralPointe platform."

Beck said the acquisition of iTOK will be the impetus for reaching out to the consumer market, which DirectPointe had not been able to do. iTOK will continue to exist under its own name and be an umbrella company of DirectPointe. The other three acquired firms will become part of CentralPoint, and all employees of the companies had the option to be retained by DirectPointe. The company has grown by approximately 125 employees, doubling in size, in the past year. Forty of those employees were gained through acquisition. Growth has also created the need to expand in its location in the Canopy Campus.

iTOK's specialty is offering customers regular system maintenance and security management against viruses and spyware, online backup to protect critical data, and live support from certified technicians utilizing remote management tools.

Sweet Spot Solutions' technology enables remote access through a virtual private network (VPN) from almost any Internet-enabled terminal. The software resides on a portable USB flashdrive, so it requires no installation and leaves no trace on the host computer. Users simply insert the thumb drive into a USB port and authenticate to the drive and then the remote network. It is the industry's first two-factor authentication combined with a VPN on a USB flash drive. The S3 technology adds a new security layer to DirectPointe's network, server and PC services.