May 6, 2008 Ottawa, Canada –The Utility Company, a single-source provider of technology, communications and business management solutions for small and medium-sized businesses (SMB) across North America, continues to help vertical industry markets, such as manufacturing, that increasingly rely on data and, in turn, technology.
“Small and medium-sized businesses, particularly those with under 50 employees, are somewhat disillusioned with technology and are typically interested in only two things – saving money and/or getting higher-value service,” stated Mark Scott, president and founder of The Utility Company at one of the recent stops in Seattle on the company’s North American 2008 Roadshow called ‘Utility 360 Technology Bootcamp for Business Executives’. “We aim to become the single-source business-technology provider for companies like JIT Manufacturing and make technology a profit-driver for their business – cost saver and revenue generator. To do so, requires that we map our services to the three types of SMB technology consumers: tactical, reliant and strategic.”
The Utility Company has brought to market several initiatives to help business executives self-assess their spending and effective use of technology. Starting with the launch of the Utility Meter Reading, SMBs are given the ability to gauge their business in four categories: spending, operations, communications and management with a free online assessment tool (available at www.theutilitycompany.com/UMR). Next up are the Utility 360 events, where business executives learn how to make technology a profit-driver rather than a “necessary evil”. Then came the recent launch of 1-866-My-Utility Per Minute, offering new tactical/reactive customers access to LIVE helpdesk services, on demand when they need it, as an alternative to a traditional “break/fix” IT guy.
With the recent addition of 1-866-My-Utility Per Minute to their existing portfolio of Connected Office 3.0 Services, The Utility Company now addresses the three types of SMB technology consumers, including:
Tactical – “Do more with less”, reactive customers with 1-866-My-Utility Per Minute
Reliant – Technology critical to business, proactive customers with Connected Office (CO)
Strategic – Technology as profit-driver customers with CO Business, CO Web, CO VoIP
JIT Manufacturing’s Move from Tactical to Strategic
JIT Manufacturing of Seattle, Washington, has a dependence on their information technology (IT), yet has experienced a great deal of strife in its deployment and management in the past.
