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Partner Spotlight: Network Solutions, Inc. (NSI)
LOUISVILLE, Ky (November 29, 2007) — Larry and Sandy Tadevich, along with their son, Bill, started NSI in 1989. Since then, NSI has grown to nearly 50 employees with offices in South Bend, IN, Indianapolis, IN, and Chicago, IL, serving the network communications needs of companies, educational facilities and government entities in Indiana, Illinois, Ohio and Michigan. The following is a Q & A with co–founder, Larry Tadevich.
Q. When NSI was founded in 1989, what was the original vision for the company?
A. When NSI was founded in 1989, we were focused on providing Wide Area Networking (WAN) business solutions most importantly, helping our customers avoid long distance costs. To that end, we sold devices allowing customers to use part of their WAN bandwidth for voice. They used a proprietary protocol to send voice between devices connected to PBXs at each end. Of course, at that time, there were no standards for carrying voice over data networks, unlike today.
For awhile, we carried a number of different manufacturers in our portfolio; however, no single manufacturer covered the spectrum of products our customers needed. In addition, our engineering staff was required to carry multiple certifications from different manufacturers.
In 1995, Cisco approached us about becoming a regional reseller for them. They had just changed their sales model from direct to channel sales. We realized it was a perfect fit for us and never looked back. We became one of the first Cisco VARs in Indiana and continue to be a leading VAR in the region today.'
Q. Was there a particular opportunity or niche foreseen at that time? Was NSI influenced by any specific industry or market trends or past experiences?
A. The hallmarks of NSI have always been our technical knowledge and our dedication to serve as a trusted advisor. To that end, our sales force and engineering staff maintains the technical expertise to quickly analyze and formulate solutions for our customers. “We have been proponents of Converged Networks since that time and the growth of the industry as provided support for that direction. I´m surprised it has taken businesses as long as it did to adopt the Converged Network.”
When Local Area Networks (LANs) came to market, our previous experience working with networks and phone systems positioned us perfectly to move into this new market. We had moved many of our customers from the proprietary voice over data network boxes to VoIP to avoid long distance costs. Cisco´s entry into the voice arena was a natural evolution for us, as we had years of telephony integration experience.
The Y2K debacle caused many of our customers to reevaluate and upgrade their networks and we positioned these upgrades to support both voice and data. We have been proponents of converged networks since that time and the growth of the industry has provided support for that direction. I´m surprised it has taken businesses as long as it has to adopt converged networks.
Q. What tactics or strategies have been most successful in growing NSI to where it is positioned today?
A. NSI has always maintained the philosophy of meeting our customer´s needs, from product offerings to professional services and ongoing support. We started as a three person operation – my son, my wife and I working out of our basement. Today, we have nearly 50 employees with offices in South Bend, IN, Indianapolis, IN and Chicago, IL.
We moved into the IP Telephony market in 2000 when Cisco acquired Selsius. Throughout the years, we have been approached to sell a variety of TDM systems, but we always chose to stay focused on providing networking solutions and not dilute our expertise. With the advent of VoIP, we were able to move smoothly into the voice market, building upon our years of network experience. Several of our Account Managers had experience with call centers. This provided a good foundation for us to build upon the advanced applications offered by Cisco.
Q. From NSI´s perspective as a channel partner, what aspects of Smoothstone´s product, service offering or Partner Program motivated NSI to take interest in Smoothstone?
A. “We stumbled in our first attempt at choosing a hosted voice provider. When Smoothstone contacted us, we were quite dubious of their claims of having moved beyond hosted voice to managed voice. However, every objection or doubt we voiced was easily overcome by them.”
Smoothstone´s offerings fit well into NSI´s solution offerings. The fact that we can sell an MPLS solution and managed voice without having to invest a great amount of engineering time got our attention. Our Account Managers can now offer either a managed or premise–based solution. With so many of the circuit providers now offering a hosted voice solution, we knew that being able to offer a “one throat to choke ” solution was the only successful sales model.
NSI sells the Smoothstone circuits, Smoothstone voice services and Cisco infrastructure. This approach eliminates all of the finger–pointing and other frustrations customers of the other providers currently endure. In addition, the Smoothstone offering is more than dial tone – its other advanced applications mirror the most robust offerings any of the customer premise vendors have to offer.
Q. What value does Smoothstone bring to NSI´s overall growth strategy?
A. “Smoothstone is an integral part of our growth strategy. They allow us to adapt to changing market demands without taxing our engineering staff and respond quickly to market changes. The monthly recurring revenues generated by Smoothstone sales allow us to plan and manage our financial resources better. We know that as we continue to build our Smoothstone practice, the benefits of a predictable monthly revenue stream help us all.”
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