Fast Facts
History in Brief: Now in its 79th year as a provider of business technology serving Idaho, eastern Oregon and western Wyoming (also with national accounts supported by local organizations); for the past decade has branched out beyond document imaging hardware to other industry-related services, including many offerings in the software and managed IT spaces
Headquarters: Boise, Idaho
Locations: 4 (Idaho)
Employees: Approximately 100
Hardware Partners: (A3) Canon, Konica Minolta, Ricoh; (A4) Canon, HP, Konica Minolta, Ricoh; (Production) Canon, Konica Minolta
Noteworthy Software Partners: ABBYY, DocuWare, Laserfiche
“When I came on board to do a turnaround in 2006, the company not only had a lot of unhappy customers but a lot of unhappy employees, too,” said Chris Taylor, Fisher’s Technology’s multi-titled executive. “I was from outside the industry and figured I’d be here for only a few years, but thanks to the results of the rebirth initiative we started almost a decade ago and the fun I was having, I bought in.”
A bounty of problems existed upon his arrival—even beyond the disintegrating relationships with clients and employees. A horrendous sales culture and terrible brand recognition to name two, but Taylor knew those couldn’t be dealt with at the outset. Better yet, he understood that if he could foster an environment where people wanted to deliver phenomenal customer experiences time and time again, many of the issues the company faced would, at least to some degree, begin correcting themselves.
The initial phase focused on service and operations. With the first, as Taylor explained, Fisher’s Technology had to make things right with its clients, plain and simple. “The company had messed up, and it was being passive in how mistakes with customers were handled and resolved,” he said. “You’re never not going to have negative feedback as an organization, but we now manage our failures proactively.” As for the processes portion of the equation, he obviously had the proverbial tough decisions to make. “My job is to make sure the right people are in the right seats and develop a culture of success and fulfillment. So we got the wrong people off the boat and brought the right people on, and then, with an improved client offering, we could begin discussing sales cycles, strategy, marketing and rebuilding our brand, all more seriously.”
A former employee of Fisher’s Technology said to Taylor years ago, “This would be such a great business if it weren’t for the damn customers.” That sentence draws laughter in any crowd, yes, but to Taylor’s benefit, it immediately showed him just how discolored the yellow brick road was, and he admitted it took roughly three years before the company felt as though it was back on solid ground with its clients.
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For a guy who carries Chief Culture Officer in his title, it should be no surprise that the topic of working conditions is something close to Taylor’s heart. He is engaging, approachable and, in a word, human. He loves outdoor activities, including biking, hiking and skiing, and he enjoys a good microbrew. With a wife and a couple of young boys, family time to him means being present in the moment and turning off work.
As it should to the employees at Fisher’s Technology, Taylor believes. “Culture starts at the top—it has to,” he said. “The person has to live it. Breathe it. Set an example. Like with core values. Look at Enron, its four were Integrity, Communication, Respect and Excellence. You can say what you are, but if you don’t embody the principles, it completely damages your organization. The same applies to culture.”
Fisher’s Technology’s culture program is basically all-encompassing. On Mondays, Taylor emails a story to the entire staff about somebody who either went above and beyond his or her job or displayed excellent communication skills during a conflict. Once a month, he hosts a cross-functional breakfast with a member of every department to talk about what the company is excelling at and what it still needs to rectify, and he also holds a monthly company meeting, during which those who have recently helped in the community are lauded. While some of Fisher’s Technology’s charity endeavors are reciprocal in nature, the company does have a committee that determines four causes to support from a purely philanthropic standpoint. Golf outings, fundraising walks and quarterly competitions—bowling, horseshoes, paintball—further the sense of camaraderie. “You do stuff as a team outside the office and it will ultimately open the channels of collaboration and innovation inside the office,” he said. He then added that employee orientations detail the culture initiative in full, and that Fisher’s Technology has been diligent about hiring people with both excellent communication skills and a track record of fixing things.
Conflicts will always arise, but Taylor prefers to file this under culture and let his positivity shine through. “It’s good, healthy conversation and it needs to happen—and we can do it as friends and coworkers,” he said. “Everybody’s ideas are heard, and the challenges can be addressed sooner rather than later.” Never one to stand pat, either, Taylor would like to have more interaction with spouses and significant others, aside from speaking with them at just the summer family picnic and the holiday party in December.
“Culture starts at the top—it has to. The person has to live it. Breathe it. Set an example. You can say what you are, but if you don’t embody the principles, it completely damages your organization.” –Chris Taylor
There have been many other phases of Fisher’s Technology’s evolution over the last 10 years. It extended its territorial reach into Twin Falls (south-central Idaho) and Idaho Falls (eastern Idaho) and acquired IT organizations in Idaho Falls and Rexburg (also in the eastern part of the state). It expanded in production print, as the company started marketing to print-for-pay environments, not just CRDs. Employee headcount went up, from 40 to approximately 100 (Taylor estimated that 10 staff members predate his tenure). And revenues skyrocketed to the tune of 4x growth—the snowball effect was in full swing.
Fisher’s Technology’s hardware sales and service are responsible for over 90 percent of the revenue (41 and 49 percent, respectively), but Taylor remains optimistic that software can be a bigger contributor. “Not many dealers have been effective in leveraging their sales teams to sell solutions,” he said. “Maybe dealers were sold this grand plan that hasn’t come to fruition? Software to complement the device won’t get us there—we have to sell enterprise-level applications and better understand the vertical aspect. Professional services associated with solutions could be the next big thing. After all, as a consulting firm, we translate technology to business value.”
The same holds true for managed IT (MIT). The company bought an IT business in 2013 and followed up that in short order by purchasing a pair of smaller houses. “Culturally and spiritually, the amount of strategic effort we’re spending on our core areas is disproportionate toward these newer segments,” Taylor said. “They’re a smaller piece of the pie now—but they are the future. We’re realistic, so even though solutions and managed IT aren’t currently bringing in major dollars, we’re still happy.”
Taylor noted a cultural divide when Fisher’s Technology first began delivering MPS, a divide that eventually closed two years later, and he sees a similar trend happening in the IT sector. He of course cited the issue of longer sales cycles when solutions and other services are involved, but with more and more deployments happening, he feels momentum shifting. Still, the company is preaching patience and is looking to target only 20 percent of the MIT market in its geography.
“Seems to me that managed IT is having a polarizing effect on our industry,” Taylor said. “Some dealers are all in, embrace it and do it well, while others have chosen to not stray too far away from the meat and potatoes. I’m no prognosticator, but at the end of the day, we’ll probably wind up with several big IT organizations and many traditional copier dealers. This split is coming soon, too.
“Managed IT has to be done on a local level—and people in Idaho love local,” he continued. “I’m confident that by eliminating all the roadblocks, providing great customer experiences and tweaking our culture initiative, we’ll be in very good shape.”
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