I wasn’t expecting anybody from the print industry to be at the Technology Assurance Group’s MTSP Meeting in early November. In that way, I was the proverbial fish out of water. After all, TAG’s managed technology strategic partners comprise both dedicated IT providers and vendors.
Until last year.
Cornerstone Technologies is one of seven office equipment dealers that took the plunge in 2019 and became a TAG member, on top of already being a member of the Business Technology Association. And at TAG’s event in Austin, I had the great fortune and pleasure of meeting Jon Pellowe, Cornerstone’s affable and intelligent President.
Cut to the chase: When Pellowe thought his company was too stagnant, that Cornerstone had to move outside of the box (literally and figuratively), he turned to managed IT to diversify the portfolio and to reach a fresh set of potential customers. Because in this age of mega dealers and constant consolidation, Pellowe stepped up to the plate and did the right thing rather than watching Cornerstone remain print-centric and get usurped—or bought—by the competition.
| Jon Pellowe, President of Cornerstone Technologies |
Three years ago Cornerstone did a couple of hundred thousand dollars in managed IT, then $450,000 in 2018 and approximately $1.7 million last year. Here are some of the soundbites Pellowe provided during our conversation…
“We saw what was happening on the print side, with not only the placements but also the revenue and the profitability, and we just decided that we would place our energies into the infrastructure and the personnel and really invest ourselves 110 percent on the IT side … It’s worked out so well that we’re having to readjust our priorities a little bit because I thought our base would be the first ones to jump on, but 90 percent of our IT customers are brand new businesses [net-new customers] and many of them sought us out … Surprisingly enough, our print sales have gone up because we now are a more full-featured resource for them.”
Happy listening!