Building a Better Game Plan for Smoother Business Transitions

Business Systems Solutions

Business Systems Solutions, based in West Lafayette, Indiana, is a complete technology solution provider that’s been serving North Central Indiana, Middle Tennessee and West Michigan business owners since 1995. The firm creates customized IT solutions to fit the unique needs of each client, focusing on proactivity to prevent issues and mitigate downtime.

Challenge

Starting a new journey with your established business can be equal parts exciting and nerve-wracking — especially when it comes to mergers and acquisitions (M&A). Bill Ooms, CEO of Business Systems Solutions, was ready to begin the preparation work for a sale or merger odyssey. However, he lacked key information to help smoothen the road between where his business was and where he wanted to take it.

Solution

Ahead of any merger or acquisition, it’s imperative to gather information as early as possible so your business is well prepared for not only closing a deal but managing all that comes afterward. Networking with people close to M&A processes such as attorneys and brokers and, specifically those with MSP expertise, held the key to smoother business transitions.

Results

Meeting with and listening to experts at IT Nation Grow™ provided Ooms with brand-new information — enough to build a robust game plan when he got back to the office. In the days following the conference, Ooms created a to-do list to help get his business organized for a future sale and integration.

The Growing Pains of Running a Successful Business

Having facilitated two acquisitions in previous years, Bill Ooms was no stranger to the process; however, admits that he nor his business was quite ready for what these integrations required from a resource standpoint. “I’ve been looking into this [acquisitions] but didn’t have near enough of the information I needed,” he said. “It really floundered and took us a lot longer to pull together the resources.”

While each was an overall success, the transitions certainly came with a few road bumps. Looking ahead, Ooms is at a point where he’s considering his options to sell or merge. Adamant to avoid the same obstacles that arose throughout those first two major acquisitions, he looked to IT Nation Grow™ to set himself and his business up for success well ahead of time.

Collecting Knowledge From MSP Experts

“The expertise that I saw at IT Nation Grow™ was just phenomenal,” said Ooms. Brokers, insurance agents, attorneys — not only are these folks experts in their respective fields but have expertise serving MSPs specifically, and that makes all the difference.

Through the networking opportunities alone, Ooms met one attorney in particular who inspired him to get organized by creating a “data storeroom,” that is, a place to store critical information about clients, vendors, employees, agreements, internal policies — you name it. The idea behind this strategy quickly became clear, “When the time comes [to sell], whether it’s one month or five years down the road, you have your information together,” said Ooms. “It just removes a lot of stress.”

Equipped with all kinds of new information, Ooms had a good idea of what he needed to accomplish back at the office to prepare for the future.

Building a Better Game Plan

Ooms left IT Nation Grow™ with a game plan. “When I got back to the office, there were two things that I changed and started implementing based on what I learned,” he said.

First things first, building that data storeroom and beginning to compile all of the important information that needs to be easily accessible when it comes time to sell. The second item on the list was the true value-builder: sales and organic sales.

“We started creating a sales engine, sales team and marketing team,” said Ooms. Although he and the other folks at Business Systems Solutions had done some of this work in the past, it became a major focus for the team after attending IT Nation Grow™.

Thanks to the connections Ooms made and the information he learned, there’s a newfound confidence in the air at Business Systems Solutions. Now, Ooms and his team are ready to jump on M&A opportunities with more certainty and lots of excitement.