(Photo: David Goodwin, ATC managing partner and co-founder; Brian Young, BD Capital co-founder, president and CEO; Dave Hollenbaugh, BD Capital co-founder and COO; and Clayton Connor, ATC senior consultant.)
… Works Well for Acquisition Firm
Each time BD Capital Partners adds a new, independent insurance agency to its acquisition mix, Advanced Technology Consulting (ATC) transitions that agency to the firm’s VoIP phone system platform and upgrades Internet services. According to BD Capital, ATC continuously serves as the perfect “style match” for meeting their expanding, and often challenging, telecom-IT needs.
ATC provides professional telecom and next-gen IT expertise centered around voice and data networks, VoIP and cloud technologies.
“We’re rounding out our fourth year working with ATC, which has given us the cutting edge we need,” says Brian Young, BD Capital co-founder, president and CEO. “We’ll be acquiring many insurance agencies in the future, we want to stay in front, and we know, with this velocity, the ATC team can run at our pace. Many companies cannot do what ATC is doing. Our focus is to become the leading insurance agency owner in the entire Midwest. We have the right team to do that, and ATC is part of that team.”
(This ATC client spotlight is part of a LEAD Magazine feature story. It can be found here on page 3.)
A Champion for the Independent Agent
Young and Dave Hollenbaugh, BD Capital co-founder and COO, along with their team, create customized acquisition strategies for independent insurance agencies interested in selling, yet needing assistance in taking next steps. When it’s done the right way, Young and Hollenbaugh maintain, acquisition solves the problems that typically cause owners the most stress and concern – lack of a succession plan, inability to grow the business past a certain point, issues with technology implementation and struggles with marketing strategies and CSR systems.
“We love the independent agency model,” Hollenbaugh says. “There are independent agencies in most towns. With businesses consolidating, some are going away. We think there’s a future there, a great opportunity to keep the independent agency legacy alive.”
BD Capital’s model is driven around the small- to mid-size agency, with staffs ranging from five to 30 people.
“A lot of these agencies don’t have succession plans, but they’re looking for one,” Hollenbaugh continues. “For many of them, their only plan is to sell to the highest bidder – usually a conglomerate that folds them up into another shop and shuts them down. We want to keep their legacies alive, keep their staffs working in their communities. We’re fans of keeping the offices where they’re at, keeping their current teams, even keeping their names, but maximizing efficiencies.”
Hybrid VoIP with Star2Star
By working with ATC, BD Capital’s 13 agencies will eventually work off one telephony platform from a myriad of locations throughout the Midwest, with two in Sacramento, California. Nine agencies are currently connected on the new Star2Star Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) phone system, a single hybrid VoIP platform. ATC also renegotiated BD Capital’s internet and data contracts and services. The firm will be establishing new headquarters in Mason, Ohio in April of this year.
Founded in 2006 in Sarasota, Florida, Star2Star Communications provides a full-spectrum, hosted to hybrid, communications solution. Known for its unparalleled value, reliability, quality and scalability, Star2Star unifies business communications via voice, video, fax, mobile, chat and presence management. Its hybrid architecture offers the highest guaranteed SLAs in the industry.
“Star2Star’s core network has only been down for 12 seconds in the last five years,” says Clayton Connor, ATC senior consultant. “It’s a very stable platform, which is important for clients. When they need you, they need you. It also supports the home user, or remote teleworker, helping companies retain talent who may move, but with Star2Star technology, they can work from anywhere. There is also a supervisory presence and chat component. For BD Capital, it’s a perfect fit.”
