South Florida Technology Today

Finding the Right IT Partner Can Have Long-term Dividends

Why an Understanding of your Business is the Key to Long Term Success

A business that cares. To many, companies are faceless corporate entities focused only on the bottom line. In these narratives, it’s never about the customer or really even about the product or service. It’s about making a buck, usually at the expense of a transactional customer. But there are companies out there that base what they do on providing quality service and delivering what’s best for their clients. Comprehensive Business Systems is one of those companies.

For more than 26 years, we have provided key IT services to small and medium sized businesses from our Fort Lauderdale office. “Essentially we provide our clients with support, IT strategy, virtual CIO services, and disaster recovery,” says our Vice President, Marc Schauben. “Primarily our clients are in the South Florida area, but we do take care of companies around the country and the world through remote management and support.”

It’s about knowing the business and building relationships
We know that IT is a specialty expertise and that even when organizations have in-house IT people that they lean on companies like us to stay informed on what kinds of technology solutions are available in the marketplace to enhance their businesses. Becoming ingrained in a company’s technology direction is more than just knowing the technology. It’s about knowing the business and building relationships. A perfect example would be our relationship with Baring Industries. For over 27 years, our integral relationship has thrived through a variety of IT services, most recently through managed services support.

Baring, a once small, on-premise laundry company, found its beginnings in 1961. They’re now a $70 million a year business that builds kitchens and laundries. Their relationship with CBS started in 1988. Since that time, we have helped Baring compute, connect, and collaborate in ways that were almost unimaginable in the 1960s.

Helping make recommendations is only a bit part of a long-term partnership
“It’s about the relationship,” says Marc Schauben, “There are a lot of businesses that don’t understand that. They’re looking for the big sale on day one. I want to save Baring money. I’m thinking about being with them 20 years from now. Helping make recommendations that are going to drive Baring’s bottom line is a big part of our long-term partnership.”

Our Commitment to becoming a strategic partner
“CBS has been with us every step of the way to get new people in and working on our systems,” explains Charles Sperry, President of Baring. “This is one of the main advantages we have had working with CBS. They have gotten to know our business, our company, and our people. When a company doesn’t understand your business you have to work hard just to bring them up to speed.”

We are as committed as ever to being a strategic partner of Baring by making proactive recommendations on new technologies that will make their business more efficient and economical.

CBS helps support Baring’s IT infrastructure in Southern Florida and beyond
As technology has changed, so has Baring, but never in way that wasn’t in line with their business goals. From virtualization and disaster recovery, to private cloud, mobility, and security, CBS has been an integral part of Baring’s growth. Since 2011, CBS has completely managed the IT services of Baring. This includes helping with software and server upgrades, networking upgrades, email systems, and even technical Baring’s website.

To read the entire story download our Baring Industries case study.