DEALER PROFILE - It's all just a storm in an IT teacup
Company name - BEI Metastorm
Established - BEI was established in 1982 as a Wang support and development partner. It merged with Metastorm this year.
Location - The company's headquarters are in Wimbledon, London.
Other offices - Warwick and Fulham in the UK, and in Europe, one in Zurich.
We have offices in Ottawa, Toronto and Montreal in Canada, and Utah and Baltimore in the US.
Headcount - 110 staff worldwide.
Key staff members - Senior members of staff include Tim Carter, sales manager; Jane Hedges, manager of field services; Steve Brown, development director; and Jon Summers, director of international operations.
Industry background - I've been in IT since I left university in 1984 and worked principally in sales roles until I joined BEI in 1992. I still double up as an account manager and visit customers on a daily basis.
Do you have any plans to increase headcount? - We're looking to recruit an extra 35 staff worldwide. Of these, 22 will be for the UK and the rest will cover the planned expansion of the European and Canadian facilities, including increasing the number of foreign language speakers. We need people to cover all aspects of the business, but at this stage we're looking for people for our technical field service and support departments.
Company year-end - Our financial year ends in December.
What was last year's turnover? - #8 million. We're predicting it will be between #12 million and #15 million at the end of this financial year.
And profit? - Of the #8 million, #1 million was profit. We envisage that, by the end of this fiscal year, this will have increased to #4.5 million.
Can you indicate what proportion of your revenue derives purely from sales and what proportion comes from value-added services? - It's about 3:1 in favour of the value-add services. Product sales is only one aspect of what we do - there are six elements of the business and the other five are all service-orientated. These include technical development, field service consultancy and third-party associated products.
Main product lines sold - We develop the business processing software, e-work. We also sell the entire Novell portfolio.
Main accreditations held - We are a Novell Business Expert as well as Microsoft Certified, a UUNet Business Partner, Phillips Development Partner, PC Docs Business Partner and Inflow Communications Business Partner.
Core markets - Mainly legal, as 50 per cent of the top 150 law firms use our products and services. We've also made in-roads in the government and banking and finance sectors.
Key accounts - Linklaters & Paines; Lovell, White & Durrant; Simmons & Simmons; and Wragge & Co.
Any European or international presence? - We have substantial presence in the US and Canada and are building up our European resources. This is a result of our recent merger with Metastorm.
Main competitors - Staffware and FileNet have products in the workflow market, but don't combine this with electronic forms, so there's no real competition.
And in the Novell sector there's no clash of business interests.
Which distributors do you use and what do you see as the main role of distribution? - I fail to see where distributors add value. A distributor nowadays is as meaningful as a courier service and is just an excess layer in the channel model.
What is the biggest challenge you foresee for the year ahead? - Ensuring that, after the merger, we work as a cohesive unit. The other aim will be to add to existing strengths within our infrastructure.
Is there a recession on the horizon? - Absolutely not. Our customers are investing in technology now more than ever. When this shows signs of decline, that's when I'll start to worry. The business benefits of implementing technology are too significant to ignore, particularly if the technology enhances the business process and improves efficiency.
Recession is a self-fulfilling prophesy and one that I don't subscribe to.