Our strategic objectives are to be the leading and most profitable provider of IT products and services, lease financing, and supply chain software; to continue to grow; to enhance organic growth through incremental cross-selling to existing customers; to continue to make strategic acquisitions to expand our existing businesses geographically; and to add new products and services to our mix.
Our Growth Strategies
-
Execute Up-Selling and Incremental Revenue Opportunities
-
Capture Market Share By Offering Better Business Process Solutions
-
Pursue Strategic Acquisitions to Expand Geographically and Enhance Our Technology Platform
-
Focus On Strengthening Vendor Alliances
Our Acquisition Strategy
Our Growth Strategies
We believe we are well positioned to benefit from changes in how enterprises use technology to achieve business objectives without investing in hardware and software infrastructure. Furthermore, the widespread acceptance of Internet and eCommerce based solutions and the convergence of outsourcing business process solutions makes our end-to-end approach more desirable. Our goal is to become the provider of choice for all of our customers' business process requirements by offering a full range of IT equipment and services, leasing solutions, and software. To execute our strategy, we plan to:
Execute Up-Selling and Incremental Revenue Opportunities. We constantly seek to up-sell incremental products, services, software, and solutions to our customers. With more than 2,500 customers in a wide range of markets, we offer a wide array of solutions that can meet the selected operating requirements of most types of enterprises. We have a dedicated and well-trained salesforce who are compensated on an incentive basis to increase gross margin revenues with their customers. Our team of certified engineers and long-standing strategic alliances with key manufacturers give ePlus a competitive edge. By introducing additional solutions to our installed base, we can increase recurring and transaction revenues, deepen customer loyalty, and have better visibility into additional sales opportunities.
Capture Market Share By Offering Better Software and Unique Solutions. A distinct competitive advantage is our software, which we have acquired and developed since the mid 1990s. Unlike many competitors, who rely on third-party software to provide rudimentary services, we are able to provide flexible, customized solutions to meet our customers' and our own operating requirements, often at a lower cost and with better execution. Our software competes successfully as stand-alone, enterprise level software against major software vendors, on the basis of features, functionality, and value. We use our software to provide both very specific and broadly comprehensive solutions that complement and integrate with our other offerings. For example, we are able to offer lease process automation that combines our eProcurement and asset management software with our business process outsourcing and leasing. We will continue to develop and acquire new software, and find new ways to bundle our existing software and services with our other core businesses to provide new solutions to our customers and create additional incremental revenue for us.
Pursue Strategic Acquisitions to Expand Geographically and Enhance Our Technology Platform. We will continue to pursue strategic acquisitions that expand our geographic and/or services capabilities, acquire transformational software that broadens our solution offerings, and increase our market share with geographic, vertical, or technological markets.
Utilize Our Financial Strength To Capture Sales. Our status as a profitable, well-capitalized public company facilitates our sales and marketing efforts. First, the volume of equipment we purchase for resale and lease often enables us to negotiate better purchasing terms from our vendors. Second, our lease financing offerings allow our customers to manage their budgets such that they can use or acquire a greater volume of equipment. Third, our successful operating history and profitability reassures customers who want their vendors to be stable and reliable. Finally, we can continue to invest in new solutions and new areas that benefit our customers and provide competitive differentiation.
Our Acquisition Strategy
Since our IPO in November, 1996, we have acquired ten businesses within the United States and presently have three operating units: ePlus Group, Inc., our financial services and business process outsourcing company, ePlus Technology, Inc., our IT sales and services company, and ePlus Systems, Inc., our software company. The remaining businesses have been operationally consolidated into our core companies, although we have successfully maintained local market presence with sales and services capabilities customized to each location. All administrative functions are integrated into our core companies.
Geographic Expansion. For ePlus Technology, we look to expand our geographic presence in first and second tier markets with core acquisitions, and for add-on acquisitions to increase our customer base and/or services offered. We consolidate administrative functions nationally, yet maintain a strong local presence, usually retaining the original name (for a period of time) and management team to ensure continuity of customer service. We seek companies that are pro-forma profitable, have an excellent installed base, are in desirable markets, and offer similar or complementary services. Historically, we have been successful in retaining the management, sales, and engineering teams of our acquisitions for several years to ensure customer service.
Click here to view our major acquisitions to date.
