Systems Integrator of the Year Honoree: 2 Basic Rules

MidCo Inc., Burr Ridge, Ill, was founded in 1960 by Edwin F. Janik and Albina Janik as a small intercom and paging company. What started out as a two-man operation has grown to be a multi-million dollar integrator company servicing customers from coast to coast. Today MidCo is finding new sources of revenue, maintaining its focus on customer service and expanding its technical offerings â€” all while staying true to its two rules. In recognition of those accomplishments, SDM chose MidCo as its 2009 Systems Integrator of the Year Honoree.

When MidCo began as a service and support company for IT customers, its driving force was to make sure that its customers would have the same confidence in MidCo as they would with a large company and its resources. That focus resulted to two rules that the integrator still observes today:

1) Treat every customer like they are only one, and

2) We’re only as good as the last job we completed.

“Those are the reasons that customers keep coming back to us,” Paul Janik, president of MidCo, says. “We always make sure that the customer is satisfied with our work and that we provided everything that they contracted for us to do.”

In addition to the two basic rules, MidCo ensures customer satisfaction and retention with consistent final job follow-up and sign-off. There’s also a commitment to staying with the customer even after the sale is done, including making customers aware of new options, services and products. Janik considers follow-up to be something the company does better than almost anyone.

“Whether it’s in the initial stages of setting up the system or seeing how well we’ve done on a service call, we try to stay in constant communication with our customers,” Janik describes.

One aspect of that philosophy is MidCo’s focus on maintenance and support services. Nearly one-fourth of the integrator’s revenue is recurring monthly revenue (RMR).

“MidCo doesn’t overlook maintenance contracts and support services as a valuable source of revenue,” Janik relates. “As a service-focused company, maintenance contracts and support services have always been important to us.”

MidCo is planning to roll out managed services in 2010. “We have discussed with our customers what they need from MidCo to help them in their security, communication and data needs,” Janik explains. “Most of them are facing budget restrictions and are asking to do more with less. We believe we will be able to provide a great degree of services to customers at a reduced cost to their operations.”

Today MidCo services the state of Illinois, northwest Indiana and southern Wisconsin. National accounts take MidCo to 60 cities across 12 states.

MidCo’s reach is extended through its membership in Security-Net, a network of system integrators offering companies a single source for meeting their electronic security needs.

A dual expertise in security and communication systems sets MidCo apart from a lot of companies.

“Our expertise of the security and communications market combined to give us greater insights as to the technology requirements of many of our customers and made us somewhat unique in both markets,” Janik believes.

“A good communication system and a good security system are two things every company owner wants,” Mike Kielbasa, Sr., security division manager, MidCo., explains.

MidCo’s technical expertise is outstanding. Employees have attained certificates including MCSE, CCNA, ATSA, Checkpoint and related manufacturers’ system certifications.

MidCo also utilizes multiple enterprise-level product lines. “I guess we never look at it that technologies and products are beyond our reach,” Janik believes. “MidCo has a strong background in data products, and the products we use are just a logical extension of that. As a system integrator you need to deal with the best application for your customer.”