While most people were eating left-over turkey and pumpkin pie, Dave Chaney, senior partner at Accent Business Services Inc., was helping move his firm to new lodgings. Over Thanksgiving weekend, the company consolidated their offices – formerly located in the lower level of a building at 7710 Northeast Greenwood Drive in Vancouver as well as in another building across the street – to the 5,080 square foot upper floor of the same building on Greenwood.
The move gained Accent roughly 1,000 extra square feet for their 28 employees. However, according to Chaney, the move was really about improving communication by consolidating officies.
This isn’t the first move for the firm, founded in 1994. Chaney said they were originally located in Eastridge Business Park, but five years ago found the space on Greenwood Drive, which Chaney said was a better location for his business.
Chaney indicated that the recent move wasn’t too complicated, in that the upper floor was pretty well set up for his firm’s needs. All they had to do, he said, was to erect a new wall to turn an open area into a conference room, and re-do all the cubicles.
According to Chaney, Accent Business Services includes four separate business units, two of which focus on local clients – IT staffing and network support services. The other two have a wider regional/national clientele – custom software development and integration for utilities, and IT consulting focusing on software selection for major software systems.
Accent started with IT staffing, but as the company grew, Chaney said they found opportunities to develop software in-house. Similarly, by working with customers who were experiencing problems with software systems that didn’t match the customers’ business needs, the company recognized an opportunity for experienced consultants who could help with enterprise software selection.
Chaney said when a utility or county decides to purchase a major software system, such as a tax assessment or utility billing system, his consultants “minimize the possibility of a failed project” by performing needs analysis and cost/benefit comparisons, objectively evaluating choices, writing a detailed contract with the vendor and building a project plan.
“This part of our business has been extremely successful,” said Chaney. “Complex software has so many variables. It’s not a matter of getting a quick demo. The selection process needs to be thorough and systematic.”
As a privately held company, Chaney was unable to share specific revenue figures, but he did say that his company has also had great success with their software product, Varasset, which is a configurable asset management system used by electric, cable and telecommunication utilities.
Accent has also recently signed contracts with some larger utility companies, according to Chaney, such as Southern Company and Frontier Communications, and he hoped that this success would continue.
“We will continue to enhance the product and release new versions,” he said.
