In the words of Carl Fransen, president of Ctech Consulting Group, Inc., the oil and gas industry in Alberta is “tanking.”
But, as the saying goes, when the stock market is low, “you start buying,” he said.
This is just what the Calgary-based solution provider has done. Today, it announced the purchase of fellow Calgary IT provider Fortress Technology, the second company it has picked up in wake of the recession in the province.
The deal is unique in a few ways.
First, it was negotiated in under a month. According to Fransen, Fortress, which operated based on a “break-and-fix” business model was struggling, as did many of Ctech’s competitors. With clients cutting back expenses, in many cases they perceived IT as a “black hole.”
Second, of the four full-time employees formerly at Fortress, Ctech is only bringing on one, just slightly increasing its 10 person staff.
Despite this, existing Fortress clients will be able to receive more services for almost exactly the same prices as before.
He attributed his company’s recession resistance to its managed services model, which has allowed him to provide proactive maintenance. Furthermore, this model also allows his staff to provide services without having to go onsite.
“If you are able to do managed service right, you can do a lot more work with a lot less tech,” Fransen said.
