Persevering with passion

As every business owner knows,one of the keys to sustainability is the ability to delight the customer.However,when the ability to delight comes at a time when the customer truly needs assistance, it also has the power to set the stage for the future.

This is exactly what happened to certified women’s business enterprise BMC Solutions in 1999. At that time, Dell Corp.’s Round Rock, Texas-based IT services team called BMC Solutions and asked if the company could help manage an urgent customer situation. Flood-waters had impacted a customer located in Houston, and this was keeping Dell from delivering and installing purchased systems. BMC mobilized a team that was equipped for this kind of situation, and literally waded through flooded streets to deliver and install the systems.

“Understandably, a powerful relationship was born from that project,and we have been building upon that foundation of trust ever since,”BMC President and CEO Sharon Bryant said.

SOLIDIFYING THE FOUNDATION
Over time, BMC Solutions has become a Dell business partner with a large variety of IT skills.BMC Solutions has hundreds of direct customers across the continental United States, ranging from large regional newspapers, banks, insurance companies, to dentist offices and food distribution companies. For these customers, BMC Solutions provides IT support and services that include installations, professional services, seat management and maintenance as well as help-desk services.

Most recently, BMC Solutions has been an instrumental partner in the Dell Intelligent Classroom program for the burgeoning market.“We are ramping up right now to facilitate implementations in schools and universities across the nation for this season,” Bryant said.“We have also received certifications as a VM [virtual machine] ware VIP Enterprise Partner and Authorized Consultant, and see great promise in helping Dell identify opportunities for network server virtualization, especially as customers see a greater need for Disaster Recovery and High Availability.”

According to Bryant, BMC as a whole has benefited from its interactions with all levels of Dell personnel.“The entire Dell team continues to help BMC improve our processes and drive a best-in-class operations model. For instance,we have improved the ways we have screened and trained personnel, looked at ways to enhance our communication with project teams, and apply lessons learned to drive best-in-class quality of service throughout the industry,” Bryant explained. “Our interaction with Dell has also encouraged us to look at the IT support and services business as a whole, and to build toward support offerings that include remote services and efficient use of resources like helping customers implement virtualization of their systems. This will not only help us continue to be a better partner for Dell, but also offer more to the marketplace overall.”

Since Bryant and her husband Walt founded BMC in 1990 as a maintenance company, the firm has continuously evolved both in structure and focus. In fact, through Bryant’s leadership, BMC has recorded its third straight year of record-setting growth as a company. The company now has 130 direct employees with approximately 350 contract technicians available at any given time nationwide.

CONQUERING CHALLENGES
While BMC has been fortunate to see many benefits from its Dell relationship, Bryant also acknowledges that there have been a number of challenges along the way — making the entire process a growing experience.

“We have learned flexibility and responsiveness as a result of working within this fast-paced and constantly changing environment.We now know how to listen well, and then fashion the solution to meet the customer’s need for quality of service in a price/value driven marketplace,” she said.“Once establishing quality support, the next challenge was to scale it by building a first-class recruiting department within the organization so that we can find the best technical services talent throughout the nation that can support the services needs of our customers.”

BMC’s success in managing each challenge becomes obvious through its existing supplier relationships. For instance, as a Tier I player for the Dell services organization, BMC has performed as “Best of Breed” 11 out of 12 quarters and been considered a top-rated partner for customer experience. Dell has also recognized BMC at its annual supplier summit and awarded the firm with its Most Outstanding Diverse Supplier in 2006.