A fast-growing technology company that provides a customized approach to employee and corporate communications plans to quadruple its employees, thanks in part to a state tax credit.
Cerkl Inc., a Blue Ash-based startup, received approval Monday for a nearly 1.8%, eight-year job creation tax credit from the Ohio Tax Credit Authority for the creation of $9.5 million in new annual payroll as a result of the company’s planned expansion project in Blue Ash. The estimated value of the tax credit is $1.26 million.
Tarek Kamil, chief executive officer of Cerkl, said the Covid-19 pandemic has been a huge part of his company’s growth.
“People talk about tailwinds, I talk about a hurricane,” Kamil told me.
Cerkl has committed to adding 125 employees by the end of 2024, while also retaining $1.3 million in existing annual payroll. The new jobs break down to an average yearly salary of more than $75,000.
Kamil doesn’t see employers going back to operating the way they did pre-pandemic. He sees the shift as similar to the travel changes that took effect after Sept. 11.
Now that employees are used to being able to see their children more or exercise or work from home with their pets, they will want to keep doing that.
“They are not going to give that up,” Kamil said. “If you try to bring it back to the way it used to be, they will quit.”
That means communication between those remote workers needs to be as strong as possible. Cerkl’s product, Broadcast, works with existing apps, such as Microsoft Teams and Zoom, as well as email and company intranet, to make those products work better for each employee. Just as the Netflix experience is seamless, whether you’re watching on your phone, tablet or smart TV, Broadcast works the same way for company information.
“We come in and make the channels smart,” Kamil said.
In addition to providing employees what they need to know, Broadcast also works to learn what employees want to know, so that information is prioritized for them. For example, if one employee is interested in community service, a company piece of content about volunteering will be made a higher priority for that employee.
While Cerkl does not disclose revenue, the company saw year-over-year growth of 140% from 2020 to 2021. Kamil is expecting similar, if not more growth, this year.
Nearly all that growth comes from adding new customers. Cerkl’s list of more than 300 customers includes local firms such as Castellini Cos., St. Elizabeth Healthcare, and Paycor, as well as Citrix Systems Inc. and Gulfstream Aerospace Corp.
In addition to Broadcast, Cerkl is working on another product that would help employers better understand their employees. Kamil said this product would complement Broadcast, which modernizes how companies communicate and engage with their people.
As for the additional employees Cerkl needs to hire, Kamil said he is mainly looking for tech talent, engineers. He’ll also be looking to hire for positions in marketing and sales, as well as customer success positions.
“We’re really focused on how do we keep engineers from not leaving this region,” Kamil said. “You can do cool things here in Cincinnati.”
Kamil said he appreciated the work the state and REDI Cincinnati do to help companies grow here.
“I would argue with anyone who wants to argue there is no better place to build an enterprise software company than Cincinnati,” Kamil said. “I love the state of Ohio for helping keep those types of companies here.”
Ohio was competing with Kentucky for the project, according to a scope of work document from the Ohio Department of Development. As part of the tax credit, Cerkl is required to maintain operations in Blue Ash for at least 11 years.
Brandon Simmons, vice president of project management with REDI Cincinnati, said it is critical for employers to modernize how the interact with employees. "Through the support provided, Cerkl will grow to six times its current size and broaden its reach to help businesses redefine how they think about and interact with their current and future workforce to meet these needs,” Simmons said.
In addition to the job creation tax credit from the state, the city of Blue Ash provided Cerkl with a $50,000 forgivable loan, in exchange for the creation of $4 million in payroll in the city. Neil Hensley, economic development director for Blue Ash, said the city has invested to help fast-growing tech companies attract the talent they need.
"We’re happy to see one of our homegrown IT firms decide to expand in the city and take advantage of those amenities," Hensley said.
