Information technology never sleeps. IT doesn’t care if it’s New Year’s Eve, July Fourth or any other public holiday, when most other business operations come to a halt. That’s why Source 1 Solutions, an IT services provider, offers its customers 24-hour inhouse support, 365 days a year.
“Our calls are always answered by our employees,” said Rob Hessel, Source 1 Solutions founder and CEO. “It doesn't matter if it's Christmas Day at 3:00 a.m. or 10:00 a.m. on a random Tuesday, it's always a Source 1 engineer answering the call.”
Clearwater-based Source 1 Solutions provides managed IT services, including security operations, equipment monitoring, cloud infrastructure and white label services to about 1,500 clients. Its clients include local venues like Amalie Arena, the Dali Museum and the Florida Aquarium, as well as national and international clients like the Philadelphia Phillies and major communications companies.
“We’re unique in that we don’t sell IT hardware or software,” Hessel said. “We only provide services. The majority of our business is a white label service to clients like Orange Business Services and Vodafone. We act on their behalf.”
Hessel launched Source 1 Solutions with a little under $5,000 in 2011 after serving in the U.S. Navy and working in sales. Shortly after launch, one of Hessel’s clients asked for support in another country.
“I thought, ‘How hard could that be?’” he said.
Rather than offer the next day support he’d promised clients in North America, Hessel figured the company could provide support within a few days if a client ever had an IT issue abroad.
“We got very lucky that we never had an issue because, as we decided to become a global business, I learned that each country has its own unique shipping laws and its own cultural differences,” he said. “It wasn’t as easy as I thought it was going to be.”
Source 1 Solutions now serves clients in 110 countries and has 125 full-time employees in North America. Its competitors include local and international IT service companies like Curvature and Johnson Controls.
Twice ranked in the Tampa Bay Business Journal’s Fast 50 list, Source 1 Solutions made $10 million in revenue in North America last year. Hessel projects the company will make between $17 and $20 million in North America and Europe in 2019.
