Valley Business Machine: From ‘copier’ to ’multi-function peripherals’

WASILLA — Back when Valley Business Machines started in the Mat-Su Valley in 1987, the business mostly sold and serviced copiers. And in those days, copy machines did just what their name implies: made copies.

“Now you can now surf the Web or scan to the cloud from the copier,” said Bart Riley, director of IT services for Valley Business Machines.

Of course, in 1987 when Lee Sherman started the business, words like “surfing” and “cloud” meant something different, too. Back then, doctors and other businesses maintained a collection of file cabinets packed with paper customer records.

Today, the machines Valley Business Machines sells and services are known as “multi-function peripherals,” not copiers.

Made by Sharp and Kyocera, the same multi-function peripherals Valley Business Machines sells to customers, it also uses in-house to digitize medical and other records, Riley said.

He said the company uses sheet-fed scanners built into the multi-function machines to scan records and save them in a digital form.

“We’re trained on how to use it and how to repair it so we can keep our scanners running very efficiently,” Riley said. “We’re in the best position possible to scan sensitive documents and deliver them securely in an electronic format.”

After years of researching various electronic medical records systems, Riley said the company decided the best in the business is gloStream’s EMR and Practice Management Solutions.

“We’re providing all the support doctors’ offices need in their time zones,” he said. “We are the only ones who sell it and support it right in our office, and I think that’s huge.”

Once the records are digitized, businesses may also contract with Valley Business Machines to provide off-site data backup to its “cloud,” a local storage system it maintains to store data for its business partners, Riley said.

“It keeps the data within easy reach. That’s the advantage: It’s not in New Delhi,” he said.

Beyond business clients like doctors’ offices and the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman, Valley Business Machines also works with nonprofits like Alaska Family Services and government groups, such as the Mat-Su Borough School District.

In the school district’s case, Valley Business Machines President Loren Rupe said he’s working on a project to set up a system where students’ tests can be scanned in, graded and saved into a folder for each teacher.

“I was surprised they were still doing it the old way,” he said.

In another case, he’s working with a company to replace its old, outdated printers and copiers with new multi-function peripherals that will enable the company to reduce its per-page printing costs. Rupe said the Anchorage business will save about $50,000 a year on printing and copying costs, such as paper, toner and equipment repair and maintenance.

“They were able to upgrade their equipment and save money on each page printed,” he said.

People with small home print/copy/scan/fax devices are no doubt familiar with the cost of supplies, Rupe said. Although the device itself sold for less than $100, people can easily spend that much or more on replacement ink cartridges.

Just the ink for these small printers costs about 2 cents a page, he said. Businesses can save money by upgrading to commercial machines that can print for 2 cents a page, all costs included.

“We manage it, service it and take care of it,” he said. “It’s nice to have one place to go to take care of all that stuff.”

Rupe said the company’s IT division has seen rapid growth since it was formed about seven years ago.

Riley heads this part of the company along with IT service manager Matt LaFon. Both men have experience working for large Fortune 1,000 companies, Riley said.

“We saw what failed with big companies and customer service,” LaFon said.

Customer service also explains the company’s high customer retention rates, he said. “Our goal is to keep a customer for life and to help them grow.”

Small- to medium-sized businesses might also be able to save money by switching to managed IT services instead of fielding their own IT person or department, Riley said.

That way, customers get access to a broader skill set, but without paying the cost of having their own IT teama in-house, LaFon said

“You get a full team of knowledge,” he said. “There are things that my techs know that I don’t know.”

At the end of the day, the most important thing Valley Business Machines provides is customer service, Riley said. “Our phones are answered by people.”

Contact Heather A. Resz at heather.resz@frontiersman.com or 352-2268.