Company: Computer Associates, Inc.
Location: Thurber Boulevard, Smithfield
Owners: James McCooey, Kent Tunnicliffe and John Winters
Employees: 50
Established: 1978
Annual Sales: $7-10 million “Y2K was a busy year,” said Tunnicliffe.
OWNERS THREE, Kent Tunnicliffe, left, and John Winters, Standing, right and James McCooey seated at the monitor.
Rhode Island's Market Has Changed. Developers, Builders, Investors and Sellers Must Change With It.
By Emilio DiSpirito IV License Partner | Engel & Völkers Oceanside Leader | The DiSpirito…
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The Computer Associates, Inc. “guarantee against obsolescence” is enacted through the company’s tireless efforts to constantly update versions of its software.
”Making sure our software stays up to the needs of our clients is a large part of what we do,” said Kent Tunnicliffe, principal, and one of the company’s three owners. “A company’s software needs change pretty significantly. We’re constantly adding and rewriting our software. Each version is more feature-rich than the last one.”
Founded in 1978, Computer Associates, Inc. (CAI) is a software development and systems integration company specializing in Windows-based software products for the jewelry, building and food distribution industries.
”Computer Associates, Inc. is really what I would call a full-service data processing company, because we handle everything from software to hardware,” Tunnicliffe said. “We’ve written and developed all our own software and we couple that software with hardware and networking solutions and market it to different vertical markets.”
With its roots in the 1970s, CAI was truly at the beginning of the high tech revolution. Back then, before the age of the PC, a Silicon Valley company called Basic Four began developing “minicomputers.”
”Before that, you had to be a large company to afford a computer,” said Tunnicliffe.
Tunnicliffe, along with fellow principals and founders James McCooey and John Winters – who were all working for other companies at that time – saw the need for software solutions for minicomputer consumers.
”Small companies started becoming interested in automating their businesses,” Tunnicliffe said. “So, we decided to leave our jobs and start a software development company.”
The three entered a co-marketing agreement with Basic Four, who would provide the hardware, while CAI produced software. CAI’s first software was written for the jewelry industry “because of the area we’re in,” said Tunnicliffe.
The programs provide customers with operational needs such as inventory control, order processing, general ledger and purchasing. Additionally, the software features components specific to the particular industry in which it will be used. The jewelry applications, for example, have specific operators in place to help companies keep track of their precious metal inventories, where prices can fluctuate daily.
”We do some unique things with precious metal pricing,” Tunnicliffe said. “They need to be measured exactly.”
Similarly, CAI’s software for building materials companies contains standard business applications, with features specific to that industry.
”It allows a contractor to custom build a home, with custom windows, doors – that type of thing,” Tunnicliffe said. “All our software applications have basically the same modules, but each package we offer contains something unique, and that’s what makes it appealing.”
Early in the 1980s CAI broke with Basic Four. The company became an IBM business partner, hired salespeople, and licensed software to the general public on their own. CAI explored additional vertical markets – which have since grown to include food distribution and the seafood industry – for its products.
”Each industry has its own unique problems that we help solve,” Tunnicliffe said. “We’ll adapt a software package to the needs of a particular company, and complement that with a hardware solution to suit their needs.”
Providing follow-up technical support is a priority at CAI, Tunnicliffe said.
“It is very important that if a company is running your software and has a problem, they need to talk to someone who can help them,” he said.
CAI’s technical services department is devoted to doing just that.
”We try to call the customer back within a half an hour and have the problem resolved in two hours,” he said. “Customer service is a very important industry – that’s the name of the game in this business. It really is a service industry.”
Another challenge in Tunnicliffe’s industry is employee retention, an issue notoriously problematic at high tech firms.
”We have a number of long-term employees who work with us,” he said. “Most of the people here are highly versed in the particular industries they work with.”
CAI’s staff includes a few career-changers, which Tunnicliffe considers a strength.
”One of our managers worked in the jewelry industry for 15 years before he came to us, same with one of our building managers,” he said. “It gives us credibility in the industry. These people have a high level of expertise in a certain area, and become consultants within the industry.”
According to Tunnicliffe, the presence of employees with first-hand knowledge of the industries with which they work boosts clients’ confidence in CAI.
”They know we understand their problems,” he said. “You want to buy something from someone who can help you be more effective and efficient at running your business.”
CAI has not been immune to the effects of the deficit of high tech workers in Rhode Island.
”It’s probably one of the number one issues we deal with on an ongoing basis,” Tunnicliffe said. “This could be a 75 person or greater company if we could get the people. The schools aren’t turning them out fast enough.”
But it’s not just the Ocean State.
”It’s not just a Rhode Island problem,” Tunnicliffe said. “It’s a national problem. There’s a very severe shortage of talent on a national basis. More people are leaving the industry than are coming into it.”
CAI offers an internship program, for which the company recruits at colleges, and Tunnicliffe hopes, will help continue CAI’s low-turnover of employees.
”People here have a high degree of independence,” he said. “The brick and mortar and stability of the company’s ownership is a big factor too.”
Keeping up with the rapidly changing world of technology provides an ongoing challenge.
”You can literally buy a computer and in 90 days it can be replaced with something better,” Tunnicliffe said. “People expect a company like this to be on the leading edge of technology. We’re always investigating things like the Internet and e-commerce. People want to feel like they’re dealing with experts, and that’s why you need to have experts on your staff.”
CAI’s latest venture is the marketing of Navision – a change in direction for a company that until now, has sold only its own software.
”Navision is one of the best Windows-based software products in the country,” Tun-nicliffe said. “It’s a very feature-rich, robust software package.”
Navision, developed in Denmark, performs functions similar to CAI’s own software; however, Navision is more generically based and can be applied to more types of industries than the ones CAI has previously targeted.
”We were one of the first Navision Solution Centers in the U.S.,” Tunnicliffe said. “Now we’re marketing to a much broader base, rather than just to jewelry companies or building companies.”
CAI’s future includes the expansion of its technical services division.
”Small companies can’t afford a staff of their own, but still need the service when they need it,” said Tunnicliffe.
And CAI will continue to develop parallel to the industries it serves.
”We’re always looking at new markets where we can bring a new solution to market that hasn’t been there,” Tunnicliffe said. “We’re constantly looking at new markets to become involved with.”
