Case In Point: Bryan Cafaro

T.J. Tarateta found Bryan Cafaro through a mutual friend. That’s how most small-business IT implementation stories start.

Tarateta, the general manager of Ammirati Coffee, realized about seven years ago it was time to get more serious about the company’s technology infrastructure. The 40-year-old company that made its name importing and selling specialty coffee makers had just gotten exclusive distributorship rights to Lavazza coffee equipment, and Tarateta knew that it would, in his words, “force drastic changes.”

What Tarateta liked about Cafaro and, by extension, Tri-Bry Business Technology Solutions, was Cafaro’s ability to break down tech jargon into plain English. The integrator developed Ammirati’s marketing Web site using WebSphere and then a tracking system for maintaining national service account records. The Hoboken, N.J., small-business integrator is now working on Ammirati’s online store.

While Tri-Bry is bullish on IBM, it is a full-service implementer. It updates and patches Ammirati’s Microsoft Windows and Office software as well as Intuit QuickBooks software.

As with most small-business accounts, the work started with a limited project. “Once we had a good experience with [Tri-Bry]--their recommendations worked out for us--I pretty much told them I’d trust their judgment,” Tarateta said.

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Before hooking up with Tri-Bry, Ammirati had one PC running an old version of Peachtree Accounting. Now it has a network supporting 15 PCs.

At the time Ammirati started working with Tri-Bry, it had about eight employees logging about $1.5 million in annual revenue. It now employs about 24 and has hit the $8 million mark, Tarateta estimated.