Manhattan Merger: Computer Integrated Services Joins brightstack Technologies

Two New York-based solution providers are joining forces to build a broader breadth of capabilities and geographical reach, the companies said this week.

Brightstack Technologies is a managed service provider that has been in business since 2004, focusing on bringing voice and unified communications, hybrid cloud and IT infrastructure solutions to SMB customers. It is merging with national systems integrator Computer Integrated Services (CIS), which is also located in New York.

Lou Person, founder and president of brightstack, said the combined companies will bring together CIS' enterprise sales team and strong engineering team with brighstack's service desk and support skills. "It's a beautiful fit," he said.

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Dennis Gambow, managing partner and CEO of CIS, agreed.

"There was very little overlap in our solution portfolio, and yet uncanny similarities in our company culture and customer service philosophy," Gambow said in a statement. "It is a perfect fit as we expand our offerings to design, build and run IT infrastructure for the modern workforce."

The focus of the integration will be to "keep doing what's working," Person said. The two business units will continue to run independently under their own brands, he said, but will start cross-promoting service lines, sharing technical benches and building on company synergies, efficiencies and collaboration.

"We want to do what's best for customers and employees, and that decision is not to change anything that's working and our business has been working," Person said. "This is clearly a case of one plus one equals three," he added.

Person said each company's leadership brings different key capabilities to the table, a factor he said was another element in the decision to merge the two companies.

"When you have good leaders and good managers your customers benefit, your employees' career growth benefits, your vendors benefit, our partners benefit," Person said. Person will now report to CEO Gambow, he said.

The merger also will give the two companies the benefit of size and scale, a factor that is growing in importance in the industry as channel consolidation accelerates, Person said. "Scale and size does matter ... The size is much more relevant now than it was a few years ago," Person said.

Person said he sees that trend driven by a quickening pace of technology evolution, which is, in turn, pushing solution providers to offer a broader variety of offerings.

"I think it's a natural evolution. I think the way that the industry is changing, you need to have more competencies internally because the customers' requirements are changing. How they procure and consume technology has dramatically shifted, and what they expect from their partners has also shifted. By coming together, we enhance capabilities across the board," Person said.

Between scale and increased technical and geographic reach, Person said he believes the combined companies will be much more successful together than apart.

"I was bullish on this business at the start of the year. With this combined merger, I'm doubly bullish in what we're doing and where we're going."

PUBLISHED MARCH 6, 2015