eXcelisys makes the grade! Newest FileMaker Business Alliance Platinum Member

On April 10, 2014, the phone line was strangely still. The sudden intake of breath was the only indication that the normally staccato-speaking Christo and the rest of the eXcelisys management team ~ Rick, Kurt, Greg and Doug ~ were still on the line. Then the cheers began and the two at the other end of the line knew they had not only made eXcelisys’ day, but perhaps the company’s whole decade with the news they had shared:  eXcelisys had finally been recognized as a FileMaker Business Alliance “Platinum” Member.

Imagine, if you will, working tirelessly for 13 years, diligently focused on providing the absolute highest quality, customer-focused consultation and development services possible, supporting the development and sharing of numerous improvements in method and delivery with your peers….only to find your company still not being embraced as one of the elite in your industry?

That was the frustrating story for Christo, Founder and President of eXcelisys, and his team who operate a custom FileMaker Pro software development and consulting company based in South Bend, Indiana.  Did the oversight sour the company’s attitude towards the Alliance in any way?  Absolutely not.  In fact it spurred them on to even more intense efforts with greater determination.  And finally, with the introduction of some new blood at FileMaker in charge of developer relations and their BAM, they got The Call on Thursday, April 10, 2014.

That’s when Julie Sigfrinius, Manager of Americas Channel & Latin America at FileMaker, and Mark Ringo, Business Account Manager at Apple/FileMaker Division, notified eXcelisys that the company had been recognized as a FileMaker Business Alliance Platinum Member. The Platinum status places eXcelisys among a prestigious group of respected FileMaker Pro developers and consultants throughout the nation and, in fact, the world.

This was obviously not an overnight success story for the eXcelisys team. An active FileMaker Business Alliance (FBA) member for more than 12 years, the eXcelisys team ~ Christo, Greg Furry, Kurt Knippel, Ken Moorhead, Andrew Persons, Laura Vie and Rick Middleton ~ formed the company’s core and provided the bulk of the services offered by eXcelisys since its inception. Including this brain trust, eXcelisys currently employs 20 dedicated professionals.

At the heart of their success lies a business model that serves their clients and their team well.  Their 100% virtual office organization incorporates state-of-the-art collaboration and communication tools, delivering an appealingly flexible billing approach and agile production model.  This allows them to be where they are needed virtually around the clock for their clients, supporting a nimble mindset, which keeps eXpenses at a minimum for both their clients and their own team.

These increased efficiencies of time and money allow eXcelisys to allocate more financial resources than most companies into ongoing learning, including the uniquely educational eXperience of having their entire team attend DevCon, the annual FileMaker Developers Conference, as well as their own training pow-wow, eX-Con.  They also financially reward the team’s behavior that supports their high standards of eXtraordinary client service and encourages ongoing contributions to the FileMaker community at-large.

As a result, their developers have significantly contributed to the FMP community, creating tons of tips-n-tricks, demos, and writing articles that have been posted for free and are open to anyone who uses FileMaker Pro. Perhaps most significantly, the current eXcelisys team includes a majority of the original designers and developers who collaborated with FMI on the FileMaker Business Tracker that was used to intro the new FileMaker Pro 7 release. This full-featured solution is now in its fourth significant rewrite and is available for purchase/demo at: eX-Biztracker.

Beyond this internal structuring, eXcelisys delivers a customer-centric approach to sales and client relationship management. Rather than function as a “developer placement service,” a consistent, dedicated team works together to solve client challenges, enabling long-term client relationships to flourish. From the Founder to the Account Managers to the development team, all have a hand in creating the best solution and building the client relationship.

As Doug West, VP of Product Management and Project Manager,from eXcelisys put it, “eXcelisys has introduced thousands of end users to the FileMaker ecosystem.  Platinum status will now make it easier to reach thousands more.”

Fostering long-term client relationships has its rewards: eXcelisys has served more than 2,000 customers in 13 years. Beyond adding more than 100 new customers every year, eXcelisys retains 75 percent of clients from previous years, and has even retained some of their original clients from when they started in 2001.

Clients are loyal for a variety of reasons, but one of the primary magnets is the quality of the eXcelisys team. The company’s developers are polished, seasoned and eXperienced–each one averaging more than 20 years of experience using the FMP product line.

eXcelisys now celebrates 13 years of building, consulting, customizing, supporting, migrating, converting, upgrading, tweaking, fixing and integrating quality FileMaker Pro, FileMaker Go, MySQL, PostgreSQL and other database technologies and frameworks for web, mobile, and desktop solutions … and now enjoy the endorsement of their peers as being among the best of the best.  They made it into the Platinum Club.

No matter how big or small you think your company and/or project may be, contact eXcelisys today for a free initial consultation and estimate.

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