Interviewed on 28 Feb 06
Alex Lekas, VP / Corporate Communications
AIT, Inc supports more than 200,000 domains in 107 countries, and is a two-time Inc 500 Company. From the humble beginnings of a garage, AIT has grown into a 93,000 square foot data and service center, providing 24/7 support, and industrial grade infrastructure. The cornerstone of AIT’s growth has been its reseller program which has grown to include nearly 8,000 VARs (Value Added Resellers). Founded in 1996, AIT also offers e-commerce, data storage, software development, IP telephony, application hosting, and a technology training center.
What unique selling points do you offer?
We are constantly developing new products to introduce, based on industry experience and the relationships forged with resellers, who have a unique view of what businesses really need from technology. In the past couple of years, AIT has introduced a lengthy series of additional products that have addressed marketing, support, and security. We have enhanced our proprietary shopping cart, developed server firewalls, intrusion detection, and encrypted mail, developed a private labeled CRM system, and offer VoIP solutions.
Describe the services you offer?
Hosting is a service business and AIT takes that job very seriously. The company would not have the track record it has without that mindset. In addition, AIT has been where many of our customers currently are. This was a garage operation in the early days, with people juggling multiple responsibilities and becoming very intimate with the issues that drive customers and contribute to client satisfaction.
Despite AIT’s growth, the company ethos has not deviated from that attention to customer needs and wants. New product introduction is dictated by a sense of what will help our clients make money and/or save time. That’s where realizing that hosting is a service industry is really important.
It is easy to get caught up in the technology, to look at yourself as a high-tech company, but most firms in this space don’t build next-generation processors or office applications or devices. We provide the expertise that makes all the preceding work and play well together. Ultimately, a hosting company is measured by its customers’ success. Ten years of growth and nearly 200,000 domains hosted can’t be wrong.
Describe your target market?
The easy answer is to say small to medium businesses, mostly because that’s where the greatest opportunity is. To a large degree, that is also the true answer though, in the past year, we have added several larger customers. The hosting market has shifted somewhat as the online population grows. What’s happening now is what I call ‘the 3rd wave’ of hosting customer.
In the early days, there was the tech-savvy user and that type person was representative of 90% of the customer base. Then came individuals who were sales and marketing focused, and knew enough about business to understand that the Internet was the next great tool for them to use. Those users are not tech focused, and don’t want to be. They understand market trends, however, and they latched on to the Internet and the opportunities afforded in the digital marketplace.
The 3rd wave of customer is generally not technical, either, but has accepted that the Internet is a fact of life. Still, this individual is not comfortable with ‘virtual’ things, and wants to be able to touch, see, and smell the components. It’s a customer who requires a bit of education and a bit of hand-holding. This is also the type customer who, if treated right, will be yours for life and is also likely to tell others about the great service that your company offers.
On a broader scale, one thing we’re seeing is government becoming a bigger customer and that includes at all levels. Government latched onto the concept of outsourcing before it became a bad word, mostly because any cost savings accrued to the taxpayer rather than to the corporation and constituents are all about saving money. This area is potentially huge and that is one reason AIT developed the GovTide technology – to make contracting more accessible to qualified vendors and to make jobs easier to fill for bid-holders.
How is your company planning for the future?
Among the companies still standing in this increasingly competitive corner of the Internet industry. Having made it through ten years is an impressive feat, I believe, especially given the companies who are no longer around. The field will be narrowed somewhat and AIT will be one of the providers still in the game.
What benefits can you offer your customers?
Primarily because AIT speaks the developer’s language and that of the designer, too. It goes back to having been where these folks are, and by remaining in close contact with long-standing customers, asking them what they need, what we need to do in order to help them remain competitive and successful.
AIT is big enough to have the industrial-grade infrastructure, support, and technology to give developers confidence but not so big that the company has forgotten what it’s like to be on the other end of a support request. The new products and services that have been released have come about as a result of maintaining a read on the pulse of the developer community.
How do you support your customers?
24/7 support through toll-free phone lines and an online trouble ticket system, and 24/7 means systems administrators as well as front-line tech folks. The online customer care center is a conduit for support and billing issues, as well as for placing new orders.
There is also a CMR queue for resellers so they can support their customers. Twice a week, our CIO conducts webinars on a variety of tech-focused issues, whether the subject is a new product or an issue a lot of customers have asked about.
The AIT website also includes a series of tutorials, demos, and users guide on many of our products, along with a tech support library and script library, both of which are frequently augmented. Users get access to Conf files, there is data backup, redundant OC-192 backbone, and the tightest physical, digital, and electronic security surveillance going.
