Visix grew by 136% over the past three years. Though the growth is exciting, it brings a litany of challenges.
Volume is the most obvious. We experienced double digit growth in the number of systems shipped and triple digit growth in the volume of services delivered. Delivering both the products and services over the past 12 months was relatively manageable, but supporting the deployments after the fact has been much more challenging. We took all the traditional steps like implementing new processes, deploying new technologies and refining our offering. In the end, however, it boiled down to adding people.
We added 11 people in the second half of the year with nearly 50% going to support the help desk. Our Channel Player to Server ratio doubled when compared to the previous year and we underestimated the people it would take to support the ratio shift. Compounding our challenge were the continual improvements in network security making it more difficult to support Web applications, proxy access and updates.
Today, every one of our help desk representatives has four to six months of AxisTV time and experience. As a result, we are looking forward to a more rewarding customer service year. We expect to grow and train our staff to meet the expanding demand for our software around the world.
While we will continue to improve the service and support experience, 2008 is the year of development at Visix. We are making notable investments in software developers, UX developers and new products to propel our offering to the next level of functionality and sophistication. We are looking forward to another solid year of growth performance and improvements across the board.
About Sean Matthews
Sean Matthews is a 14-year veteran of the visual communications industry and has been the President of Visix (formerly Tech Electronics, Inc.) since June 2004. Matthews has guided a corporate relocation and name change, the more than doubling the size of the sales force, establishment of field offices, outsourcing non-essential activities, the introduction of seven new products, increased revenues by 122% and increased trade show traffic by more than 1,000%.
Matthews served in the United States Marine Corps and the Marine Corps Reserve between 1985 and 1992, and is a veteran of the Persian Gulf War (1990 – 1991). Matthews also served with the United States Treasury Department as a Special Agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (1991 – 1993).
His undergraduate studies were at College of Charleston, located in Charleston, South Carolina. His graduate studies were at Georgia State University in Atlanta, Georgia.
Matthews currently resides in Norcross, Georgia, with his wife and two children.