The 2005 NFIB/Dell Small-Business Excellence Award Winner Is...
Dr. Tim Kriss
Neurosurgery and Spine Specialists, PSC
What he does: A small medical office that provides neurosurgery care to patients in three rural Kentucky towns with one traveling physician.
Headquarters: Versailles, Ky.
Number of employees: Four
How they use technology to serve customers: Created a mobile electronic physician's office that allows the doctor to travel to each patient and instantly access more than 5,000 patients' medical records.
Technology has catapulted small business into the global marketplace. It allows a small business to look like a big one without losing that special touch.
Meet the other finalists for the 2005 Dell/NFIB Small Business Excellence in Customer Experience Award:
Altivation Software
What they do: Provide crucial software to nonprofit blood banks across the country.
Web site: www.altivation.com
Headquarters: Chico, Calif.
Number of employees: Eight
How they use technology to serve customers: Provide customers with software that allows them to properly plan, staff and retrieve statistics pertaining to blood drives and donor centers.
Ambreco
What they do: General contractor specializing in military construction.
Web site: www.ambreco.com
Headquarters: Belton, Texas
Number of employees: 13
How they use technology to serve customers: They continue to win government contracts because of their ability to use a password-protected Web site for federal clients where they can provide daily updates and photos of the projects they're working on.
Complete Inspection Systems
What they do: Provide the pharmaceutical and health-care industries with automated inspection and proofreading systems to prevent errors on labels, inserts and other packaging material.
Web site: www.completeinspectionsystems.com
Headquarters: Indialantic, Fla.
Number of employees: 10
How they use technology to serve customers: They create custom solutions for clients using special functions that can compare multiple images and spot differences, thus potentially saving the lives of consumers, who could suffer death or injury if labels or instructions are wrong.
Cooperative Response Center (CRC)
What they do: A nationwide, cooperatively owned and operated 24/7 call center and central station.
Web site: www.crc.coop
Headquarters: Austin, Minn.
Number of employees: 99
How they use technology to serve customers: Maintain a call center that is heavily automated yet still has a human touch, thanks to their focus on the human side of technology.
Elliance
What they do: A marketing firm that specializes in Web design, search-engine marketing, ecommerce and online marketing tools, and online loyalty development programs.
Web site: www.elliance.com
Headquarters: Pittsburgh
Number of employees: 17
How they use technology to serve customers: Provide small-business customers with the "ennect" brand of online marketing tools that help them grow sales and build relationships.
iTax Group
What they do: Help clients identify and capture tax credits and training grants across a wide spectrum of state, federal and local programs.
Web site: www.itaxgroup.com
Headquarters: Phoenix
Number of employees: 44
How they use technology to serve customers: Pioneered the first automated tax-credit screening solution that screens for more than 150 tax credits. They also created a back-end product that monitors applicants from screening to certification.
The Kingstar Company
What they do: A wholesale insurance agency that works with more than 650 brokers in the Northeast.
Web site: www.kingstarcompany.com
Headquarters: Kingston, N.Y.
Number of employees: 13
How they use technology to serve customers: Built a custom database that allows them to track more than 1,000 new business inquiries a month; developed a system to route faxes to the various printers within their office, saving time and money.
SBTV - Small Business Television Network
What they do: A television network that provides small-business owners with news and information on the Internet and via a nationally televised news magazine called "Small Business Beat."
Web site: www.sbtv.com
Headquarters: St. Louis
Number of employees: 14
How they use technology to serve customers: Developed a digital production process that enables them to deliver news and information to small-business owners through a variety of platforms.
Smart Furniture
What they do: Provide custom organizational workspaces for homes or offices.
Web site: www.smartfurniture.com
Headquarters: Chattanooga, Tenn.
Number of employees: Four
How they use technology to serve customers: Their Web site allows customers to design their own workspaces. Their back-end automation helps employees provide efficient, reliable customer service.
The National Federation of Independent Business is the nation's largest small-business advocacy group. A nonprofit, nonpartisan organization founded in 1943, NFIB represents the consensus views of its 600,000 members in Washington, D.C., and all 50 state capitals.
Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) is a trusted and diversified information-technology supplier and partner, and sells a comprehensive portfolio of products and services directly to customers worldwide. Dell, recognized by Fortune magazine as America's most admired company and No. 3 globally, designs, builds and delivers innovative, tailored systems that provide customers with exceptional value. Company revenue for the last four quarters was $52.8 billion.
