But Conway’s biggest year was not her best. In terms of profitability, 1999 was the worst year in the history of the company, says Conway. “It forced me to analyze what went wrong,” she says.

Her solution was to downsize. With the shrinking profit telling Conway that her company couldn’t be “all things to all people,” she decided to focus on the company’s core competencies of technological service and connectivity, servicing companies with 15 to 50 PCs. “We started finding homes for everything else,” she says.

She dropped home users and small businesses (those with fewer than 15 computers) from her client base. Rather than abandon them, she partnered with Action Computers, which pays a monthly stipend for the referrals. As those businesses grow, Conway’s company is in position to inherit them. Conway also got out of the business of Web design and partnered with Intergraphic Group to supply that service. Her three full-time Web designers and one salesperson devoted to that market joined Intergraphic Group earlier this year, giving her the opportunity to use their expertise without paying their salary.

Conway also has formed partnerships with local companies providing training, document imaging, cabling and telecommunications services, giving her an extended family of about 40 professionals to call upon. “I have become lean and mean but added to my scope of services. As a result of outsourcing, the client gets a lower price point, better quality and faster turnaround. I still profit and lower the cost of doing business,” she says.

Today, the company, with modest offices in Cape Coral and Naples, has a staff of 10, a client list of 200 local businesses, and revenues of $1.5 million to $2 million. Revenue growth is decreasing, but profitability has grown dramatically, she says. “We are a classic example of ‘bigger is not necessarily better,’” she says.

A Fresh Focus

The name change from Computer Rescue Squad to CRS Technology reflects the company’s new direction. “The original name was clever and appropriate eight years ago, but was not reflective of the company today,” explains Conway. The change did cause some confusion in the marketplace, however. “People had the general perception that we had changed ownership and staff, that we were somehow different,” she says. A steady stream of Web-based marketing, radio announcements and one-on-one contacts helped clarify to customers that Conway was still in command. She is, in fact, the sole owner.

Conway came to Southwest Florida in 1993 after a 16-year career in sales, marketing and management, first with IBM and then with tech companies in Silicon Valley. She and her husband, Kevin, also an IBM and Silicon Valley alum, were looking for new business opportunities. They had three criteria in choosing the area: no state income tax, year-round golf and proximity to the water. Southwest Florida was particularly appealing because it was still affordable and was teetering on the verge of growth. “It was still small enough where we could make our mark, but potentially big enough to grow our businesses,” notes Conway.

Conway soon discovered Computer Rescue Squad, a mom-and-pop operation founded in 1986 that was for sale. Unable to find a bank willing to lend her money, Conway took out a second mortgage, liquidated stock and built up credit card debt to buy the business and keep it running. The biggest mistake small companies make, she says, is underestimating working capital. “I made that mistake,” admits Conway.

A $20,000 loan from her father kept her from closing the doors, and then, she says, somewhat incredulously, “We showed a profit for the first time in history the very next month.” She was over the hump—and she soon doubled her staff from two to four.

When Conway purchased Computer Rescue Squad, its primary business was repairing and building PCs. That market was disappearing, however, as manufacturers such as Dell and Gateway were leading the way with direct sales and service. Realizing that the company’s days as just a computer repair business were numbered, Conway decided to move the business into more sophisticated applications such as networking.

Conway’s first big client was The News-Press, which gave Conway credibility in the marketplace. “We were not doing very sophisticated work for them—repair work and selling them equipment—but people assumed if you could support a business the size of The News-Press, you could handle others,” she says.

In the early days of establishing herself in an area where she had no friends, family or business connections, Conway scrambled to make contacts. She worked more than 60 hours a week, focusing a majority of her time on sales and marketing. Her credentials also helped. “People were impressed I was from Silicon Valley,” she says. “That gave us credibility, whether we deserved it or not. I milked that for as long as I could.”

The 45-year-old Conway is totally dedicated to her business, to the point of apologizing for her enthusiasm. Pausing briefly in the middle of an animated conversation, she says, “I’m sorry. I get all fired up. I have a lot of energy. I really like my business. I really like the industry.”

Forecasting Her Future

People have often suggested that Conway uses a crystal ball because of her ability to deliver new technology just as her clients decide they need it. The secret is simple, she says. “It’s just a matter of staying current with what’s going on in Boston, Austin, San Francisco and New York. Eighteen to twenty-four months after a concept or product or service is introduced in a major metropolitan area, it trickles down to Southwest Florida.”

Being in a secondary market gives Conway and her employees the luxury to prepare for what the market will be demanding two years down the road. “If I took the same company and plunked it in the middle of Orlando or Atlanta, I would have to be more leading edge,” she says. “The advantage to customers is that the technology becomes more stable and cost comes down significantly.”

CRS has gradually evolved from a “reactive business” of fixing computers to what Conway calls “proactive technology”—technology that is viewed as delivering a valuable return on investment, rather than pouring money into a black hole. “Fixing PCs and selling new PCs doesn’t have an integral impact on a company’s business strategy,” she says. “The types of services we provide today can.”

Conway advises clients not to get caught up in technology for technology’s sake, but to examine their business plan and assess how technology can assist in carrying out the plan’s goals. “If a deluge of paper or the inability to find client files is slowing down your process, in more cases than not, there is a way to address it,” she explains.

At Florida Heart Associates, for example, CRS helped to implement a wide area network to connect its offices in Fort Myers, Cape Coral, Lehigh and Bonita Springs. CRS also converted Florida Heart Associates’ paper files to digital images and implemented an automated desktop fax system. The goal was to reduce the time staff interacted with documents and to increase the time they were with patients, says Phil Lotti, Heart Associates’ practice administrator. Though the system is still a work in progress, Lotti says he already sees gains in productivity. “I can only believe we’re going to be able to demonstrate increased patient satisfaction, doctors seeing more patients, and staff less frustrated in getting to information,” he says.

Prior to January, this was an office that had never used e-mail—not even voice mail, Lotti says. “We made an immediate leap into the 21st century without a lot of safety net,” he says, attributing the physician-owners’ willingness to take the leap to the credibility and business approach of Conway and her CRS team. “She makes the whole pie edible by taking it a slice at a time,” Lotti says of Conway. “She listens and responds.”

“The thing about Carol Conway is she will find a way to get it done,” agrees Cynthia McHenry, information systems director for Bonita Springs Utilities. “She is very creative in coming up with solutions.” Since CRS helped the utility upgrade its system, downtime has decreased and productivity has improved. The company also has been able to strengthen data security, says McHenry, who directs a two-person department running 65 PCs and five servers with one remote location. Being a small department, “we can’t do everything all the time, and we can’t have expertise in everything,” McHenry says. “CRS helps us fill in the gaps. They are also a great sounding board.”

While CRS has kept up to speed in the ever-changing technology business, Conway is unsure for the first time what the future holds. “What technology should I be training for? If I’m looking at Chicago or Boston, my crystal ball just got cloudy,” she says. Since Sept.11, IT managers don’t know what they should be doing, says Conway. “If my bellwether is the major metropolitan areas, they’re not spending money, they are not moving to new technology.”

Conway has tightened up her business considerably since her seminal year in 1999 when revenues reached an all-time high and profits an all-time low. She feels secure, even in a slow economy, that her business plan for a lean, mean company will carry her through the next 18 months. “What I’m dealing with now,” she says, “is the 19th month.”

Susan Holly is a freelance writer and editor based on Sanibel. She writes frequently about technology.