Founded in 1979, North Star Leasing is a leading provider of equipment financing solutions, dedicated to fueling the growth of businesses across diverse industries. As a direct lender, North Star Leasing offers personalized, upfront service and leverages its extensive industry experience to help clients overcome challenges and achieve their business objectives. Their approach centers on investing in the people behind the businesses, building strong, long-term relationships with both vendors and customers. With a mission to provide attractive financing options and serve as a trusted partner, North Star Leasing measures its success by the achievements of its clients and partners, while also fostering a culture of employee growth and reward.
Challenges: Navigating Rapid Growth and Ownership Changes Amidst IT Inefficiencies
Prior to partnering with simpleroute, North Star Leasing faced a series of IT challenges that hindered their ability to scale effectively and navigate a period of significant growth and multiple ownership transitions.
- IT Bottlenecks: Slow and unreliable IT support created significant operational bottlenecks. Network instability and equipment issues detracted from the company’s core focus on serving its clients.
- Lack of Dedicated IT Expertise: With only one individual responsible for sales, marketing, and IT, critical technology issues were often deprioritized, leading to delays and inefficiencies. Sales and marketing efforts were frequently neglected as IT problems demanded immediate attention.
- Misaligned IT Solutions: Existing IT solutions were not optimally aligned with North Star Leasing’s business objectives, resulting in staff frequently dealing directly with software vendors or struggling with poorly performing technology.
- Cybersecurity Concerns: As the company grew, so did the need for a more robust cybersecurity posture, a critical requirement in the financial services industry.
- Vendor Management: Managing multiple technology vendors proved to be time-consuming and complex, diverting valuable resources away from core business activities.
These challenges created friction, hindering growth and creating uncertainty during a period that included acquisitions by multiple venture capital firms and ultimately, by People’s Bank. North Star Leasing needed a reliable IT partner that could provide stability, strategic guidance, and scalable solutions to support their rapid expansion and navigate the complexities of these transitions.
Solution: A Strategic IT Partnership for Growth and Stability
After evaluating various local IT providers, North Star Leasing selected simpleroute based on our ability to address their comprehensive IT needs and our commitment to building a strong, collaborative partnership. While initially considering a full-time IT hire, North Star Leasing recognized the greater value in having access to simpleroute’s entire team of experienced and responsive IT professionals.
simpleroute’s commitment to providing prompt, friendly, and understandable support was crucial for North Star Leasing. Our ability to explain complex technical concepts in a clear and accessible manner empowered them to make informed decisions about their technology investments.
We proposed a strategic plan to modernize North Star Leasing’s IT infrastructure, aligning their technology with their business goals. The proposed enhancements focused on significantly improving system stability, speed, and reliability.
Furthermore, simpleroute proactively managed relationships with North Star Leasing’s technology vendors. This relieved North Star Leasing’s staff from time-consuming vendor interactions and positioned simpleroute as a trusted technology advisor, guiding them through their options and ensuring they received optimal solutions.
Recognizing that North Star Leasing’s growth trajectory would inevitably bring new technological challenges, they valued simpleroute’s forward-thinking approach to cybersecurity and IT security solutions. We proactively monitored emerging trends and implemented tailored security measures to meet North Star Leasing’s evolving needs.
Implementation and Results: 10x Growth, Seamless Transitions, and a Focus on Core Business
Over the past decade, simpleroute’s partnership has been instrumental in supporting North Star Leasing’s remarkable growth and navigating multiple ownership changes. During this period, North Star Leasing’s revenue has surged from $18 million to over $150 million, and their staff has tripled in size. simpleroute’s reliable IT support has provided a foundation of stability, allowing North Star Leasing to focus on scaling their business with confidence.
Key Initiatives and Impact:
- Immediate and Expert Support: simpleroute’s responsive support model, where individual employees can directly call and receive immediate assistance from knowledgeable technicians, has significantly improved operational efficiency. This has enabled North Star Leasing’s staff to quickly resolve IT issues and return their focus to serving clients.
- Strategic Technology Upgrades: simpleroute has proactively monitored North Star Leasing’s technology environment, identifying and addressing potential issues before they escalate. This included managing the end-of-life cycle for critical hardware, such as their server, and ensuring seamless transitions to new systems. We also audited their Microsoft licenses, identifying and replacing outdated computers as needed.
- Enhanced Call Efficiency: simpleroute collaborated with a new VoIP provider to integrate advanced phone dialer technology with North Star Leasing’s CRM. This integration significantly enhanced the performance of customer-facing teams, improving communication and streamlining operations.
- Vendor Management and Cloud Migration: simpleroute effectively managed vendor relationships, including the complex migration of North Star Leasing’s core leasing software to the cloud. Our guidance and expertise during these transitions minimized disruptions and allowed North Star Leasing’s staff to remain focused on their core responsibilities.
- Acquisition Support: During the acquisition by People’s Bank, simpleroute provided seamless and uninterrupted support, working closely with the bank’s IT team to align North Star Leasing’s infrastructure with the bank’s requirements. This included migrating application dashboards, documents, and other digital assets, ensuring a smooth and efficient integration.
A Foundation for Continued Success
simpleroute’s unwavering support has relieved the IT burden on North Star Leasing, empowering them to concentrate on their core business and achieve remarkable growth. Our proactive approach, strategic guidance, and commitment to seamless transitions have been particularly valuable during periods of significant change, including multiple acquisitions. As North Star Leasing continues to thrive as part of People’s Bank, simpleroute remains their trusted IT partner, ensuring they have the robust and agile technology foundation necessary to achieve their ambitious goals.