An Interview with Lance Griffith, CAPFIVE Technology Solutions Founder and CEO: ‘We Provide the Services and Resources that Enhance Our Clients’ Efficiency, Productivity, and Profitability’

What sets CAPFIVE apart from its competition is that we learn everything we need to know about our clients so that we understand their business needs and requirements: Lance Griffith

Cloud Computing is nothing less of a revolution. It has opened doors that were earlier accessible only to larger corporations. Now, small businesses are able to both compete with and overtake larger businesses with this technology. It largely makes everything need-based and on-demand, from data security to storage, thus giving companies freedom from the burden of huge investments.

CAPFIVE Technology Solutions,

a one-stop full service firm, provides Managed Services, Technology Infrastructure, Cloud Solutions, Voice Solutions, and Disaster Recovery Solutions primarily to SMB enterprises, smaller municipalities and public safety agencies in the Greater Houston area. CAPFIVE works with an organization’s internal IT team, or can wholly manage its entire IT needs, guaranteeing speed, reliability and security. The company provides equipment and services in consultation with its clients, based on each client’s specific needs and budget.

CAPFIVE services companies in all market segments and has a long history as a trusted provider to companies in the Oil & Gas, Real Estate and Financial sectors. Several Texas municipalities including City of West University Place, City of Fulshear, and City of Bellaire also count on us for their IT needs.

The company was incorporated in 2002 and is headquartered in Katy, Texas.

Lance Griffith, CAPFIVE Technology Solutions Founder/CEO, spoke exclusively to The Silicon Review. Below is an excerpt.

Q. Why was the company set up? And how did you expand your company and its offerings over the years?

CAPFIVE initially catered to time & material IT services, applications development and datacenter practices. It became evident, here in the Houston market, that small to medium sized businesses needed a more robust set of service offerings. Some companies can invest organizationally to hire IT staff, while others cannot. In either instance, they won’t have all the expertise or technology resources to keep their business up and running. What sets CAPFIVE apart from its competition is that we learn everything we need to know about our clients so that we understand their business needs and requirements. Our core business practices are to determine: 1) where they are today, 2) where they need to be 3) and how together we can build a road map to get there. Working as a partner with customers is the single most import part of these business practices. CAPFIVE doesn’t sell customers off the shelf solutions,but builds an equally agreed upon solution that fits with the customers’ long term goals.

Q. What challenges did you face in your initial years?

CAPFIVE faced the same challenges every business start-up faces. Financial stability was the biggest hurdle. Service companies have zero assets. Finding creative ways to find funding and to manage the peaks and valleys was a new skillset for me, but we did it! Likewise, the model of the company internally needed to be fluid, yet appear to the customers to be solid. Most importantly, we attracted smart talent and made an investment to retain them. Organically, our reputation for customer service grew. Most of our business is referral business We have paced our growth strategically, adding more people, more customers, new markets and evolving our service offerings to meet market demand.

Q. What kind of responses have you received from your consumers over the years? How have they motivated you to shape your offerings/grow the company?

You never tell a customer which solution is best for them. You must derive it through understanding their business needs, present them with a few appropriately priced options, build a few prospective roadmaps and then together, solve the problem based on time, money, resources and the solution’s effectiveness. The CEOs of small to medium sized organization want their technology investments to work well. CAPFIVE manages their infrastructure for them,and has long-established partnerships with the best IT technology vendors. Vendor channel partnerships and relations is the behind-the-scenes magic that truly helps CAPFIVE fulfill the customer’s IT needs. TThrough the knowledge of many implemented vendor solutions and as well the time invested by CAPFIVE to do any additional vendor product research is where a majority of a customer’s cost-effective solution is derived. Ask any customer and the consensus response is: “We don’t have time to study and research all the products out there!”

Q. Is your company a ‘leader or a follower’?

Leader for sure!. As founder and CEO of CAPFIVE, I lead by example. The core values I live by are our business practices. These basic values attract good employees and good customers. I also keep select competitors on my speed-dial. It may sound strange, but I have had to reach out for help a few times due to a shortage in staff or resources and I have found a few competitors that I can trust. And likewise with them — serendipitously, we know that if help is needed, we can count on each other and then go our separate ways seeking our own success.

In a city like Houston, there’s plenty of business for everyone!

Q. ‘Leaders cannot optimize results by themselves; they need employees’ support and assistance.’ How does your company interpret this saying?

CAPFIVE places a high value on employee participation in developing the processes we use to meet customer needs, and in the innovative way we think about how we position our business in the marketplace. Our techs love the technology market. Almost all the service sets we offer have been created by them. The rest is all sales and marketing!

Lance Griffith: A Brief Background

Lance Griffith’s entrepreneurial spirit is evidenced when he started his first computer services company, Colorado Computer Consultants, in the early 1990’s in Colorado Springs.

Mr. Griffith was one of the founding partners of CAPFIVE Technology Solutions in 2002, and is now the sole partner and CEO. Originally CAPFIVE’s business model included applications development and datacenter practices, but has since evolved into Managed Services, Infrastructure Technology, Cloud Solutions, Voice Solutions and Disaster Recovery. His prior experience includes working for the Air Force as Asian Pacific Director of Technology based in Okinawa, Japan. He joined Paranet in San Francisco (Corporate—Houston), which was later acquired by Sprint Telecom.

Mr. Griffith holds an MS in Information Systems Management, University of Maryland; and Masters of Business Administration, Louisiana State University.

“Our seasoned team of professionals are available 24/7, and our quality control processes allow us to anticipate problems before they arise, eliminating downtime and increasing productivity.”