April 2016
Dear Valued Clients and Partners,
One lesson I’ve learned in the 29 years since I founded UCG is that your brand says a lot about not only who you are but also what you want to be. That’s why I’m pleased to announce that:
United Computer Group, Inc. is now
No new owners or a sale or merger, just the same top quality personnel and engineers our clients have worked with since 1987.
Why the change? And why now?
Well, we’re not just a computer company any more. In the early years, 80% of our sales were hardware related. While we’re still one of the largest independent IBM hardware business partners, our business has grown and diversified.
Today, computers account for less than 40% of our revenues. Most of our business is derived from UCG i Cloud, VAI’s S2K ERP solutions, UCG enterprise cloud backup, disaster recovery, and high availability offerings. And now enterprise security training, but more about that in a moment.
Our rebranding prepares us for the future.
The cloud presents dramatic new opportunities for us to solve customers’ problems in ways that would have been impossible just a few years ago.
For example, I recently had a chance to hear IBM CEO Ginni Rometty describe a vision that IBM calls “cognitive computing.” The presentation energized me because it outlined a new vision of computing powered by the intelligence of technologies like Watson to discover insights and relationships that are too complex for human beings to see.
IBM expects half of all software applications developed three years from now to have cognitive capabilities, up from just 10% today. The possibilities for us to apply cognitive reasoning to make our customers’ enterprise applications more efficient is exciting. Its potential to open up whole new areas of analytical insight is astonishing.
Our new name reflects our bigger goal of being a provider of integrated services that help our customers and manage their IT operations and their businesses more effectively. One example of how we’re making this transition is our new Enterprise Security Awareness Training.
Why Enterprise Security Awareness Training is integral to an organizations success.
Over the past 18 months, several of our clients have been hit with cyber-attacks. Phishing and Ransomware have become some of their most worrisome vulnerabilities. So UCG Technologies has partnered with KnowBe4 to offer free phishing and email exposure tests to our cloud clients. In addition, each Enterprise Cloud Backup & DR client will also receive a 25-user license for Kevin Mitnick’s superb nine course Cyber Security Training program.
One client that recently took the phishing exposure test got an incredible 48% click rate on the malicious messages sent to employees. Thanks to the free training we’re providing, I believe they can reduce that vulnerability to negligible single digits.
We want to be your full-service IT partner.
We’re expanding not only our product line but also our geographic scope. In fact, UCG Technologies now has corporate clients in 31 states, Canada, and in Europe. Our phones are ringing and our business is growing in excess of 20% annually, but that doesn’t change the principle that got us here: a firm commitment to complete customer satisfaction.
I’m proud of the team that has guided our growth, but most of all I’m grateful to our customers for showing their faith in us.
Thanks, and here’s to new opportunities ahead!
Jim Kandrac, President
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