Unity Business Systems -- The Obsolete File Cabinet
by Tess Goldblatt, July 2007
(as reprinted from the July issue of Oyster Pointer)
Newport News, VA - July 2007 - There once was a cabinet named File, Whose papers stacked up for a mile. UBS came one day, And showed a new way, And that was the end of the File.
*Imagine the business impact of a natural disaster that completely destroys the contents of file cabinets and storage boxes: invoices, architectural drawings, employee files, court or medical records, or maybe even a whole lot of microfiche.
*Now imagine, instead, finding four completely stuffed file cabinets stored on one tiny DVD with a copy stored offsite.
*Now imagine an electronic, Google-like search for what you want on that DVD and never having to re-file the paper.
*Imagine securely retrieving or sharing all the cabinets’ contents over the internet because of that DVD!
*Consider what could happen if those invoices interfaced directly into accounting software.
*Plan how to use all the new office space created as the file cabinets disappear.
Unity Business Systems (UBS) guides customers like the City of Virginia Beach and York County through this “paradigm shift from paper to the electronic image,” says UBS President Carl Long. Long recently bought out the document imaging business from retiring Gordon Reams and changed the company name from Reams to UBS.
After serving as CEO of Reams, Long’s formal grooming to take over the company began in 2002. The company’s markets had matured, and new markets needed to be identified. “As far as my research goes, there’s more than enough paper out there in file cabinets to keep us in business for a very long time,” Long says. “We create a Unified Document Repository for all the stuff that doesn’t reside in a database.”
While municipalities compose at least 60% of their revenue, the company increasingly moves into other sectors of Fortune 500 markets such as Smithfield Foods and AMF Bowling. Brian Sabin, vice president of operations, explains that UBS’s combination of services and customer service creates a competitive “total solution” for their clients. Marketing Director Christine Ilardi adds that automating the client’s workflow is one of the most obvious benefits aside from disaster recovery and space savings.
UBS’s mission statement begins with the words, “To honor God….” Long conveys that their corporate values guide them in decision-making to do what’s right by the customer and for their employees as well. If it’s a tough decision, they ask themselves which decision honors God. In doing so, UBS’s client base has become so loyal that half of UBS’s sales come from upgrades for and referrals from existing clients.
Loyalty goes both ways and runs deep at UBS. Long’s wife of 23 years, Melody, does the company’s graphic arts and spends time with their 2-year-old daughter, Carla Mei, who was adopted from a Chinese orphanage. When asked if he felt his company had a personality, Long mulls the question for the rest of the interview. At the end of a tour of their warehouse filled to the ceiling with boxes of documents being indexed, scanned and electronically cropped by his staff, Long realizes the answer, “I know! Our personality would be like a Labrador Retriever. We’re very loyal, and we’re very good at retrieval!”
A popular series of credit card commercial asks, “What’s in your wallet?” The friendly folks at UBS would like to know, “What’s in your file cabinets?”
Contact: christine.ilardi@unitysystems.biz
For more information: http://www.oysterpointer.net/
Phone: 1.757.223.5919
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Monday, September 08, 2008 
