Versient provides unique, web-based solutions to companies, allowing them to significantly reduce their hard and soft costs. Versient accomplishes this by simplifying the ordering, management and distribution of materials to an organization’s employees and customers. From an online catalog of items, employees can order printed materials, product samples and premiums, as well as create variable data items (such as newsletters), and download photographs or digital company files. Versient helps manage and distribute business materials to employees faster, easier, and at a lower cost.

Steve brings more than 20 years of senior management experience in both large and small company environments. Prior to joining Versient, he served as Senior Vice President, Administration and CFO of The Limited, Inc.’s Real Estate and Store Planning Divisions where he was responsible for the strategic management of their $5 billion portfolio of leased locations and $300 million capital spending budget. Prior to joining The Limited, Steve was CEO at EXOS, a pioneer of touch feedback technology that he sold to Microsoft, and Managing Director of MicroProse, Ltd., a leading computer game company based in the UK. He spent the early part of his career in various financial and strategic planning positions at Dayton Hudson, Tonka Toys and Norwest Corporation. He received his B.A. degree from Antioch College and M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. Before his appointment as President and CEO, Steve has served as a Board member for Versient since its inception.

Steve, what industry segments does Versient target?

We’ve been focused on our vertical markets, which include hospitality/tourism, pharmaceutical/medical, and high tech industries—where we’ve had great success. But any company can benefit from our solution, particularly those who generate high print volumes, have multiple office locations or remote employees. Our ideal clients have a print volume of more than $200,000 per year, have distributed employees, branches or sales forces. We’re continuing to grow our sales and marketing efforts throughout the country.

With an e-Based product, are you concerned with slow adoption rates?

No, we know we have an explosive product that saves companies time and money. In this business climate, money is very expensive. We’ve been trying to right size, and currently we are expanding our sales force.

We deliver a great workflow solution—in fact, more and more companies are seeing that Versient delivers a 20 to 30 percent savings. Plus, it can be implemented quickly, with little involvement needed from their internal IT or support teams—so it doesn’t take away from other priority projects. Our solution can be implemented in about two weeks.

Give our readers a break down of your geographical focus.

We have sales offices throughout the country—California, Texas, Missouri and Maryland. We focus our attention on several national vertical markets —hospitality/tourism, pharmaceutical/medical, and high tech companies. Although many of our users are across the country, some of our customers are international. We even deliver print orders to Cunard ships while they are cruising around the world.

Explain your pricing structure. Does a company pay a yearly license fee or is it based on the usage?

We charge a one-time set up fee and an annual hosting fee. We also have fees for warehousing items, pick pack and ship, and of course, printing charges. We also can provide print production services to our clients.

Tell us about your funding and plans for partnerships.

We’ve compiled small rounds of venture funding, and are about to close on the fourth round. This will take us through breakeven—all with the same venture group who support our business and indicated that they will support future acquisitions. In an acquisition, we would look for several things, like a company’s customer base and technology that is complimentary to ours.

So you are not looking to be acquired.

We are not for sale.

What area of your business appears to have the fastest adoption rate and interest to prospects?

We have a total solution for our clients that streamline the procurement of materials by centralizing the control of usage, budgets and brand standards, while giving employees the ability to access, view, proof and order materials online, 24/7. Employees can order printed items, premiums, product samples, electronic files and variable data items from their desktop. In addition, our solution implements quickly, while saving companies 20 to 30 percent. Who wouldn’t be interested in that?

We also have another product that we market to re-sellers. It is a variable document platform that supports one-to-one marketing initiatives. We think both of these have the potential for explosive growth.

When does Versient anticipate a profit?

We anticipate a profit by the fourth quarter of this year.

How does Versient follow through on customer support and training.

Our online ordering system is really easy to use. As part of our implementation process, we offer training to companies on several levels. We offer training guides of how to use the system, and our Customer Integration Manager also gives on-site training. In addition, each client is assigned a customer service representative that can assist with training and tech support.

We’re committed to personal and professional growth of our employees too - which includes ongoing product training as well as tuition reimbursement to further their professional development.

What upgrades do you plan for 2001?

I think the big news will be a new release of our product this spring. It has new features such as a search function, a shopping cart, and a new look. Overall, it’s even easier to navigate and easier to use.

Steve, thank you for your time and best of luck with Versient.