At The Top - January 2000

edurus

Firm meets multitudes of e-business needs under one roof

by Diane Glazman

Companies come to us because they’ve heard this ‘i’ word out there. They hear things like Michael Dell at Dell Computers say­ing, ‘Companies that are not Internet companies by the year 2002 will not be companies.’ They hear about Amazon.com, whose stock has gone through the roof, and all these other things, and they realize they’re missing out on something,” says Jeff Obst, CEO of Carson City-based edu­rus, formerly Semper Systems.

edurus focuses on helping businesses manage their computer networks from both an internal and Internet standpoint. Founded in January 1996 as an information technology (IT) business solutions company, edurus helps clients manage internal networks with custom programming and computer consulting. “Our foundation comes from understanding how businesses work and how technology can help them with their busi­ness,” Obst stated. In the last 18 months, the company has shifted its focus to include e-busi­ness strategies that include Internet access, Web site development and hosting and online market­ing. “We truly believe that it is the wave of the future. We’re in a revolution right now ... if [companies] don’t get on the train, they’re going to get run over by it,” Obst predicted.

In the volatile work of IT management, e-com­merce and i-business, edurus maintains an ad­vantage by giving companies a one-stop-shop­ping approach to what can be alphabet soup. In many cases, companies who want a presence on the Web need to work with as many as four dif­ferent service providers, using one company to design their Web site and host it, another to pro­vide Internet access and yet another to provide online marketing. And that is in addition to whomever they work with to manage their inter­nal computer network. With edurus’ purchase last year of Future Media, a four-person Web site construction firm, the company can provide all Internet services to their clients under one roof. “A client doesn’t have to wonder ‘Okay, I can’t get on the Internet, is it the network guy’s prob­lem? Is it the Internet service provider? Who is it?’ With us doing everything for them, they only have one number to call. It helps out with frus­tration,” Obst stated.

Although edurus focuses on the virtual world that exists between microchips, the company also recognizes that face-to-face communication is important as well. In addition to its Carson City office, edurus opened a Las Vegas branch last fall. “Even though a lot of communications can happen over the Internet via e-mail and other things, when you’re actually sitting down with a company and doing e-business strategy develop­ment, you really need to have a face-to-face presence,” Obst maintained. He added that even though his company provides access for clients during Web site development with services such as online proofing, it is important to edurus to sit down with clients during the blueprint phase of Web site construction.

Obst says many clients come to the company without a clear cut understanding of what they want to accomplish on the Web. Rather, they just have a sense that they are missing out on an op­portunity. Though Obst feels every business can benefit from the communication the Internet makes possible, other advantages depend on the type of business a company is involved in. E­commerce has mainly focused on linking retail­ers with customers, providing a secure means by which an individual can purchase a product from a Web site, while ignoring the service industry.

edurus works with many clients based in the service sector who can’t necessarily provide a product. For instance, Obst says, a dentist’s clients can’t get their teeth cleaned on the Internet, but the dentist may want to use the Internet for referrals or providing inventory information.

Obst cites AttorneyGuide.com as an ex­ample of what edurus can do with a ser­vice-based industry. “We’ve partnered with the bar associations in Washoe and Clark counties, and we provide information about the attorneys. That’s the way service companies will be successful on the Inter­net — by providing enough information for a potential client to look at them and say, for example, ‘Okay, this is who I want to take care of my divorce case.” edurus built the Web site with a user-friendly search en­gine that allows people to look up attorneys based on experience, types of cases worked on and location. “It’s better than the Yellow Pages,” Obst asserts.

edurus’ work with a client does not stop once the Web site is up and running. edu­rus also provides online marketing: banner ads, listing with search engines and link exchanges. “With the Internet there is a to­tally new way to advertise your goods and services,” Obst said. He also noted that a major focus for online marketing is to make a client’s Web site the first one an in­dividual thinks of for that service or prod­uct, citing Amazon.com as a prime exam­ple of successful branding for online book sales. edurus also helps clients evaluate the success of their Web site by providing in­formation not only on the number of visits, but also tracking how people move through the site, where they’re going from the site and how they found the site.

And, of course, Obst hopes that edurus becomes the first name companies think about when they want to create a presence on the Web.