Surebridge Finds Profits in Mid-market

Surebridge Inc., a Lexington, Mass.-based enterprise ASP, reported it has achieved EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) profitability in its second quarter and is now cash-flow positive.

The company’s strategy, according its Vice President of Operations Joe Nicholson, is to deploy, host and manage enterprise resource planning (ERP) and customer relationship management (CRM) software for midmarket enterprises, which Surebridge defines as between $10 million and $1 billion dollars. Its primary application partners are Microsoft, Microsoft Great Plains, Peoplesoft, Siebel and Vignette.

Surebridge, Nicholson told ASPnews, has been achieving positive growth since 1997 by concentrating on five vertical markets: Healthcare/pharmaceutical, financial services, manufacturing/distribution, publishing/media and services.

Revenue in Q2 2002 grew 10 percent over Q1. The company announced that its hosting revenue grew 16 percent over the previous quarter and 40 percent from last year. As a privately held company, Surebridge does not release actual revenue figures. However, the company does show that its hosting revenue is its largest in terms of gross margin, followed by implementation and then software revenues.

Nicholson said another key factor in Surebridge’s reaching EBITDA profitability is its “hybrid data center approach.” While the company does operate its own data center, it partners with Cable & Wireless for co-location services, which is designed to allow it to add capacity on an incremental client demand.

Surebridge’s plan for further growth includes five areas, Nicholson said:

1. Focus on integrated front-to-back end ERP and CRM implementations.
2. Continue to verticalize and take advantage of collected wisdom.
3. Add alternative channels and partnerships.
4. Gain new sales from existing clients.
5. Acquire where apppropriate.

“By reaching profitability, Surebridge secures its leadership position in the mid-market with a proven business model and a fully funded plan, providing our partners and customers added confidence in our delivery of quality solutions,” said Peter J. Boni, vice chairman of Surebridge.

Surebridge also announced this week that it has been named to the Microsoft Business Solutions Inner Circle of value-added reselling partners.

“Inner Circle membership is the highest form of recognition our reselling partners can achieve. It places them at the top of the most respected partner channel in the industry,” said Jeff Young, vice president of North American sales, marketing and services, Microsoft Business Solutions.

Surebridge said that its success with Microsoft applications is due to the fact that it is among a small group of application outsourcers that offer a choice among Microsoft Great Plains Dynamics, eEnterprise and Solomon solutions.

Surebridge is listed by ASPnews as a Top 20 Provider.

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