Michigan IT services firm plotting expansion with Central Ohio office
Business First of Columbus
Kevin Kemper
COLUMBUS, OH, July 20, 2007
Steve Barone doesn't know what Ohioans think of the state's economy, but he insists they should be grateful.
"The Ohio economy is much better than Michigan's. And in Columbus, it's considerably better than Detroit's," said Barone, CEO of information technology services firm Creative Breakthroughs, Inc.
A difficult economy at home and a growing list of clients in other states have spurred Barone to expand his Troy, Mich-based tech firm into Columbus. He wants to open an office in either Westerville or Worthington by October.
Barone also plans to open an office in suburban Washington, D.C. this year to handle an increase in government services work, and he hopes to add ad office in Boston or Cambridge, Mass., next year.
Creative Breakthroughs specializes in computer program training and network monitoring and management, but the bulk of its workload comes from computer network security.
Since Barone started the company in 1991, its client list has grown beyond Detroit-area operations to include businesses across the country. Creative Breakthroughs counts Nationwide Financial Services Inc., Huntington Bancshares Inc. and Cardinal Health Inc. as customers.
Even though those companies are among Central Ohio's largest, Barone intends to target small and medium-size businesses when the Columbus office is running.
"I think Columbus is really ripe," he said, "I don't see much direct competition, and if there is it's from huge companies."
Small- and mid-size companies tend to be more profitable for Creative Breakthroughs, Barone said, because monitoring their networks and training their workers on new software usually don't require as much oversight or as many return visits as with larger companies with thousands of workers.
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