TAMPA and MELBOURNE, Fla. — Over a six-year span, Nexcentri, LLC has evolved from a credit union services company to an information technology CUSO and along the way it says it has created a new model to bring a la carte IT services to the industry.
Founded in 2001, Nexcentri became a CUSO in August 2007 with its majority owner being $338 million Tampa Bay Federal Credit Union. Through its CostPlus 12 model, it aims to offer three ways to help credit unions with their day-to-day IT challenges: IT services, custom application development, and solution, or vendor procurement from software and hardware companies. CostPlus is described as Nexcentri's "internal cost plus twelve percent."
"In the Nexcentri's CostPlus12 model, we've become an extension of the [credit union's] IT department," said Jason Holloway, president/CEO of Nexcentri. "Outsourcing IT allows credit unions to concentrate on their members instead of diverting energy to IT issues."
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Nexcentri said it partners with more than 30 credit union vendors and the CUSO uses its Value Added Reseller relationship with these vendors in order to provide credit unions "with unheard of pricing not offered to them individually."
"How many times have technology solutions been purchased in good faith by credit unions within a reasonable budget only to be shocked by the very high service charges that follow for installation and implementation," Holloway said.
Tampa Bay FCU believes so strongly in Nexcentri that the credit union has worked with the CUSO for the past five years and purchased the largest ownership stake, said Dale Schumacher, president/CEO. While most CUSO's are started by credit unions, Nexcentri is one of the few examples of a CUSO being created by a credit union purchasing majority ownership of an already existing technology company.
"We witnessed their passion and growth in both the technology and the credit union space," Schumacher recalled. "We saw this investment as a necessary step to help diversify our portfolio and to fully take advantage of their technological expertise."
Nexcentri said it provides IT consulting services from as little as one day or as much as 100% IT outsourcing. It will work to specifically develop custom applications or products utilizing a credit union's specific user requirements. Holloway said Nexcentri's tagline–"Technologist first with a PhD in Credit Unions"–is appropriate because of the CUSO's familiarity with the industry, understanding its challenges and doing what's necessary to "make sure the project gets completed in a timely and effective manner."
"Several CUs are forced to utilize 'canned' products associated with their core processing system and are not customizable," Holloway said.
With more than 20 years of experience in the information technology field, Holloway has been centered in various areas including business development and management of large IT profit and loss statements. Prior to Nexcentri, he was chairman and CEO of Tampa, Fla.-based Networked Knowledge Systems, Inc. where he said he increased annual revenue from $620,000 per year to $5.3 million per year over a five-year span. Nexcentri's COO and co-founder, Ralph Spagnolo, is equally matched in experience with two decades of IT experience including data centers, call centers and network operations centers.
"Nexcentri is positioned in the right spot, as
three national trends will power our growth," Holloway said. "They are overall membership growth outpacing [the country's] population increases, the number of credit unions is decreasing, and technology innovation is ever improving."
Looking ahead, Nexcentri said it will continue to move forward its CostPlus12 model and spark more IT collaboration within the industry.
"It is also our goal to not only provide a complete IT offering, but to more importantly, educate credit unions as to what technology can do for member growth," Holloway said.
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