Not in its final form

Final ASP evolving frequently to remain viable in rapidly changing technology industry.

After seven years in business and steady growth, Casey Condo, president of Final ASP, was faced with the possibility of the company becoming stagnant.

It wasn’t like he was losing clients or revenue was dropping. The company has about 400 clients across the country and revenues have doubled over the last few years, but it wasn’t going to double this year.

“We thought we’d hit $1.2 million, but we’re just shy of $1 million,” Condo says. “Last year was $700,000 and the year before was $350,000.”

Final ASP, an IT company that recently began hosting Microsoft Exchange and customer relationship management software, develops its own products, where other IT companies simply resell other products.

The company has spent the last year solidifying its infrastructure and customer base, which took him away from the marketing of the company. Condo says that diversion resulted in the company’s sales not flowing in like they used to.

“Internet marketing is like a horse race, with everyone jockeying for position,” he says. “If you’re not constantly competing, you’ll be off the map.”

Condo immediately saw a new revenue stream through Internet marketing and started a spin-off company, Magnetic SEO, which specializes in Internet marketing, while also providing free assessments of clients’ Web sites to make sure they are being maximized.

Condo says one thing all of his clients have in common is they all have Web sites, but some aren’t as good as others, and some are downright bad. Through the analysis, Magnetic is able to identify where a company’s site ranks on search engines like Google and then can work to improve the recognition and ranking through using the right domain names, keywords and other elements that draw traffic to sites.

Final ASP is practicing what it preaches by posting viral videos and sending blast e-mails to clients who then forward the e-mails to their friends, driving more traffic to Final ASP’s site. Condo says since launching Magnetic three months ago, the company has picked up 12 customers.

“The more I can strengthen Magnetic, the more it feeds back into Final ASP,” Condo says.

That forward thinking has always been Condo’s strength, having started his first company, Digital Media, while he was attending Christian Brothers University. Condo left school and shut down the company, which did 3-D modeling, to hone his skills. He started Final ASP in 2002 with $50,000 in equity from his home. The company moved into 2,900 square feet of space on the 20th floor of Clark Tower late this summer.

Of the company’s 400 clients, Condo says 70% of them are not based in Memphis.

“Our biggest customer spends $10,000 a month with us and I’ve never met this guy in person,” Condo says.

One of Final ASP’s local clients is Crew Training International, which does human factors training for the U.S. Air Force. Von Ralls, information systems manager for Crew Training, says when he took over the company’s IT department, it had an archaic network. Final ASP helped him upgrade it and he’s been a client ever since.

“Any time I get into a jam, they help me out,” Ralls says. “They still give us training on different technologies when we need it. We can count on them for anything.”

As the IT industry becomes more fickle because of more powerful and reliable computers, Condo still sees bright things ahead for Final ASP and Magnetic.

“I’ve proven I can run an Internet-based company because I’m still here after seven years,” Condo says. “We’ve transformed from IT and consulting into managed services and spun off into Magnetic. In the tech industry, every two years you need to be reinventing your business.”

Memphis Business Journal - by Michael Sheffield

Final ASP
President: Casey Condo
Employees: 7
Address: 5100 Poplar , Suite 2007
Phone: (901) 737-6140
Web site: www.finalasp.com