Arbill Glove and Safety, a family-owned national safety product supplier in Philadelphia, PA, has been in business for almost sixty years. During that time, it has positioned itself as an industry leader that “safely leads the world to work.” Although Arbill specializes in safety products, it is among the Top 100 Industrial Distributors of any kind in the United States.

As a family-owned organization, Arbill understands the importance of relationships. Strong, long-term relationships have helped Arbill forge its way to becoming an industry powerhouse. Long-term relationships are important to companies like Arbill who wish to do business with those who understand their visions and know their goals.

Relationships are Partnerships
CompuData, a leading technology solutions provider in Philadelphia, PA began a relationship with Arbill over twenty years ago. Since then, CompuData has provided Arbill with numerous hardware and software solutions. Knowing Arbill's needs and understanding its business, vision, goals, and customers has made CompuData an important part of the safety product supplier's circle of business partners.

According to Joe Murphy, VP of Technology at Arbill, the reason the two companies have done business for so long is that they have grown together. “Arbill has evolved substantially over the past twenty years. CompuData's services have contributed to our financial growth. They have played a part in our growing from a $7 million company twenty years ago to the $40 million company we are today.”

“We have a true relationship with CompuData”, Murphy explained. “It's more than just a business transaction. They understand the nature of our work and who our customers are. Knowing what Arbill does and how it does it enables CompuData to help us plan technology. We prefer to do business with vendors who have that level of commitment.”

Building Future Solutions with an Eye on the Bottom Line
Most recently, CompuData provided Arbill with technology solutions that will benefit the safety product supplier well into the future. Arbill has over 150 computers throughout the company that support customer service, operational, and internal needs. Maintaining, upgrading, and managing each station individually required a massive amount of effort.

In response to that need, CompuData offered Arbill a way to speed application deployment, lower costs, and increase efficiency by installing a Citrix solution. Now, programs are installed, run, and updated on servers rather than each desktop.

This solution will:

• Allow rapid application deployment across the enterprise
• Accelerate delivery of a full range of business applications including ERP, CRM and office productivity software
• Increase ROI by extending the life of existing technology investments without rewriting applications or changing existing computing architectures
• Reduce IT infrastructure costs up to $50,000 over the next five years
• Maximize the productivity of IT staff and reduce IT costs by centralizing data center operations

“The move was a part of our planning for future growth,” said Murphy. “The change will double the lives of our computers, cut IT staff costs, and make upgrades much more efficient. This investment will not only save us money - it will pay for itself.”

Developing a successful business relationship takes just as much care and attention as do personal relationships. They must be nurtured, developed, and grown.

“Doing so requires paying attention to clients' needs,” advises Steven Ciarciello, President & CEO of CompuData. “This involves anticipating and identifying future needs - including needs clients themselves might not see.”

Anticipating and identifying clients' future needs involves putting the client first and determining what is in their overall best interest. But first, you must understand every facet of your client's business. This type of deep understanding takes a great deal of time, but developing these long-term relationships adds more to the bottom line than occasional sales, big or small. It creates a win-win situation for both business partners.