February 3, 2006

Firm launches first financial services software developed in-house

Birmingham Business Journal - February 3, 2006

by Tiffany Ray / staff

Kreatek Inc., a 6-year-old Gardendale company that designs and installs business intelligence and data-warehousing systems and software, has made steady work of building a client base among the Birmingham area's banks and insurance companies.

Now, the company is launching its first proprietary software product, a debt-protection calculator that will help banks originate loans, sell debt protection and credit insurance products, and communicate with underwriters.

Kreatek owner George Barckley also expects the product will enable his company to maintain its growth trend to pass the $1-million mark in revenues for 2006.

A New Jersey native, Barckley trained in computer technology during a five-year stint in the U.S. Navy. He had been a senior vice president with a Birmingham consulting firm before going out on his own.

He started out in 2000 as an independent contractor - "the typical step away from the corporate environment" - working from his Homewood residence to set up customized IT systems for businesses in a range of industries, including manufacturing.

He got his first opportunity as a contractor through a personal connection and proceeded to build his client roster one new job at a time, relying primarily on referrals, including word of mouth. The workload grew and, eventually, necessitated expansion.

"Demand started rolling in a little faster and I had to start acting like a company and start hiring employees," he says.

Barckley took on his first employee in 2001, a technician who telecommuted. The following year, Barckley moved the business to a small office on Beacon Parkway in Homewood, where Kreatek honed in on the financial services niche.

Steady but unhurried hiring

Kreatek moved to its current location along Decatur Highway in Gardendale in 2004 and, Barckley says, the company will move again in the second quarter of 2006 to a newer office near Gardendale's Caufield Square development that will give the business 2,000 square feet -- about double its current space.

Kreatek's client roster is made up largely of midsize insurance companies and community banks with assets of $50 million to $500 million. With acquisitions and spin-offs, Kreatek's Birmingham-area clientele has carried need for his services to other markets, including St. Louis, Chicago and Los Angeles.

Typically, the company operates as a "value-added reseller" of technology, using the Microsoft suite of business intelligence tools to customize systems for each client, but Kreatek also develops products internally.

Kreatek began developing its new debt-protection product, called Credit Acceptance and Protection, about a year and a half ago and is working with insurance companies now to offer the product to financial services industry customers.

The company gradually has taken on additional staff to meet growing business demands. Today, Kreatek employs six people, including four developers, Barckley and his wife, MaryAnn, who runs the company's business and financial operations.

In addition, Barckley says he's in the process of hiring four additional technicians and hopes to take on five new developers over the course of the year.

He says he looks for people with a passion for what they do - or a "love of ones and zeroes," as he says - and an entrepreneurial spirit. "I love promoting other people who think they want to start a company."

But finding the right people can be difficult, particularly in the Birmingham area, he says. With the outflow of IT jobs abroad, he says, fewer young people are heading into tech careers.

Seeing it the client's way

"It's a slow process, and I prefer it that way," he says. "It takes a long time to make a decision, finding what I perceive to be empathetic people. I can teach technology. I can't teach empathy."

To attract and keep the right people, Barckley says he tries to make the work environment as flexible as possible, allowing staffers to work from home when they like "as long as we can meet and exceed our customers' requirements."

While he has steadily beefed up his technical side, Barckley has yet to take on any sales staff, preferring thus far to recruit new business on his own.

Barckley says his greatest strength in attracting and retaining clients is empathy, building good relationships by working closely with companies to understand the needs of end users.

"I've always tried to put myself in other people's shoes," he says.

Barckley says he does not walk into a prospective client's office with a presentation because each client's needs are unique. "I don't sell products."

Instead, he says his best sales tool is his ability to suss out a situation and determine a company's needs.

"Ninety percent of my selling technique is listening," he says.

Barckley says starting the business working alone from home helped keep the company nimble and debt-free, but it also had its drawbacks. "It's very hard to concentrate around the house," he says.

He says he chose to locate in Gardendale because it is close to home and because, with several other tech firms also operating in the area, he sees potential for creating something of a local tech hub.

Passion first, then rewards

The decision to specialize in financial services work was, he says, a pragmatic one: In Birmingham, he saw the greatest opportunities in financial services or health care. And, he jokes, "dead bodies scare me."

Also, before striking out on his own Barckley had written a software package for administering trust operations. That experience gave him a "foot in the door" of the industry.

Along the way, Barckley says, he has benefited from some of the resources available locally for business owners, including his involvement with the Birmingham Regional Chamber of Commerce, which he says has provided valuable networking opportunities as well as support.

Kreatek also won one of a dozen spots in last year's Entrepreneur Accelerator Program, an effort put together by the chamber and the Birmingham Venture Club that Barckley says was "rich with ideas" for improving his business model.

This is Barckley's first stint as an entrepreneur, but it will not be his last.

In fact, Barckley and his wife briefly ran a second enterprise as publishers of Weird Alabama, a quarterly magazine that debuted in October 2004 highlighting the state's "fact, fiction and folklore." That project was put on hold late last year. Barckley says he is a "serial entrepreneur" who hopes to find new ventures to pique his interest down the road.

"You've got to find something you are passionate about, and if you're passionate about it, the rewards will follow," he says.

tray@bizjournals.com • (205) 443-5630