May 5, 2006
Who’s Who in HVTO:
Paul McSpurren
President & CEO
Whitehill Technologies, Inc.
Paul McSpurren is a high volume transaction output (HVTO) industry leader with more than 18 years experience in the technology sector including roles with IBM, Octel Communications and Silicon Graphics. He is currently President and CEO of Whitehill Technologies, Inc., a software solutions provider to nearly 700 organizations in 45 countries. Whitehill products aim to enhance the document output management capabilities of office workflow and reduce the total cost of ownership of IT infrastructure.
McSpurren is responsible for the overall direction, strategy and vision of Whitehill Technologies, including driving Whitehill’s revenue growth, its hiring strategy, and its focus on innovation, customer satisfaction and business performance. His success is self-evident. Over the last six consecutive quarters, Whitehill has averaged double-digit year-over-year revenue growth. Revenue for the most recently completed quarter was up 30 per cent over the same quarter last year..
| “Companies spend huge amounts of money on printing, storage, delivery and distribution costs. Already, many organizations are making the shift from paper-based output to electronic formats for distribution via Web-based portals, e-mail and other Internet technologies.” - Paul McSpurren, president and CEO, Whitehill Technologies. |
“Whitehill's revenue has grown 7,080% since the company was founded in 1997,” says McSpurren. “This phenomenal growth has been both our greatest success and our greatest challenge. As the company has grown, we’ve faced challenges in finding the best people to work for us, and I’m happy to say that we’ve been very successful in building a great team. We’ve also succeeded in securing 2 rounds of equity financing in a difficult period for software companies.”
Given his success at Whitehill, what does McSpurren feel are the most notable challenges and opportunities for HVTO software providers in the industry today? “The challenge today is the same as it’s always been: To find new and better ways to solve real business problems associated with making better use of data and existing legacy systems,” says McSpurren. “During the late nineties, many software companies were scurrying to develop technologies that were often answers in search of a question. We focused instead on systematically uncovering real pains in our customers’ operations, and providing practical, affordable remedies. It’s that formula which has maintained our constant growth and led to profitability in almost every quarter.”
This success is perhaps driven by McSpurren’s focus on real world application and process improvement as well. “Process automation will be very important in the next 12-18 months. Users are looking to industry-wide, business process integration as business objectives become increasingly aligned with technology.” McSpurren is resolute about Whitehill’s philosophy of solving real business problems. “Our customers don’t want or need technology for its own sake. They want technology that will help them do business better, faster and more efficiently. And they want results in weeks—or even days—not over months and months.”
McSpurren points out that companies can often improve their operations by re-purposing their existing technology and systems. “Another trend which I believe will be important is the move towards electronic delivery of documents,” says McSpurren. “Companies spend huge amounts of money on printing, storage, delivery and distribution costs. Already, many organizations are making the shift from paper-based output to electronic formats for distribution via Web-based portals, e-mail and other Internet technologies.” Whitehill software is often used to bridge the gap between older print-based formats and the electronic outputs, and as a result users are able to leverage their existing data and technology investments.
With so many solutions to choose from, what advice does McSpurren have for users of document systems technology? “Seek out solutions which are specific to your company’s pains. But more than that, choose solutions that are flexible enough to change as your needs change. Businesses today operate in a fast-paced world, and you have to be ready to shift gears in order to keep pace with your competitors. An expensive, monolithic piece of software could solve your problems today, but it may not solve your problems next quarter.”