Published December 2005

Office-solutions firm
turns 25 in new digs

Snohomish County Business Journal/KIMBERLY HILDEN Along with new office space to better serve its growing client base, Electronic Business Machines has a new logo to better serve its mission, said company President Dick Schlosser (left), standing beneath the logo with business partner Robert Rainbow. “The intent of the (logo) is to symbolize hard-copy data going to digital data, i.e., helping customers become paperless,” Schlosser said.

By Kimberly Hilden
SCBJ Assistant Editor

Electronic Business Machines has been a Snohomish County mainstay since 1980, when Dick Schlosser started the company selling and servicing typewriters and calculators. But, like the products and services it sells, the operation has evolved over time.

“In the mid-’80s, we started marketing fax machines and could see the end coming for calculators and typewriters as computers and laptops were taking over,” Schlosser said.

Today, the business once known for its IBM electrics is now a dealer of top-of-the-line copiers, printers, scanners and fax machines and offers document-management and network support services to companies and nonprofit groups big and small. And the company’s leadership has grown to include business partner Robert Rainbow, who joined Schlosser more than a decade ago.

“In 1990, I met Robert, who has a great sales background, and entered into a partnership with him, expanding his focus with generating sales in the copier market. That’s where there’s a lot of growth — copiers,” Schlosser said.

Since 2000, Electronic Business Machines has experienced sales growth of between 15 percent and 23 percent annually, he said, and within the past year, the company’s sales staff has doubled to four, with the company looking to add two more sales associates early next year.

Along with a growth in revenue and employees, Electronic Business Machines has experienced a growth in square footage with the October relocation of its offices from the Mukilteo Quadrant Park to 7,500 square feet in south Everett, more than doubling its space.

Both Schlosser and Rainbow say much of the recent activity is due to a contract awarded the company by Canon in mid-2004, enabling it to sell Canon’s full line of commercial products, which produce 105 copies per minute.

The contract makes Electronic Business Machines the only dealer of Canon’s full line of commercial products in the county, Schlosser said.

“The ability to sell the number-one product in this industry has forced us to move (to bigger quarters),” Rainbow added.

Along with Canon copiers, the company sells and services Panasonic copiers, Canon and Panasonic fax machines as well Panasonic and Okidata printers.

And just as it followed the technology evolution from electric typewriters to printers and copiers, Electronic Business Machines continues to evolve with the changing demands of the office environment, moving into the realm of software and network support.

The company has a certified information technology technician on staff and offers office network design, installation and configuration; service and support for existing networks; and cross-platform integrated networking.

With business continuing strong, Electronic Business Machines is expanding its reach into King and Skagit counties, Schlosser said. “We already have a Bellevue/Eastside sales rep.”

But the company’s primary focus is Snohomish County, where the locally owned company has been operating for a quarter-century, intent on giving customers personal service.

“It’s something we think is really important because we’re in the community, and we’re really accessible,” Schlosser said.

“Customers want to know that they can reach the decision maker,” Rainbow agreed.

In November, the company marked its 25th anniversary with an open house at its new office, complete with a showroom housing the latest in office technology so that customers can not only view but also put that technology to work in demonstrations.

“It’s really a customer appreciation party as far as we’re concerned,” Schlosser said of the open house.

“We’re only here because of them.”

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