BusinesSuites Named U.S. Winner Of 6th Annual Dell, NFIB Small Business Excellence Award

* Recognizes Small Businesses that Use Technology in Innovative Ways to Better Serve Customers
* BusinesSuites differentiates itself among record breaking 3,000 applicants

Dell and the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), the leading small-business association in the United States, today announced BusinesSuites as the U.S. national winner of the Dell/NFIB Small Business Excellence Award.

Based in Austin, Texas, BusinesSuites provides executive suites and virtual office services in 15 locations nationwide. The company, founded in 1989, has become an industry leader offering clients fully furnished offices equipped with ready-to-go Internet, mail, phone, professional staff, and meeting rooms under flexible terms. Today, BusinesSuites has 55 employees and more than 1,400 clients.

John Jordan, president of BusinesSuites, credits investments in technology and people with saving the company. “We doubled the size of the company in 2002 and quickly realized our systems and infrastructure were inadequate to deal with the growth. Money was tight, but we began investing heavily in our systems and our people. We believe these investments saved our company. By using technology to reduce costs, push responsibility out to all levels of the company, improve the client experience, and leverage a smaller infrastructure, we reached a profit level in 2008 which was double what we had originally envisioned.” One of BusinesSuites’ technology investments was the development of a Web-based operations management system that generates and electronically distributes invoices and client satisfaction surveys, schedules meeting rooms for clients, tracks prospective clients and more.

“Technology is a critical tool for BusinesSuites, it’s what allows us to create a community of great people who do an exceptional job taking care of our clients,” says Jordan. Team members are encouraged to learn the technology clients use so they can provide hands-on advice and support. The company also uses an internal Wiki to share information, as well as store hardware and software manuals created by the team.

“Our team members are our first line of defense when a client has a problem, so it’s important that they know the technology inside and out. For instance, many of our clients were affected by Hurricanes Isabel and Ike. Within 48 hours, our team helped to restart 200 affected businesses by providing them with plug-and-play IT infrastructures.”

It was this strong focus on hands-on customer service backed by innovative technology that set BusinesSuites apart from the record breaking 3,000 applicants for the 2009 Dell/NFIB Small Business Excellence Award.

“BusinesSuites is living proof that smart IT investments can not only pay off for the business itself, but for their customers as well,” said Erik Dithmer, vice president and general manager of Dell Small and Medium Business.

“This year’s winner is a terrific example of the ways that small businesses can harness new technologies to provide better customer service,” said Dan Danner, president and CEO of NFIB. “And better service is a great competitive advantage in today’s marketplace.”

BusinesSuites will receive $25,000 in Dell products and services, a lifetime membership to NFIB valued at $15,000 (including a trip to NFIB’s National Small Business Summit), and a day of best-practice sharing with Dell experts, including time with Chairman and CEO Michael Dell.

BusinesSuites joins national winners from 12 other countries - Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy, India, Japan, Mexico, Spain, United Kingdom - for a chance to win the global Dell Small Business Excellence Award* worth $50,000 in Dell technology and services and participation in a global entrepreneurs’ summit. National winners are being announced now, and the global winner will be announced later in 2009.