Today we’d like to introduce you to Todd Knapp.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Todd. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I’ve always wanted to know how things work. When I was little, I was the kid that took everything apart…. Toys, Old TVs, Stereos, Telephones and anything else I could get my hands on. I got into computers after my parents got me a Commodore 64 with a cassette loader. As I got older, I became increasingly entrepreneurial, and it wasn’t long before I was walking around the streets of my home-town with a portable tape drive providing backup services for local business owners. I came to RI to study Ocean Engineering and found I could I make good money fixing computers for students on-campus. While there, I expanded to repairing computers for adjunct professors, many of whom owned small businesses off campus. It was a short walk from there to find myself and doing network and IT consulting commercially. Ultimately, I found that I was spending the bulk of my time working for my clients as opposed to focusing on my studies, and so in 1998, I started Envision Technology Advisors.
Our first official office was rented space in the basement of a renovated colonial home turned office building in Providence. Shortly after getting started I was joined by Envision’s first hire, Brent Ouellette. His attention to detail and process tempered my own tendency to focus on the big picture; that combination had a lot to do with our early successes. Consequently, we’re very careful and deliberate about who we add to the equation at Envision. We look for talented people that fit well in the culture and bring something unique to the table. That approach has served us well.
Since the beginning, Envision’s operated under three core principals have guided a lot of our decision making:
- We need to have fun – We want to love coming to work and we want to play with cool technology.
- We want to be the best at any service we provide – We don’t want to think that our clients could have been better served by working with someone else.
- We want to build a profitable business – The lives and career paths of our people depend on our ability to support them in years to come.
Today, Envision’s team of over 50 IT and business professionals work with clients all over the world. We have offices in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Tennessee and we have consistently been named both a “Fastest Growing” company as well as a “Best Place to Work” – a recognition we have received for the past 9 years in a row. Because this award is voted on by our employees, it has particular meaning to Envision’s entire management team. It’s a validation from our people that through all the changes we have seen at this company, we have remained true to those core principals and have created something that everyone is proud to be part of.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Most of the challenges Envision has had in our nearly 20 years in business have been due to external circumstances far beyond our control. For example, in mid-2001 we completed an acquisition of a web design firm and built a data center to launch a remote workspace product. We were all set to launch this new division at an open house on Sept. 13th of that year – literally two days after the 9/11 attacks. As you can imagine, everyone rightfully had more important things to attend to, and our open-house was canceled. Shortly thereafter, the .COM bubble burst and our industry was thrown into a state of turmoil for nearly two years.
Other challenges that we have had to cope with over the years have included the financial crisis that began in 2008 and the general sense of uncertainty in our industry as the pace of change has accelerated dramatically in the last 5 years. Both of those situations had a significant impact on the business landscape and we had to make changes to how we do business in order to address those challenges. Thankfully, I work with some of the smartest, most innovative people imaginable and together we’ve been able to find ways to reinvent ourselves when needed in order to not only overcome the challenges we face but to emerge on the other side a better, stronger company. All the while, we’ve never lost sight of what’s most important to us – providing our clients with personal, exceptional service that helps them drive their businesses forward.
Envision Technology Advisors – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
The people at Envision are business and technology consultants. Some of our areas of expertise are cloud and managed services, virtualization, network and infrastructure consulting, business continuity and disaster recovery, cyber security, data services, and website design and development.
Over the years we’ve been known for a number of things. We were very early adopters of virtualization technology and were one of the first VMware certified organizations in New England. Our expertise and thought leadership around both server virtualization and VDI, or virtual desktop infrastructure, established us as “the go-to VMware guys.” As many companies began to explore how virtualization could be a part of their IT strategy, they looked for an expert to help them down that path and lead those conversations.
We’ve provided thought leadership for a number of other technologies over the years, from cloud solutions to business continuity strategies, to responsive web design, to digital ADA compliance. In each of these cases, Envision has been recognized as forward-thinking leaders. For example, when we developed our own cloud platform, InFlight, we focused on a high-performance niche need and were ultimately recognized for Cloud Innovation by Dell as part of their “Better Way” program.
That said, what I am most proud of, and what really sets Envision apart, is not only our expertise in these different technologies but our commitment to fully understanding the human impact of the work we do. Too many companies, IT or otherwise, look to technology as a way to abstract people from interactions and communication. Envision has never taken this approach. In fact, our commitment has always been to customer service and to building personal relationships with our clients. We thrive on those personal interactions and in finding ways to help both the people who work for our clients and the people who their businesses serve. Hearing from our clients about how the people of Envision have gone above and beyond to deliver a great experience never gets old for me.
What has been the proudest moment of your career so far?
I don’t think I can point to a single moment of my own career that is a source of pride for me. Rather, it’s the culmination of my co-workers moments that makes me smile when I’m asked about my career.
We were children when we started this business; I was just 21. Since then, I’ve watched my colleagues go on first dates that led to marriages, buy their first homes, have children, and receive professional recognitions like Tech10 awards and Women in Business Excellence awards; I’ve been privileged to watch them build their lives. At the same time, I’ve seen those people leverage their talents to solve problems for our customers. I know that when we change a business for the better, we have a hand in strengthening another company that’s providing a platform for its own employees to grow and changes as well. In that way, Envision has touched a lot of lives and I’m proud to have had a hand in that.
Next year is our company’s 20th anniversary. It’s a milestone we’ll all be proud of… but we won’t linger there long. The best aspect of the people I work with is that they spend most of their time watching the horizon and building for what’s next. Our business will change again, and I can’t wait to see where that takes us. It’s why I come to work every day.
Contact Info:
- Address: 880 South Street, Suite 300, Waltham, MA
- Website: www.envisionsuccess.net
- Phone: 855-679-2971
- Email: todd@envisionsuccess.net
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