Tech Orchard responds to demand for mobile device management
When it launched last year, Tech Orchard specialized in purchasing, refurbishing and reselling pre-owned iPads and iPhones. But the team behind the Overland Park, Kan-based startup soon identified a related sector ripe with opportunity.
"As we were doing the research, we found a tremendous need in providing managed services for iPads, that include leasing, training, implementing, supporting and recycling the devices," Phil Poje, Tech Orchard's founder and CEO, said in an email interview. "Business owners continually asked me how to manage these devices in their Windows environment. We researched and interviewed several companies that provide mobile device management software that would protect and manage various mobile devices."
Today, Tech Orchard provides managed services for mobile devices, handling leasing, training, implementation, data security, support and recycling related to those devices. "Our goal," Poje (left) said, "is to help companies and organizations manage their mobile devices safely, securely and efficiently."
Tech Orchard incorporated last April, and its website went live in September, which made for good timing given the October release of lastest iPhone. The company has been self-funded up to this point and has a team that consists of three full-time employees plus one part-time engineer. Tech Orchard still handles the pre-owned devices that it originally based its business on, but Poje said the potential in the managed services space was too great for his company to ignore.
"In 2011, there was nearly $10 million spent by companies due to the data breaches of mobile devices," he said. "The liability and cost for organizations will only increase in 2012; Tech Orchard will be assisting organizations in reducing risk and cost and at the same time (giving) organizations better control and visibility into their mobile devices, including laptops."
The devices that served as the basis for Tech Orchard when it launched last year will remain central to the company's work this year, just in new and different ways.
"2012 will (be) the year of integrating the iPad into the enterprise," Poje said. "Most of our time will be spent supporting our business customers as they seek to integrate iPads and other mobile devices into their organization for more productivity and data security."
Image credit: Photo of Poje from linkedin.com.