NBM Celebrates 35 Years
This past month, NBM celebrated its 35th year in business. As I reflect upon the past 35 years, I am grateful to our loyal customers, many of whom have been with us since NBM opened its doors in 1985. From the beginning, NBM has operated as a customer-centric company, and as a result, has earned a reputation in the industry and amongst New England businesses for exceeding customer expectations.
What started as a 2-person operation in a small Burlington office in 1985 has grown to 70 employees operating out of a 40,000 square foot corporate headquarters and multiple branch offices throughout southern New England today. I am proud of our employee longevity, especially that of our senior management team, including Vern Hydorn (VP of Sales), Laura Bray (VP of Operations), and John Pietragallo (Director of Service), all of whom have been with NBM for over 30 years. The first employee I hired in 1986 still works for NBM, and over 40% of our current workforce has been with the company for more than 10 years. Throughout our 35 years in business, NBM has stayed true to our core value, instilling a “customer-first” approach in our employees across all positions within the company. From the warehouse to corporate to sales to service, achieving exceptional customer service remains our mantra and focus to the same extent it did when we opened in 1985. With our employees’ dedication and commitment to these ideals, NBM continues to deliver exceptional customer service and achieve the long-term success I envisioned for the company in 1985.
As our customers’ technological needs and the office equipment industry has evolved, so too has NBM as a company. In 1988, we entered the “cutting-edge” world of selling fax machines because our customers needed them to grow their businesses at the time. In the 1990s, digital multi-functional printers replaced analog copiers, and for many independent dealers the fear of networking forced their exit from the business. NBM held strong, seizing the opportunity to master the skill of networking to better serve our customers, and becoming one of the few independent dealers left in the region. In the early 2000s, NBM filled a niche for our engineering, architectural, design, and manufacturing customers by adding wide-format printers to our product line. Around this same time, we launched our Managed Print Services division to better serve our bank and school customers, who relied on our expertise to manage their fleet of printers. Over the last 10 years, we have continued to lead our customers’ digital transformations by providing outsourced IT services, software and cloud solutions, and workflow automation to compliment the office equipment we sell. The evolution of our product and service offerings over the years reflects NBM’s growth mindset and commitment to improving our customers’ business operations.
To better reflect the nature of our company as a full-service office technology provider, we re-branded our name in 2017 from “Northern Business Machines” to “NBM,” also adopting the tagline “Your Trusted Technology Company.” Today, we continue to evolve as an office technology provider, ensuring, as we always have, that our customers have access to the latest technological tools necessary to achieve efficiency, productivity, and success within their core business.
As a family owned and operated business, we value the relationships we have built and the reputation we have earned in the industry, local community, and throughout the New England region. NBM’s commitment to excellence is stronger than ever as Sharp’s leading independent dealer in New England and one of Sharp’s top dealers in the country.
With my son and daughter working in the business, the Tracia family will continue to own and operate NBM in accordance with the same ideals and tenets that made us successful back in 1985: a commitment to excellence, unparalleled customer service, and hard work.
To all our customers, I thank you for your business, especially during these trying times. NBM looks forward to the next 35 years of growth and success.
William F. Tracia, Owner and President
