DataTech: Sierra Telephone acquisition widens offerings

Jim Clement, owner of data cabling company Data Tech, says his acquisition of Sierra Telephone Systems is proving to broaden the reach of the companies to provide customers with a full line of data cabling and telephone systems sales.

Clement, who has worked in the computer industry for four decades, purchased Data Tech in mid-2009 and added Sierra Telephone late last year.

Data Tech specializes in data cabling and offered a smattering of telephone and computer support services. Sierra Telephone Systems, meanwhile, focused on phone sales and phone cabling, with a smidge of data cabling work mixed in, Clement says. The acquisition allows both companies to offer a full complement of phone and data services.

Data Tech and Sierra Telephone Systems employ six full-time technicians, including former Sierra Telephone owner Tim Berry, who has stayed on as a consultant. Sierra Telephone Systems will continue to operate as a C-corp entity, while Data Tech will operate as a separate S-corp entity.

Clement says strength of the companies allows him to better capitalize on the increasing use of telephone calls placed over the Internet, or VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol).

"One of the big things that is becoming a part of technology is voice over IP with the introduction of Internet telephones, and the data cabling now becomes a big part of new phone systems," Clement says. "Putting the two companies together, we took the best of the phone part and best of the data part and put it in one group of people."

Clement says the Small Business Administration and Plumas Bank assisted with funding for the acquisition. The main challenge now, he says, is managing operations and scheduling for two companies.

"It's keeping me a lot busier than I used to be," he says.

David Hendriks of Liberty Group of Nevada represented the seller, while Hollie Bottoset of Liberty Group represented the buyer in negotiations. It was the second business Clement has purchased using Liberty Group of Nevada, owner Brad Bottoset says.