Christopher Bakke
President, BCS IS/IT LLC
250 E. Wisconsin Ave., Suite 1800, Milwaukee
www.bcsisit.com
Industry: Technology
Employees: 14
Family: Happily married to Molly and proud dad of Elaina and Olivia.
What was the smartest thing your company did in the past year?
“We started a CAD/BIM consulting branch, adding four more to our staff. We also became an AutoDesk Authorized Training Center. Our vertical market is really defined by users of these products so it made sense, and it is what our customers needed.”
What’s new at your company?
“So many things – new people, new clients, new opportunities. Growth is great, but good talent is hard to find. We began hardware sales this year, partnering with Ingram (Micro), which has allowed us to offer our customers really great pricing.”
Do you plan to hire any additional staff or make any significant capital investments in your company in the next year?
“We would love to hire additional staff and are constantly looking for qualified consultants.”
What will be your company’s main challenges in the next year?
“Finding good staff.”
What’s the hottest trend in your industry?
“Technology is always changing, but I think the biggest game-changer for many of our clients are AutoDesk Revit collaboration tools. This allows collaboration on Revit models with even the worst of Internet connections – something that was never available before. It truly supports the opportunity to work from places such as the beach (I don’t know why anyone would want to do that, though!).”
Do you have a business mantra?
“Be nice. I know it sounds simple, but too often we come across people in the technology field that do not show empathy to those less technical. We strive to hire good people, first and foremost.”
From a business standpoint, who do you look up to?
“We strive to be the company with the best benefits. So from that standpoint, we look to Google, Facebook and some other big tech companies that have great offerings.”
What was the best advice you ever received?
“I’m tempted to quote a great philosopher here with, ‘Pull down your pants and slide on the ice,’ however, business-wise I would say one of the best bits of advice I received is to find a good banker. Port Washington State Bank is mine, in case anyone is looking.”
What’s the funniest thing that ever happened to you in your career?
“Very early in my career, I was asked to write a portion of a book on building websites. It was very last minute for them and they gave me only a couple weeks to write this chapter. I wrote quite a bit about the difficulties of setting up a website on Unix systems (it was in the very early ’90s) and poked a little fun at the Unix operating system. After the book was published and I received a copy, I was amused that most of the 700+ pages were on how to build and administer a website on Unix.”
What do you like to do in your free time?
“Free time? What is that? I’m looking forward to the ‘leap second’ that will be added to the world’s official clocks on Dec. 31. I have my ‘do not disturb’ block all ready to go.”
