Introducing Forthright Technology Partners
Choosing a business name is one of the most difficult decisions owners face. Ideally, the name should not just describe the company’s products and services but uniquely reflect its brand identity. All too often, however, companies wind up with names that involve odd word combinations or generic terms that are far from distinctive. The same goes for your online marketing strategies, you need to have your SEO be precise to your brand, e.g. you would ideally have seo for luxury brands if you are a luxury company wanting to appeal to a certain audience.
Synergy Development Consulting was facing the latter problem.
“As we began to take the company to the next step in its evolution, we kept questioning whether our current brand would get us there,” said CEO/CFO Andrew Medina. “We realized that if we wanted to build a memorable brand identity, the name Synergy wasn’t going to cut it. It’s too generic. There are many companies whose name starts with or incorporates the word ‘synergy.’
“In looking for a new brand identity we asked our customers what they like about the company – what keeps them coming back. And what resonates with our customers and our employees is our culture, that concept of someone who tries to do right, who stands by them, who puts their interests first. We recognized that our brand needed to reflect our culture and what better way to do that than through our business name. So after a long search and much debate over various candidates, we got to the name Forthright.”
THE ROAD LESS TRAVELED
The name may be new but it’s been in the making for nearly 25 years. Since 1992, the company’s offerings have evolved from enterprise software to project management to managed services and the complex data center solutions it provides today. Yet while the company has reinvented itself time and time again, its mission and culture have never changed.
“Our mission statement simply states that we’re in business to exceed expectations. That’s all it says,” Medina said. “We try to exceed the expectations not only of our customers but also our employees, our vendors and our community – anyone who has some stake in us. As such, it never has tied us to any one particular business. It has given us the freedom to explore different ways that we can exceed expectations.”
The company’s continued evolution is based upon an ambitious goal – to create a global brand whose name is synonymous with excellence in service delivery. To do that, the company needed a distinctive name that would evoke its culture and core principles.
“We needed a name that people would immediately recognize and associate with an organization of a much higher caliber,” said Medina. “It’s all about value. If the customer pays you $1,000 and you give them $1,500 worth of value, be it through incredible documentation or having the absolute top experts in the area, you are different than the rest because everybody else is trying to give you $1,000 for your $1,000.”
THE FOUR PILLARS
Medina says that value is one of the four pillars underlying the company’s culture. The other three are integrity, honoring commitments and being a fiduciary to its customers. And it is those four pillars – not a particular product or service – that have driven the company’s success.
“I could be selling you bananas. If I follow those four principles, you’re going to tell somebody else about your incredible banana buying experience – not because I sold you a banana but because you experienced something that is so completely different than you get anywhere else,” he said. “That is the secret. It doesn’t matter what products and services we offer. If we simply steer to those four principles in a world where everybody is so focused on their own interests, it shines like a beacon of light.”
Medina also stresses that the name Forthright is as much about setting expectations as it is defining the company culture.
“Customers are going to form an opinion based upon our company name before they even engage with us,” he said. “It also tells our employees that they should comport themselves accordingly. How can you possibly act with an air of deceit when your company’s name is Forthright?
“That’s what I find very interesting about the new brand. It’s front and center, in your face. It puts everybody on notice what to expect from this company.”
