COMPANY History

1976

Business Machines Inc. was founded and incorporated in August 1976 by Mike Upchurch as an Olivetti Franchised Dealer for the purpose of selling Olivetti typewriters and calculators to small and medium size accounts in the Raleigh area.  These accounts were not being serviced at that time by the local Olivetti district office.  In fact, the original Olivetti agreement stated that the company could not sell to any government or national accounts. The office was located in a 250 sq. ft. suite in the Koger Executive Center (now Glenwood Place).  This space was adequate considering Mike Upchurch was the only employee.  Office services were furnished by a secretarial service in the office complex.  The company started solely as a marketing firm with technical support being provided by the local Olivetti district office. The company started with meager sales. For the five months of operation in 1976 the company sales were under $8,000.  It was not until 1977 that Olivetti introduced the correcting typewriter.  Then in 1979 Olivetti introduced the first truly electronic typewriter.  This new technology provided a viable product to compete with the IBM Selectric, which at that time had an 80% market typewriter market share.  Sales and profits grew over the next couple of years as the company sold more electronic and memory typewriters.

Mike Upchurch President and Founder

1980

In 1980 Olivetti closed their district office in Raleigh leaving Business Machines, a one-man sales company, without a source of technical service.  The company was in a position that it had to merge with another company with a service department or establish its own.  Jerry Stephens had been a technician for Olivetti for the past 10 years and was already trained on the products the company was selling.  Jerry was offered the position of Service Manager and the service department was established.  It soon became necessary to move to a larger suite in the same building.

In the next two years another sales representative and technician were added.  This was the "hay-day" of the electronic typewriter.  The customer base expanded rapidly.  Word processors were being sold in the $5,000 price range.  Competition was also fierce with two other Olivetti dealers selling in the same market.

1983

It was November 1983 that Business Machines hired it first full-time administrative person, Pamela Moore.  Pamela quickly took the responsibility of office administration and secretarial duties.  She expanded to selling supplies and offering telephone support to our customers.  The company was noted for giving the customer "unlimited" operator training and support with the purchase of any equipment.

1984

The following year David Reaves was hired as an electronic technician.  David's knowledge of electronics and systems was quickly evident. His value to the company grew rapidly.

It was the same year that the company moved to a 2,000 sq. ft. flex space at 549 Pylon Drive in the Pylon Commercial Park near the State Fair Grounds. This new facility offered a show room, a better service area, good storage areas, and a loading dock for receiving freight.  With major highways leading in all direction, this location was convenient to all the markets that were being served at that time.

When the Durham and Chapel Hill territories were added to the current Raleigh market, this presented the opportunity to cover the entire Research Triangle area.  The area serviced included all the counties in a one-hour radius of the Raleigh office.

1985

It was 1985 that Business Machines first started selling DOS based computers.  The product was an Olivetti ETV260 Secretarial Workstation.  This unique computer offered the secretary a word processor, correcting typewriter, and a DOS personal computer that was configured to fit on the return arm of a desk.  The configuration and ease-of-use made it a very successful product.

1987

The company was to further expand in 1987 with the first non-Olivetti product.  The Sony Corporation authorized Business Machines to sell their high-end dedicated word processors with a full page screen.  This was a well received system for people doing only word processing.  However, Sony seeing the growth of the personal computer, made the decision to drop out of the word processor business only a year after Business Machines was authorized.

It was also in 1987 that Business Machines had the opportunity to buy the only remaining Olivetti dealer in the Raleigh market.  The purchase of Network Technologies' typewriter division included their customer base of maintenance and supply customers.  This added many new clients to the company's portfolio.

1988

The next year Keith Pollard was hired as a technician and his typewriter repair company was merged with Business Machines.  This further expanded the customer base into Harnett and Cumberland counties.

The company was doing well with the service of typewriters and word processors, but the sales of new products were being hurt by the competition from the low priced personal computers.  A decision had to be made whether the company would move into the copier business or continue in its current path with computers.  In an effort to fulfill the long term goal of providing clients with a totally integrated office, the decision was made to expand the computer business.  Part of this decision included the addition of the Muratec (formerly Murata) line of facsimile machines.  Muratec, being the number two producer of fax equipment in the world, gave the company a good selection of thermal and plain paper machines.  This was important for several reasons.  First, it gave the company a hot new product with a well received name.  Secondly, it provided the company with experience making copies from digitized images.  It was predicated that by 1992 the company would be selling integrated products for copying, printing, faxing, and scanning.  This prediction did not come to realization until much later.

1991

The goal of offering a totally integrated office solution came one step closer in 1991 with the selling of Artisoft's LANtastic local area networks.  This was an inexpensive, easy to use system that met the needs of the company's many small and medium size customers.

1992

All of the customer's needs for networking were not being fulfilled by LANtastic.  Some of Business Machines' clients already had a Novell network installed and desired additional workstations.  This demand for quality support and upgrades made it evident that the company needed to invest in training and also become an authorized Novell dealer.

It was late in 1992 that Canon contacted Business Machines about selling the Canon Compact line of copiers. This was seen as an opportunity to form an alliance with a company that could offer integrated copiers of the future.

1993

The corporation purchased the stock of Jerry Stephens and he resigned to pursue another career.

Larry Jones was hired to develop a new logo for Business Machines Inc. that would not be confused with International Business Machines' "IBM" logo.  The result was using lower case with the red dot.

1995

 Business Machines was out growing the Canon line of copiers and needed a faster machine with more capabilities.  Canon would not authorize bmi on the larger equipment, so it was apparent that a new line was needed.  The Gestetner Corporation was launching the new Nashuatec brand of copiers that was being manufactured by Ricoh.  This new brand was the opportunity the company needed to be able to offer larger copiers. 

bmi had out grown their manual accounting system and needed a more automated system of inventory control and bookkeeping. Solomon Software Company was also looking for a dealer to sell and service their accounting package.  With the help of Curt Rabon the company was able to become a Solomon accounting software reseller.

1996

The success of the copier division had created a need to expand from the 2,000 sq. ft. that had been leased in 1984.  Business Machines was able to lease an additional 300 sq. ft. from the suite next door to be used as a storage room.

1997

 The Ricoh Corporation purchased the Gestetner Corporation and starting manufacturing both the Gestetner and Nashuatec brand copiers.  It shortly became apparent that there was no need to have two  brands of Ricoh equipment sold by the Gestetner Corporation.  The decision was made to drop the Nashuatec brand and change all the Nashuatec dealers to Gestetner dealers.

1999

Business Machines was struggling with trying to be a successful computer systems dealer and office products dealer.  The company had become too general in an effort to prepare for the integrated digital copier that had been expected in 1992.  The decision was made to drop the Canon line of copiers and focus on the new digital systems that were being introduced by Gestetner.  

2000

Dedicated fax sales continued to decline due to the availability of cheap disposable machines from the office supply channel and because faxing was becoming an integrated feature of the copier.

This was the last year that Gestetner had an analog copier in their line.  All the equipment had migrated to the new digital technology. The integrated copier that was predicted in 1992 had finally become a reality.

2001

Rick Echols with Total Laser Care began an alliance with Business Machines to provide compatible laser cartridges and sell copiers systems.  Due to the increased copier sales it had become apparent that more copier technicians and more space would be needed. The company hired part-time employees to help with copier setup and delivery.   A full size van with a lift gate was purchased for copier delivery.

2002

Business Machines experienced major gains in the sale of Gestetner digital integrated systems while losing sales in the systems and fax markets.  The company had narrowed its focus to the sale and support of integrated copier systems. 

In October of 2002 a long-term goal was fulfilled.  The company was able to purchase an office building at 3121 Glen Royal Road off Glenwood Avenue near RDU airport.  This location was more in the center of the Research Triangle area, making it easier to focus more attention on the Durham and Chapel Hill markets.

2003

The alliance with Total Laser Care was strengthen by the sublease of space at bmi's new office building and Rick Echols doing some sales training for the company.

Daryl Sherman was hired to put more focus on the Durham and Chapel Hills markets.

2004

Rick Echols, our sales agent, continued to sell for us, but he moved from our building to his own.  2004 ended with nine full-time employees, 2 part-time, and 1 contract sales person.  Leslie, our Office Manager, was out during the year on maternity leave.  Her mother, Linda Reno was able to help us by filling her position.  Jan Pettersen joined us for about six months as the Account Manager for the Durham/Chapel Hill territory.  Jared Irving, a student at NCSU, joined us in October as a part-time Tech Assistant.

 2005

Our full-time staff increased to ten in 2005 with the addition of Daniel Roller as Account Manager for the Durham/Chapel Hill territory.  Paula Crews left this year and was replaced with Micah Teague.  Jared Irving left after the fall semester to go back to Wilmington. 

2006

2006 was a year of major changes.  bmi implemented E-Automate, a new accounting and office automation system.   Mathew King began as our Tech Assistant.  Emily Upchurch joined as Office Manager to replace Leslie Morgan who was leaving to join her family business.  Account Managers, Daniel Roller and Daryl Sherman as well as Micah Teague, our Service Administrator  left to accept other positions.

 2007

Emily Upchurch will not be coming back after maternity leave.  Tina Adams will replace her as our Office Manager.   Mathew King was promoted to Service Administrator.  Rob Santiago joined us and Tim Munn left to pursue other opportunities.

Ricoh, our major vendor, merged the Gestetner and Lanier brands giving us the opportunity to sell either brand.

2008

Alston Hatch joined bmi as Account Representative and Lisa Fisher came on as Office Manager to replace Tina Adams. Fran Russo replaced Mathew King as Service Administrator. Mark Joseph joined our sales staff and Alston left in late 2008.

In an effort to offer more affordable document storage software, bmi became authorize to sell and support SmartSearch software from Square 9. 

bmi began offering Print Management Services.

2009

Ludwig Terán joined our sales staff as Territory Manager for the North Territory giving us a total of 10 employees.

The most notable event for 2009 was the down turn our the economy.  Thanks to our staff and 33 years of experience bmi was able to weather yet another storm.