When the financial wizards at Quist Valuation switched to Macs they didn’t just get new computers, they got inspiration. “We switched to Macs for better reliability, security and communication,” says Bill Carroll, chief technology officer for Quist. “We got all those things—security with OS X, video conferencing with iChat. But Apple opened our eyes in other ways and now we’re starting to solve even bigger challenges by developing new valuation software on the Mac.”
Quist values businesses. The Colorado-based company examines every iota of infrastructure, stock and holdings to determine how much a business is worth. It’s a complex craft, one that involves a lot of information, expertise and organization. Until recently, the best tools of the trade were the telephone and the spreadsheet. Now Quist uses MacBook Pros, iChat video conferencing, Basecamp project management software and Xserves to streamline their operation and save them tens of thousands of dollars. And with the savings of time and money, they’ve also launched a multi-national software development team to create their own web-based valuation software that will revolutionize their work. “We never would’ve been able to do all of this without the Mac,” says Carroll. “They’ve set our business on a new path and not only are we a valuation company, we’re also a software development company.”
The Switch
Quist recently opened offices in San Francisco and Seattle. Seems like a tough time to swap out computing infrastructure, but for Quist it made perfect sense. “Security was a major factor for the switch and with Quist's expansion into San Francisco and Seattle we could not afford to have down time due to viruses and spyware,” says Carroll. With the Macs, Carroll hasn’t seen any spyware or viral attacks. “We have gone from multiple virus and spyware issues per week to none. That's amazing.”
The company also needed to stay connected. “The MacBook Pro’s built-in iSight camera and video iChat are really big for us,” says Carroll. “Almost every day we use iChat between our Broomfield, Colorado, San Francisco and Seattle offices. Removing that distance makes a big difference in helping remote employees feel more like a team.”
To Carroll, switching was obvious. “We transitioned the entire company in two or three waves,” he says. “People left a Dell on their desktop one night and they came in the next morning and there was a brand new MacBook Pro.” It wasn’t as traumatic as it seems. The team intuitively learned the basics of OS X and quickly went beyond them.
Brett Suchor, president of Quist, even turned his MacBook Pro into a mobile movie studio. “I turned around and made a home movie for my in-laws’ 40th wedding anniversary very easily, and I’m not a movie producer by any stretch,” he says. “I had never done anything like that before, but it quickly turned into an easy process with iMovie and iDVD. I started using the Mac for work, but now it’s a huge part of my personal life too.”
“He's video-conferencing by himself. He's creating DVD movies by himself,” says Carroll. “He's doing all of the things with the computer that one should be able to do with a computer and he's not technically savvy, and I'm not involved. That's cool.”
Carroll doesn’t have to be involved in most support or technical issues either, thanks to AppleCare protection plans and ProCare training programs. “If anything ever goes wrong with the machines, AppleCare will take care of it,” he says. “If people need help with anything—from making videos of their kids to using Automator to improve work flow—they can walk down the street to the Apple Store and get training or they can call AppleCare for help. That gives everyone a real sense of security with their Macs.” And leaves Carroll with time for bigger ideas – like software development.
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.Mac
“Every person here has a .Mac subscription,” says Carroll. “It’s great for backing up, but it comes in handy when you change machines or you have two machines—you're able to share address book data, safari bookmarks and everything with .Mac. It also gives us encryption for our iChat which certainly helps us meet security standards in our industry.”
Well Served
Mac OS X Server software and an Xserve easily replaced a Microsoft Exchange server at Quist. “OS X comes with an open-source email server with unlimited clients,” says Carroll. And there’s more than email. “It also includes an open source Wiki and open-source podcast streaming capability. Everything’s just built in.”
Logic Pro
Carroll is the Mac maestro at Quist, but he’s also a maestro away from the office. He uses Logic Pro to produce and remix electronic tracks in his home studio. “Just last year I released my first commercial remix—‘Leave Me’ by a Denver artist named Xiren,” he says. “Working with Logic is really addictive. You get into the studio and you start making noises and you can't get enough of it. All of a sudden you're a junkie. If I'm not forced to work, I'm thinking about doing a remix or figuring out how to use Logic to its full capabilities.”
Quist Valuation's Website
“We have gone from multiple virus and spyware issues per week to none. That's amazing.” — Bill Carroll
