The Remi Group

The best in customer service

Business View Magazine interviews representatives from The Remi Group, as part of our focus on best practices in the equipment management sector.

Founded in 1998, by CEO, Dan Schuster, Remi Group provides equipment maintenance management programs that help its clients analyze, control, and reduce their investments in equipment maintenance. Remi Group’s Equipment Maintenance Management Program replaces multiple service agreements and extended warranties with one agreement that costs less and is more flexible than the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) or Independent Service Organization agreement. The company does not maintain or repair equipment, but rather is service-vendor neutral, providing a single point of contact for managing service events. Its solution delivers coverage that includes the costs associated with parts, labor, travel, emergency repair, and preventative maintenance.

Remi Group’s customers include government entities, including cities, counties, and states; colleges and universities; hospitals and healthcare organizations; research laboratories; large grocery store chains; banks and credit unions; and companies in the medical, scientific, testing, telecommunications, network, data processing, general office, security systems, financial equipment, and mail processing industries. Under the program, should an organization’s equipment fail, one of Remi Group’s service providers will perform onsite repairs, receive the field service report and invoice, review and process all documents, and mail payment directly to the service provider.

Since its inception, The Remi Group has:

• Analyzed 850,000+ vendor service agreements valued at $1.9 billion
• Covered more than 800,000 pieces of electronic equipment
• Worked with 2,500+ service vendors across the country
• Managed more than 1 million service events

Dana Upshaw is Remi Group’s new Chief Revenue Officer, having come onboard in 2017. She is responsible for all aspects of the company’s revenue activity, including new market segments and distribution channels. She explains that, going forward, Remi Group will continue to focus on its core business segments: government, higher education, and healthcare. “We are growing and we want to be the pre-eminent market leader in the equipment management space,” she says. “We’re trying to diversify ourselves in how we meet the needs of our clients and a lot of focus has gone into becoming regionally-based and regionally-focused. While still headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, we’ve deployed a strategy to include regional workforces located throughout the U.S. so that we can be closer to our existing customers along with potential customers.”

“So, we’ve become an ‘outward’ company as it relates to our footprint throughout the U.S.,” Upshaw continues. “Our workforce has grown as a result. Last year we were about 120 employees; we’re now around 140. That growth is predicated on the success that we have had, and continue to have, with the expansion of our offerings in the field.

“One of the key things that differentiates Remi Group from some of our competitors is that we really do want to be that single point of contact for our clients. Many times people have to manage multiple service contracts and make multiple phone calls based on those contracts, either to get regular service or to troubleshoot an issue they’re having with a piece of equipment. With the Remi solution, they have a single point of contact that takes care of all the servicing, makes sure the appropriate vendor gets called, and takes care of that invoice so that clients can focus on their business. So, we continue to expand and enhance our customer service, while simultaneously building our vendor network to make sure we have the best vendors out there who are able to service the most diverse portfolio of equipment out there, so we can be a one-stop-shop for clients.”

As a neutral player in the field, and one with a diverse vendor network, Remi Group has begun to see itself as not only a product offering company, but one with broad consultative capabilities. “Remi Group, having been in the business for the last 20 years, has a lot of experience in equipment maintenance,” Upshaw explains. “We want to assist clients in making equipment purchasing decisions. If we can help them with that, and provide them with information to make well-informed decisions, we want to be able to do that.”

“The big focus is how can we be better at what we already do well, and how can we leverage new technology to make sure that we’re always ahead of the pace of the industry,” Upshaw says, in conclusion. “So, Remi Group continues to invest in new technology to maximize operational efficiencies, and to develop new tools and services that we can provide to our end-users. We want to be a multi-faceted provider, and we’re always trying to evolve to provide the best service possible.”

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AT A GLANCE

WHO: The Remi Group

WHAT: Provides equipment maintenance management programs

WHERE: Charlotte, North Carolina

WEBSITE: www.theremigroup.com

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