Experts at Your Service
Any great team comprises a wealth of complementary strengths, skills and smarts all working together to deliver a top-notch service or product.
But not every skill set needs to be on-site or on-call all the time, which is when reaching out to service providers of those critical niches on an as-needed basis often makes the most sense. From legal and financial professionals to IT firms and creative talent, South Jersey’s businesses benefit from a wide range of specialized experts ready to provide their professional prowess when it’s needed the most—ensuring that leaders and decision-makers have the time and energy to focus on what they do best.
“If you run a fruit stand, your job is to sell fruit, it’s not to work on the point-of-sale system,” begins David Mickelson, owner of CTB Systems. “What we allow clients to do is to focus on their business and not on their infrastructure. And that’s pretty big in a small business today, where staff is short, you’re running on the bare minimum of what you need day to day and, quite frankly, you’re not going to hire a full-time IT person. This way, you get the benefits of having an IT person on staff without the payroll, and you get to focus on the crux of your business.”
And like all well-nurtured business partnerships, “It all starts with communication,” according to CPA Sarah O. Brand, partner, assurance, of both EisnerAmper LLP and Eisner Advisory Group LLC.
“Understanding what drives our clients—their goals, challenges, and market dynamics—is key to building effective strategies,” she says. “We don’t just respond to needs: We anticipate them. By staying engaged and informed, we help clients pivot when necessary and seize opportunities when they arise. It’s a collaborative process built on trust and insight.”
“We take a proactive, partnership approach: We start by understanding a client’s business goals, not just their technology,” adds David L. Roberts, CEO of radius180. “From there, we assess their current systems, identify risks and opportunities, and build a roadmap that anticipates future needs. This way, we can deliver solutions that support growth, improve security and keep them ahead of changes in technology.”
Instead of relying on a small and often strained in-house department, tapping into the talents and abilities of experts dedicated to knowing their niche inside and out can offer some appealing advantages. For one, it can offer small businesses and startups a competitive edge without threatening razor-thin profit margins; for another, it means that a particular challenge can be assessed by a team whose complementary vantage points offer a more comprehensive examination, talent pool and suite of services working harmoniously in tandem.
“Our Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) offers numerous benefits to companies, enhancing their communication and collaboration capabilities,” Dan Dailey, USA Phone’s vice president of sales and marketing, provides as an example, explaining that the streamlined services a single expert offers includes benefits like reduced and more predictable costs, real-time communication and expert support. “Companies can enhance their communication infrastructure, improve collaboration and achieve significant cost savings, all while maintaining high security and flexibility.”
The flip side of widely accessible high-tech tools permeating everyone’s professional and personal lives is that Stan Molotsky says that he has to help his clients cut through a proportional increase in distractions, bad information and confidence-shattering noise that comes with armchair experts and impersonal TV personalities offering up advice that’s not relevant to every organization at best and incorrect at worst.
“Everything changes,” says the president and CEO of The SHM Financial Group. “Look at what’s going on today, as far as individuals and their ability to access more information than ever before. … [But] there’s an overabundance of information that is available, and my job is to say ‘Yeah, you certainly want to take advantage of all that but you have to look at the source, and you have to determine if that’s something that applies to your everyday existence.’ It’s about trying to be a safety check for them.”
The technology we use and how we use it aren’t the only things that evolve over time. Ralph Smith III, Esq., co-chair of Capehart Scatchard’s labor and employment group, does endeavor to ensure his clients don’t run afoul of adopting those new tools: While not all clients are tech-forward ones needing a reminder to be cautions of relying too much on AI when it should be used as more of a supplemental tool than an outsourced digital assistant, he largely helps them assess modern standards and expectations to remain on the right side of today’s labor laws.
“One of the things I’ll often do with a new client is what I call a ‘legal audit’ that looks at all their labor and employment issues, things that typically are the kinds of areas where there are significant laws that are now in place in New Jersey—so if you have a handbook, I review it,” he begins. “I know what policies are needed, so do you have the right policies? If you have agreements, what types of agreements are you using? If you have independent contractor agreements, we’ll look at those. We look at employment agreements, those that are with your higher-end employees, we look at noncompete agreements.”
Being able to rely on an outside expert as anything from a trusted advisor to an extension of the team depends on nurturing a trusted professional connection—which includes both giving and accepting honest feedback that helps everyone stay on the same page and work toward the same goals.
“We ask questions like: What’s working? What’s not? Where are the communication bottlenecks?” explains Hala Shawaf Barson, CEO of VoIP Doctors Business Telecommunications. “From there, we design a solution that aligns with the client’s goals, budget and operational realities. Our approach is consultative, not transactional. We believe in co-creating solutions with our clients, ensuring that what we deliver is not only technically sound but also culturally aligned with how they do business.”
And being a part of the business landscape means that specialized providers know that the product you initially invest in or expertise you originally seek out has to be adaptable and forward-thinking enough to change with prevailing time, trends and technology—as well as a client’s own evolution.
“Our services have evolved from simply keeping systems running to helping companies strategically use technology as a growth driver,” Roberts explains. “Today, that means stronger cybersecurity, cloud solutions for hybrid teams, and proactive planning so clients can adopt new tools quickly and securely—turning technology into a competitive advantage instead of a challenge.”
Peggy Allen, CEO of Perry iSearch Partners, knows that the companies her team works with aren’t always hiring. But Allen says that by virtue of her organization’s decades-long presence in the South Jersey business community, nurtured partnerships and deep understanding of clients’ company culture, it’s well-positioned to help anticipate clients’ needs before they escalate into something more critical.
“It really helps when we’ve built those relationships because, down the line when we find a candidate that really does fit the model of what they look for, we can be proactive and say, ‘Hey, I know you don’t have anything open right now but here’s a very interesting candidate we know is on the market,’” she explains. “Even in the times when they’re not specifically hiring for a position, we can be that set of eyes and ears in the marketplace to be more proactive with our clients—and being less reactive is always better.”
Anticipating future needs is a key ingredient in a mutually successful partnership, and frequent communication can help advisory, supplemental partners continue to respond proactively rather than reactively.
“A study in industry trends and technological advancements, along with predictive analytics, are used to anticipate future demands based on historical data and foresee potential needs,” Dailey explains. “By staying ahead of technological trends and actively listening to our customers, USA Phone ensures that our services not only meet but exceed the expectations of modern enterprises, empowering them with reliable, efficient and future-ready communication solutions.”
“New Jersey is such a pro-employee state that employers absolutely have to make sure that, one, they understand all their legal obligations and, two, that they’re meeting them—and that’s outside of getting sued,” Smith adds, noting that major lawsuits can often be avoided with the likes of seeking preventative counsel and having up-to-date policies. “The preventative side can save a company potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars because if you do it right in the first place, you don’t have to deal with defending very expensive litigations. … You can save yourself so much money by recognizing legal issues, when you know that there’s a potential problem, [by] picking up the phone and calling your labor counsel.”
Working with a wide range of businesses also helps these service providers organically develop their own ability to not only deliver individualized products and services but also refine what they offer other businesses while also giving them a bigger-picture perspective on developing trends and the reality of their application through real-world scenarios playing out in related fields and similar products.
“Every industry is both the same and completely different than every other industry: They all have the same basic needs for the day-to-day operations and things like communications within their offices and accounting services and business-tracking type services, but different industries have different niche needs,” says Mickelson. “But planning is always of real importance in this industry, which has its own deadlines on top of businesses’ deadlines. For example, we’re going into October, where Windows 10 is going to stop delivering security updates, and people need to be prepared. People need to understand how it’s going to affect their business.”
“Serving a diverse client base—across industries, sizes and geographies—keeps us sharp and responsive,” Brand agrees. “Each client brings unique challenges and perspectives, which pushes us to continuously evolve our approach and expand our expertise. This diversity helps us spot emerging trends early, cross-pollinate ideas between sectors, and develop solutions that are both innovative and practical. It also strengthens our ability to adapt quickly: Whether we're working with a tech startup navigating rapid growth or a legacy manufacturer facing digital transformation, we draw on a broad range of experiences to deliver tailored strategies. In a constantly shifting business environment, that kind of agility is invaluable—not just for us, but for the clients who rely on us to help them stay ahead.”
That diversity of experience also deepens the capabilities of the local professional world. Allen notes that she’s experienced some in-house HR teams regarding external staffing services as a competitive entity, but points out that having more options available to the region’s many different businesses and their ranges of needs means that there’s more of a chance to find the tailor-made solution that’s right for each client and company.
“We’re not trying to replace their function: We want to be there as a valued partner,” she affirms. “Recruiting and acquiring talent are just one piece of the human resources puzzle. Whether you’re a very small company and don’t have anybody focused on HR or whether you’re a very large organization that just needs external support, we can be either. … We’re not looking to replace HR, we’re never a replacement: We’re always a value-added resource for the human resources department.”
Working with all kinds of organizations representing myriad different industries also helps South Jersey’s professional-service providers not only determine how and when to offer vertical or complementary services but also offer streamlined products and services. Being one-stop shops helps ensure that fewer details slip through the cracks, more parts work together, and clients have access to a variety of experts—both on their team and in their own professional networks—to fine-tune their big-picture perspective.
“It’s not what I know, but who I know that can get answers for my clients when I don’t have those answers,” says Molotsky. “Over the years, you build up a long list of people you can ask to get the answers to whatever questions you might possibly have. … keeping in touch with all these different people and all these different outlets gives us the ability to have access to all kinds of information that we can pass onto clients.”
After all, South Jersey’s business world works best when its organizations work together.
“We don’t just install phones—we become trusted advisors,” Shawaf Barson affirms. “Our services improve internal collaboration, enhance client experience and reduce operational friction. In a world where every second counts, we make communication effortless so our clients can focus on what they do best.”
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Author: Madeleine Maccar
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