Equinox Information Systems has maintained nearly 30 years of operation, with staff tenure averaging 15 years and our development staff averaging 18 years. That kind of stability reflects — and enables — a very particular approach to business.
Operating at the intersection of telecommunications and software development creates constant tension. Industry wisdom suggests that value requires newness, freshness, constant disruption. Yet after two decades of watching vendor cycles come and go, I'd argue that slow and steady is allowing us to win the race. Equinox continues to grow — steadily, sustainably, without the boom-and-bust cycle that chases the next shiny thing.
We make incremental improvements to proven solutions, and we make them based on customer input rather than internal speculation. While this might look conservative from the outside, what we offer today differs substantially from what we offered five or ten years ago. The evolution is real — it just happens in service of real needs.
Equinox avoids extensive market research and R&D spending, viewing such activities as risky speculation. The only truly reliable market research, as far as I'm concerned, is a customer with a purchase order. That validation — someone putting their money behind a problem we can solve — ensures that what we build actually addresses genuine business needs.
This relationship-based model of development serves as a catalyst rather than an impediment to innovation. Multiple customer-driven innovations are currently underway at Equinox — more than at any previous point in our history. They came from conversations with customers, not from whiteboard sessions about hypothetical market trends.
Stability and innovation aren't really an unlikely pair. Done right, they're the same thing.
About the Author — David West is Executive Vice President of Equinox Information Systems. To learn more about Equinox, visit equinoxis.com or call (615) 612-1200.