IT Gurus — Tech Trek: Search for Stars

"As we add more of these services and tie them in with customers' enterprise systems, we're becoming more valuable--irreplaceable--to them," Torok emphasizes. "We do so much for them; it's harder for them to leave us."

When Padgett first implemented IT in 1991, it was an internal venture, and the printer's first programmer came onboard to set up an IT management system. Padgett got into digital printing in 1998, and its goal was to concentrate on variable data applications. In 2001, the printer started offering mailing services and hired a full-time database manager. In March 2007, a chief information officer position was created.