Making the Move

Jim Conley Sr. noticed a trend in recent years: companies moving back to the urban core.

“I’ve seen a few areas that were deserted several years ago go through a lot of renovations to accommodate for these tech companies moving to Cleveland,” says Conley, senior partner and CEO of Datacore Consulting, pointing to buildings in downtown’s Playhouse Square such as the Idea Center, the Sterling Building and the Hanna Building’s Tech Hotel as examples.

Datacore Consulting is yet another case in point. The Managed Service Provider for IT solutions relocated its headquarters from Independence to Cleveland last July to be more accessible from all major highways and to reduce overhead expenses.

“I knew it would boost our profit numbers because we were wasting [what we thought was] 30 to 40 hours a month fighting traffic,” he says.

But what Datacore, located off Route 176 on Brookpark and Broadview roads, soon discovered was the move increased its profits by a whopping 20 percent, or $8,000 more a month, and it shaved off 80 hours of drive time to and from client meetings each month. What’s more, Datacore, which services clients from Panera Bread to medical equipment distributor PartsSource, was able to add a division to serve the educational and nonprofit markets.

“It’s provided us an opportunity to grow without restrictions,” says Conley, who easily sees the company doubling its revenues by the end of this year.

In addition, Datacore was forced to add four employees since the move and wants to hire 10 more to its current 18-member staff by summer. And since the firm has already maxed out its 2,100-square-foot space, it plans to add 2,800 square feet by summer.

“I’m very happy where we are at,” says Conley, who would recommend other companies make the move to Cleveland if the right location is found. “We have a plethora of business in the seven-county region and Cleveland’s right in the middle of it. There isn’t a better choice than Cleveland.”