Interview with Carl Sweetnam, Black Ink, President

PVBS recently announced a partnership with managed services provider Black Ink (Fairfax Station, VA). Black Ink offers Hosted Application Services specifically designed for the financial management and project accounting needs of government contractors. Black Ink offers Dynamics NAV for Government Contractors from PVBS as a hosted application. Dynamics NAV financial management and project accounting software was created specifically for high-growth government contractors. As a hosted service, these same features are available to emerging government contractors. Black Ink's comprehensive application hosting solutions and project accounting consulting service creates the ideal foundation for small government contractors who need to comply with Federal Government financial management and project accounting requirements.

We interviewed Black Ink President Carl Sweetnam to learn more about his company’s services and how they provide value for emerging government contractors. Before creating Black Ink, Sweetnam was the CFO at Native American Management Services, Inc. and was a senior consultant at the Goodman and Company accounting firm. He has extensive knowledge about the challenges high-growth government contractors face from an accounting and financial management perspective.

Why was Black Ink created?

Black Ink was conceived one afternoon while listening to a frustrated small business owner complaining that the body of her business was being wagged by the proverbial IT tail. That set us on a mission to find a more efficient and cost effective way to deliver robust business applications. After talking with many small business owners we came to this simple conclusion; they really didn't want more IT infrastructure or for that matter the support staff that went along with it. They, like many others, just wanted dependable growth oriented business application services.

What is attractive about the managed services, such as Software as a Service (SaaS), Black Ink provides to government contractors?

Black Ink Hosted Application and Consulting Services are specifically designed to meet the financial management and project accounting software needs of government contractors. In recent years the amount of affordable IT technology and focused business productivity software that has been introduced into the small business arena is simply amazing. Tools of productivity are so process focused they give the companies who utilize them a distinct advantage over their competition. Affordable is relative to the size of the business and the business activity however.

To help bridge the gap, using the SaaS (Software as a Service) approach, Black Ink brings enterprise class financial management and ERP applications to fast growing government contractors. Users can get access to their applications over the Internet anytime and from anywhere. There is a high return on investment (ROI) since the solution is very efficient. They pay for what they need.

What do companies that are new to the government contracting space need to service the Government?

Many of our customers are new to servicing the government but still require cost accounting software to ensure contract compliance. The quality accounting and financial applications on the market and the required accounting and IT infrastructure to support them are usually beyond their means at this time. However they still need DCAA-compliant project accounting and financial management solutions. We imagine that as these companies grow and win more contracts, they will migrate to the fully-blown, self-managed solution available from PVBS.

Beyond the accounting software, we have also found that companies need skilled people, such as accountants and bookkeepers to come in and utilize the accounting solutions. This is an as-needed service we also provide.

We’ve found this need as well with companies outside the Washington DC region, where government contractor accounting requirements are not as well known.

Why did you choose to host Dynamics NAV for Government Contractors from PVBS?

I helped recommend and implement Dynamics NAV from PVBS when I was a senior consultant at a large accounting firm. There are so many things about the software that sets it apart from the competition. For example, the reporting that the solution provides is exceptional and very well integrated into the product. Unlike with some other products, the ease of generating reports in real time is phenomenal. This allows executives to make decisions quickly, instead of waiting weeks for the data.

Everything that a government contractor needs to achieve DCAA-compliance is part of the solution such as job cost information, indirect rate monitoring, variance analysis, and indirect cost rate structures. Plus, the solution has the well-known Microsoft Outlook look and feel and is consistent across all modules. We’ve found that users can be up and running much quicker than with more complicated applications.

What are the benefits for government contractors of the Black Ink hosting service?

Black Ink's hosting platform is built on redundant multi-level data systems creating a hardened fault tolerant application-hosting environment. Applications, data and backups are hosted in our Herndon, Virginia facility. This secure, state-of-the-art data center connects directly to a Tier 1, IP network. From extensive power back up systems to complete fire detection and suppression, this environmentally controlled, raised floor hosting facility was constructed to ensure the safety and security of hosted data systems.

About Pleasant Valley Business Solutions (PVBS)

Pleasant Valley Business Solutions (PVBS), a Microsoft Business Solutions President’s Club Member, offers the Microsoft alternative for government contractor ERP, financial management and project accounting. Microsoft offers a better project accounting and financial management solution than what’s been available in the past to high-growth government contractors. Only PVBS offers a Microsoft Dynamics NAV solution that was created specifically for high-growth government contractors, to help these companies better manage and maximize their Federal Government business. PVBS is based in Reston, VA. Visit PBVS at www.pvbs.net.

About Black Ink

Black Ink (LLC) offers Hosted Application Services specifically designed for the financial management and project accounting needs of government contractors. Black Ink offers Dynamics NAV as a hosted application suite developed by PVBS. Dynamics NAV financial management and project accounting software was created specifically for high-growth government contractors, now these same features are available to small business government contractors through our hosted offerings. Black Ink's comprehensive application hosting solutions combined with our project accounting consulting service creates the ideal foundation for your government contractor financial management and project accounting requirements. For more information on advanced hosted application services, visit us on the web at www.blackinapps.com or contact us through your sales representative at Pleasant Valley Business Solutions.