DRS, YBI Partner on Discounted IT Program

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Data Recovery Services LLC and the Youngstown Business Incubator are announcing a new partnership that will bring discounted information technology services to YBI companies while helping the incubator increase funding for its services.

Through the program, YBI portfolio companies and referrals that choose DRS as their service provider will receive a discount on select services. In addition, YBI will receive up to 12% of all monthly service fees paid by the participating companies.

Those funds will be used to develop programs that benefit the YBI’s companies and the community as a whole, says the incubator’s chief operations officer, Barb Ewing.

“As an organization that supports entrepreneurship, we believe that it’s critical for us to be entrepreneurial and develop new and creative revenue streams,” Ewing says. “In today’s environment, it is short-sighted to solely rely upon philanthropy, government grants or any other single source of funding for your programs.”

The program is designed similar to a strategic partnership that DRS has with the city of Westerville, where it helps to run the nation’s first municipal community data center. That partnership has helped the city create or retain more than 700 jobs with an average salary of $65,000. Such strategic partnerships help the individual companies as well as the community as a whole, says Mike Meloy, DRS CEO.

“We’ve always been dedicated to helping startup companies, and partnering with organizations like the YBI helps us to do that,” Meloy says. “We see the value in helping to grow local businesses because we grew our company here and we see the positive impact we were able to have on the overall economy. When the stability of the local economy is strong, the better off we all are.”

There are about 20 companies operating within the incubator, but the program is available to businesses outside of YBI’s buildings as well, Ewing says this. YBI representatives will be on-hand at this year’s Tech Belt Technology Summit on May 14 to further discuss this partnership and its potential impact, she adds.

Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.