Some small companies grow as large firms cut costs – The Associated Press- About: E-Business

Allegiance, a software company in South Jordan, Utah, has enjoyed triple-digit sales growth in the past 18 months and has hired 14 people in the past year, said Chris Cottle, the company’s vice president of marketing. Melanie Jones, e-commerce manager for Ultradent, a dental equipment company also based in South Jordan, said Allegiance allowed it to streamline how it gathers feedback, making it easier to find and respond to customers who were unhappy. Ultradent started using Allegiance software in 2006 and estimates it saved about $330,000 in sales in the first year — and more every year since. So while Ultradent, a company of almost 800 employees and more than $100 million in annual sales, has made significant cuts — including halting 401K matches, stopping subsidized lunches and eliminating the practice of cashing out on sick and vacation days — it has only had to lay off five people, Jones said. In this photo taken Tuesday, May 12, 2009, Bill Shaffer, owner of Conicity Technologies, talks about edge preparation machines that can be leased to clients, at the company's headquarters in Latrobe, Pa. While the economy may continue to slog through the worst recession in more than two decades, sales at Conicity Technology, which offers a high-tech way of preserving the life of manufacturing tools, are up 75 percent in the past year. read more

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