Where to find new revenue streams
Robert Jones is trying to expand his IT services business. Have you branched out into additional services? Built a hosted software application? Tell us about it.
From Brian Atlanta, GA I have built 2 successful IT recruiting firms (sold the first one). Offering consulting/contracting vs. just perm placements is the 'cash cow' of the business and the way to build long term value. It can be expensive to fund payroll but if you grow it at a reasonable pace you can build a sizeable business with enough effort. Requires the same people (ie. account managers and recruiters). That would seem the first place to expand. I personally have found that doing 1 thing well will usually result in bettere results that doing 2 – I've never been able to be in 2 places at once. While hosting an ATS would seem a complimentary business, it is NOT recruiting and would require a different sales and development effort that might take away from your focus. I would suggest doing one or the other – Recruiting (but add consulting/contracting) or software.
I recently launched a SaaS candidate tracking solution, Catch the Best. Since it's a hosted web-based solution, it's quick to get started as a new customer, and it's easy to use for small businesses looking for a simple tool to help with the hiring process.
Additionally, my software can also be used by recruiting firms as a white-label solution to offer to their clients. So you can get the additional revenue stream of a hosted web application without investing in the development of it yourself!