Dave Reid and Richard Hamilton are the entrepreneurs behind Veralink Limited, a service company dedicated to providing technology solutions for enterprise businesses and Internet service providers.

Veralink is based in Zaidie Gardens in St Andrew, operating virtually with all contractors and executives working remotely.

Using the remote work model, computer engineers at Veralink tap into a global network of professional engineers, which the co-founders say allows the company to be agile and “ensures cost effectiveness while providing first-class services.”

Reid is co-founder and chief operating officer (COO). Hamilton is the other co-founder and CEO. Founded in 2020, Veralink’s founders say they have established themselves as one of the companies leading Jamaica’s technology evolution.

Remote arrangements help at the start-up stage, says company Director Dave Reid.

“Because we are a start-up service company, all our staff are contractors, which helps to keep the business lean while we grow.”

Reid and Hamilton say that they started Veralink upon realising that there was a gap in the market for advanced technology services and highly experienced engineers.

“In most cases when local companies require advanced technology solutions, they opt for international companies that may not understand Jamaica’s technological landscape. This often results in misfit solutions and higher cost to the clients,” stated company CEO Richard Hamilton.

Reid and Hamilton have over 30 years of combined experience in the technology industry and both hold the designation as Cisco Certified Internetworking Experts (CCIEs).

The company provides services such as network design, IT system support, IT system integration, Cloud IP-PBX, IT application development, and enterprise security solutions.

Cost solution

Hamilton told the Jamaica Observer, “Our target market would be business professionals aged 25-60 who may be operating a small business, a large enterprise or a technology service provider who is seeking an experienced team of certified professionals to optimise and help their business realise better returns on investment through proper use of technology.”

The company’s network of contractors include, he said, “an experienced and highly certified support team from various countries across the world who are able to provide solutions that are helping businesses to save money and reduce cybersecurity risks”.

Veralink’s IP-PBX solution is the most in-demand service.

Reid explains, “This is primarily due to the features and flexibility that this solution provides at a fraction of the cost required for traditional PBX solutions.”

In the Jamaican market the entrepreneurs believe there is much room to grow. Reid said, “The Jamaica Technology market is estimated to be worth more than $300 billion.”

Reid and Hamilton share that their greatest challenge in starting up was the “sheer administrative effort required to manage a business. It’s a challenge to build processes that enable and guarantee the production of high quality services”.

Hamilton explained, “As small business owners we had to become lawyers, negotiators, and accountants. It simply requires us to learn fast in many different disciplines.”

They have managed to rise to this challenge. The company is now thinking strategically of the future with Veralink enrolled in the Jamaica Business Development Corporation’s Accelerator programme.

The entrepreneurs have not experienced funding challenges. Hamilton said, “We haven’t run into any capital issues as the principals of the business are experts in technology and initially delivered most of the technical work required to bring in the capital that is now being used to grow the business.” All investment to date is by the founders.

Reid stated, “Most of our investment is time. This is simply because we started a business for which we had expert-level experience, so we didn’t rely heavily on external resources to move forward.”

The entrepreneur notes that owners are taking the measured approach to growing the business, noting, “In order to ensure that we maintain good service and not run into resource issues, we decided to grow slowly and that has been our main strategy.”

Going forward, Reid and Hamilton shared that they are seeking to maintain steady growth of 30-50 per cent year on year.

Reid said, “We have a number of new solutions that will disrupt the traditional way of doing things and reduce cost for business to operate. One such product is our IP-PBX solution.”