With the planning of a brand new facility, came the opportunity for LarsonAllen to design and configure their new work areas according to their employees’ work productivity needs. Their goal was to achieve better use of their workspace and workflow. They started the process by interviewing their various departments to get feedback on what they felt would be their ideal workspace.

Upon reviewing their needs, LarsonAllen turned to Marco, their office furniture provider, to help configure and design a solution to enhance how their people work. Kathi Wilke from LarsonAllen met with Bob Carlson, Marco Account Representative, and Ann Goenner, Marco Furniture Designer.

Kathi commented, “Marco was great! They provided us with various layouts and made office furnishing suggestions. We had the opportunity to go to their facility and see the furniture to make sure it was what we were looking for. We had several design changes and Marco worked through them with us. They also worked with our Twin Cities office designer to coordinate furniture colors and design.

Marco designed and configured office furnishings for LarsonAllen’s office workstations, conference rooms, training room, and private offices. Marco’s video system specialists implemented audio/visual equipment for their conference rooms including white boards, projection units, and electronic display screens.

For their office workstations, Marco recommended using a combination of new and used Steelcase panel systems and workstations for a total reconfiguration to fit their employees’ productivity needs. Marco also supplied in-house signage.

“Everything just flowed really well,” said Kathi. “Once everything was installed, Marco came over and set up our offices. Their service and response was fantastic!”

“Our employees really like our new furnishings. It’s a much better environment than what we had before.”

When asked if she would recommend Marco, Kathi replied, “Yes, I would highly recommend Marco. They have a lot of great ideas and suggestions, and they’ll be there for you!”

Marco’s video systems experts installed and implemented a Polycom conference room system and a tilt-up power station built into the table for power, voice, and data connections. Users are able to operate the projection screen (ceiling mounted above the conference table) right from the table’s power station for easy access to controls. They use their new system for displaying Powerpoint presentations, VCR/DVD training videos, etc. Marco also equipped the room with a large electronic drop-down display screen.

When LarsonAllen moved to their new
St. Cloud facility in September 2003, their goal was to become as “paperless” as possible. One of the features their accountants required in their new copier/printers was the ability to print directly from their desktop.

Ardell Wilkes from LarsonAllen worked with Greg Gau, Marco Account Representative, to upgrade to five new networked Sharp AR-651 copier/printers and a high-volume Sharp AR-810 for their new facilities. Ardell explained, “As our contracts for older copiers expired, Marco allowed us to just purchase copies on a monthly basis at the same rate until we made the move to our new building and upgraded to new equipment.”

With their move they were able to eliminate some older personal printers and centralize their new networked units within the departments. This allows several people to access the same unit and print directly from their desktop. They also benefit from features such as scan to email and scan to desktop for electronic filing, searching, and indexing of their documents. These features have allowed them to save on paper costs and help organize their files.  LarsonAllen’s Sharp AR-810 is located in their Processing Center and is used mainly to produce multiple copies of tax documents.

For Ardell, the copier/printer transition to the new facility was a smooth one. “I can’t say enough about the installation and training Marco provided. They’re congenial people and come back and take care of us. I’ll call Greg if I have a question on a machine or invoice and most often I get a call back within hours. Technical support is here within four hours. Marco gives us good service!”

When asked to describe Marco in one sentence, Ardell responded, “Caring. You can’t have the equipment without the service, which is why we stay with Marco.”

LarsonAllen (Larson, Allen, Weishair & Co., LLP) is a professional service firm that provides assurance, accounting, tax, consulting, and advisory services to organizations and individuals managing business ventures and finance. Founded in 1953, LarsonAllen is dedicated to providing quality results to clients.  In September 2003, LarsonAllen moved into a newly built facility located in Waite Park at 818 2nd Street South.