Oasys Case Study
- Headquarters: Franklin, WI
- Acquisition Date: January 2021
- Vertical Market: Special Education
- Visit Company Website
Company Background
Oasys LLC was founded in 1999 by Marty Suchorski who recognized a gap in the education space and decided to develop a program for the special education market. Based in Franklin, Wisconsin, Oasys helps educators in K-12 districts improve the quality and efficiency of education systems through software solutions that are designed for administrators, educators, and service providers.
In addition to Oasys’ standard product offerings, the company began providing Medicaid services in 2004 and RTI solutions in 2010. In 2013, the company had a very momentous and inspiring year. At the time, the state of Wisconsin was considering utilizing a single vendor for all school attendance, grades, scheduling, and other student needs, including special education. Suchorski decided to get involved by hiring a lobbyist to meet with representatives from the state Senate and Assembly. His goal was to convince the state that this plan would negatively impact smaller companies like Oasys. Suchorski was successful in his mission and has continued to grow the business both within and out of state.
About the Founder
Marty Suchorski has over 40 years of experience and involvement with the special education community. Early in his career, Suchorski worked for an employee of IBM when the company began to sell desktops to school districts in 1981. One of the applications was for IEPs and management systems for special education, which Suchorski had a hand in developing. On a personal note, Suchorski has two goddaughters with IEPs and has participated in the Special Olympics for many years. In addition, he has taken many weekly trips to schools in the United States to work with educators and students on Oasys software in the classroom.
Since founding the company over 20 years ago, Suchorski’s role has evolved into managements roles where his day to day responsibilities included generating sales, staying on top of the industry and competition, and improving customer satisfaction. Today, Suchorski is a Business Development Consultant for Oasys to help the organization prepare for future growth.
Decision to Sell
When Suchorski was first introduced to Volaris Group, he wasn’t actively looking to sell his business. As conversations continued, he became more intrigued about potentially joining Volaris Group via acquisition sooner than he anticipated. Suchorski points to the buy-and-hold forever philosophy as one of the key reasons he decided to sell to Volaris Group.
What appealed to me is the fact that Volaris was going to keep the company name and help develop the brand long-term.
Suchorski also shares that it was important for him to find a buyer that had an interest in the schools and education marketplace. Fortunately, Volaris Group has a portfolio of businesses focused on providing innovative software solutions specifically for the Education industry. This gives Oasys and other education technology businesses who join Volaris access to tools, resources, and insights relevant to their niche industries.
Post-Acquisition Success
Since joining Volaris Group, Suchorski has met many new people within the organization, both near and far. He shares that after posting on a company forum for advice, he was flooded with answers from Volaris employees across the world, and even made connections with staff located in Denver and Brisbane. He shares, “I’ve never had this before… the fact that you have a worldwide organization that you can tap into for answers has been a really neat experience.”
In addition to a global network, the Oasys team also has access to support in other areas including Finance, IT, and HR. Integrating these resources will help Oasys become more efficient, and in turn, allow the organization to focus on growth and profitability, Suchorski says.
Organizations that join Volaris have access to many resources, including talent development tools that help define career paths and goals for all employees. This process helped Oasys provide new opportunities for many staff members who have been with the organization for a long time. The team then implemented scorecards to track employee development and performance. At Volaris, scorecard goals relate to organizational goals that help employees see how their efforts impact the bottom line. In addition to having new resources, the team at Oasys has access to experienced senior leadership in their respective departments to learn and grow from.
From a personal development perspective, Suchorski was excited to grow into a position that allowed him to focus on areas of the business that he hasn’t been able to, but always wanted to.
I enjoy not having to worry about the backend tasks of the business… Now I am focused on working with people from Volaris to strategize on how to improve the business, including improving our sales and marketing efforts. It's been a real growing experience for me.
Suchorski is looking forward to an exciting future with Volaris Group. He will continue to be involved with business decisions and strategy for Oasys and the Education portfolio at Volaris Group. The team will continue to work together to improve and develop integrated solutions between companies within the portfolio, as well as look for innovative education technology businesses to join Volaris in the future.