Family Pay from Ahola Corporation

Family Business Payroll Problem
Solved Using
Cutting Edge Technology

Jeff Ahola is the CEO of The Ahola Corporation, a payroll services provider based in Cleveland, Ohio. What makes the Ahola Corporation so special is that they developed a unique payroll system for Family-owned business called Family Pay. Based on cutting edge technology, Family Pay offers features and benefits that are not offered by any other payroll processing system. Founded in 1967 by Chet Ahola, and now run co-operatively by his three sons and daughter, The Ahola Corporation has shown tremendous perseverance in growing a successful family business. As a part of the second generation, Jeff knows all too well the benefits and frustrations of running a family business. We sat down with Jeff to talk more about his family business.

FBE How did The Ahola Corporation get started?

Chet and Rheta Ahola, my parents started the business in 1967 as an information management service. They provided key punch services to clients using main frame computers. The first client was American Koyo, a Japanese-owned bearing manufacturer in Westlake, Ohio. Our company slowly grew taking on clients that included: Hillside Dairy, Master Charge, American Express, United Airlines, Stouffers Foods, The City of Cleveland, and Chrysler. In 1977, my father began to move from mainframe to PC processing with the purchase of early RadioShack and Dell personal computers. We continued to provide keying punch services, computer programming, financial management and payroll services to local businesses. In 1984, I joined the company full time and we decided to change our core business by focusing primarily on providing payroll services. My parents decided to turn the company over to my siblings and I in 1986.

FBE Are you and your siblings the current ownership team?

Yes, there are four of us that run the day to day operations, each of us focusing on a specific area. I focus on sales and marketing, Mark focuses on tax, Scott focuses on IT/IS and Marja focuses on payroll.

FBE Do you have any other Ahola members that work at the company?

My siblings and I are the only family members. However, we consider our entire staff to be family. We know our employees and care about their well being. One of our payroll team leads has worked here for over 35 years. She worked here full time before Marja, Scott and I started full time. I know it sounds cliché but we really are one big family. We celebrate birthdays, exciting events and support each other in times of tragedy. We have a very intimate atmosphere.

FBE Did your parents pressure you and your siblings to join the family business?

My siblings and I have always been involved in the business. We each went to college and were given every opportunity to choose another path. But overtime we all ended up choosing to become a part of the family business. I attended The Ohio State University and earned by bachelors degree in Information Systems and then earned my MBA at Pepperdine University. I then worked for Progressive until 1984, when I started working full time for my dad. I enjoyed my other adventures but my heart belonged to our family business. My siblings have similar stories. No one pressured us to join the family business and we won't pressure our children either.

FBE Is there an intention of passing the company down to a third generation?

It is our desire to eventually pass the company on to the next generation. However, we will have to wait and see which path our children choose to take. Mark’s son is the oldest and will be heading off to college next year.

FBE What is it like to work with your siblings?

There are challenges but it is very rewarding. The challenge is to work as business partners and not siblings. It is rewarding because you can always count on your family to help you succeed. When our business succeeds, our whole family succeeds.

FBE What happens if the four of you don't agree on a particular situation?

There are occasions when the four of us are not in complete agreement. When this happens we all sit down and each sibling presents their argument. We will then “battle it out” until we come to an agreement. We also have a highly experienced management team that helps us make corporate decisions. Our management team does a great job mediating, if my siblings and I can not agree on a decision.

FBE What advice would you give to other family businesses?

Focus on what you do best; you can't be everything to everyone. You need to determine what areas you excel at and focus all your efforts on those areas.

FBE What inspired you to develop Family Pay?

We worked with a large number of family business clients that would create two client numbers for one company. We started talking with these companies about their concerns. Their number one concern was privacy. We decided to develop a system that would address all their concerns. Prior to Family Pay, a client would have setup two separate client numbers, one for the family members and one for everyone else, this meant they received twice the fees and would only get totals quarterly and at year end. We wanted to develop a system that ensure their privacy, give them totals with each pay cycle, and compliance assistance without over charging them. After years of research, planning and development our system has finally became a reality.

FBE How would a family business benefit from your system?

We have developed a new patent pending payroll process that accounts for security and compliance issues that affect family business. The system, aptly named, Family Pay provides our clients with the ability to delegate payroll responsibilities to a non-family member without worrying about the privacy of their payroll information. Family Pay also provides clients with information to help keep them in compliance of additional regulations. Family businesses get all the benefits of outsourcing while maintaining the privacy of their information.

FBE What inspired you to develop Family Pay?

We worked with a large number of family business clients that would create two client numbers for one company. We started talking with these companies about their concerns. Their number one concern was privacy. We decided to develop a system that would address all their concerns. Prior to Family Pay, a client would have setup two separate client numbers, one for the family members and one for everyone else, this meant they received twice the fees and would only get totals quarterly and at year end. We wanted to develop a system that ensure their privacy, give them totals with each pay cycle, and compliance assistance without over charging them. After years of research, planning and development our system has finally became a reality. FBE Has Family Pay been a success?

Absolutely. Feedback from our clients on Family Pay has been extremely positive. Our family business clients are thrilled with the security and compliance features. The payroll reports are also simpler and require less paper. The Accounting community has also been exceptionally supportive. They see tremendous value in our system.

FBE What is your family’s major goal for the future of your company?

We want to create lasting relationships with our clients that will be sustainable for our future generations. We define our success by the amount of impact we have on our clients. We want to help take the complexity out of running a family company. We want our clients to focus on their core strengths, and let us be their payroll expert. We have chosen to focus our service offerings on family businesses because we are the only payroll provider that can deliver the expertise they require.

The Ahola Corporation has grown from its humble beginnings as “Cleveland’s Family Business Payroll Service” into “America’s First Family Payroll Company.” Current officers Jeff, Mark, Marja, and Scott are living examples of the family businesses that The Ahola Corporation strives to serve every day. You can check out the Ahola Corporation at their web site http://www.ahola.com.