Naples News – The vibe in the offices of CSI Enterprises Inc. feels more like Silicon Valley than Bonita Springs.
Burnt orange and lime green walls grab the eye in a sleek headquarters. On a back wall, the values the electronic payments innovator expects from employees are broadcast in white letters: passionate, collaborative, knowledgeable, ambitious.
There are no closed doors and workers are arranged in goal-driven teams, surrounded by posters with motivational sayings, such as: “We don’t settle for good, we strive for great” and “The harder the course, the more rewarding the triumph.”
To foster creativity, the company, like Google and other more widely known tech companies, has a game room that includes PlayStation and a vintage arcade machine. The CEO encourages employees to “work hard and play hard.”
“Everybody in here is passionate and innovative,” said David Disque, vice president of operations.
A game-changer
Keith Stone, CSI’s founder, president and CEO, has worked under the radar as he’s focused on growing the business. Now, he wants to spread the word about the company’s “game-changing” technology for payments, the major source of revenue growth today. In the past two years, CSI’s annual revenues surged by nearly 100 percent and its employee count — now at 49 — is up 50 percent over the year.
Using CSI’s technology, businesses can pay vendors with a virtual MasterCard through a secure website. A unique card number can be generated for every transaction, which could be anything from buying staples to purchasing flights for a business trip.
Locally, the LaPlaya Beach & Golf Resort in Naples uses CSI’s technology to pay about 40 percent of its vendors, including food and retail shop suppliers.
“From my perspective, it’s going to be the future of how all payments will be made,” said Jack Shelton, the resort’s controller. “That’s the reality for all companies. The days of cutting a check and mailing a check are going to be gone in a couple of years.”
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