HBK boosts IT services with merger

Canfield, Ohio-based Top 100 Firm HBK CPAs & Consultants is merging in Pittsburgh-based managed service provider Vertical Solutions to combine operations with its subsidiary HBK IT.

The merged companies will be renamed Vertiliocity and operate out of Pittsburgh, Clark, New Jersey, and the Denver area. Current Vertical Solutions president Bruce Nelson will lead the combined company, which has an estimated annual gross revenue of $10 million.

Founded in 1993 and acquired by Pittsburgh-based information systems consulting firm R.L. Nelson and Associates in 2007, Vertical Solutions advises companies on their technology-based business management systems. The company offers an array of IT-related services and support, including managed IT support, advanced threat protection, Office 365 management and support, processes-related technological tools and software, and hardware procurement and installation.

Vertical Solutions specializes in working with health care businesses and solutions, which will boost HBK’s support of its more than 600 health care clients.

“Digital technology is the most impactful disrupter in business today,” said HBK managing principal and CEO Christopher Allegretti in a statement. “Everywhere and in every industry, companies are embracing digital transformation. The Vertical Solutions team is steeped in experience in organizational workflows, systems, and software, and will support our initiative to provide relevant, sophisticated technological support to our clients.”

With Vertical Solutions having operated remotely around Denver, where about one-third of its clients are based, the merger expands HBK’s reach in the west, giving the combined companies an IT presence in the three major markets of Pittsburgh, Denver and the New York Metro region. HBK can now also provide IT, managed service provider and cybersecurity services to its accounting and financial services clients in Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Florida.

“We have been committed to enhancing our technological capabilities as well as technology-based services to our clients,” Allegretti stated. “Internally, technological capabilities are key to being able to pivot quickly and effectively when it comes to unexpected challenges, as it did in 2020 in response to the unprecedented challenges associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.”