In 1984 (before we were incorporated), we secured our first client. The name of the company was Inventories Specialists, Inc. and their business was valuation of hospital drug inventories (hence the name!). They had six employees and they typed (on old-fashioned typewriters) every counted item, then laboriously looked up each price in massive tomes, finally arriving at a total inventory value on which their hospital client could rely. They needed help. Of course in those days the PC was viewed simply as a glorified machine one would use to store recipes, maybe some simple lists.

Well, after some very interesting conversations, and not a little skepticism, we were able to persuade the owners that we would be able to create for them a way to store all of those counted items and match them up to a predefined list of drugs that they would build and store (a precursor to what we now know as a data mart). We showed them a way that they could mine that information not only for their existing clients but also as a proprietary product offered to their future clients, leveraging the deluge of information pouring in every day. It worked, and they quickly became the leader of their industry.

That was over 24 years ago. Today, the company, renamed to Hospital Inventories Specialists, Inc. (www.hisi.com) employs almost 200 people and is widely regarded as the premier organization that hospitals around the nation count on to obtain an independent, reliable value of their assets.

And Chateaux, after all those years, continues to provide HISI with top-notch service that keeps them competitive and profitable. Frank Grande, one of HISI's founding partners, told us recently that, "Chateaux has an incredible track record of providing great team members who can help us move our business forward. We would really be lost without them!"

This is what we mean when we talk about partnering with our clients. It's a long-term commitment towards combining thoughtful collaboration with best practice methodologies. It's what we do.

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