Autumn always marks a changing of seasons as leaves fall and animals begin to prepare for the winter ahead of them, but in 2008, autumn also marked a new season for John Heyman and his business, Radiant Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: RADS).
In 2008, things were rolling along quite well for Heyman at the company, which provides technology focused on the development, installation and delivery of solutions for managing site operations in the hospitality and retail industries.
The company was aggressively investing in its future and was experiencing financial successes, having grown from $172 million in revenue in 2005 to eventually hit $301.6 million in 2008, while also doubling net income in the same time period.
But in the autumn of that banner year, the economic environment shifted, and Heyman knew things were changing and he’d have to change, too, if Radiant was going to continue to do well.
“We had what felt like this incredibly bright future, but in the short term, given our customer base is primarily retailers and restaurateurs who were hit hard with the economic crisis, we were having to assess what that meant to our business, not over the long term but over the short term,” the CEO says. “Leading the company through that has been my biggest challenge.”
In order to make sure Radiant succeeded during the downturn, Heyman had to make some tough decisions, communicate with his employees and then continue focusing on his customers.
