Alum’s New Venture, Weboffice, Targets Small Businesses

By Susan Beck

“Timing is everything in business,” says Walter Ewell ’70. Ewell recently launched the Hampton-based company Weboffice, which offers a computer-based application that provides small businesses with access to a multitude of discounted services, including accounting, advertising, communication and merchant services.

The Norfolk native enrolled at Old Dominion with intentions of pursing a degree in philosophy. Once on campus, however, Ewell found that his business classes offered a more viable option for a future career. “If you think about it, economics is really the philosophy of business,” he said. Ewell actually came up with the concept for Weboffice shortly after graduating from ODU with a degree in financial management. “The problem at the time was that there just wasn’t the technology to support the concept,” he explained.

While the idea germinated, Ewell gained more than 30 years of valuable business experience. This included helping develop some of the most successful franchises in the country. His resume includes business development for Econo Lodge, where he created the country’s first computerized reservation system of a motel chain that size; Jackson-Hewitt, where he helped build a nationwide franchising model; and Liberty Tax Service, the country’s fastest-growing tax service.

Most recently, Ewell served as president of the Norfolk-based Geeks on Call, a company that helps individuals and small businesses with computer and technology problems. During his tenure, Geeks sold more than 400 franchises and was ranked No. 1 nationally among new franchising companies.

While working with small businesses at Geeks, Ewell saw the potential for the idea he had conceived so many years before. He left the company in 2005 after five years to start Weboffice.

According to Ewell, Weboffice is at an exciting stage. “The thrill is in building a concept into a business.” The business model for Weboffice is based upon the assumption that small and medium-sized businesses can get bogged down with the day-to-day operations that keep them running. Ewell sees his company as saving these firms both time and money.

Weboffice negotiates discounted rates for its clients to use a variety of Web-based applications and services via volume subscription sales. This makes the proposition profitable for Weboffice’s partner companies and at the same time allows its clients to forego buying expensive hardware and software. Clients access the discounted services through an Internet portal.

To date, Weboffice has partnered with more than 40 companies that provide services to its growing clientele. The Weboffice portal provides access to such software as Intuit’s Quickbooks, which allows companies to use expensive software that is hosted remotely on a so-called “application-service” provider. Other Weboffice partners include Vista Print, which can produce customized direct mail through Internet orders, and Branders.com, which allows companies to use the Web to order promotional materials such as mugs and T-shirts.

Three Weboffice franchises have already opened within Virginia, and Ewell has plans for more throughout the state and country.

For Ewell, business development is really a demonstration of faith. “You can sense it’s real but you can’t see it. You’ve got to have faith that you can achieve your vision,” he said.