If you follow amshot (and you do, or you wouldn’t be reading this), you may have noticed something new amid our technology- and IT-related posts. To commemorate amshot’s tremendous growth over the last four years, Oklahoma City-based artist Sam Washburn is developing 40-60 sketches for an amshot-themed art project whose overall connectivity will be revealed upon completion of the last piece. Each week we’ll reveal another way amshot helps its clients. Each drawing will stand on its own while contributing to the larger image, just as each of amshot’s services contributes to the company as a whole. We want to show what makes us unique.

If this sounds a bit unusual, it is. amshot isn’t your typical managed services company, and the way we celebrate our anniversary shouldn’t be typical, either. Although we have been around since 2004, when our founder, Michael Thomas, began installing wifi hotspots around Norman, we have turned a corner over the last year. We are young as a development company, but we’re growing up quickly. We continue to add developers to our team and are equipped to handle anything we encounter, from a ground-up software project to embedding our developers in clients’ companies to save them the expense and headache of staffing an IT department.

As anyone who has tried to do so knows, recruiting developers and IT professionals is hugely challenging and the market for them is always hypercompetitive. A company first has to find qualified developers and then assess their skills — skills that often difficult for non-developers to assess — or hire a recruiter to find candidates instead. Companies must provide attractive compensation and benefit plans. They must know what they need from these highly technical staffers. And they must do all of this when the unemployment rate for them is less than 1 percent. Let us worry about IT and software development so you can focus on your business’ core activities.

Through this project, Sam sought to add some levity to the serious business of improving and protecting clients precious IT resources. Each piece of his collage will illustrate a small part of amshot — culturally, professionally and personally. The result will be equal parts Wes Anderson and Where’s Waldo. We’re anxious and excited to see what our highly talented collaborator comes up with.

Sam’s first three installments focus on understanding clients’ businesses and helping to improve them; protecting clients from threats and helping clients make correct decisions in today’s difficult and confusing environment.

At amshot, our employees aren’t cogs, and our clients aren’t, either. We hope Sam’s work demonstrates this.