From internet adoption to AI: How one Tampa tech firm adapted

Technologist Christopher Karlo remembers the rise of internet adoption in the ’90s – opening a digital world of possibilities to businesses that didn’t quite fully grasp the capabilities the new landscape would bring. 

“In those days, you had to spend a lot of time explaining to prospective clients the value of an online presence and why they needed one,” said Karlo, who founded the Tampa-based software and web consultancy firm MercuryWorks in 1998, with Donald Bickel. 

MercuryWorks CEO and co-founder Christopher Karlo.

Twenty-five years later, MercuryWorks, originally named Mercury Web Technologies with the tagline “Internet Solutions for Business,” is staying true to its foundation of helping clients leverage the latest software and managing business operations. 

“It’s been extremely gratifying to have spent a quarter of a century leading a great set of employees, solving wicked problems and helping clients improve their businesses. Building and leading a software consultancy with a great partner like Chris has been one of the most challenging yet rewarding pursuits of my life,” said Bickel, who attended King High School in Tampa with Karlo. 

One of MercuryWorks’ clients is Pinch A Penny, which claims to be the largest pool retail and service franchise in the southeast.  

“We have been working very closely with Pinch A Penny to build the next generation of some of their critical business SaaS [software as a service]. We are looking forward to go-live in the coming months,” Bickel said, adding that the software will continue to advance. 

MercuryWorks has also developed a scalable web application for commercial real estate and insurance brokerage firm, Franklin Street, to manage its contacts, property data and commercial transaction flow.

Karlo largely credits MercuryWorks’ growth to the team’s collaborative and transparent culture. 

MercuryWorks co-founder Donald Bickel. 

“Our teams aren’t comprised of one-off contractors that work together from time to time or get together one time to build a particular software product. They are full-time MercuryWorks employees that work together consistently over time,” Karlo said about the 26-member team.

“It [the collaboration] also allows them to fully engage with clients to really understand them and their business needs before even writing the first line of code. We provide a lot of transparency in our processes with our clients. We’re not perfect in everything we do. If we don’t get something quite right, we address it quickly.” 

Karlo said he is careful not to immediately adopt the new concepts emerging on every corner in the software world until they have proven successful and would result in a positive impact, such as the rise of artificial intelligence. 

“As we look ahead, we anticipate AI playing a crucial role in software development. It has already impacted the low-code solutions we develop for clients using platforms such as Microsoft Power Platform. We have also been using AI-powered tools within some of our coding processes,” he said.

“AI capabilities are rapidly growing and evolving, and we are keeping an active pulse on it and looking forward ways to leverage these capabilities to drive value for our clients. At the same time, we must be careful not to introduce unwanted risk or uncertainty into our clients’ solutions. There are still lots of things to be worked out from legal and risk management perspectives that we want to respect.”