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About Us

Our Mission

Advanced Office Systems is committed to establishing a quality partnership and providing a painless experience for clients with our end-to-end project management services.

Commercial office space in downtown Columbus

Our Philosophy

To provide our clients with hard-working team members, effective communications and on-time delivery of completed projects

Workers install office cubicles

Our Vision

To inspire AOS employees to provide the highest quality, most reliable service while ensuring a smooth transition for our customers

Furniture installation jobs in folder

Co-Owners Bring Combined 70 Years of Office Furniture Experience to the Job

Matt Doyle was at home with his family one Sunday in March 2011 when he received a phone call from an old friend and former co-worker who wanted to have lunch that day. Doyle thought it a bit odd since he hadn’t spoken with Cris Ballou in more than a year, but something told him lunch a few hours later was a good idea.

As it turned out, each was looking for a new work venture. Ballou had recently parted ways with his business partner and Doyle was considering a job change. Ballou wanted to start another office furniture installation business and wanted Doyle to be his co-owner. The two had previously worked together for nine years at Thomas W. Ruff Office Furniture in Columbus.

“I’m not a huge risk taker and I was nervous because I would be walking away from a salary,” Doyle says. “It would mean rolling the dice on something I had never done before. But it felt like the right thing to do, it felt good.”

Three months later, Advanced Office Systems (AOS) was hatched and, as both Ballou and Doyle like to say now, “the rest is history.” It certainly didn’t take the pair long to realize they made a wise decision. Ballou says it only took AOS six months to reach the billable income his former business had earned in one year. He says AOS has tripled that number in annual billable services since.

“It’s just luck how we got together and it was unheard of what we did in the first 6-7 months,” Ballou says. “Matt knew a lot of people in the industry, I knew a lot of people. And we really worked well together.”

Today, Ballou describes AOS as the largest office furniture installation company in Columbus, if not Ohio and maybe the Midwest. Advanced Office Systems doesn’t sell office furniture, they receive, deliver and install it. Advanced Office works with 30 commercial furniture dealers across the country and 10 major office furniture manufacturers; completes more than 1,000 projects a year; and counts more than 500 clients over the past 10 years. AOS has been known to work 20 jobs in a day. Projects have taken the company to California, Arizona, Wisconsin, Texas, Michigan and all over Ohio. Calls come from across the country.

Besides local office furniture dealerships, AOS’s impressive client list as contractors includes the likes of Nationwide Children’s Hospital of Columbus, Ohio Health, Indus Hotels, State Auto Insurance, American Electric Power, Limited Brands, Moody Nolan and the Upper Arlington City Schools.

Besides office furniture installation, Advanced Office Systems also specializes in project management and relocation services. Work with hotels and school systems has taken on added significance for the company in recent years.

Ballou and Doyle credit their combined 70 years in the office furniture installation business for their current success. Doyle began as a 17-year-old high school student working in the warehouse of Thomas W. Ruff. He later worked in Ruff’s project management division and as director of operations after the company was sold, then started an installation division for a local moving company. Ballou began his career at Kilgore Office Systems in Columbus, then worked for Thomas W. Ruff for nine years as an installer and supervisor, and was co-owner of Panel Solutions from 2004-2011.

Ballou and Doyle say they complement each other. Ballou does 90 percent of the client quotes, while Doyle does 90 percent of the project management and client relations on site.

“I wasn’t even sure what furniture installers did when I applied for my first job (in 1991),” Ballou says. “I liked it because you worked with your hands all the time, you worked with tools building things, there was always something new, and you’d be meeting new people all of the time.”

With a smile, Doyle describes their job “as building the world’s largest erector set. You knock everything down and then build it so people can sit at it.”

Advanced Office Systems regularly donates discarded furniture they collect to charities, including local Goodwill stores and an orphanage in Mexico. Doyle had previously volunteered at the orphanage on a church mission trip.

“Our policy is the less that’s put in the landfills, the better,” he says. “We always look for an opportunity to serve the community through our business.”

Office furniture installers pose In warehouse

AOS co-owners Cris Ballou (left) and Matt Doyle

With a smile, Doyle describes their job “as building the world’s largest erector set. You knock everything down and then build it so people can sit at it.”

Expert Commercial Office Furniture Installers

By the Numbers

70
Years of Combined Experience
10
Years in Business
10000 +
Projects Completed
500
Clients

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