Service is key differentiator for Strategic Business Systems

by Heather B. Hayes
Virginia Business
May 2005

No deal is too small for Scott Podmilsak and Gary Long, co-founders and co-owners of Strategic Business Systems, Inc., (SBS), a full-service systems integrator based in Herndon. “Almost everything we’ve done has started with one very small engagement and grown to become a very large, long-lasting customer for us,” Long says. “Ensuring that the customer has a good experience is our No. 1 focus.”

This can-do attitude and priority on customer service are just two of the factors driving this company’s rise. The company has recently enjoyed strong growth across all of its major business units: storage integration, server and systems integration, and government services.

Started seven years ago, SBS doubled its revenues in 2003 and again in 2004, when it grossed $17.5 million. Its customers include Dell, EMC, Northrop Grumman, Hewlett-Packard, the American Red Cross, the Navy, the Defense Logistics Agency and the State Department.

It is no surprise that Podmilsak, 36, and Long, 34, have worked together so well. They were college roommates and fraternity brothers at James Madison University and have pursued the same career track. Podmilsak worked as a systems engineer and an IT manager, first at Booz Allen Hamilton and then at American Management Systems. Long worked in the same type of positions. He was hired by Electronic Data Systems (EDS) after college before taking a position with a smaller company called Business Impact Systems.

They remained friends through the years, and when the American Red Cross needed some systems engineering work, they decided that a more financially beneficial alliance might be in order. “We were both at a career crossroads, and we had been discussing viable business models,” Podmilsak recalls. “So when we came across this opportunity, it seemed like the right time to go out on our own.”

To stand out in a highly competitive market, Podmilsak and Long decided early on to focus on a few niche areas, including the integration of storage solutions, Microsoft solutions and Open Source systems. Storage remains their most popular offering. SBS engineers provide assessment, design, implementation, operation and delivery of complex data-storage solutions for major original-equipment manufacturers, including Dell and EMS and other large companies. “From a services perspective, we’re fairly unique because we play in several marketplaces,” Long says. “On the larger projects, the Big 6 firms like Computer Sciences Corp. and EDS are our competitors, and in other instances, we’re competing against small, full-service integrators like ourselves.”

SBS balances its mix of services and markets by remaining small and flexible, while putting extra resources into acquiring — and keeping — top-level talent. “We know their concerns because we’ve walked in their shoes,” Long says.

The company invests heavily in the training, technical development and certification of its systems engineers. It also makes sure that they have the tools they need to do their jobs effectively. What’s more, Long says, “We always make it a point to listen to their suggestions, issues and problems. That goes a long way toward making them feel valued and appreciated.”

As the company continues its revenue growth rate of least 50 percent per year, Podmilsak and Long say getting talented systems engineers with a broad range of skills and top-level security clearance is becoming their most difficult challenge. The company hired more than 50 systems engineers last year and plans to add 75 more this year, bringing its employee total to more than 200. In anticipation of this wave of hiring, Long says, the company recently beefed up its internal recruiting operations.

For 2005, SBS plans to continue expanding its service offerings in storage while placing a heavy emphasis on growing its government services capabilities. Long says that SBS is teaming up with partners this year to pursue several large-scale federal systems integration projects. “Five years ago, we put together an ambitious roadmap, and now we’re a little bit ahead of those goals,” Long says. “So we’re pleased with where we’re at, but obviously, we’d like to continue to improve on our performance and growth.”