13 May We’re now accepting entries for the 2014 RCP/RRCG Award. Here’s a peek at why Envision LLC was one of last year’s three winners.
This award, sponsored by Redmond Channel Partner magazine, and Revenue Rocket Consulting Group, recognizes and honors excellence in growth, and will be awarded to up to three IT services companies whose innovative business strategies resulted in sustained growth over a three-year period.
Last year the award went to three deserving companies, The Axis Group LLC in Berkeley Heights, N.J.; Envision LLC in St. Louis, MO; and Atlanta-based Intellinet Corporation, who we will be profiling in this blog over the next few weeks.
Why Envision LLC won in 2013. Until recently Envision spread its efforts among three businesses. The main focus was on IT staffing, but the company also did substantial IT project work and had a side business in hosting. As the economic downturn intensified a few years ago, staffing had the potential to be a good business as fewer companies wanted to commit to hiring new employees. Rather than trying to pursue all the newly available opportunities through its three existing businesses, management decided to strategically focus on one business and then monitor and manage it carefully.
Says Envision LLC Chairman Steve Lowy, “Three years ago we decided to focus only on staffing and to put all our time and effort into one service section. Envision has learned to be a flexible company, offering several business models – IT contractors, six-month right-to-hires and direct-hire replacements.”
This narrowing of the business to one strong element and watching it carefully led to mid-double digit annual increases in revenues that have led to a more than 100 percent growth rate over three years. Growth in EBITDA is equally strong.
To read more about the winning strategies for these three firms click on the link below for the article that profiled these companies in Redmond Channel Partner magazine.
http://rcpmag.com/articles/2013/10/01/rcp-rocket-awards.aspx
How you can enter for the 2014 Award.
The 2014 award is open to all U.S.-based IT services companies with annual revenues between $5 million and $75 million that provide a 1-2 page case study describing their business strategies, and how they have resulted in growth over the past three years. Deadline for submissions is June 1, 2014.
The award will be evaluated on two key criteria:
First, the strategies. What unique combination of strategies did you employ to generate the results you achieved? This section will constitute three quarters of the evaluation as we are most interested in understanding what and how various strategies drove success.
Second, the results. What did your company achieve over a three-year period in terms of revenue, profit, and other relevant metrics you deem appropriate? This will account for a quarter of the evaluation.
To be considered for the 2014 RCP/Rocket Excellence in Growth Award, please submit an essay, in case study format, that documents and supports your company’s growth for 2011, 2012 and 2013.
The format of the case study should include:
1) Company Background: Describe how you are positioned and differentiated in the market in terms of vendor alignment, technology focus, geographic reach, vertical emphasis, etc.
2) Strategic Initiatives: Identify the key strategic initiatives that your company implemented and how they drove your business over this period. This could include mergers and acquisitions, geographic expansion, new service line offerings, sales and marketing programs, key hires, etc.
3) Performance: Describe your company’s performance over this period, including revenue, profit and any other metric that makes your case.
4) Lessons Learned: What have you learned as a result of this effort?
In addition to an award plaque, winners will also be the focus of an article in a future issue of Redmond Channel Partner magazine and have a donation made in their name to a charity of their choice. Send submissions to sbekker@rcpmag.com.
The winners will be announced during the Microsoft Worldwide Partners Conference in July. The winner’s profile will appear in the October, 2014 issue of Redmond Channel Partner magazine.
On Tuesday, May 27 read how the Axis Group won its award.