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By Anna Marie Kukec Daily Herald Business
Writer Posted on August 08, 2001
When many tech firms chased after the dot-com
business last year, Genisys Consulting Inc. quietly served
its bricks-and-mortar clientele.
That traditional business approach in a
nontraditional arena has helped keep the Elk Grove Village
programmers afloat for about 11 years, especially after many
dot-coms crashed amid the sluggish economy this past year.
"Throughout the mid-90s when companies
were doubling and tripling in size, we decided we wanted to
remain at about a 25 percent growth rate," said Vice
President David W. Stewart, a Wheaton resident.
Genisys has its roots in three co-workers
who became friends and then partners.
Stewart along with Jeffrey A. Martini of
Arlington Heights and Michael Reiss of Palatine met each other
in 1988 while working at the Board of Trade Clearing Corp.
in Chicago.
They decided to leave behind their jobs
and becoming entrepreneurs. In March 1990, Genisys was incorporated
and a partnership was born.
Within six months, they hired their first
programmer. Their business grew, and they moved to a shared
office in Itasca and then to another location in Rolling Meadows.
Today, Genisys is headquartered in Elk Grove Village with
85 employees.
Last year, Genisys earned $9.2 million and
expects slightly more this year.
The company provides information technology
consulting, programming, and software solutions for Fortune
500 companies, such as Motorola Inc., Allstate, ABM Amro,
Northern Trust, Zurich Scutter, US Freightways and Allied
Van Lines. The partners also have continued their ties with
their so-called alma mater, the Board of Trade.
"We started out with the Board of Trade
as our first client," said Stewart. "It was supposed
to be just a two-month assignment, and they're still our client
today."
Such longevity and its long-time partnership
with Microsoft products helped Genisys share the limelight
when Microsoft came to Chicago to launch Office XP.
During the launch, Genisys became one of
the featured companies on stage with Microsoft Chief Executive
Officer Steve Ballmer. Genisys demonstrated a custom version
of Office XP to cater to individual customer needs.
Genisys is one of 30 tech firms nationwide
that is a Microsoft managed partner, meaning its has direct
resources through Microsoft for selling and service, unlike
others who sell or use such products.
Besides Microsoft products, Genisys offers
a variety of other solutions for customers, said Martini.
"In our 11 years of seeing new technology
come and go, we see some firms focus on a certain product,"
Martini explained. "But we are customer focused, and
could use Java or other software and applications to get the
job done."
However, change seems much faster now, noted
Reiss.
"There's always a fad that a company
would jump on," said Reiss. "The mainframe world
moved much slower than today. We just try to keep the company
and its people up to date."
Filling a customer's needs is vital for
return business, according to Bob Loies, director of application
development for Micro General in Chicago.
Doing all the information technology work
for Fidelity Title, which merged with Chicago Title and Trust,
Micro General needed programmers who could handle a specific
type of software and machine. Genisys offered two employees
to work on-site, and Micro General has relied on Genisys ever
since.
"There's a marked difference in the
skill set offered at Genisys," said Loies.
Doug Besso, now vice president of business
application development for First Union Securities, has relied
on Genisys since its early days. Genisys IT specialists work
on-site at First Union's Chicago office nd fit right in with
the staff, Besso said.
"Other companies that send their people
here to do IT work are not team players," said Besso.
"They're just in it for the short haul. But at Genisys,
they're in it for the long haul and are part of our team."
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