American Executive - Where Business Leadership Begins

Co-founder, president, and CEO of Computer Enterprises, Inc., D. Raja, can tell the quintessential tale of entrepreneurship. He came to the United States from India in 1986 to earn his Master’s degree in computer science from the University of Pittsburgh and later an MBA from Carnegie Mellon University. After working for Lockheed Martin for nearly six years, he decided to venture out into the wilderness with his business partner, Barry Zungre.

Together, they formed Computer Enterprises, Inc. (CEI), a Pittsburgh-based IT services and consulting firm in 1993. Today, with about 450 employees and satellite offices in Westlake Village, Calif.; New York, NY; Indianapolis, Ind.; Crystal City, Va.; and an outsourcing and development center in Chennai, India, the company has come a long way since Raja and Zungre worked out of a spare bedroom.

According to Raja, CEI strives to be the number one IT services provider in terms of quality, not quantity. “We don’t want to serve so many clients that we can’t do our jobs efficiently, so we seek to create long-term relationships with clients whose needs fit our core competencies,” said Raja, adding that the company now serves clients across the country, including nearly 60% of the Fortune 50.

The Pittsburgh, Pa.-based company is so focused on providing quality services that when many IT companies began providing business process outsourcing several years ago, it didn’t jump on the trend. “Other companies distracted themselves from their core competencies and weren’t successful. We continued to stay focused on our key services, and that has worked well for us,” said Raja. In fact, it worked so well that CEI’s revenues reached an historic high in 2006, and Raja said he and his team are going to continue to push for growth.

In its quest for quality, CEI has acted as a pilot for local Carnegie Mellon University’s eSourcing Capability Model for Service Providers (eSCM-SP), a set of outsourcing standards that will soon take the industry by storm.

According to Carnegie Mellon University’s Web site, eSCM-SP addresses critical issues related to IT-enabled sourcing. Sourcing providers use eSCM-SP to systematically determine their existing capabilities and find means for improvement. In addition, clients use the methodology to shop for service providers.

“eSCM-SP doesn’t just evaluate each project—it goes across the company, into sales, HR, the legal department, recruiting, etc.,” said Raja, noting that CEI is working toward level-four certification, the highest certification achievable.

Using eSCM-SP, the company holds quarterly meetings with key clients during which it demonstrates financial and operational improvements. It also presents clients with efficiencies they can implement, either on their own or with CEI’s help. “We also share best practices, such as how to hire and retain the best talent,” Raja said.

He added that Carnegie Mellon typically works with Fortune 50 or 100 companies but chose to work with mid-market CEI because it demonstrated tremendous potential. “Carnegie Mellon is my alma mater, and I’m proud to work with its team. With their assistance, we are a year ahead of the industry in implementing the eSCM-SP standards.”

Agile strategy
In 2003, CEI began implementing its proprietary Global Agile Development methodology using Rational Unified Process (RUP), Extreme Programming (XP), and Scrum. The methodology is built on solid software principles promoted by the Capability Maturity Model (CMM and CMMi), traditional processes promoted by Project Manager Professional (PMP) certifications, and emerging new process frameworks supported by eSCM. According to Raja, CMMI drives process improvements across a project, a division, or an entire company. Using Global Agile Development, CEI is able to deliver results to clients within 30 days.

“Let’s say the task at hand is building and launching a complex e-commerce site.

Most companies would develop an eight- to 10-month strategic plan, meaning that the client has to wait at least that long to go live. We’d develop a plan that gets a basic site up and running in 30 days, and we continue to add functionality each month for the life of the project,” said Raja.

There are two main benefits from using Global Agile Development. First, clients don’t have to define everything they need up front. Typically, Raja explained, IT services companies spend months mapping out a plan, only to realize four months down the road that the client’s needs have changed. CEI takes a different route. It sends a core team to the client’s site to brainstorm. “If the client comes up with a list of 100 tasks, we’d help them pick five to start. When those are accomplished, we pick the next five, and so on. But our plan allows clients to change their requirements as often as they need to.”

Second, clients see results almost immediately. In addition, because they provide feedback in real time throughout the project rollout, clients can see the final product sooner than if an IT service provider had to go back to the drawing board multiple times.

Best and brightest
With technological advancements sweeping the industry every three to six months, CEI takes hiring and retaining the best and the brightest seriously. It has a five-tier interview process and hires talented individuals from across the country. “We tell our clients, who are mostly local companies, that although we have several offices, we’re going to find the best person in the company to handle their needs. That may mean a person in our New York office needs to take on a client in California,” Raja said.

CEI’s core values help retain employees once they climb on board: team work, excellence, integrity, dedication, creativity, fairness, and fun. All values are considered critical to the company’s success, but fun is key, Raja said. “We work hard, but we play harder.”

According to Raja, the majority of CEI’s staff are fitness buffs, and the company has an arrangement with a nearby fitness center. The company also escapes the grind with a quarterly event, such as a trip to Dave and Busters, laser tag, billiards and darts, baseball games, and picnics. “We change it every quarter so no one gets bored.”

Raja even tries to make meetings fun. During quarterly meetings, he asks each department head to share a funny or inspirational story that occurred during the last quarter. “The meetings are fun because they are about employees, and they end up being quite lively. Everyone gets a good laugh, and it creates opportunities for further communication and teambuilding.”