 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
| Current Projects | |
|
|
| Press Releases | |
|
|
 |
News About Daman |
|
|
| Articles & White Papers | |
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
A Small Firm in a Big Business
Daman profits from boom in tech consulting
Karen Wagner
The Austin Business Journal
Software and Internet firms are far from the only tech
companies reaping rewards these days.
According to Dain Rauscher Inc., a Minneapolis-based investment firm that tracks the computer consulting industry,
for every dollar spent on software, up to $10 is spent on consulting services. Software consulting is a $7.5 billion
industry employing 25,000 consultants in the United States alone.
With annual sales between $10 million and $15 million, Austin-based Daman Consulting Inc. draws a respectable share
of revenue in the consulting industry.
Daman Consulting provides data warehousing and enterprise application integration solutions for the insurance,
financial services and manufacturing industries.
Daman's president and CEO, Gita Lal, came up with the idea for her consulting firm while working on her doctoral
degree at the University of Texas.
For her thesis on software information systems, Lal was doing marketing and consulting work in Austin for high
tech companies such as Advanced Micro Devices Inc. and Microsoft Corp. From this vantage point, Lal saw the need
for ways to integrate software applications that could better organize the huge amounts of data amassed by insurance
and financial services companies to provide better, faster analysis.
Daman was incorporated in 1995 and opened in 1996 -- an opportune time, Lal says, because it was when these data-heavy
industries aggressively were retooling to address potential Y2K problems.
"We saw the extent to which the [consulting] market was exploding, the extent to which Y2K was requiring new
applications to be put into place," Lal says.
"It seemed like a good opportunity to dive into, and that's how we got started."
Lal and her husband, Bhala Ghatate, along with another couple began the business with about $40,000 of their own
money. The other couple left later to pursue other interests.
Taking a conservative approach, they focused on being profitable rather than growing too quickly. They worked out
of home offices for the first 14 months and started turning a profit about two weeks after opening.
"In retrospect, I think we could have gone longer periods without being profitable just by investing more
aggressively in growth," Lal says.
Nevertheless, early growth climbed to 200 percent annually. More recently, Lal says, revenue has been doubling,
which she expects to happen in 2000 as well. To reach that level, Lal says, the workforce also will double. Daman
now has 50 employees, including 40 consultants.
One of Daman's goals is to increase local visibility. As a young business community, Austin has few Fortune 1000
companies, which is Daman's client base. However, Lal says, the company has set its sights on a few local companies.
One is Whole Foods Market Inc. Also, Lal says she has made winning an account with Dell Computer Corp. her personal
challenge.
Other targets include S.C. Johnson & Son Inc., Toyota Motor Co., General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co.
Competing for international clients in a billion-dollar industry logically means Daman is up against competitors
that have better recognition and deeper pockets -- giants such as Chicago-based Andersen Consulting and New York
City-based PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP.
"Typically, what we're doing, the big boys are doing as well. The reason we win is because we are a very specialized
house," Lal says.
"We are very focused on what we deliver and can deliver value faster, usually, than large organizations."
Lal says this is achieved in part through a more aggressive approach. Although large firms might fine-tune a project
more before the client ever sees it, Daman puts together a model in about a month, then lets the client work with
it for a while and make an assessment.
"You want to get momentum going on a project like this very quickly," Lal says.
In addition to working faster, Lal says, Daman also is able to work better. The firm recruits consultants who are
knowledgeable in computer science and computer engineering, rather than just managing information systems.
"So what we have to start out with are core technologists," Lal says. "So their capabilities with
regards to technical solutions are that much stronger."
Karen Brinker, data strategist for greeting card manufacturer Hallmark Cards Inc. in Kansas City, Mo., says she
prefers to work with boutique firms for that reason.
"A lot of the people with the most experience are either with small companies or independents," Brinker
says. "You don't get that when you work with someone like Andersen," for data warehousing services in
particular.
Daman now is handling a data warehousing project for Hallmark. Brinker is working with industry veteran Michael
Haisten, who was named Daman's vice president of information architecture service in 1999. Haisten has more than
22 years of experience in information management, including a stint as chief information architect at Apple Computer
Corp. He had worked with Daman as a consultant on several projects before coming aboard full time.
As the computer industry evolves, Daman has retooled the focus of its services. The firm moved from Y2K to data
management to enterprise application integration. These days, of course, the focus is the Internet.
"The Internet's just being blended into all this," Lal says. "Portals in themselves are becoming
very critical as a delivery mechanism for data warehousing as well as an integration mechanism of legacy systems."
Daman is trying to find ways to integrate Web-based applications into the existing software systems of a company.
Clients want to be able to access data and other information about their own enterprise from a portal site, much
like what is found on a Web site.
"The cool thing about this is, not only do they want to make them inward-looking, they want to make them outward-looking,"
Lal says.
"The entire idea in the end is going to be to have this single, portal or access point to all systems that
matter to you, whether it's your internal systems, whether it's your vendor systems, whether its client systems,
distributor systems -- whatever's relevant to an individual sitting in an organization."
Another issue related to integrating Web applications is real-time integration.
International companies such as Pillsbury need access to data in real time, not simply at the end of the day. E-commerce
companies, which operate around the clock, are another potential client for this new application.
Picture someone perusing a Web site, clicking on various links. Tracking that trail of clicks as they're happening
is crucial. Meaningful analysis and content customization is required to keep the user on the site until the end
goal is achieved, which in this case would mean the user bought something.
Daman already is looking to form relationships with local e-commerce companies. Lal says dot-coms simply are running
out of time to develop this expertise on their own, so they're seeking to outsource these application integration
projects.
"I know people don't think about the services sector when they think about the high tech industry. But the
services industry [is] very critical to the success of high tech," Lal says. "Our sector is becoming
more and more important."
Copyright 2000 American City Business Journals
