The Revere Group

FIRM FACTS

Chief Executive Officer:

Michael Parks, 38

Employees: 430

2000 revenues: $68 million

Deerfield-based The Revere Group is a profitable, nine-year-oldtechnology and business consulting company with offices in sixcities. It helps clients select and implement technology to improvetheir operations. Specialties include supply chain management,customer relationship management and e-commerce. Here are the viewsof Chief Executive Michael Parks, 38:

Challenges: "Technology is constantly changing. We face challengesof how to identify the next wave."

Solutions: "We have an Excellence Center chartered withidentifying trends, doing the research. When we identify an area thatis going to be coming into the mainstream, we put the proper plans inplace, the training of the individuals, the communication of thatexpertise to the marketplace."

On the economy: "Companies are putting some (capital) expendituresoff. We want to be profitable every year, which we have been. Even inthis tough economy, we are forecasting growth. We're just being moreconservative. Hiring is based on demand, where two years ago, (theindustry hired) in anticipation of demand."

Dot-coms not a focus: "We've built this company based on strongbusiness fundamentals, good, strong, solid, profitable growth. We'vetargeted the more established, brick-and-mortar type companies, thathave money, that are here today and they're going to be heretomorrow.

"We shied away from the start-up firms who are not financed. Backin '99 and 2000, what was extremely common was dot-com firms comingto firms like us and asking them to trade services for equity. Wedidn't get tempted by the gold rush mentality and start tradingrevenue for equity-and, by the way, that equity ended up being worthnothing, so in essence you were giving away your services."

Defining moment: "We felt pressure in the late '90s, in 2000 to gopublic-pressures from competitors who did go public, their stockprices going from $12 up to $90. We heard employees saying we weren'tgiving them enough equity opportunity.

"We held off because, one, if you're a publicly traded consultingfirm, you have to be predictable. You have to be able to consistentlyproduce quarterly financial results and hit those revenue andprofitability expectations of Wall Street. Our business tends to ebband flow. It's very hard to predict. We didn't see how we couldforecast our business accurately.

"Secondly, if you're (among the first) vice presidents in ourcompany, and we went public and we were successful, then you'dprobably walk away with a large financial payout. If you were the500th vice president with our company, and we were fortunate enoughto grow to be a $1 billion-plus company, your equity opportunitywould be less than the first vice presidents. That dilutes the typeof talent you can recruit and retain.

"We had a strong culture. We did not face turnover problemsbecause we were able to walk (employees) through our basicphilosophy, which is we're going to be a privately held professionalservices consulting company in business to service our clients, tobuild something that is sustainable, and not that shoots up to themoon in a rocket but comes crashing down to Earth twice as fast. Wemade the right decision. Today is a great time to be privately heldand cash-strong. We're not facing the challenges that a publicservices company has whose stock has gone from $90 down to $2."

Uniqueness: "We're addressing a niche in the marketplace that'sunderserved, the middle-tier marketplace. If you're a $500 millioncompany, you're probably not getting the attention of the Big 5 typefirms, but if you have a $1 million technology project on your plate,that's critical to you. You need someone who that's going to becritical to them as well. You need someone to (view you as) a bigfish in a small pond. That's what that client is to us."

A look ahead: "We're starting to see some demand in the wirelessfield and are positioning our company (to meet that). But we're(also) still in about the third inning of a nine-inning game when itcomes to the Internet, to e-commerce. And there's still an incredibleamount of work to be done, of efficiencies that can be realized bycompanies through leveraging technology, streamlining businessprocesses."

Stress relievers: "It's being with my wife and my four kids. I'mvery relaxed around the family."