Know the problem, plan accordingly

ESCgov Inc. makes its debut on theFast 50 list in the No.1 spot, havingrecorded $46.5 million in revenuein 2007, for a five-year annual growth rateof 275.59 percent.Raj Mittu, chief executive officer, andGuy Speers, president, were NorthropGrumman Corp. employeesinvolved in the leasingand financing of hardwareand software at atime when federal agencieswere experiencingsoaring costs for suchservices. That's when theyhit on the business plan for ESCgov."Agencies want to be able to account forthe value received for every dollar theyspend," Speers said.In 2003, Mittu and Speers foundedMcLean, Va.-based ESCgov, which stoodfor Enterprise Solutions Corp. To meet thegovernment's growing demand for greateraccountability, the company replacedthe traditional time ? and materials ?billing model with what they call a nextgenerationmethod that permits agenciesto pay only for the information technologyservices they use ? as much or as little asneeded. It is akin to the homeowners'electric usage charges, Speers said.ESCgov used that model as a computerservices subcontractor for the DefenseInformation Systems Agency, which didnot want to own mainframe computers orbe charged flat fees for contractors' timeon site, Speers said.Under the contract, DISA pays ESCgovaccording to its monthly use. "The processingcapacity that they are acquiringthrough the products and services can bemeasured in MIPS, or millions of iterationsper second," Speers said. "We've createda level of accountability within ourstructure that allows government to actuallymap the value received for every dollarspent."ESCgov began as a vendor specializingin software as a service and hardware as aservice primarily to intelligence communityand Defense Department customers,including DISA, theDefense Intelligence Agency, andthe Treasury and HomelandSecurity departments.Although the company hadnumerous opportunities early to gointo the services business, "we intentionallystayed away from that until wehad a real strong core capability to deliverour mission, and that is the on-demandand utility-based models," Mittu said."Now that we've established ourselvesin the industry, the opportunity to continueto grow in areas where we offertremendous value to our government customersis really starting to take place," headded."The risk that we run is growing a littletoo quickly," Mittu said. "Opportunity isalways there to do that. We want to moveforward as it makes sense and when it'sthe right thing to do."Mittu said that in the next five years, hewants the company to expand its corecapabilities and services offerings. "Theupcoming years are looking extremelypromising for us. And 2008 is lookinglike it's going to be substantially greaterand larger than any of the five years thatwe've had previously."Mittu said he would advise anycompany just starting out in business tounderstand what the problem the companyis organized to solve. He said thatknowledge has opened doors for ESCgovto work with many of its government customers."It comes down to knowing whatwe do and knowing what we don't do.And that's the clarity."As for ESCgov's competition, Speerssaid he is not aware of another companythat offers both software as a service andhardware as a service in a secure federalenvironment. "So we feel pretty goodabout that ? for now."