Rapidigm Brings 37 Years of IT Consulting to Park

By George Walsh, Hacienda Network Staff Writer

Industry-Leading Firm Leases 3,000 Square Foot Facility at 4305 Hacienda Drive

Rapidigm, a provider of enterprise resource planning (ERP), e-commerce, and information technology (IT) consulting services, established a presence in the Tri-Valley at 4305 Hacienda Drive in September. The new 3,000 square foot office will primarily serve as a sales office for the company and will be the workplace for 10 people.

Rapidigm has 25 offices nationwide, approximately 2,500 employees in the U.S., and 800 employees at three campuses in India. Of these employees, over 2,000 are experienced IT consultants. The company has served more than 1,700 clients worldwide, including many Fortune 500 firms. Rapidigm's corporate headquarters is located in Pittsburg PA and its West Coast headquarters are in Sacramento. It has been named to the Inc. 500 fastest growing companies two years in a row.

"The main service that we provide for our customers is the implementation and upgrade of ERP applications," says Mark Turgeon, Rapidigm's Bay Area director. "Our services are provided to enterprises looking to improve their business processes by controlling costs, inventory, and the process of delivering and receiving goods." ERP software strives to integrate different work groups within a company onto a single computer system. For example, it can be used to link finance, human resources, manufacturing, delivery processing, and sales departments so that they can synchronize their activities.

Rapidigm was founded in 1968 by Lewis P. Wheeler as Computerpeople Inc. Wheeler served as the company's president and chairman until 1998 when he became CEO. Before founding Rapidigm, Wheeler was employed by IBM from 1963 to 1968. With annual revenues of nearly $300 million dollars, Rapidigm has a strategic partnership with Oracle as a Certified Advantage Partner in the Oracle E-Business Suite, Oracle Technology, PeopleSoft Enterprises, JD Edwards World and JD Edwards EnterpriseOne products; with SAP as a mySAP Services Partner, Team SAP Partner, and ASAP Partner; and with Siebel as an Ace Consulting Partner. Strategic partnerships are typically situations in which companies work together in an agreement that benefits both parties and their customers. In the case of a software application, when a company produces a product, it can be beneficial to create a partnership with a company that will install it and set it up correctly.

Rapidigm also has service partnerships with IBM, Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, BEA, Vignette, Plumtree, Cognos, Informatica, and Information Builders. Service partnerships are generally relationships between a company that builds a product (such as software) and another company that it deems to be proficient in the maintenance or installation of its product. While service and strategic partnerships are inherently similar (the definitions even overlap at times), their goal is to be ensure that a customer is satisfied with both the product itself and its use within a customer's organization.

"We specialize in business and technology solutions," Turgeon says. "We provide end-to-end system integration services. We don't sell hardware, we don't sell software. Our core competency is to help companies keep their business systems up and running. Our consultants go on site to work for customers to provide services under a number of different models: long-term engagements, short-term problem solving, and assistance with business software systems. Most of our employees work at our clients' sites. The amount of time that they work onsite depends on the needs of the customer."

Rapidigm's customers include Alcoa, Chevron, Cisco Systems, Exxon, Hewlett Packard, Motorola, and other high-profile organizations. It is among the largest privately held, wholly American-owned corporations in its industry sector.

Photo: The staff of Rapidigm's Hacienda office is experienced in IT at many levels.

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