Meet Shankar Pillai, a Virginia Tech Hokie who founded his own government contracting company at the ripe old age of 21. OnPoint is now a $50 million leading IT business with a CMMI Maturity Level 3 rating. WashingtonExec asked Pillai about cloud computing, government procurement and acquisition, as well as how OnPoint has adapted to the fast-pace of technology industry since its founding in 1997.
WashingtonExec: Describe your professional background and how you became President of OnPoint Corp.
Shankar Pillai: I started OnPoint (formerly CSMi) more than 17 years ago, right after graduating from Virginia Tech (Go Hokies!). One of the nice things about starting your own company is that there isn’t much of a selection process…as long as you’re willing to put in the hours building and marketing your business, the job is yours! As a 21-year-old CEO of a company of one, I didn’t have much initial success winning business in my first year. But I was fortunate to have a father that was an experienced senior executive at several large civil engineering firms. He would take off one day a week from his “day job” and go with me on marketing calls to demonstrate to potential customers that the company had some experience behind it. Ultimately, we were able to convince our first customer (the Department of Energy) to give us a $25,000 task order, and the company took off from there!
WashingtonExec: How has OnPoint changed?
Shankar Pillai: I started OnPoint in April 1994. Over the past 17 years, we’ve grown from one employee and $25,000 in revenue to more than 200 very talented IT professionals and support staff with more than $50 million in 2010 revenue. OnPoint has continually invested in maturing our internal processes, and we are proud to be ISO 9001, ISO 20000, and ISO 27001 certified, as well as externally appraised at CMMI Maturity Level 3. What hasn’t changed over the past 17 years is our commitment to doing everything we can to make our federal government customers more successful and more efficient. OnPoint’s mission statement is “To leverage technology to improve how government works,” and I believe we live that mission every day.
WashingtonExec: What role(s) do you see cloud computing playing out in the next few years?
Shankar Pillai: I think it’s pretty clear from the market activity over the past two years that cloud computing is here to stay and will ultimately be embraced across the federal marketplace. As agencies continue to face budgetary pressure, eliminating data centers will be seen as an obvious opportunity for cost savings. From a contractor’s perspective, this means that traditional infrastructure service providers must move up the IT “value chain” and focus on services like systems development and engineering, cybersecurity, project management and other consulting-related services.
WashingtonExec: As a small business, what do you think of the current government procurement and acquisition process?
Shankar Pillai: As a result of continued pressure on budgets, federal agencies are consolidating contracts and increasing use of government wide acquisition contracts (GWACs) such as GSA Alliant Small Business and agency-specific, indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contracts such as Army ITS-SB, both of which OnPoint is fortunate to hold as a prime contractor. In an effort to spend more wisely, we are seeing an increased emphasis on demonstrated past performance and corporate certifications. I think both of these evaluation factors will benefit companies like OnPoint that can demonstrate a clear record of successful performance over many years as well as a corporate focus on quality management and best practices through certifications like ISO 9001, ISO 20000/27001, and CMMI maturity. In addition, many agencies are increasingly embracing a “low-price, technically acceptable” approach, forcing contractors to take on significant operational risks to deliver the winning price. In this environment, the successful firms are those that can introduce technology innovation to reduce costs, demonstrating a true cost savings to federal customers.
WashingtonExec: Is there anything else that you would like to tell WashingtonExec readers?
Shankar Pillai: OnPoint is launching a new web site and corporate brand in December 2011. I encourage all WashingtonExec reads to visit our new web site in the new year at www.onpointcorp.com.