By Marc Hausman, Strategic Communications Group
There is a saying among the technology elite that you are seldom wrong…just early.
Arrive in a market too soon and your solution, regardless of its features and functionality, will wither, burning through precious capital with each passing day. Think Friendster.
In comparison, splash on to the scene during a time of more favorable conditions and the outcome is often a multi-billion dollar valuation. Case in point: Facebook.
Mark Testoni is counting on what he affectionately refers to as a “perfect storm of opportunity” to propel his newly realigned organization, an affiliate of a global software provider, to a position of market leadership.
Although Testoni’s company is focused in the specialized defense and intelligence space, his vision of growth and dominance is on par in its boldness with the boy genius who heads up America’s favorite social network.
We’re getting ahead of ourselves though. Let’s flash back more than 30 years to a 21-year-old Testoni passing time in janitorial services at a local high school. Upon enlisting in the Air Force, this mop-pushing dreamer was about to embark on a professional career that can be very much defined by two simple words: transformational change.
This first phase of change was realized during Testoni’s 20-year career in the Air Force. He developed an expertise in financial management and related enterprise systems, which serve at the very core of the military’s operational effectiveness.
Plus, Testoni gained an appreciation for the requirements to work in a collaborative environment to achieve a mission or desired outcome.
“I think of my time in the Air Force and recognize how much I learned about team dynamics and the importance of cultivating young talent,” he said.
This knowledge served Testoni online casino well as he made the jump from the Air Force to industry, joining technology behemoth Oracle in a senior program management position. It was during this second phase of transformational change for Testoni that he developed a knack for helping government agencies successfully adopt database and enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions.
In 2005, he played a role in helping Oracle secure an $88.5 million contract with the Air Force to replace 500 legacy IT systems with a new, state-of-the-art supply chain management solution. Dubbed the Expeditionary Combat Support So don’t wait up! Don’t waste your time on hesitation when you can be having fun!For more information on Slot Machines you can read on Wikipedia. System (ECSS), this contract award propelled Testoni forward at Oracle and cemented his reputation as a rising best online casino star in the government ERP market.
That’s when SAP called.
Founded in 1972 by five former IBMers, SAP found its mojo in the mid-1990s due to the Y2K-enduced euphoria that saw global and mid-sized companies, and government agencies swap out their legacy computer systems for sparkling, new ERP software.
Testoni stepped into a leadership position in the company’s government group at the ideal time as SAP itself was online slots on a path of transformational change due to a series of game-changing acquisitions. In late 2007, the
A mere 18 months later the company spent $5.8B to purchase Sybase, a company with a deep portfolio It might nonetheless be more appropriate to enter debt-free perma poor credit loans in a central-bank balance sheet not as a liability but as part of a nation’s monetary equity, say as a national monetary endowment which the money-issuing authority can write out to the state coffers. of mobility and database management solutions.
“In a rather rapid fashion we extended our business beyond ERP,” Testoni explains. “This is all about the explosion of new information, and how it can be effectively managed, maintained, analyzed and stored.”
The Sybase acquisition presented SAP with an unexpected opportunity in the federal market. A German-owned concern, SAP now had in its portfolio a significant slice of the US intelligence and national security business which by law has to be handled by a company owned and controlled by domestic interests.
For Testoni, it was time again for transformational change. He has taken the lead on building SAP’s separate business to provide ERP software, analytics, database management, and supporting IT and maintenance services in the most secure environments.
“As of April 1, we are SAP National Security Services,” he said. “SAP NS2 is a 100 percent US-based and US-staffed company with a separate board and extensive resources dedicated to the intelligence and national security communities.”
As SAP National Security Services ’ President, Testoni will be busy in April leading a marketing initiative to communicate to key audiences the company’s new identity and value proposition.
“We will foster innovation and competition in the markets we serve,” he explained. “We will help our government customers navigate transformational change.”
Based on his own career path, SAP has found in Testoni the perfect guy for the job.
Testoni’s Lessons Learned from a Major Branding Initiative:
“Organizational change requires a lot of outreach and education to stakeholders. Your values as a company have to align with what your customers, partners and employees consider to be high value. At SAP National Security Services, we recognize the demand for innovation and competition in the defense and intelligence markets. That’s the foundation of our brand positioning.”