Brooks Back In Saddle With E5 Systems

Brooks has a long history in application management and consulting as a co-founder of Cambridge Technology Partners and founder of Breakaway Solutions.

Unlike Breakaway, which many industry pundits felt landed in bankruptcy court because it had trouble figuring out what it wanted to be,ASP, Web integrator or hosting provider,E5 Systems has a precise focus on helping customers develop and implement an application management strategy.

"Despite what happened at Breakaway, Gordon has certainly amassed a lot of knowledge along the way, and I think one thing he, and many others in that [dot-com era, learned is that focus is ultra-important these days," said John Madden, senior analyst at Summit Strategies.

E5 Systems launched its operations in October 2001 when Brooks began calling on CIOs and business-line executives of Fortune 1000 companies. What it discovered was that 95 percent of the companies have a formal process for new application development, while 90 percent of these companies do not have well-documented methodologies or tools for managing these applications.

E5 Systems' goal is to assess customers' environments and in turn introduce methodologies to manage applications. The customer then has the option of having E5 Systems manage the application on-site or offshore.

"E5 Systems came about from several trends," said Brooks, president and CEO. "Spending has slowed and there is a drive for efficiency and cost-cutting, which can be achieved through offshore development and management and through outsourcing. We had executives who told us, 'All I know is that the CFO wants me to cut out 20 percent of the costs we have.' "

Over time, E5 Systems wants to work with ASPs, MSPs and other solution providers as an extension of their service offerings. There will also be a sales opportunity for solution providers and some customer-facing work, he said.