For Ted Fernandez, chairman and CEO of Answerthink, the word of the day is "benchmarks." But Fernandez's company is a solution provider, not a database software maker or server manufacturer. So why is the Miami-based integrator so big on benchmarks? It's because Answerthink has been leveraging its research subsidiary, The Hackett Group, to develop best practices and operational-performance benchmarks that are helping it better serve current clients and win new customers as well. "It's been the single biggest strategic push for our company in the last year," he says.
The Hackett Group studies such corporate functions as finance, human resources, IT, sales and administration. The research is compiled and placed in a mammoth database of benchmark metrics for enterprise performance that includes every Dow Jones Industrial company and 90 percent of Fortune 100 companies. Answerthink used The Hackett Group's research to build its new Business Process Intelligence (BPI) service, which is designed to improve ROI for enterprise software. For example, the service helps clients choose the right business apps.
"There's a theme of operational efficiency in the industry today," Fernandez says. "I think there's a tremendous opportunity for companies to be much more efficient and get more out of their spending and investments."
Despite the emphasis on research and BPI, Answerthink's sharp software integration skills and IT savvy haven't dulled. The solution provider has a fervent presence in business applications, and its SAP business is particularly strong. But Answerthink, which scuttled its interactive marketing business late last year, has clearly undergone a transition.
"We have a world-renowned depository of data on how companies execute," he says. "The economy has forced people to find out what they are truly good at, and this research and diagnostic tool, for us, is our core value proposition."
Answerthink was No. 145 on the VARBusiness 500 ranking of solution providers.
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