Intrinsic Believes In Power Of Partnerships

Intrinsic Technologies, founded by Tom LaMantia, Rick Schendelman, Pat Fisher and Mike Gersten, has grown over the past five years into a 60-employee company catering to regional Fortune 500 firms from its Lisle-based headquarters.

The company's growth has been sweat equity with no capital investment.

"We started this right in the midst of the dot-com boom," said Gersten, who wears the official hat of director of sales. "But we made a conscious decision not to become an Internet services company."

It was a wise move considering the many Internet services companies, including MarchFirst, that crashed and burned. Gersten said a deliberate and exclusive focus on IT systems management consulting services and investment in a relationship with Microsoft have helped fuel the company's consistent, albeit small, growth. Gersten declined to provide specific revenue figures but said the company saw 40 percent growth in 2001.

Intrinsic has alliances with Aelita, Bindview, Cisco Systems, Citrix Systems, Exodus Communications, Marimba, Novadigm and Novell as well. About 80 percent of its business, however, is based on its relationship with Microsoft.

"Microsoft is probably the single most important partner to us, and it works both ways," said Gersten. "They provide opportunities for us, and we provide opportunities for them."

Intrinsic now has one full-time sales professional dedicated solely to managing the relationship with Microsoft. And 28 engineers carry the Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer designation. Fifteen have completed the newer MCSE certification for Windows 2000 systems.

From Microsoft's side, while there are more than 900 technology providers in the Midwest alone that are members of the Microsoft Certified Partner Program, Intrinsic is one of just three designated Gold Certified for enterprise systems.

Jeffrey Braun, Microsoft's partner manager for the Midwest, said Microsoft and Intrinsic are starting to meet with Microsoft's enterprise customers to discuss the deployment of Microsoft's Operations Manager software.

"Intrinsic has a lot of expertise in that area, more so than most partners, and because of that we are going to use them to discuss the Operations Manager solution [with our biggest customers," Braun said.

Braun said the partnership works well because of Intrinsic's proven ability in systems management but also because the company puts customers at ease.

"Intrinsic has a predictable way of engagement," Braun said. "So we know our customers are going to get something beneficial from it."

Intrinsic's relationship with Microsoft has also fueled organic growth in the form of capitalizing on opportunities with other Microsoft partners in the area. Braun points to Intrinsic's recent informal partnership with regional Microsoft partner Information Management Group, which focuses on technical education services and application devices.

Gersten said that kind of organic growth for a small consulting company, particularly in the midst of a market downturn, proves there is always a demand for knowledge capital.