Shirley Singleton, CEO Of Edgewater Technology

VB: What's your outlook on business intelligence?

Singleton: There's a fair amount of activity in the BI software market. I've talked with a lot of clients and prospects that in 2005 a strategic goal for them is getting a BI solution in place.

VB: How important was your acquisition of Ranzal and Associates, which specializes in BI solutions?

Singleton: This is just our second acquisition, so it's important. We wanted to find a company that was specifically targeted at BI and had some of the same vertical skills we had. It took us nine months.

VB: You spent a lot of time at international integrator LogicaCMG before taking over at Edgewater. What's the most important thing you learned from your time there?

Singleton: The biggest lesson was the importance of communication. As a smaller company, you start out with a lot of one-on-one interaction, and you have to be careful not to lose that as you grow.

VB: What's it like running a public solution provider these days?

Singleton: The rules have changed for sure. It costs a lot to be a public companyespecially when you're a smaller firm. When we went public in 1999, it was all about glitz and glamour. If you had $12 to $15 million in revenue, no one would blink an eye if you had an IPO.

VB: How did you survive?

Singleton: Good fundamentals helped us. We had a meeting in New York with [former CSFB investment banker] Frank Quattrone before we went public, and we presented to him. He called us dinosaurs and said we should be expanding and opening a million offices instead of making money. We didn't do that, and I think that's why we're standing here today.