American CyberSystems, Inc. (ACS Group): Providing best in breed business and workforce management solutions to clientele worldwide

American CyberSystems, Inc. (ACS Group) serves the contingent workforce marketplace from end to end, providing information technology and engineering staffing and solutions, healthcare business solutions, and workforce management solutions to Fortune 1000 companies in all major industries.The company has more than 35 offices in 21 states across the U.S., and 4 delivery centers in India.

ACS Groupwas founded by Raj Sardanain 1998. The years from 1998 to 2000 were akin to a gold rush in the technology industry, and like all market pioneers during that time, Raj had a plan to strike it big. Unlike many of these market pioneers, however, Raj chosenot to enter the market with a dot com. Instead, he decided that ACS Group was better positioned to be a provider of talent. This was a perceptive move that helped ACS Group to flourish through the dot com bust. ACS Group positioned itself as a preferred vendor to a handful of large defense integrators seeking a reliable, minority-owned subcontractor for their government IT projects. The company developed a name for itself as a great employer and service provider, and strengthened its reputation for reliability and integrity.

“In this period, we shifted gears and began supplying workforce augmentation to the U.S. government. After working for two years in the government space, we saw the need to elevate the company to a higher level. We earned a top secret facility clearance and became a significant player in this space., And we were also establishing a strong foundation for what was to come,” saidSardana.

Being Different in the Domain
ACS Group adheres to its core competencies and faces competition through the uniqueness of its approach. They take pride in having the size to be responsive, having the experience to be efficient and providing cost efficiency through their best-shore delivery model. Combined with program scalability and flexibility, ACS Group has added a layer of quality in their approach to data security, auditing, and communication, and their status as a large MBE helps their customers meet diversity requirements with confidence.

The popularity and success of the company is evidenced by the recognition they have recently received:

• Recognized as the 9th largest IT and Engineering Consulting/Staffing company in the U.S. – 2015 (Staffing Industry Analysts)
• Ranked the Largest IT Staffing firm in Minneapolis – 2015 (eighth consecutive year) (AIC – Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal)
• Ranked the 2nd largest Diversity Staffing Firm in the U.S. – 2015 (Staffing Industry Analysts)
• Inavero™ Best of Staffing Company – 2015 (fourth consecutive year) (AIC)
• A Top 100 Largest Global Staffing & Recruitment Firm worldwide (Staffing Industry Analysts)
• EY Entrepreneur of the Year award in the Southeast region – 2015 – Raj Sardana, Chairman and CEO, American CyberSystems Inc.
• CFO of the Year – 2015 – Nick Goel, CFO, American CyberSystems Inc. (Atlanta Business Chronicle)
• Georgia Fast 40 Hall of Fame Honoree – 2015 – ACS Group (ACG Atlanta)

In Conversation with the Key Executive
a. What motivated you to start this business?
I founded ACS Group in 1998 with the purpose of sourcing consultants globally to work on Y2K and dot com projects at major U.S. companies. While many companies struggled after Y2K, ACS Group grew steadily, gaining new customers through increased service offerings until the recession of 2008. Drawing from experience gained through these boom and bust cycles, we chose to seize new opportunities to accelerate growth while others sought shelter. Having already tested the waters with a handful of smaller acquisitions, ACS Group capitalized on opportunities in the wake of the recession and acquired progressively larger companies. Today, the ACS Group of services and solutions are organized within its three major operating companies: Analysts International Corporation, COMFORCE, and HireGenics.

b. Provide us a brief overview of the products and services offered by your company?
Through our operating companies, ACS Group offers Information Technology (IT) and Business Solutions, Healthcare Business Solutions, IT and Engineering Staffing, and Workforce Management Solutions.

• Analysts International Corporation

Analysts International Corporation provides IT, Engineering, and Business staffing and solutions, operating from within two business units: Analysts, and AnalystsTech.

Analysts provides IT and Business Solutions via managed teams, managed services, and project-based (SOW) solutions delivered on site, remotely onshore from U.S rural development centers, or off shore. Analysts specializes in: Application and System Development Services, Enterprise Information Management (EIM) Services, Business Consulting Services, and Architecture Services.

AnalystsTech provides IT and Engineering Staff Augmentation Services. Our IT staff augmentation services span the software development lifecycle, from IT project managers, to business analysts, architects, data/BI analysts, application developers, and software quality assurance/test.

• COMFORCE

COMFORCE provides Healthcare Business Solutions, from Medical coding (Domestic and International), to Healthcare staffing and Business Process Outsourcing.

• HireGenics

HireGenics provides Workforce Management Solutions and RPO. Services include Payrolling, IC Classification and Compliance, Recruitment Process Outsourcing (Domestic and International), and MSP Services.

c. Whom do you credit for the success of ACS Group?
The company has built its success on a solid foundation – investments in technology to lower the cost of delivering high quality service, a globalized service delivery model to astutely mix on-shore and off-shore capabilities, a high-touch customer service culture to meet the needs of customers and consultants, a robust balance sheet, and a seasoned management team.

d. Who are your big clients? In which vertical do you see the most traction?
Since our inception in 1998, ACS has made a significant impact on the Workforce Management and Compliance landscape. Our customers include Fortune 1000 companies in all industries, with a focus in the IT, Telecom, Healthcare, Engineering, and Financial sectors.

e. What are your plans for the days ahead?
We have achieved success on the foundation of our core principles – Reliability, Quality, Integrity, and Value. The value driver is the hardest to achieve in the services marketplace – a relentless environment of increasing cost pressures – but we are well positioned to continue our success. Healthcare will remain a focus as a result of recent and ongoing regulatory changes, and we remain well situated to serve our customers through these changes.

In the years ahead, we will continue to position our company as a service provider with top-notch teams and best-in-class processes. We are capitalizing on our past successes and continuing to grow our footprint by adding new services and customers and by expanding our presence within our existing customer base.

Meet Raj Sardana

Raj Sardana, President & CEO

Raj is an entrepreneur with more than 20 years of experience in technical and senior management positions with multi-national companies, in industries that include Technology, Aviation, Defense, Venture Investment, and Financial Services. Prior to founding ACS Group, Raj served as President and CEO of Applied Communications, Inc., a multi-media and technology company in Atlanta, Georgia. He also served as the President and CEO of a multi-million dollar venture capital company with a diverse and extensive investment portfolio in real estate, retail, and service industries. He holds an Advanced Management Degree from The Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, a Master’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Georgia Tech, and a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering from Delhi College of Engineering, New Delhi, India.

Quick Facts about ACS

• Headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia
• Founded in 1998
• P rivately held firm
• Certified MBE firm
• $700 million revenue
• More than 12,000 employees worldwide
• 600+ customers

Strategic Investments and Acquisitions

In 2010, ACS Group began a series of major investments in technology and talent. Through its operating company HireGenics, ACS Group began to offer services to manage its customers’ independent contractors, subcontractors, and contingent employees. The company’s technology investments helped them to develop a scalable, efficient, and economical platform to perform all staffing-related HR functions, including on-boarding, off-boarding, time collection, and bill-pay management. HireGenics also provides domestic and international Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO).

In 2012, ACS Group acquired COMFORCE to expand into temporary, temporary-to-hire, and direct placement services of technical and business professionals. Today, COMFORCE is a preeminent Healthcare Business Solutions firm, specializing in healthcare staffing, certified domestic and international medical coding, and business process outsourcing.

In 2013, ACS Group acquired Analysts International Corporation (AIC), a national IT staffing and solutions firm. Highly respected in the IT staffing industry since its inception in 1966, AIC today has grown into two distinct business units: Analysts, which focuses on technology and business solutions consulting; and Analysts Tech, which focuses on IT and Engineering staff augmentation services.

We offer staff augmentation, project delivery, managed services, managed teams, IC compliance, and payrolling services. Our core competencies are within IT, Engineering, and Healthcare Business Solutions.