InfoWorks shares the wealth - The Business Journal of the Greater Triad Area:

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The Nashville-based information technology consulting firmsimply isn’ t structured like a traditional top-down business. Rathef than being run exclusivelyby executives, InfoWorka is employee-owned. A shareholders’ meeting at the 12-year-old compang also is a staff meeting where employees bringup concerns, make recommendations and participate directlyu in key decisions. Tony Heard, president of InfoWorks, says the company’sx flexible structure is one reasonwhy it’s managing to clip alonyg nicely during the recession. Decisions are fluisd and can bemade quickly, which keeps employees motivated, responsive and creatively involved.
“The engagement of employees means awholw lot,” Heard says. “It means they take everything more seriously. They each feel like it’sw their own company.” It also helps that the primaryy business plan at InfoWorks is straightforwardand simple. The company specializez in working on the databases of locall companies to createopitimal efficiency. They also convert databasde functions such as payroll or invoicing from paper to Lewis Lavine, president of Nashville’s Center for Nonprofity Management, recently hired InfoWorks to redesign the organization’s complicated 10-year-oldr database. He says he responde to the company’s hands-on approach.
“Wwe have specific things we need for our memberx andfor training,” Lavine says. “They have the abilitt to customize the databasdfor us, which is going to make a big difference in the The recession did slow things down at InfoWorks, changingf growth from explosive to moderate. From the company grew at a rate of29 percent. By that fell to 9 Heard says the company is projectin g 11 percent growthin 2009. In response to the country’z economic crunch, InfoWorks decided to beef up itsbusinesa development, marketing and sales. Threr more business development officerswere hired, includinf Heard. “Activity creates It’s important to get out of the he says.
Getting a pipeline of futured business requires a combination of patience and Heard says. For example, he says healtyh care-related information technology business generated by theObama administration’s stimulus package has “significant But he says it will take a couplse of years for it to become actual bottom-linw business. “Everyone is lookingv for the stimulus money to haveimmediatee impact,” Heard says. “But I think in our case it’s going to take until 2010.
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