Sogeti
Global base: Paris
North American base: 7735 Paragon Road, Washington Twp.
Based in Dayton: Since late 2001.
Dayton employees: 60.
U.S. presence: 23 cities.
Local clients: LexisNexis, Midmark Inc., NCR, Workflow One, CareSource. The Dayton office adds about seven new clients a year.
Source: Sogeti
WASHINGTON TWP.— Looking for a business model that inspires your customers to depend on you, especially when times are tough?
Talk to the folks at Sogeti.
With its North American headquarters off Paragon Road, the information technology company’s Dayton unit has hired more than 20 full-time employees since January, at a time when many businesses are freezing hiring or cutting payrolls.
The hiring has included 16 new college graduates in the past two years. And 16 former NCR Corp. employees have joined Sogeti since this summer.
“Our hiring has been very consistent for the last three years,” said Robert Hart, vice president of Sogeti’s Dayton unit. “But every year, it’s for different reasons.”
In 2007 and 2008, Sogeti hired because clients embarked on new initiatives. This year: Sogeti is hiring because its customers aren’t.
Essentially a consultant, Sogeti focuses on IT needs and “helping our clients contain costs,” Hart said. That can include analyzing how customers do business, especially in the areas of automation and life-cycle management.
Sogeti customers Dave Deakin, global IT director for A.O. Smith Electrical Products, and Ron Stenger, A.O. Smith program manager, say they appreciate the company staff’s technical knowledge and willingness to “partner” with clients. Today, Sogeti is helping configure A.O. Smith’s product life-cycle management system, but the company has worked with A.O. Smith previously.
“They were local,” Stenger said. “They had good knowledge.”
This year’s local Sogeti hires aren’t temporary, Hart said. “When their project is finished, we market them for another project. And if they don’t have the exact skills, we train them.”
Local clients appreciate familiar faces, and they even like to see familiar consultants earn promotions, Sogeti believes.
“A lot of times, it’s important to clients for us to be in their buildings, working face to face,” said Kelly Maroney, Sogeti marketing director.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2390 or tgnau@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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