The unraveling of the American economy in 2008 left many U.S. companies teetering on the brink of disaster. Many tried stepping back from the edge by issuing pink slips. But employee cutbacks don’t always solve the problem, especially if the work can't get done. Strong strategy and data management firms were well positioned to help companies make up the difference with customized technology – and these firms actually experienced growth at a time when others were at a loss. 

“In the past four or five years we have been thriving,” says Young Lee, CEO of SCIO Strategies and Analytics, a division of Financial Technologies.

The company's approach focuses primarily on an examination of manual- and labor-intensive tasks that not only waste time but are difficult to transition to new hires. In doing a cost benefit study for clients, Lee says, “We understand their processes, and then automate and streamline those processes.”

But there’s more to business than simple nuts and bolts. “We don’t just look at the project. We look at the personality, the relationship, the political environment and everything,” she says.

Operating mostly by word of mouth, SCIO’s level of success allows them to narrow clients down to those companies that have a potential for improvement and exhibit an open mind toward Lee's assistance. “We give our clients what they need – even when they are not quite sure what they want,” she emphasizes.

A department of a top-tier health insurance provider cited as a SCIO case study was struggling to maintain P&L reports for their 1200 client companies. After a thorough examination of the stakeholders and the numerous data feeds involved, “SCIO built an automated process to extract, validate, and combine these data (feeds) to deliver on-demand P&L reports with current month, YTD and Rolling 12 month views. The client is now able to quickly re-process an entire year of results as updated historical data arrives,” the case study reported.

Confidentiality aside, Lee is not afraid to drop names. “We just became the official partner of IBM’s Watson,” she says modestly.

A budding partnership with an analytics software as a service company has SCIO anticipating a bright future. “We are engaging with a data company that has a $200 million in assets to become their IT provider,” she says. 

Despite their success, this CEO grounds her company in a philosophy that puts excellence over the pursuit of profit. “We have this fundamental principle where we truly believe in doing what we love to do, doing it well – and the profit will follow," Lee concludes.

For more information, visit:  www.sciostrategy.com