Strategic Technologies Corp.

Founder Couldn’t Let Clients Flounder

The national data collection and integration company where Sharon Davis was a vice president went bankrupt eight years ago, but she couldn’t bear to leave several contracted clients stranded in the middle of projects.

So Davis threw the clients a lifeline by founding Strategic Technologies Corp. of Little Rock. The company sells technology consulting, hardware and software to help clients evaluate, design and carry out e-business and customer relationship management.

There wasn’t much forethought “and there certainly wasn’t a business plan that was studied for two years,” Davis said. But she was so confident that clients would be willing to pay for quality products and service that she launched the company with her own money and some cash from outside investors. She was the only employee.

“We made money the first year and have made money every year we’ve been in business,” she said. Davis said the company’s annual growth rate of 25 percent surpasses the industry average of 10-15 percent.

The company does business in Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana and Oklahoma and has several international clients. It also has an office in Memphis. Davis said the clients range from five-employee outfits to billion-dollar international companies.

For the past four years, the 12-employee company has been invited to the Rewards Club, an annual meeting co-sponsored by IBM Corp., to recognize companies for growth and customer satisfaction.

Davis expects revenue this year to tip the scales at $5 million and said that changes in technology over the next five years could boost the company toward the $15 million mark. And if the company hits that goal, Davis said, it may double its staff and open offices in other areas.

“We’re looking hard at northwest Arkansas and Jackson, Miss.,” she said. “Northwest Arkansas is on our plate for this year. It’s just a matter of dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s.”