Intelliswift is the 4th fastest growing company in the East Bay Area according to the American City Business Journal - East Bay Business Times. A stunning growth rate of 367% in the last three years placed Intelliswift at the top of the charts.

The results were verified by an independent accounting firm, Armanino McKenna. The accounting firm compared and verified financial data collected from private companies located in the three biggest counties in East Bay. To qualify for the award the companies had to have made at least 200,000 in 2003.

In its September 22nd issue the Magazine featured the winners of its Fast 50 list. The article about Intelliswift charts the growth of the company and features an interview with the company’s VP, Pat Patel.

reflects strongly upon the services that we deliver to our clients,” he said. “We believe a happy employee is a happy client and both are central to our success and growth.”

The article then goes on to quote, Pankaj Bhasin, Director of Sales of Intelliswift, “Pat has such a great attitude. Even in situations where there are a lot of negative things, he only sees the positive part of it,”

The article concludes with an eye on the future : `Intelliswift, headquartered in Fremont, has big plans for growth. In the next couple of years, Patel intends to expand his workforce to 500 and his annual revenue to $30million. Last year he opened an office in Los Angeles and expects to open a branch in New Jersey early next year.’

About East Bay Business Times

East Bay Business Times is one of the 41 business journals, part of the American City Business Journals, the nation's largest publisher of metropolitan business newspapers. American City metropolitan business newspapers reach 4 million readers each week with exclusive, in-depth coverage of their business communities. The loyalty of these readers testifies to American City's commitment to top-quality journalism, unexcelled service for advertisers and readers, and active business community involvement.

About Intelliswift Software Inc.

Intelliswift Software Inc is a premier system integration and software services company headquartered in the Silicon Valley. Intelliswift’s system integrators and consultants are committed to excellence in: SAP, Oracle App's, EAI, BI, Web Services and Sun Technologies. The company also specializes in staff augmentation – both contract and permanent. The company maintains offices in Fremont, LA and Mumbai, India. Intelliswift’s clients include companies like Ebay, HP, Google, Sun, Wells Fargo, Etrade, Gap, Apple and Cisco.

Issue Date: December 15, 2006, Posted On: 12/14/2006

Pat Patel: Intelliswift's people person

Founder sparks swift growth with employee focus

By Mark Pechenik

FREMONT, Calif. — Ask Pat Patel of Intelliswift Software Inc., and he'll tell you that it's the people, just as much as the product, which has been responsible for his company's astounding growth since its opening in 2001.

"The difference is not so much what we do but how we do it. By making a strong commitment to our employees, we've made significant progress," says Patel, founder, president and chief executive officer of Fremont, Calif.-based Intelliswift, which specializes in software services and systems integration.

Such an assessment could be considered an understatement. Within the past three years, Intelliswift has realized a dramatic revenue growth rate of 367 percent. For the same amount of time, this firm has been consistently rated among the top-10 fastest growing companies in the San Francisco Bay area.

Intelliswift's client list includes such corporate heavyweights as Charles Schwab & Co. Inc., Bank of America, Barclays Bank, Ebay Inc., PayPal and Google. In addition, Patel's firm has expanded its presence with the opening of offices in Mumbai, India and Los Angeles, along with plans to establish a New Jersey site in 2007.

Intelliswift has made its mark by tailoring IT services to meet customers' needs. As a result, the company's efforts can be witnessed in greater user-friendly navigation for visitors to Wells Fargo Bank's Web site, improved on-line trading technology for Etrade Financial Corp.'s customers, as well as integrated software products that enable clients to get more from their IT dollars. In addition, Intelliswift has realized success with its staffing subsidiary, which provides IT consultants, temporary and permanent professionals for corporate clients.

The company's success is even more remarkable given that its beginnings stem from Patel's own harsh life lessons. A graduate of Bombay University, Patel's resume includes work with such pedigree software companies as Oracle, Mastek, Systime and Patni Computer Systems Ltd. Nevertheless, his most recent attempt at technology services failed in 2000. "I used to be in business with another partner and our company had a lot of dot-com customers at the time," he says. "So, when the market crashed, we did too. We had no choice but to close shop."

Patel says that he took this setback as a "personal challenge" and, rather than accept defeat, he was determined to "try my hand at business again." He attributes this positive outlook to his personality as a "conservative risk taker."

"I'm often considered the black sheep of the family," says Patel, who first came to the United States in 1995 from his home in Mumbai, India. "My dad worked for the same company for 22 years — compared to him, I am much more of a risk taker."

Nonetheless, the "conservative" label of his risk taking identity means that, when embarking upon entrepreneurial ventures, Patel focuses on getting results within a set time frame. Consequently, he took this same approach in moving forward after his 2000 business collapse.

"I knew that markets change and go through cycles," he says. "So, if I could find the correct customer solution and service, the business was bound to grow eventually."

He backed this commitment by taking a second mortgage out on his house to fund Intelliswift. At the same time, his wife went back to work to support him through the company's startup phase. "A lot of friends suggested that I just get a steady job at an established corporation," he says. "But I knew that, if I did that, I would likely miss out on creating a customer base that would allow my own company to grow when the good times would come around."

But Patel was also aware that "good times" would not be enough to generate corporate profitability. He had to find the right formula for success. Fortunately, he discovered that formula by taking a "customer service first" approach to both his clients and his employees.

"By taking care of our employees, putting their needs first, we have made sure that our people have grown along with us," explains Patel. In practice, this has meant competitive compensation and benefits packages that makes it possible for Intelliswift to both recruit and retain superior IT talent.

Mike Jani, Intelliswift's regional manager of business development in Southern California, says Patel has given Intelliswift a distinct advantage with the employee team he has built.

"He is an extremely good people person," says Jani. "Pat not only has that ability to make employees feel special, he has a great eye for hiring the best people for the job."

Jani recalls how, in interviews for his position, he expressed a desire to work close to home. Patel readily agreed to allow him to open the southern California office "just 500 feet from my front door," he says.

Once hired, Patel often encourages independence, Jani notes. "He promotes achievement by letting staff have more or less a free hand in meeting goals and deadlines. And by not micromanaging, he allows for greater creativity among employees," Jani says.

This workplace progressiveness is far from altruistic, however. "IT professionals have 10,000 reasons not to work here, there are just so many job opportunities that are available to them," says Jani. "Pat realizes this fact and, as a result, strives to make Intelliswift as attractive as possible to the best talent available."

Patel's staffing strategy, in turn, has translated into strong corporate earnings. "We have a strong commitment to our employees — because I've always felt that a happy employee means a happy customer," he says.

For clients, this means that they can anticipate what Patel calls "personalized attention." Company policy dictates, for example, that sales representatives work with no more than two large customers at one time. Furthermore, if customers have problems, every effort is made to answer their concerns within one hour.

Such attentiveness, Patel believes, helps to ensure quality relationships between his sales force and customers. "We listen to, not just hear, what the clients' needs are. This has not only allowed us to effectively customize IT solutions for customers, it has also enabled us to act upon their concerns in a timely manner," he says.

As to the future, Patel envisions a continued upward spiral for Intelliswift, especially in key areas of business activity. "We especially see a great deal of potential in the insurance and financial industries," he says. The "increasing number of baby boomers seeking investment strategies for retirement" should translate into more IT contracts for the right technology companies, says Patel. And he believes that Intelliswift will be among the top competitors for these lucrative technological opportunities.

NEW YORK, August 23, 2007

NEW YORK, August 23, 2007 – Inc. today ranked Intelliswift No.63 in its list of top 100 fastest growing IT services company in all of USA. It also ranked Intelliswift at No. 555 on its first-ever Inc. 5,000 list of the fastest-growing private companies in the country. The Inc. 5,000, an extension of Inc. magazine’s annual Inc. 500 list, catches many businesses that are too big to grow at the pace required to make the Inc. 500. Taken as a whole, these companies represent the backbone of the U.S. economy.

“The Inc. 5,000 provides the most comprehensive look ever at the most important part of the economy – the entrepreneurial part,” said Inc. 5,000 Project Manager Jim Melloan. “The expansion of the list has allowed us to tell the stories of larger companies, older companies, and a wealth of companies in industries like Manufacturing and Construction that are underreported in the business media.

Intelliswift was ranked No.33 in the Top companies in San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont Region. On hearing about the ranking, Pat Patel, CEO of Intelliswift said, “We are thrilled to hear about the ranking. Being ranked by the Inc organization is indeed an honor. I’d like to thank all our employees and clients for standing by us through this exciting journey. This award is one in the line many such awards to come. We are all set to scale more heights and win more kudos.”

The 2007 Inc. 5,000, as revealed online at www.inc.com, reported median revenue of $9.4 million and median three-year growth of 140 percent. Complete information on this year’s Inc. 5,000, can be found at www.inc.com/inc5000.

Hottest Industries for Fastest-Growing Businesses

The largest business category is Construction, with 561 of the fastest-growing companies in this category, followed by Manufacturing with 515 companies, IT services in third with 466 companies, Business Services with 377 companies and Advertising & Marketing with 349 companies round out the top five industries ranked on the 2007 Inc. 5,000.

Methodology
The 2007 Inc. 5000 list measures revenue growth from 2003 through 2006. To qualify, companies had to be U.S.-based and privately held, independent – not subsidiaries or divisions of other companies – as of December 31, 2006, and have had at least $200,000 in revenue in 2003, and $2 million in 2006.

By Matt McClellan

Pat talks about how the senior management at Intelliswift have taken the initiative to grow the company. He talks about how transperency and access are key to fast growth. Pat talks about how the senior management at Intelliswift have taken the initiative to grow the company. He talks about how transperency and access are key to fast growth.

Trust is very important to Pat Patel, and it is one of the keys to his leadership of Intelliswift Software Inc.

Patel puts a lot of trust in the members of his senior management staff, and he empowers them with the authority to make decisions. The founder, president and CEO of Intelliswift says entrusting his employees with information and responsibility shows them that the company values their work.

Intelliswift, which specializes in software services and systems integration, has grown its revenue 367 percent from 2003 to 2006.

Smart Business spoke with Patel about why hierarchies can be bad for business and why you have to be prepared for the worst-case scenario.

Q: How involved should a leader be in the day-to-day operations?

All the people in the company should be involved in the day-to-day operations as much as the leader is. Now, ‘day-to-day operations’ doesn’t necessarily mean diving down into the nitty-gritty or micromanaging. But at the same time, for a fast-growing start-up, the leader needs to be involved in the operations side.

Now, once you grow the organization, the leader doesn’t really need to go out and get the business, but there are a lot of operational issues. Even though we have senior people who really do take care of the operations, most people look up to the leaders.

When I say leaders, it’s not just me; it’s the leaders I’ve delegated. People look up to the leaders and expect them to know what’s going on with the company, what’s going on with the employees, what’s going on with the products. At any given point in time, the leader needs to know what’s going on in each department. If there are areas of weaknesses or strengths, leaders should be aware of highlighting those or bringing up the weaknesses and helping in those areas.

Q: How do you manage growth?

That’s an area I’ve always believed you should be ahead of the game. Instead of doing it as a reactive process, do it as a proactive process. So, if we see we are headed for major growth in the next two quarters, then we end up hiring more people on the operations side first.

Rather than thinking, ‘Let’s first make the money, then add more people to operations,’ we always think ahead of the process to keep it running smooth.

At the same time, for a fast-growing start-up, the financials play a key role. When you’re growing too fast, your operations have to run at the same speed as your growth and so do your finances. If the leader is not able to really envision the financial growth or put together the right processes and finances in place, eventually, the same growth can crumble the company.

Q: How do you empower your employees?

Take people at a low level and start giving them autonomy. Let them put together their own teams, run their own projects in their area. It affects them in a very positive way. People with two or three years of experience do have the maturity, and if you give them the autonomy, then they are really excited to run with it.

They are so excited because of the autonomy that it starts reflecting on the people who work for them. It has helped us retain the excitement; the commitment flows automatically, and the trust gets built up.

Q: How do you create an atmosphere of trust?

Anybody can have access to any organization without going through the hierarchies. There’s always the case where you have to talk to your manager first, but that doesn’t mean everything has to be documented and flow through the hierarchy, which takes a long time.

We are a very nimble company, a very fast-growing start-up. If I try to put hierarchies in place, then things start taking their own sweet time.

People have access to all levels. They can tap into different groups in the company, so it’s more like a flat structure. They don’t have to set up appointments or get approvals from multiple levels.

Access to different groups keeps a healthy team spirit within the organization. People don’t feel intimidated by not being able to have access to specific areas.

Q: What are some pitfalls a CEO should avoid?

Most companies fail because there’s not a vision during the growth phase. Market conditions can change; financial conditions change. If things are going good, that’s not always going to be the case. So, you have to be prepared for the worst-case scenario. At the same time, you have to have a vision of where the markets are headed.

Keep abreast of what’s out there. Always keep a close eye on your competition. You can pretty much avoid the pitfalls of a down market if you plan in advance. Like IBM says, ‘Planning is half the job done.’