Corrections or additions?
Prepared for the September 5, 2000 edition of U.S. 1 Newspaper.
All rights reserved.
Virtual One Site: Growth at CyLogix
Hiring good personnel is essential for speedy growth,
and one method is to open branches in different geographical locations
to tap different job markets. But companies that sprout too many
branches
can develop what is known as “branch office syndrome,” so
that workers in the outlying districts feel as if they are in a
“second
tier.”
Andy Phillips and Matt Figurski, Wall Street technology experts and
co-founders of the IT company CyLogix, on Washington Road, are doing
their best to avoid that. “With each expansion, we have taken
special care to avoid the `branch office syndrome,’ taking steps to
ensure that all staff at all locations get to know each other and
are included in all activities, both professional and
recreational,”
says Figurski, the chief operating officer.
“We knew that we did not want to lose the open communication and
team mind set that had served us so well through our early years,”
says Phillips, president and CEO. An alumnus of Middlesex University
in Great Britain, Class of 1977, he began working for a major
brokerage
company in 1986, and co-founded CyLogix 10 years later. “We
decided
to become what we call a `virtual one site,’ an organization in which
our geographic divisions do not divide our technical, cultural, and
social infrastructure.”
Phillips and Figurski opened CyLogix in 1996 with one client and 10
software developers. Now, in addition to the headquarters at 36
Washington
Road, the company has more than 200 employees in three locations.
The first branch opened in Scranton, Pennsylvania, last January and
is already getting bigger. The second facility, in Boston, opened
in August. Cylogix will open a fourth facility in Bridgewater early
next year, and will host an open house for IT professionals on
Saturday,
September 16, from 10 a.m. to 6 pm. at the Somerset Double Tree
(609-275-8998
or www.cylogix.com).
For the financial services industry, CyLogix offers all phases of
custom software development, system component integration, application
outsourcing, and staff augmentation. It has broadened its client base
from one major client to several, and the founders hope to widen their
focus to other industries.
It is expensive, Phillips admits, to have a “virtual one
site,”
but rather than a financial cost, “the cost here takes the form
of the constant flow of creative energy expended to turn this concept
from an idea into a reality.”
Open communication is necessary to success, he believes. Everybody
needs to be working “on the same page” for the company to
be stable. The methods:
Weekly company-wide meetings are a trademark. Now thatthe company is so spread out, the meetings are audio-conferenced tothe various locations. The CEO and COO introduce new staff membersand tell about their background.Emphasis on travel. Senior management travels to otheroffices to welcome and orient new employees, and managers visit alllocations frequently.Weekly breakfasts on Fridays in winter and lunchtimebarbecueson alternate Fridays in summer are held simultaneously at alllocations.All employees have the same experience whether in the home officeor not.Transportation assistance is provided for company-widesocial and recreational events hosted by each location at differenttimes of year.Company wide task forces are convened to accomplishbusinessand cultural tasks, as well as volunteer work, to bring togetherpeoplefrom locations and departments who would otherwise never have theopportunity to work together. For instance, a task force consistingof workers from the Princeton Junction and Scranton locations workedall summer to design a new performance evaluation process.The tools needed to accomplish this “togetherness” includea site map on the company’s intranet showing exactly where each personsits, plus a photo and bio of everyone. New employees are added tothe map as soon as they are hired. CyLogix has an intranet-basedknowledgerepository and a virtual LAN, so all employees can access data fromanywhere, including their homes.Also, remote electronic white-boards are used for business meetingsspanning more than one location. “We have found that, in ouridea-basedbusiness, this tool used in conjunction with audio conferencing bringsmore value than video conferencing,” says Figursky.As for the company’s business model, it calls for standards andproceduresto be determined on the corporate level, but implementation andprofit/lossresponsibility are handed to local managers.”Many talented people in this business are weary of being a cogin the wheel at a big company, and want to make a more meaningfulcontribution to their organization,” says Phillips. “Othershave burned by startups that faltered. We offer a viablealternative.”Top Of PageWired at WorkIf you have Internet access at work, you are among 30million other Americans who are similarly wired, says a Labor Dayreport sponsored by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, basedin Washington, D.C. Surveys funded by Pew Charitable Trusts foundthat 37 percent of full-time workers have Internet access at theirjobs (www.pewinternet.org).Princeton Survey Research Associates, located at Montgomery Commons,carried out the telephone surveys of 12,571 American adults, morethan half of them Internet users (www.psra.com). The findings:Online once daily. Sixty-seven percent of “wiredworkers”go online at least once per day.Jobs enhanced. The Internet has improved their abilityto do their jobs, say 72 percent of the wired workers. Those in theage group from 25 to 29 are most likely to do work-related researchon the Web. A fifth of those in that online age bracket do researchfor work on a typical day.There is a small gender gap; a five-point spread that puts men aheadof women on this question. The education gap is wider. Of collegegraduates, 65 percent of Internet users have gone online to dowork-relatedresearch compared to 35 percent of high school graduates.Jobs jeopardized. Of the Internet users, 17 percent saytheyknow someone who has been disciplined or fired because of his or heruse of the Internet on the job. Of all Americans, 11 percent knowa person who got into this kind of trouble.Top Of PageAddiction CounselorsThe Institute for Chemical Dependency begins offeringcourses to professionals eager to earn a New Jersey alcohol and drugcounseling certificate this September. The Institute offers all ofthe necessary 270 hours of education required for certification orre-certification through morning and evening classes held on weekdaysand Saturdays. Classes will be held at University Behavioral HealthCare’s Piscataway campus or the Mercer Trenton Addiction ScienceCenter,218 North Broad Street, Trenton.Some classes at the Trenton campus include Ethics for Addiction PartsI and II beginning on December 6, Legal Issues for AddictionsCounselorsI and II beginning on January 1, AIDS and Chemical Dependency PartsI and II beginning on January 31, and Fetal Alcohol Syndrome/ FetalAlcohol Effects beginning on April 11. Tuition is $40 per seminar.To register or obtain a course catalog, call 732-235-3440.Top Of PageTCNJ Web PageThe College of New Jersey has installed a new, $500,000web-based catalog system, and a more Internet compatible website.The new catalog system is described as an easier way for communitymembers to utilize the library services offered to them through thecollege, and makes students’ lives much easier.The new web page was designed after library staffers spoke out aboutthe old page, which took a long time to load. It may be viewed atwww.tcnj.edu/~library.Top Of PageSpeakers BureauThe New Jersey State Bar Foundation is offering a freeSpeakers Bureau, where volunteer attorneys address school, community,and senior citizens groups throughout the state on numerous areasof the law. Lawyers are available to speak on such topics as corporatelaw, zoning, medical malpractice, criminal law/juvenile delinquency/hate crimes, sexual harassment, and more by special request. Allow30 days for the arrangement of your request.Mail requests to New Jersey State Bar Foundation, Attention Speaker’sBureau, One Constitution Square, New Brunswick 08901-1500, or faxrequest to 732-828-0034.Previous StoryCorrections or additions?This page is published by PrincetonInfo.com— the web site for U.S. 1 Newspaper in Princeton, New Jersey.
