As CEO of Atrion Networking Corp. – a Warwick-based information technology services company that recently celebrated its 20th year in business – Tim Hebert has overseen a 30- to 35-percent year-over-year growth in revenue, which this year is forecast to crack $40 million. The company has 118 employees at its offices in Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Hampshire.
Since 2006, Hebert also has served as chairman and president of Tech Collective, a nonprofit alliance that works to support and grow the state’s technology sectors.
PBN: What has driven Atrion Networking’s strong growth in recent years?
HEBERT: Part of the growth that we’re seeing is just the buying cycle that kind of exists – you think about what’s happened in the last eight years, since 2000: In 1999, there was a huge spending to get everything upgraded to be Y2K compliant, and after people made that investment, they really didn’t need to upgrade their networks for another five years. And in the meantime, you had Sept. 11, you had the dot.com bust, you had kind of an economic downturn across the nation. So a lot of people tried to stretch that investment, and what we’re seeing now, we’re working with a lot of clients to refresh and upgrade their equipment. …
The second part of it is the advent of new technologies, and the three areas that we’re seeing a tremendous amount of growth in are wireless … in security, and the third area is called unified communications, like the [voice over Internet protocol, or VoIP], IP telephony.
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PBN: How is all this new technology changing the way your clients do business?
HEBERT: They’re not just putting technology in to get access to information. They’re really starting to use the technology to change the way they … interact with their clients. In the past, people put in technology because they believed it was faster, better, and it was kind of cool. … Now they’re really saying, “OK, what’s the business benefit? How can I change the way I do business and use technology to support that?”
PBN: It’s been about a year since there was an administrative shakeup at the Tech Collective. What has the past year wrought?
HEBERT: In the last year we’ve really refocused our efforts and energy. We’re growing our membership – we’re over 200 members now; we were at about 130 to 150. We’ve changed the complexion of our membership, so it’s more aligned with what our mission is. Some of the members we’ve lost really weren’t connected to us. So that 200 is a much stronger, quality core … and I think that within the next two months we’ll be over 250 members, and I expect probably within the next year to reach close to 300 members.
The second thing that we’ve done is we’ve really changed the focus. … The sessions that we’re starting to put together are more high-quality educational events. We’ve had phenomenal events where IT leadership could come together to learn how to become a better IT leader. We’ve had discussions about how do you transform your organization from a good company to a better company. … We have a monthly session called Forward Thinking … a social networking event.
PBN: There’s been a decline in the number of math, science and technology majors at local colleges. What does it mean for business owners in the state?
HEBERT: That’s a major, major problem. First and foremost, there are a lot of myths out there, [such as] … that the IT industry is unstable because of the dot.com bust. … You know, “If I get into IT, there are going to be layoffs, people are going to be let go.” They don’t realize that over the last several years, IT jobs are at their highest level ever across the United States. They’re unbelievably high, compared to where they were even at the peak of the dot.com era.
Issue No. 2 is that there’s a lot of press these days about companies outsourcing IT jobs to India. And there is some truth to that, but … there are still a number of great jobs.
PBN: So tech companies are having trouble finding talent?
HEBERT: They are, absolutely. I will tell you from my own company’s perspective it’s a challenge to find people that have the right skills.
PBN: What is Rhode Island doing well to grow its IT sector, and what more could it do?
HEBERT: I think there’s a high level of understanding that IT jobs are needed to help increase our average annual salary range, because we’re below the national salary average as a state. Right now, we’re at about $38,000 a year in average annual salary, and the national average is about $43,000.
If you look, the average IT-industry job in Rhode Island pays about $69,000 a year. If you look at my company, it’s about $79,000 a year. So it’s a very high-wage job that has a healthy, long-term upside, and they’ve done a very good job of increasing that awareness, from the governor on down. …
The second area that they’ve done a fairly good job with is being able to help, through funding programs with the U.S. Department of Labor, to do things like get training dollars for re-educating your team. The challenge that the IT industry faces, unlike other industries, is that someone who I hired three years ago – today, if I haven’t invested in their education, their skills have become somewhat obsolete. I think that education in the IT sector is a place where a lot more money can be invested, and would reap unbelievable results for the state.
I don’t believe the state has spent enough time talking to [the IT community] to understand what those organizations really need to be successful and to grow. I think that more dialogue sessions need to occur. … The second thing that I think needs to change is, I see us doing things in a very fragmented way. We’ve got to really look at how we’re spending the money … and really focus initiatives that create great results. •
Interview: Tim Hebert
POSITION: CEO, Atrion Networking Corp.; chairman and president, the Tech Collective.
BACKGROUND: Before joining Atrion Networking in 1989, Hebert had worked as a hardware and software developer for a handful of technology firms. He began his career straight out of high school in 1984, when he enlisted in the U.S. Air Force, where he trained and worked as a technical instructor for avionics.
RESIDENCE: West Greenwich
AGE: 45
