Va. software biz nabs Coke, Deutsche Telekom
By Martin Desmarais
RESTON, Va. — When Bhavesh Bhagat first started EnCrisp LLC in 2004 the software company found a quick market foothold as businesses rushed to comply with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. In the years since, the birth of the governance, risk and compliance industry and the economic tailspin have given the company plenty of fuel for continued growth.
And it has been onward and upward for the Reston, Va.-based business. EnCrisp has made it onto most fastest growing lists, including Inc. magazine’s fastest growing private company list. EnCrisp has reported 430 percent growth in the last three years.
Though at just over 20 employees, the company has nabbed some impressive customers including: Deutsche Telekom, Waters Corp., The Coca-Cola Co.’s and Constellation Energy Group.
EnCrisp has forged its way bridging the gap between a company’s financial and IT operations, while ensuring compliance to any regulatory mandates. However, its ability to reduce risk and expenditure is what is really hammering home today.
"The field in which we are in right now is one of the hottest fields around," said Bhagat. "With the economic crisis people realize the management of risk is so important.
"All we have seen has come about because people have mismanaged risk," he added. "It is almost like a perfect storm for us."
In today’s global and increasingly regulatory business environment, Bhagat says businesses are just overwhelmed with all the areas that present risk and compliance problems from importing/exporting to manufacturing to subsidiaries in other countries. The thought used to be that businesses might only have to worry about financial facets in regards to risk and compliance, but that is just no longer the case, he continued.
"From the risk point of view companies have to focus on all of the domains in which they operate," he said.
The newness of the governance, risk and compliance sector does present challenges to EnCrisp, mainly in educating clients about the need for it and finding customers willing to lay out the cash when times are tough.
"It is hard to convince companies to focus on this, but our top clients and partners see five to 10 years down the line [and want to build for the next growth cycle]," said Bhagat. "Those taking a proactive approach — these are our key customers."
EnCrisp is also looking to the public sector to continue to fuel growth. The business is recognized by the Commonwealth of Virginia as an emerging technology enterprise by the Virginia Department of Minority Business Enterprises and is a certified minority women-owned business.
Bhagat co-founded EnCrisp with his wife Amishi, the company’s director of operations.
The minority certification, the fact that the U.S. government gives incentives to big companies for working with smaller, emerging companies like EnCrisp and the company’s location not far from the nation’s capitol all make it that much easier to work with the governance, according to Bhagat.
EnCrisp has also done its part to make its mark in the growing government, risk and compliance industry and is one of the founding members of GRCXchange, a peer-to-peer network and research platform for governance, risk and compliance professionals.
A native of Mumbai, Bhagat came to the United States in 1995.
He has a bachelor’s degree in electronics and computer engineering from the University of Bombay and a master’s degree in business administration from American University in Washington, D.C.
Prior to founding EnCrisp, Bhagat worked for Ernst & Young LLP and Approva Corp.
EnCrisp has not received any outside funding and despite investor interest, Bhagat said he is fine with allowing company success fuel growth.
"We don’t need the money," he said. "We don’t want to lose the personal attention and commitment to our partners and customers that has gotten us to this stage.
"There is never any rush to borrow money," he added. "But because people are interested it lets us know there is something we are doing right."
Bhagat attributes the company’s success to "being in the right place at the right time" and the company’s guarantee to customers: "Don’t pay us if you don’t succeed."
"One of the things that has driven our success is we don’t look at our customers as customers. We look at them as partners," he added. "We are personally committed to their success."
As the governance, risk and compliance industry grows and more and more companies seek services like what EnCrisp offers, Bhagat believes his business will be there to benefit.
"We are very well positioned for 2010 and beyond simply because of the industry," he said.