Code Breakers Make It Big

Code Breakers Make It Big

By Janet Leiser

Senior Editor

Gilbert Hakim and Richard Janda shared the dream of countless other immigrants: They wanted to make it big in their adopted homeland.

The men met in the 1970s at the Queens, N.Y., apartment building where they lived, and where Janda, a native of Poland, was a handyman. By night, Hakim, a native of Iran who worked as a software writer at a financial services firm, and Janda wrote computer code to automate medical laboratories.

Their work paid off and now, nearly 26 years later, both men are successful computer software entrepreneurs. Hakim formed SCC Soft Computer Inc., a $58 million company that has automated medical laboratories across the country and as far away as Poland and the Ukraine. SCC clients include New York's Mount Sinai Medical Center, a renowned Houston cancer center and the National Institutes of Health.

The company is run by Hakim, 53, who is chief executive officer, and his brother and co-founder, Jean, 54, president. Both men have master's degrees in computer science from Stony Brook University on Long Island, N.Y. Janda remains with the company, as director of research.

By year's end, SCC plans to nearly double its headquarters with a move into a 110,000-square-foot Class A office building at Bay Vista Center off Roosevelt Boulevard in Pinellas County's Gateway area. An entity owned by the brothers, Osceola Development LC, paid $9.3 million for the building at 5365 Tech Data Drive, Clearwater, in September.

SCC revenue was $58 million for the 2004-'05 fiscal year ended Aug. 30, nearly a 54% increase from $38 million in the same period five years earlier. The company has a lean profit margin of about 8%. That's because about 25% of revenue is reinvested in research and development, according to company leaders.

"Our biggest challenge is keeping up with technology," says Jean Hakim, who's responsible for the day-to-day operations of the privately held company. "We pump most of the profits back into R&D. Technology changes rapidly and the needs and requirements of our domain area are constantly changed by federal regulation."

The company has no outside investors and all of its growth has been organic, he says.

Move south

In 1993, the Hakims moved SCC, which had about 50 employees, to Palm Harbor from upstate New York. Their reasons were simple: The employees could afford a better standard of living in Florida and customers would love to visit the state.

The company holds annual retreats for customers at The Radisson at Clearwater Beach. The customers have a "users group" that recommends software changes.

In 1996, the company moved to the two-story white strip center at 34350 U.S. 19 N. where it's now housed.

For a couple years, the Hakims have been looking for new headquarters. They considered Pasco County and downtown Clearwater before buying in the mid-Pinellas area.

With more than 500 employees, space is tight at the 58,000-square-foot strip center. "By the time we stretch our arms, I'm sure we'll be occupying about 75,000 square feet in the new building," Hakim says.

About 64% of SCC's employees, are involved in R&D, says Don Keller, SCC's education and marketing director. Most of them have experience in a medical laboratory.

"They know the business of the laboratories so they define the needs and requirements of our clients," Hakim says.

The competition

SCC provides computerized information systems to medical laboratories, radiology departments, pharmacies and blood banks. The company provides the software, while another company, such as IBM, provides the hardware.

At Mount Sinai,, the laboratory is automated with robotics. Doctors' orders are entered into a computer and a bar code is automatically printed and placed on a specimen.

A vial of blood, for instance, is then placed on a conveyor belt and transferred from one instrument to another, as required, before being placed in storage. The results are automatically recorded and given to appropriate departments.

"We are the brains that control and command," Hakim says.

The company is a big player, but not the largest in the marketplace. "We are a niche vendor," Hakim says. "We supply at the high end of the market."

Competitors include Cerner Corp., Medical Information Technology Inc. (MIT) and AMICAS Inc., according to Hoover's. Cerner, which also provides other medical services, had revenue of $926.4 million in 2004. MIT, founded in 1969, had revenue of $280.8 million in 2004.

SCC's sales department is relatively small with four or five sales people, Keller says. Gilbert Hakim deals directly with customers, closing most deals, and he runs the R&D department. Janda, whom Keller described as a genius, travels frequently to Poland, where the company is now known as Intellitech, Keller says.

Much of SCC's growth is now occurring internationally, he says.

In fact, 35 languages are spoken by those who work at the Palm Harbor headquarters. Jean Hakim speaks Persian, French and English.

As for the company's future, Jean Hakim says: "We expect to not only have the best laboratory system, but also from market share to be No. 1. We are aggressively replacing many of our competitors."

Although the company has received inquiries from interested suitors, Hakim says there are no plans to sell. "We're just having fun doing what we're doing," he adds.

As for advice for other entrepreneurs, he says: "It's a cliche, but the customer is always right, from the point of their needs and requirements so you need to be listening to your customers. That's what we have been doing in being successful."