Encouraging innovation

In 1999, Elaine Myrback decided taking the last step up the corporate ladder was not what she wanted in life. She left her corporate career overseeing 2,200 employees and a $1.5 billion portfolio of products and services as senior vice president of Danka Imaging, and decided to start out on her own.

“I like having my own sandbox to play in,” Myrback says. So when she discovered a common need for Oracle technology system support, she decided to start EMS Consulting — Intelligent Chaos (EMS-IC) to help companies find, implement and support complex systems that support day-to-day business.

Myrback won two major accounts in her first year of business — the Discovery Channel and Marriott International — which allowed her to jump right into the business without any outside investment. Since that first year, she's steadily grown the company from five employees to more than 100. Year-over-year growth has held steady with gains of more than 15% each year, Myrback says. Although she declined to share revenues, she says the company is bringing in less than $20 million.

To maintain double-digit growth, Myrback encourages her employees to come up with new ideas for the business and continue the entrepreneurial momentum. “You can really scale stuff if you get some young entrepreneurs bringing in new ideas,” she says.

In her Tampa office, Myrback has an open-door policy, a philosophy that leads to a constant stream of employees coming in to brainstorm and pitch ideas. “This is a great idea. How do you execute that? What is the investment required? And what would the return be? I want people to think that way,” Myrback says. Every time, she asks the employee to put together a formal business plan before she'll consider it. Once a plan passes initial feasibility criteria, it must pass through a profitability model and ROI analysis to move forward.

One example of an idea that turned into reality was when one of the firm's recruiters devised a business plan on how to serve the local market better. Myrback says after she met with him a few times, she gave him a budget to start an eight-person department to carry out his idea. “The business plan was compelling enough that I funded his department, and it is now hitting on all cylinders as far as revenue and profit,” Myrback says.

Whether it's a new business idea or a typical day in the office, her management style is somewhat hands off, she says, because she wants to give people enough room to lead a project without stifling innovation. “We put on the right reins and we give them enough room to make some mistakes and yet grow the company,” she says.

In addition to reselling Oracle licenses, EMS-IC provides Peoplesoft and Oracle e-Business support to more than 100 universities, including Harvard, West Virginia University, and Florida State, according to Myrback. The company also works in the public and commercial sector, helping businesses develop content management systems and leverage imaging software.

Last year the company doubled in size, earning a bulk of business from insurance companies, providers, and large hospital systems integrating health care systems to improve automation and to allow better management of claims and appeals. Now the company is focused on assisting the public sector, concentrating on supporting health care enrollment in larger cities.

The company plans to add two more services in the next year, according to Myrback. It hopes to roll out an outsourced IT support service in the next three to six months and debut a software-as-a-service (SaaS) offering in the next 12 months. With the new verticals, Myrback expects to hire 30 to 50 new employees over the next two years, and has beefed up her executive team with seasoned professionals to help her keep things organized.

A big proponent of metrics-based goal setting, Myrback plans to continue growth through investing in her employees' ideas. She says it is important to clearly define goals and associated rewards. Rewards such as bonuses and annual President's Club trips increase motivation and momentum of the business, she says. “Competition is good as long as it is directed in an organized fashion,” she says.