Computer Consulting Business Is Booming Demand In Washington State Has Nearly Doubled In Last Five Years

As businesses expand automation to improve productivity, the demand for computer consultants in Washington state has nearly doubled in the last five years.

In the past, computer consulting was only for a few companies with large mainframe computers, according to Robert Margulis, president and founder of Information Technology Services in Bellevue.

“Now, there’s hardly a business around that wouldn’t pay for one of those systems, or doesn’t have at least a (local area network),” he said.

Computer consulting was the exclusive province of one-office shops, but today the firms are big business, offering employee training and temporary staffing to aid companies throughout transition periods.

From 1990 to 1995, computer consulting revenue in Washington more than doubled to nearly $250 million, according to the Washington Software & Digital Media Alliance. As a whole, the industry is a $12 billion market now and growing at an annual rate of 12 percent to 16 percent, say studies from International Data Corp. and the Gartner Group.

Five of the 15 fastest growing companies in Washington state over the same time period were computer consultants, according to Alliance figures.

Consultants say they help companies incorporate technology into their sales and customer service divisions, aiding employees by giving them more tools with which to complete their tasks.

Vixel Corp. of Bothell, for example, is spending $800,000 to install new hardware and software, replacing its existing database software, said Don Wenninger, director of information systems.

“It won’t carry our future,” Wenninger said of the old database.

Vixel, a satellite equipment company, is making the transition with help from Solutions IQ, a Bellevue consulting firm. Solutions IQ will spend six months with Vixel teaching employees how to work with the new database.

“People are now viewing technology as a strategic part of their business, rather than a necessary infrastructure,” said Paul Song, president of Aris Corp., a 350-employee firm in Tukwila.

The demand for Aris’ range of services as well as a string of acquisitions, have boosted the company’s revenues tenfold since 1993 to more than $30 million. Song, who started Aris in his home in Kent, said the firm is now considering becoming a publicly traded company.

Meanwhile, Best Consulting in Kirkland has grown to more than 850 employees and has offices in several Western states. It is now a subsidiary of Personnel Group of America, a North Carolina company that acquired Best late last year.