Training an IT nation.

Information Management Systems Inc. helps build careers in the technology sector

Roosevelt Giles' stoW is the atypical one of farm boy turned technology maven. "My family were share-croppers," says Giles. As a young child growing up in Union, South Carolina, he plowed mules and picked cotton. "You name it, I did it," says Giles. But there was no keeping him down on the farm. Even as a youth walking the cotton fields, he was dreaming of owning his own business. A degree in computer science from the University of South Carolina, and several years working in his chosen field, would transform this farm boy into tech maven and lay the foundation for the launch of Atlanta-based Information Management Systems (IMS).

IMS is an integrated technology company that develops computer networks, and trains engineers and systems analysts on how to use those networks and key software. Among IMS' clients are Delta Airlines, American Express, Cisco Systems, General Motors, Anderson Consulting and E*Trade.

IMS focuses on five primary areas of IT development: providing software and computer technical training to systems engineers and analysts at large companies; building prototypes and conducting proof-of-concept testing on networks that its clients are considering purchasing; developing security systems for clients who use the Internet to conduct business; creating and building computer systems networks for customers; and providing distance learning (training via the Internet) of technical and software systems. Giles' staff maintains such a cutting-edge command of new systems and software that IMS is often hired by computer companies such as 3Com, Cisco and Microsoft to train internal employees on how to use their own systems.

Giles got his start working at Milliken & Co. as a computer programmer back in 1978. He stayed there for four years before moving to AT&T and then Bell-South, where he worked as a systems engineer while starting his own company. "Our first check was for $50. It was from a customer for whom I [had] just ... installed an application," says Giles. He no longer remembers the name of the company, but he does remember that he liked the idea of generating his own business and successfully responding to his client's needs.

Giles continued to do small jobs while working his nine-to-five, but he and his wife, Sharon--who is IMS's vice president of finance--hatched a plan that would eventually enable them to devote their attention to IMS full-time. "We bought rental property so that we could maintain our standard of living while we were getting the company off the ground," explains Giles.

In 1988, the founder and president of IMS took the big leap and quit his job. Giles bid on and won a $550,000 contract to develop all the computing and networking software for the Democratic National Convention in Atlanta that year. Among IMS' challenges were building IBM mainframe systems, developing registration and delegate-tracking databases, and creating a remote access service that allowed people to communicate from different locations.

"We had a Fortune two company, meaning my wife and myself" he jokes. With the help of a couple of friends, the couple linked over 1,000 nodes and 17 locations. "We did not have a single glitch and got it running a week ahead of schedule," adds Giles.

It is that kind of commitment that has helped IMS grow from a two-person operation earning $50 a job to a $14 million a year corporation with 53 employees and offices in Atlanta, Seattle, Orlando, Florida, Johannesburg, South Africa, and Malaysia. With Internet and computer technology developing so rapidly, IMS has had no shortage of clients. "[Clients want to know] how to use the Internet to [better] communicate with their employees, vendors and customers," explains Giles. "We see customers in the new millennium facing these issues, asking `What is our core business?' They'll need to outsource things, like technology, that aren't core" Giles believes that the need for companies to hire consultants instead of internal staff to address these concerns will fuel IMS' growth. In fact, he feels so confident that he wants to take the company public this year, and plans to expand into Latin America and other parts of Africa.

One client who believes that Giles and his staff have the stuff to grow in the industry is Delta Technology (a wholly-owned subsidiary of Delta Airlines) Advisory Systems engineer James Chester. Five years ago, IMS was the lead training provider for Deltas technical staff, teaching them how to use new Y2K-compliant computer systems.

"One of the biggest areas that we were having problems with was getting staff who knew the [new] technology" says Chester. "Mr. Giles [trained] people like customer-care agents and computer and network operations staff who already worked for Delta Airlines. Although they had the technical background, they were not familiar with the new Y2K-compliant technology," he adds. IMS also took people who worked with old mainframe systems and taught them to work with servers and routers. Chester was also impressed by the fact that IMS completed the job several months ahead of schedule. "We estimated it would take two years," says Chester, who notes that IMS began the job in 1995 and was finished 18 months later, in 1997.

As busy as Giles is these days, he has found time to establish a second company, SkillLearning.com, and turn his attention toward publishing. In 1998 he authored the Cisco CCIE Study Guide, which earned more than $3 million for the publisher and became McGraw-Hill's best-selling computer book ever. He is currently updating that study guide and penning a second one on Nortell technology. Giles is the 21st century version of a Renaissance man--a tech guru and a scholar.