6 Integration Firms the Entire Industry Can Learn From
Bold decisions, rethinking project management, sticking with custom roots and reevaluating everything about the integration business, we look back at a year’s worth of CI Profiles.
Overcoming Challenges Is About Calculating Risk
It took a lot of convincing to get David Salley to agree to let us cover Long Island-based Dasnet. We persevered because his story is too good not to share.
Salley, a veteran of the U.S. Air Force, started DasNet in the fall of 1997 “after it became evident that AT&T was going to abandon its position as the premier U.S. provider of telecommunication services to the U.S. and Saudi Arabian governments, as well as the commercial sector within the Middle East,” he says.
He launched DasNet with five employees, slowly building it by adding people with audio and codec experience. DasNet quickly made a name for itself by performing well under several engineering contracts for the U.S. government’s FMS program through subcontracts with defense contractors based in the Middle East.
This success led to other contracts for other entities, including circling back to AT&T, the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh, KSA, the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Army, and the Royal Saudi Air Force. Given its clientele, DasNet is forced to take on challenges no
other integration firm is likely to face.
Salley has had to learn to avoid getting involved in what he calls “nation building,” choosing instead to focus on balancing the needs of DasNet’s clients with continuing to build and maintain relationships with the countries in which DasNet is working. This is especially important in the Middle East, he says, noting that area “is built on relationships.”
That’s sometimes meant doing some non-traditional, and some would probably say controversial, things, such as when he relied on friend Alan Scarborough when making pitches in DasNet’s early days because he believed customers — mostly generals and colonels — would not be as accepting of a company run by a black man and he was intent on getting the jobs.
“I’ve always wanted to be known for my technical skills. Once you prove yourself, race isn’t an issue. I’ve always been able to bridge the gap. I’d like to see more diversity in [USAV]. I’ve encouraged my daughters, nephews and nieces, anyone I can to focus on STEM [science, technology, engineering and math],” he says.
Lesson: Loyalty to customers is a powerful business tool.
Read Dasnet’s Entire CI Profile here.
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