A fast-growing staffing and IT consulting firm in Dublin has made its first acquisition in a nearly 20-year history – enabling it to train workers for the jobs it's filling.
Strategic Systems Inc. acquired Cincinnati startup eLearningDoc, the organizations announced this month. Terms were not disclosed.
"The revenue growth is going to be humongous," co-founder and CEO Sankar Mangapuram told Columbus Inno. "E-learning is going to put Strategic in a unique position among our competition."
Existing clients have already added the professional development software to their engagements, COO Kaushal Vadada said. Strategic Systems provides staffing for various industries, not only technology roles but light industrial and office jobs including finance and marketing.
"We are still on the lookout for other companies (to acquire) too," Vadada said in an interview.
Adding eLearningDoc helps the business "create a future-ready talent pool," Mangapuram said in a release.
Angela Robbins, who has a doctorate in instructional design for online learning, foundede eLearningDoc in 2021. She and a team of fellow Ph.D.'s create custom digital instruction with "interactive modules and immersive simulations," the release said.
"They know the type of service each client is looking for – one size doesn’t fit all in this type of engagement," Kaushal Vadada said in an interview. "They are able to show their value to these clients."
ELearningDoc's two dozen employees joined, with Robbins as division chief, bringing the total staff to about 310, including more than 90 in Central Ohio. The business also uses about 60 contractors.
"With the support of Strategic Systems, we are poised to make a greater impact on the eLearning landscape,” Robbins said in the release.
Mangapuram and his wife, company President Jyothsna Vadada, founded the business in 2004. The COO is her brother. Through a real estate affiliate the couple also own their office building, 475 Metro Place South in Dublin.
Strategic Systems' $55.5 million in revenue for 2022 put it in the top 10 among Central Ohio women-owned businesses, and No. 75 among all privately held companies, according to Columbus Business First research. It's No. 13 among IT consultants by local staff size. It's also appeared several times among the region's largest minority-owned businesses; that list is not yet published this year, but Strategic appears poised for the top five.
Revenue had more than doubled since 2019, putting Strategic Systems at No. 4183 on the Inc. 5000 released this month. That makes the 10th appearance since 2009 on the magazine's list of the fastest-growing U.S. private companies.
The company places about 400 workers on average yearly with more than 60 clients including large banks, manufacturers and energy companies, Kaushal Vadada said.
Secretary of State records indicate the transaction took place in January, when the trade name eLearningDoc transferred from Robbins' ECR Consulting LLC to a new entity, Strategic eLearning LLC.
