When it originally launched nearly two decades ago, Rite-Solutions chose Rhode Island because the state was home to one of its main clients, the U.S. Naval Undersea Warfare Center.
Two decades later, despite growing to more than 200 employees strong and opening offices in Virginia and Washington, D.C., the company has maintained its roots in the Ocean State.
The Middletown-based company, which also has an office in Pawcatuck, is a software development, systems engineering, information technology and learning development firm that helps companies achieve an information advantage.
"Too many companies today are focused on the technology and a lot of times all that technology does is make a bad process go faster."
Rite-Solutions services include implementing open and integrated system architectures and transforming data into actionable solutions. The other line of the company’s business is personnel development through training, simulation and decision support tools.
“The key is going in and figuring out what are the problems or business objectives today,” Mike Callahan, vice president and director of learning and performance optimization, told Rhode Island Inno. “We have all this data and all of these ways to get information, but it’s about how we use this information.”
Rite-Solutions has the capability to design and build a number of different solutions for companies, but figuring out the correct technology to implement or the best way to teach a system or process is a critical step that drives the entire process.
“Too many companies today are focused on the technology and a lot of times all that technology does is make a bad process go faster,” said Callahan.
Rite-Solutions applies this same methodology to its learning development operations, where the company focuses not just on what has worked in the past, but on the best training methods for a specific situation or goal.
For example, Boeing retained Rite-Solutions to help the aerospace giant with its business development efforts.
Rite Solutions used a blend of instructional system design strategies such as eLearning, on-the-job performance support and classroom-facilitated workshops led by Boeing executives to help improve performance of the company’s global sales and marketing team.
“The most important thing for us was being able to utilize the classroom time,” said Callahan. “If the executives tell people it’s important, it really sets the tone and sets the expectations that this is important and it’s not just checking a box off.”
As a result of the innovative training program, Rite-Solutions was named a finalist for the 2018 Learning In Practice awards presented by Chief Learning Officer magazine. These awards recognize industry leaders who have demonstrated excellence in the design and delivery of employee development programs.
Callahan said Rite-Solutions is trying to push a culture where training is not predetermined, but defined by the unique needs and goals of the client.
“If a case study is best way to learn, then that’s what we are doing,” he said. “This movement toward personalized and competency-driven learning has allowed for non-traditional learning to be acceptable.”
