Strategic Staffing Solutions Hits $200 Million Revenue
Detroit-based Strategic Staffing Solutions, a global IT and business services firm, hit $205 million in sales in 2010, marking its 20th consecutive year of revenue growth.
The company said much of its growth last year was due to the opening of S3's Detroit Development Center in April, which offers companies the opportunity to "insource" IT work to downtown Detroit, instead of offshore.
"The S3 team has been celebrating 20 years of service since October 1, and this record sales accomplishment is the icing on the cake," said Cynthia J. Pasky, S3 president and CEO. "For the first time ever, we actually exceeded the internal sales goal we set for the company at the beginning of the year, topping $200 million. S3 has achieved an average 23 percent annual growth for the past 20 years. I couldn't be more proud of our team and more thankful to our customers and communities."
S3 marked another company record, contributing $860,000 to charities globally in 2010.
"Our gift to ourselves and the community for our 20th anniversary was to give more than ever before to charities," Pasky said. "As part of our charitable mission, S3 made sure we touched every community we serve in our more than 20 locations globally, not only financially, but with a donation of time and non-monetary resources."
Pasky also said S3's growth was due in part to expanding its customer base in financial services, the largest segment of its work. Much of this increase in revenue was in its European operations, in Lithuania and the Gibbs-S3 Partnership in London, which collectively grew by $14 million.
The company also doubled its sales in the health care and insurance industry, which was largely the result of the creation of the Detroit Development Center. The DDC's first anchor customer is Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan that made the strategic decision to insource jobs to the DDC instead of outsourcing offshore. Since then, S3 has been able to sell the DDC's services nationally, resulting in the Center growing from 53 employees when it opened in April to more than 200 by the end of 2010.
"The DDC, which will continue to grow in 2011, is a perfect example of how S3 can grow through offering innovative solutions for our customers," said Pasky. "Our basic approach to business is that S3 sees opportunity where other companies see barriers. The DDC was an unheard-of concept one year ago, and now companies nationally are insourcing IT work to Detroit, instead of outsourcing offshore. One of the most rewarding aspects of the DDC is that many of our employees had been laid off and faced the prospect of being forced to leave Michigan to find work. It represents the kind of innovation we need to see more of as we work to rebuild the Michigan economy."
Besides Detroit, S3's locations are in Atlanta, Ga., Boston, Mass., Los Angeles and San Francisco, Calif., Charlotte, N.C., Chicago, Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., Minneapolis, Minn., New Orleans, La., New York City, Philadelphia, Pa., Phoenix, Ariz., Richmond, Va., St. Louis, Mo. and Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Austin, Texas. International locations are in Vilnius, Lithuania and London.
S3 provides consulting and staff augmentation services, vendor management programs, executive search services, call center technology and an IT development center to financial institutions, energy companies, telecommunications, government agencies, retail and health care industries.