ActioNet: 10 Years Later

by Ashley W. Chen, President & CEO

The Beginning
It was late in 1997 when the ActioNet journey started with a dream to build something great. After completing my education and working as a technical and management consultant on many high-profile projects on Capitol Hill, I was looking for something more. I was inspired by an enlightening piece written by a traditional Japanese philosopher that stated, "action without vision is a nightmare, vision without action is only a daydream." It was clear from my reading that what was needed was more "Action." Since my background was in the network field and the Internet was the hot trend of the late 1990s (with UUNET, PSINet, and other companies in the headlines), I chose the name "ActioNet." After completing all of the initial registrations and checking the availability of the Internet domain, ActioNet was officially born in 1998. I founded the company with the vision of helping customers align their Information Technology strategies with their business goals.
Part of the way through 1998, as I transitioned from my previous job, I finally took the plunge full-time for ActioNet. Suddenly, I was sitting in a cramped home office with a three year old computer, a tiny desk, and whiteboard - very humble beginnings.
When I started ActioNet I was a company of one, there was no business waiting for me, I knew I had my work cut out for me, but off I went anyway. I obtained a copy of "How to do business with the Department of Transportation" and called all of the listed points of contact. Most of my calls were not returned until I finally got in contact with one of the Chief Information Officers who promptly told me "we have no money". I asked for just 20 minutes of his time to discuss the company's capabilities.
A meeting was scheduled and Jeff Abish (employee #2 who is now our Executive Vice President) accompanied me to discuss our technical capabilities.The CIO mentioned that he needed help with the Y2K activities, which were running behind at the time. The CIO knew we were very small but also very determined and gave us our first task to accomplish: Y2K Independent Verification and Validation.
This first project was finished on time and under budget and resulted in a commendation from the Associate Administrator's office. After the Y2K project was completed, the acknowledged quality of our work led to a software development task, one that has matured into one of our largest and most successful projects - still in fullbloom today.
ActioNet also received the DOT Outstanding Women-Owned Business Enterprise Award in 2000 as its first corporate award in recognition for our level of support across multiple programs. We have continued to receive accolades with the DOE CIO IT Quality Award for Technical Excellence, the Deloitte Technology Fast 50-Virginia and Fast 500-North America, Virginia's Fantastic 50, INC 500, and the Washington Technology Fast 50.

Planning for Growth
The quality of work we did and continue to do for DOT led to other opportunities in Capitol Hill, DOE, HUD, Commerce, DoD, State, and most recently HHS. Our corporate culture and core values developed based on the principles of customer service, employee development, and setting clear goals for growth every year.
As a technology company, our people have been and always will be our greatest asset. We have always believed in investing in our employees and it is our goal to promote from within wherever possible. Many of our success stories are still with the company, having exceeded the 5-year mark of service. As we continued to grow and reach critical mass, we did not compromise the core values on which ActioNet was founded. With that in mind, however, we clearly understood that the next level of growth required a different approach and additional skill sets that we did not have at the time.
In order to distinguish ourselves from the many companies that do business in our area, we made a conscious decision to move from a hero-driven culture to a process-driven organization. We invested in improving our processes, starting with our Software Engineering Institute (SEI)SM Capability Maturity Model (CMM)® Level 3 Certification in 2003. Michele Hoopes (who joined us in 2001 as a Sr. Project Manager and who now is our Vice President of Programs & Policy) was given the task of getting us there. Ten months after starting this process, we received our CMM Level 3 Certification right before Thanksgiving in November 2003. We were one of the first small companies to achieve this, but as our collective corporate mindset is continual process improvement, we did not stop there. This mindset has led to our subsequent quest for CMMI® Level 3 Certification in 2005, ISO 9001:2000 in 2006, and ITIL in 2007.
As we continued to grow, we further enhanced our corporate infrastructure with dedicated support in the areas of Human Resources, Recruiting, Accounting, Quality, Contracts, and Business Development. The foundation of our growing management team is communication, respect, and teamwork. Our ability to grow is a direct function of our ability to work well together as a team and, even when there are differences of opinion, to be open to discussion and collaboration. Once the decisions are made, we all work closely and collectively in the same direction.

Giving Back to the Community
An important part of our responsibility as an organization is to give back to the community. ActioNet has been privileged to provide support for the following causes and charitable events: Ronald McDonald House Gift Drive, American Cancer Society, Standard First Aid Course with CPR Training, Annual Walk to Cure Diabetes, Lee National Denim Day and, most recently, the Salvation Army Angel Tree Program, providing gifts for 50 local children during the holiday season.

Charting the Course Ahead
As ActioNet celebrates its 10th anniversary in January 2008, we have much to be proud of and thankful for as my original dream has taken shape. The organization we are today is the result of the many excellent ActioNeters who have contributed to our success. However, the dream continues as we plan for the next 10 years of ActioNet's growth. Our ongoing vision is to be the premier IT solutions provider delivering results to our clients. Our commitment to our core values remains stronger than ever and, as I always say, the best is yet to come!