•Key personnel: Patrick and Angela Allmond, founders and owners.
•Year founded: 1998.
•Key product or service: Application development that focuses on business problems.
•Background: After working in information technology for some of the nation's biggest corporations, Patrick Allmond traded in the security of working for a big firm to create his own business in Focus Information Technology.
"I created Focus out of frustration with the last job I had,” Allmond said. "I wanted to keep my family in Oklahoma City, but I had this burning desire to branch out and help companies really shine with the technology investments.”
Since Allmond began the technology company in 1998, it has served the technology needs for such clients as Caterpillar, MetLife, Charles Schawb, the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing, the state of Georgia and a Spanish bank, La Caixa in Barcelona.
A random conversation with the local director of the U.S. Veterans Affairs office led to a contract with that agency. Allmond was waiting in the security line at the airport to visit an out-of-town client when he struck up a conversation with the Veterans Affairs officer.
"She explained some of her challenges to me, and we exchanged information and agreed to stay in touch,” he said. "We eventually were able to visit her office and develop an application to prove we had what it took to help that department succeed. We slowly grew that engagement and scope over time to where it is now. That was over three years ago.”
Focus has been able to adapt to the fast pace of change in the technology world because of its relatively small size, Allmond said.
"Focus is embracing as many Web-based tools as we can to keep us even more nimble and able to respond to customer demands rapidly,” he said. "Working more from the Web has virtually eliminated the need to have everybody in the company in one place. Now when we are looking to engage a ... client, their physical location is one of the least of our concerns.”
In fact, technology has freed companies such as Focus Information Technology from being tied to a desk and keyboard from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Allmond envisions a future in which companies employ people in multiple locations and they work the hours that appeal to them.
"Now, that would be a great company to work at,” he said.
For more on Allmond's business (and personal) philosophy, visit his blog at stopdoingnothing.com.
— Business Writer Jim Stafford
