By: Sona Sharma

ITSBR: This is the first sizable acquisition for Aquent and the first in the IT staffing market. What was the strategy behind the acquisition?

Chuang: First of all, we do a lot of front-end design work. We have had a very strong business in that area over the last three or four years. So we are now in a lot of IT departments of companies and I think our clients would also like us to handle more work, including the middleware and the back-end work. We have always turned that business down. So what we wanted to do was acquire a company that would give us the capability to fill these job requirements for our clients. Renaissance was a good opportunity to do that. So now we can do front end and back end. We can offer a complete solution to our customers.

ITSBR: Why did you think that Renaissance would be a good fit?

Chuang: Renaissance is a very complimentary company to us. They are in 20 overlapping markets. We were headquartered 10 miles away from each other. We have no overlap in what we do. They do back end, we do front end. So it made sense. They have divested their solutions business and what we are left with is the staffing business, which we think still has the roots of a very healthy Renaissance business.

I think the cultures are very similar. The reason why the cultural integration has gone so well is because there is no overlap in what we do. Together we have already had great examples of cross-selling. We have won business that we have never been able to win as a stand-alone company. All of a sudden we are able now to sell all these back-end orders from our customers and [Renaissance is] able to place front-end orders for their customers that they were never able to do [earlier]. So I think both companies are very excited about the synergies.

ITSBR: Your decision to enter the IT staffing space indicates that you have confidence that the market will bounce back.

Chuang: We have good confidence in IT. I think it is a long-term growth industry. If you think about where people and knowledge workers will be, IT is clearly large and growing and clearly adds a lot of value to our organization. Also, we are very interested in the world of independent professionals. And if you think about how independent professionals will fit in the workplace of the future, IT is certainly in the forefront where people can work as independent professionals. So this is a very important and strategic area for us. Not to mention the fact that we have clients with open orders. We have clients whose needs we can fulfill today while we were not able to do in the past. Also we are very bullish on this segment. Frankly I hope the recession lasts for another year or two because it gives us the opportunity to acquire some great companies at [low] prices.

ITSBR: Where do you think the economy is headed?

Chuang: It's very difficult to predict but we are very optimistic. Our industry would definitely be an early indicator that things are getting better. I was around during the recession in 1991 and definitely staffing companies snap back first because people are hesitant and unsure about the recovery so rather than full-time staff, they bring on contractors. That definitely helps our business. Then companies like us get a second kick when a lot of those contractors go perm. That means big fees for us.