Pinnacle Technical Resources and EDS — one year later

With a focus on technology, cost savings and delivery of unrivaled service, Dallas-based Pinnacle Technical Resources grew from a $300 investment in 1996 to a business with more than $250 million in annual revenue today. Much of that success resulted from a key partnership with EDS.

What started out as EDS mentoring Pinnacle turned into a business relationship, with Pinnacle providing vendor management services and staffing for EDS. Now, five years into that connection, the half-billion dollar contract has been extended for four years.

Innovative sourcing
The relationship began with a supplier diversity mentorship program sponsored by the North Texas Commission and the Dallas-Ft. Worth Minority Business Development Council.
“[EDS] mentored us when we were a very small company and gave us the opportunity to go from a small sub-contractor to a direct contractor to one of only two preferred prime suppliers who manage all IT contract labor for EDS’ U.S. commercial and state/local government accounts,” said Freddy Vaca, senior vice president, Pinnacle. “We’ve been growing exponentially since then. Our diversity status has given us some opportunities, but we lead with technology, execution, scalability and pricing.”
EDS has a big commitment to minority- and woman-owned business enterprises and under-utilized businesses, said Andrew Houser, U.S. director of supply chain management for EDS.

“It is the right thing to do to mentor minority- and woman-certified companies,” he said. “EDS supply chain develops sourcing strategies that give EDS a financial and delivery advantage. If we source at the same level and manner as our competitors, then we have not differentiated EDS in the market.”

“One of the ways to develop that edge is to find companies like Pinnacle with sharp, dynamic leadership who aren’t afraid to look at doing business in a different way than the historic model,” Houser said.

“Pinnacle’s appetite for risk is a little higher than larger, more established businesses because they’re hungry for the business and confident in their ability to deliver,” he added. “They’re eager to prove themselves and gain client satisfaction. We see their team knocking themselves out to deliver service to EDS. There is something to be said for the energy and passion that some of these smaller companies we mentor and coach bring to the table.”

The coaching and mentoring that happened equipped them to “play with the big boys,” Houser said.
Nina G. Vaca, chairman and CEO of Pinnacle, explained, “The EDS relationship represents a significant inflexion point in Pinnacle’s history. Our experience at EDS validated our technology-based business model and provided us a platform for future growth and expansion.” She continued, “Through that experience, Pinnacle was able to evolve our proprietary technology, streamline our internal processes, and add a level of scalability to our business that fundamentally differentiates us from our competitors.”

Staffing needs at EDS
“Pinnacle is now what we term internally [as] one of our Prime Suppliers for outside labor,” Houser said. “They provide technical staff augmentation or contractors. Pinnacle is one of our largest primes in the United States.”
He went on to describe that EDS has a very large spend in outside labor.

“Our contractors are essentially EDS employees. We hold contractors to the same standards of excellence as EDS employees, and we expect that level to be guaranteed by our suppliers,” Houser said.
“When you look at the type of labor that we buy, we really buy in three main categories: clerical and call center, technical staff augmentation, and the OEM brand name and consulting.”

For the past five years, Pinnacle has provided vendor management services and staffing for EDS.
“Pinnacle manages a very high percentage of all contract labor spent in the Americas for EDS; that means that Pinnacle is managing an extensive number of IT skill sets through a vast network of sub-suppliers on a nationwide basis,” Freddy Vaca said.

Last year, EDS sought competitive bids from various contract labor firms — including Pinnacle — in search of the most reliable and cost-effective firm to provide technical staff augmentation.
Houser said doing this work in-house would be resource intensive for his organization, but the role is critical for EDS, so the supplier has a tough task. As a result of that bid in 2007, two companies were awarded prime supplier status with Pinnacle getting “a large share of the business.”

Making it happen
Pinnacle has an EDS-dedicated team located at EDS corporate headquarters to help with staffing issues. There is an entire team devoted to EDS’ at Pinnacle’s headquarters, too.

“It is a huge plus to have the dedicated team,” Houser said. “In the sourcing realm, getting the best people is a lot different than sourcing a commodity. We’re not buying pens or pencils. Inevitably, when sourcing people, things happen. People don’t show up, get sick, have personal issues, or they have problems that must be addressed immediately. For EDS — which strives for zero outages — there is no tolerance for a contractor to be even five minutes late,” Houser said.
“In the time it takes for me to e-mail or call, that is too long. Having [Pinnacle] on site ensures that we deliver excellent service uninterrupted to our clients,” he added.

Pinnacle interfaces with EDS via ProgataTM, Pinnacle’s proprietary, web-based staffing and vendor management solution, which manages all aspects of Pinnacle’s responsibilities. Through ProgataTM, Pinnacle distributes new job requisitions to suppliers, sources candidates, tracks supplier performance, manages contract compliance, and tracks and reports on all approved timesheets and supplier payment details — all of which occurs online.

Why Pinnacle?
encounter executive teams who delegate tasks and avoid accountability, but Nina [Vaca] is a working CEO and Freddy [Vaca] is committed, too. It is a company committed not to fail, and they back that with their actions personally.”
Freddy Vaca said, “Our business philosophy is simple: continuously leverage technology to improve performance while saving your clients money every day.”