Feature Tony Jimenez MicroTech

We want to be a part of where cloud solutions are going, of where mobility is going.

Tony is a decorated combat veteran who served for nearly 25 years in the U.S. Military and has served in many organizations such as the Disabled American Veterans and the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

Feature PHOTOGRAPHY BY REESE STUDIOS www.reesestudios.com

TONYJIMENEZ Traditional Success Does Not Always Follow a Traditional Path

B

y any measure, Tony Jimenez is a very successful man. And the company that he founded, MicroTech, is a brilliantly successful company. Built on a dream, and funded with borrowed retirement funds, credit card cash, and family possessions sold for operating capital, MicroTech has grown at an astounding rate since it was founded in 2004. In just those few years, the original staff of only a handful of people has grown to over 400 throughout the U.S.

And awards and recognition for both founder and company are accumulating at a remarkable rate. Mr. Jimenez has been named to the HITEC “Most Influential” list for 3 years running. He is a twotime Federal 100 winner for influencing how the government acquires, manages, and uses IT. He has been named the GovCon Executive of the Year, recognized as one of the “Most Influential Hispanics in the Nation” by Hispanic Business Magazine and the government information resource management organization (AFFIRM) recognized him for

“Executive Leadership for Industry.”

His company has been named to the Inc. 500 Hall of Fame, and ranked the #1 communications and networking company in Washington D.C. by the Deloitte Technology Fast 500. For the last two years MicroTech was named to the Washington Post 200, and also recognized as the SmartCEO Future 50 Fastest Growing Company in the Washington D.C. area.

Certainly an impressive array of awards for Mr. Jimenez and MicroTech, but only a small sampling of what they’ve been awarded in recent years.

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His company has been ranked the #1 communications and networking company in Washington D.C.

More about Tony

“Sometimes ‘Different’ is the Way to Do Things” Most successful entrepreneurs exhibit the combination of vision, all-out dedication and leadership that has served Mr. Jimenez in guiding MicroTech from a dream to a major industry player. But sometimes it takes just a bit more than the traditional ingredients of success.

Sometimes a classic success story is achieved through recognizing the necessity of doing things differently.

MicroTech has been so successful, in part, because of the value it has provided to both government and commercial customers. But it has been able to provide that value by taking somewhat of a non-traditional route. Rather than taking the traditional approach of simply responding to what the customer wants, Mr. Jimenez has insisted upon digging deeper, focusing on developing a highlevel understanding of what the customer needs to accomplish. By taking the time to understand the customer’s mission, the MicroTech team is able to focus on delivering what the customer truly needs to accomplish the mission.

“What are you trying to do? What’s the mission? What keeps you up at

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night?” Those are the issues to focus upon, said Mr. Jimenez. MicroTech strives to serve its customers by developing an understanding of their goals, of their mission. And then working to deliver what their customers need to achieve their goals. MicroTech’s phenomenal growth reflects the superiority of that approach over a more traditional rote response.

“We’re Doing Everything We Can, Every Day, to Get Better at What We Do” Tony Jimenez recognizes that great success can breed complacency. “A lot of times companies grow so fast that they get focused on the growth, not on the quality,” said Mr. Jimenez. “But we’ve got a great company and we’re very excited about the things that we know we’re going to do in the future. We’re doing everything we can, every day, to get better at what we do.”

For Mr. Jimenez to aspire to improve even beyond the exemplary service that MicroTech has provided its customers since its founding is certainly an ambitious goal. But it’s that very mindset that drives the most successful of entrepreneurs like Tony Jimenez.

Tony Jimenez is quite an interesting and accomplished individual — even apart from his success with MicroTech.

Tony is a decorated combat veteran who served for nearly 25 years in the U.S. Military. In his focus on giving back to the veteran, Hispanic and small business communities, Tony has served in many organizations such as the Disabled American Veterans and the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. He has also been a long-time supporter and sponsor of the UFC - and even dared to spend a little time in the ring with a professional fighter (a LITTLE time, Tony emphasized!)

Tony is much sought after for his expertise in technology, governmental affairs and small business growth. He has testified before Congress on multiple occasions. And he has served as an advisor for three White House administrations, meeting on many occasions with presidents and senior administration officials.

We were excited at Modern Government when Tony generously agreed to carve a little time out of his demanding schedule to sit down for a bit of Q&A. Tony’s responses to our questions were both interesting and enlightening.

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MODERN GOVERNMENT How has the government landscape changed since you started MicroTech in 2004?

JIMENEZ: Drastically. Since 2004 there’s been a lot of discussion around how the government buys. Better buying, more focused buying, improvement around how it contracts with small, medium, and large businesses, how it ensures the total cost of ownership - which is something that the federal government didn’t look at real well in the earlier years.

And now with many of the things in Afghanistan and Iraq kind of winding down, the government’s looking at what it paid, and how much it cost. And not only what it paid and how much it cost, but how much it cost to maintain it, to manage it, and then introduce it back into the life cycle of government systems.

And all of that apprehension leads to different buying methodologies because people are trying to figure out: how do I make sure now, if I’ve got less money, that every penny I spend is being spent economically?

More importantly, everyone is thinking that the success of the program that they’re responsible for managing is the key, not necessarily the success of the overall government.

So sometimes people make decisions around solutions or programs that shouldn’t be around. And instead of saying, “It cost too much,” or, “Do we really need that?” some programs tend to stay longer than they should. So what we’re seeing in particular - right now, especially - is what we call soft sequestration.

It’s like if we knew that we were about to get a hurricane, a lot of people would go out and buy more water than they need and they’d buy generators, and they’d buy warm blankets, and they’d buy all those things you buy when you’re getting ready for a storm. And then if they knew it was going to be a long time, they’d save their money. Because you need to have your money going into one of those types of situations.

Well, Program Managers are the same way; they’re sitting on a lot. Right now there is a ton of unobligated money out there because people want to know that they’re going to have enough in the event of a sequestration. And buying habits will change if there’s a sequestration, so that’s the situation.

MODERN GOVERNMENT: What are the challenges that government agencies will need to overcome in the years ahead?

JIMENEZ: I think the government will need to take a better look at commercial buying practices and commercial processes. I think right now the government spends a lot of money for a lot of things.

You know, one of the first things that I often ask people is: why do we have so many different “eaches” in the federal government?

Why does everybody buy the same stuff and nobody buys it any better than anybody else? And the ones that do buy it well, why aren’t they given the ability to go buy it for everybody?

And the ones who buy it poorly, why isn’t their ability to buy it poorly prohibited? Why do we have so many different healthcare systems within the federal government, and what’s the solution to that? Why does the Air Force have its own, the Army have its own, the Navy and Marines have their own, why does VA have its own? And why do other agencies have responsibility?

Why do we in the commercial world rely on VA to provide Veterans with healthcare?

Why do we rely on TRICARE to provide retired military with healthcare?

Why do we rely on so many different systems when a consolidation and a single use would make all the same sense?

I think the government will need to take a better look at commercial buying practices and commercial processes.

I think right now the government spends a lot of money for a lot of things.

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The government can’t prioritize what it needs because many people aren’t talking about what they need. And then there’s the confusing: what you need versus what you want.

And where are the cost savings? You want to save millions? Consolidate some of those programs. Have one healthcare for all of the services.

MODERN GOVERNMENT: How is MicroTech leading the way in responding to these challenges?

JIMENEZ: I think part of it is listening. What does the government need to be better? And when we can get agencies to tell us what they need, we can figure out how to get it to them.

A lot of agencies are very secretive. “Ahh, I don’t want to tell you. Read the proposal, read the RFP. We’re going to put something out to tell you.” “Well, how about you just tell me and everybody else? So we know what keeps you up at night.”

You know it would be the same in my home. If every night I went to bed I got rain on my head because I didn’t have a roof and somebody said, “What keeps you up at night?” “My roof.”

So am I now going to run out and buy, you know, a new driveway? No, I’m going to get my roof fixed.

And if somebody comes to pitch to me about a new driveway, I’m probably not going to buy one because they don’t really know what I need. I haven’t told them what I need. I haven’t told them, “I really need a new roof.” I prioritize what I need because I know what I need.

The government can’t prioritize what it needs because many people aren’t talking about what they need. And then there’s the confusing: what you need versus what you want.

People in the government are bombarded by commercials, just like people who aren’t in the government.

We see the newest, hottest car; the newest, hottest technology; the newest, hottest phone; the newest, hottest capability. And I had some people say, “Man, I love that phone where you touch the two and it exchanges information.” Yeah, that’s really nice.

But what do you need that for in the government?

Are you transferring information between phones in the government or are you transferring them between computers?

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When you tell me why you need that, sure. But if that’s what you need, there’s a difference between need and want in that particular situation. So don’t tell me what you want, don’t tell me, ‘I want six computers.’ What is it you’re trying to do?

Because you might not need a full client computer.

You may need thin client computers, you may need zero client computers, you may need everything running on your desktop, or everything in a cloud environment, not a bunch of applications or licenses that you pay for and never use sitting on people’s desktop computers.

And then what kind of licenses do you need? Do you need a license that allows you to renew every year? Or do you just need it for once in a blue moon when you access it where you can access it out of a cloud environment?

MODERN GOVERNMENT: How would you describe a more modern government?

JIMENEZ: I think modern government works more with industry and embraces industry ideas, and industry’s capability to get it right and get it right fast because industry is motivated. We’re a capitalist society, people are motivated by people who have it right, and people who have it right can sell it. People who have it wrong, play heck trying to sell it.

You can have a great, great solution, but if nobody’s buying it, it doesn’t matter how good it is.

The federal government needs to get a little bit more entrepreneurial. They need to understand that being an entrepreneur is not a bad thing. Figuring out how to do it bigger, better, faster, cheaper is a critically important part, and people who know how to do that are in industry; many are in government. But when you get smart people in the government together with smart people in industry and you approach it as a team.

Modern government is engrained with modern technology, and modern industry, and modern corporations, and we spend an awful lot of money on education. And a lot of that education isn’t being taken full advantage of.

We’ve got to make absolutely sure that the best and brightest that come over here to study aren’t told to go

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MicroTech University MicroTech University is a state-of-the-art Training Center that provides a comprehensive array of courses, training opportunities, and certifications.

I think modern government works more with industry and embraces industry ideas, and industry’s capability to get it right and get it right fast because industry is motivated. home after they’re done, that we provide opportunities for them. We need to keep them here.

And we need to understand that’s what made this nation great. We bring people from all over the world here and they want to come here because of the opportunities available.

Modern government is more involved in the rest of America. And not in a sense of giving, but in a sense of receiving. It needs to be both ways.

MODERN GOVERNMENT: What experience has most prepared you for where you are today?

JIMENEZ: Probably people telling me I couldn’t do what I’ve done. And in telling me that I want to be able to do it even more when people tell me I can’t.

And now it kind of concerns me because people stopped telling me what I can’t do, and now the expectation is almost the opposite. People will tell me I can do things and I know I can’t because one: I’m not prepared to invest. And two: I’m not ready to change my game plan. I’m not interested - just because I figured out how to be a great quarterback - in now trying to be a great pitcher. I understand my limitations and I know what it takes to move to the next level. And as the company gets bigger, it’s kind of like throwing a softball versus throwing a 1,000 pound steel ball.

You know I can’t throw or move or turn with the same kind of flexibility I had when there were only 10 people.

I can do a whole lot more, but it takes a lot more effort to

ensure that I do the 100 things I can do versus the five things or ten things or one thing I could do.

MODERN GOVERNMENT: Which award or accolade are you most proud of?

JIMENEZ: Wow, I’m proud of all of them. Every single one has been just pinch me moments.

I think the very first one, the really, really first one that was really big that separated me, that I could tell some effort went into it.

That was, “Wow.” And then the second, and the third, and the fourth and even here recently, you know getting selected by Goldman Sachs as one of the 100 Most Innovative Entrepreneurs.

It didn’t even separate. If it had been the Most Innovative CEOs that would have been something, but it was the Most Innovative Entrepreneurs which means anybody who’s ever desired to be a business, and then to be categorized with people like Steve Case who did AOL, and Kevin Plank who does Under Armour, and I mean the list goes on and on of amazing people.

That I was there spending a week with them, listening to their story, they were listening to mine; everybody got a chance to tell their story.

But you know it’s tough to say which one was the best.

I mean, they were all kind of bricks in the path to success, and I’m hoping that I’m not done.

We’ve got a great company and we’re very excited about the things that we know we’re going to do in 2013,

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Feature and the things we know we’re going to do in ’14 and ’15.

MODERN GOVERNMENT: Can you share more insight about your passions outside of the business world?

JIMENEZ: You know, I think the thing that I like the most is when I meet people who have that passion. You know, you meet them and you’re energized by them and you feel it. And the UFC fighters, the ones I’ve met, love what they do, they know they’re good at it, they don’t in their mind think anybody can beat them.

When a fighter steps in that ring, it’s all on the line and if they lose they’re right back to the loser column. And fighting off the loser column is a heck of a lot harder than fighting off the winning column. They’re both the same, but opportunities come as a result of success.

I think what I’m passionate about is anybody who’s good at what they do. I mean if they’re a musician and they’re good at what they do, amazing; if they’re a dancer and they’re good at what they do; if they’re an entrepreneur and they’re good at what they do; if they work for the government and they’re good at what they do.

I like people who take pride in what they do, and they strive to be the best, and they work really hard to be better than anybody else in their field.

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Those are the kind of people we need to emulate, and embrace, and hold up for everybody to see so they can get it, they understand what it takes to be number one.

[Laughing] I made the mistake one time of putting on the gloves [with a UFC fighter] just for a short period…it was very bad idea! They wanted to show me that what they did for a living was not easy.

MODERN GOVERNMENT: What is next for MicroTech?

JIMENEZ: I think we’re definitely going to continue to grow. I think we’re going to move more and more into cloud solutions; that, I think, is where people, governments, large corporations need to move. It’s where next generation technology is going to go and I think people who understand that and develop solutions around it will be playing a role, not just doing it.

We want to be a part of where cloud solutions are going, of where mobility is going.

And how we manage big data is a critical, important part of where we’re going next. (MG)

I like people who take pride in what they do, and they strive to be the best, and they work really hard to be better than anybody else in their field.