POD PEOPLE

Information technology firm specializes in quick, local solutions to computer problems

By Donna Redman For the Journal

Information technology is a field that can intimidate and confuse, though in today’s world just about everybody needs and uses it in one form or another, whether it’s e-mail or cell phones or sophisticated computer programs. The people at POD Inc. not only understand it, they relish it. And they specialize in responding to an IT challenge as fast and as effectively as possible.

“Every time a customer needs something, we respond to it very quickly with the best resources that we can possibly get,” said Tama Herman, the business development officer at POD, during a recent interview. They even service outdated computer programs and technologies.

“That’s what makes us different from some of these monolithic places,” Herman said. “They’re more expensive and they’re always slower and less responsive, just because they’re so big.”

In 2008, POD Inc. celebrated it’s 20th year in business. When it was founded in 1988, POD stood for Program On Demand.

“About six months in, we got into the whole networking side of things, so we dropped (the Programs On Demand name) and it’s just POD,” said CEO and president Samantha Lapin in a recent interview. “Back then, people would say that was kind of a weird name, so we had fun with it. Then, when Steve Jobs came along with the iPod, he made our name cool. It’s kind of fun,” she added.

Lapin took over as president and CEO in 1994. In 2006, POD became a wholly owned subsidiary of RESPEC (short for Research Specialists), a firm based in Rapid City, S.D.

“They own us entirely now,” Lapin said, “but we’re still our own separate corporate entity. They have an engineering division, a water and natural resources division and an IT division. POD fits under the IT division.”

Branching off

One of RESPEC’s engineering division specialties is called salt mechanics. They came to New Mexico 25 years ago to work with Sandia Labs in analyzing the salt at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in Carlsbad when WIPP was under development, Lapin said. They continued their relationship with Sandia over the years, including projects with their IT division.

Lapin now heads up the IT division at RESPEC, as well as serving as principal at POD.

Currently POD has four divisions: PODSoft, PODData, PODNet and PODPerform. PODSoft and PODData are the software and database development and integration divisions. “Integration means making the systems talk to each other,” Lapin explained. “PODNet is our networking division, where we set up and maintain computer networks, mostly for small businesses and non profits. We have about 100 small businesses and non profits that rely on us to keep their computer networks up and running.”

PODPerform is the division responsible for information technology contract project management and independent validation and verification.

“Independent validation and verification is to information technology as audit is to accounting,” Lapin said. “The state of New Mexico is requiring that almost all of their large IT projects have an IV&V vendor on board to make sure that the projects are managed correctly.”

They have something they call PODhoc, a comprehensive data mining and ad hoc reporting tool. It includes what Lapin called a GIS, or Geospatial Information Services practice. “It takes your tabular data and maps it to create a visual image, to graph that data visually more easily,” Lapin said.

PeopleSoft service

PODPeople is a practice they’re developing to serve a software package called PeopleSoft that is no longer supported by the company that created it. It’s an ERP, or enterprise resource planning package widely used by large entities, Lapin said. “It’s an integrated package that does your accounting, your human resources, your benefits and your payroll,” she explained, “all of that together. This PeopleSoft package is in place right now at the state, it’s in place at PNM, the city of Albuquerque is running PeopleSoft. These packages are run throughout the country, but the expertise for supporting and maintaining them isn’t in New Mexico.”

And it’s very expensive to get people from out of state here to maintain them, she said. POD is working to change that.

They’re trying to attract some of the support people to relocate here. “It’s worth a lot to people to be able to live here and not have to travel every day, to set some roots down,” Lapin said.

And the city of Albuquerque is talking with the College of Santa Fe, UNM, and CNM about training people to service PeopleSoft, with the city of Albuquerque possibly offering internships.

“(POD) would have mentorships when we get really qualified people in here,” Herman said. “It could be an opportunity to grow our own (support force) and it would last, even though the product is no longer under development.”

PeopleSoft is also widely used to manage federal grants, and since the state gets many federal grants, that makes it even more reasonable to develop a local support force, Lapin said.

Backup possibilities

The PODNet division recently instituted what they call the PODSure product, an affordable backup solution that allows small businesses and non profits to back up their data and their hard drive off site over the Internet.

“We’ve developed a little black box that hooks up to their server,” Lapin said. “It backs up data and sends it to Amazon. Amazon has multiple backups, so you have very high reliability and assurance that your data is safe.”

“This saves you so much money and so much time, we think our customers are really going to go for it,” Herman said.

They also offer their clients multiple contract vehicles, which means that they have been approved to negotiate with various government entities on behalf of their clients, thus significantly speeding up the contract approval process.

“It’s been interesting and it’s been a learning experience and a growth experience, personally and professionally, watching the company grow,” Lapin said. “It’s been great.”

FOCUS ON:

POD, Inc.

PRINCIPAL: Samantha Lapin, President and CEO

SERVICES: Information technology, including software and data base development and integration; networking; information technology contract management; independent validation and verification of large IT projects

NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES: 40

WEB SITE: podassoc.com

LOCATION: 5971 Jefferson NE, Suite 101

ANNUAL SALES: About $4.5 million

BUSINESS TIP: “Starting a business requires a lot of different skills. You need ideas, you need the operational side, you need the financial side and you need the marketing and sales side of things. I had the financial, the marketing, sales and the operations side, but I wasn’t the idea person. But I had a very good chief technology officer in Dale Atkinson, who was the idea guy and the technical guy. As the company grows, you have to be able to let go of some of those areas and bring on other people to help you grow the company, because one person can’t do it all.” Samantha Lapin, president and CEO, POD Inc.