The 2018 Best Small Firms to Work For: ImagineX Consulting

Consulting Service Lines:  IT Consulting

Scott McGuiney, CEO and Co-Founder of ImagineX Consulting says the firm provides its consultants with the leeway to do amazing things. "We put hungry folks in a position where they have the autonomy to do the right thing for their clients in a supportive and entrepreneurial environment that gives them the right flexibility and options to do their best work," he says. "The result is they feel ownership of their career and responsibility over their work as well as a deep understanding of how their efforts contribute to the success of the company."

The other result is that it often lands the firm on recognition lists. Earlier this year, ImagineX was listed as one of Consulting's Seven Small Jewels. Seven months later, here it is as one of the Best Small Firms to Work For with a very impressive No. 5 ranking. 

"It confirms the things we are doing to support our people, gives us great exposure to assist in adding talent to our team, and further motivates us to think creatively to find additional ways to support our team," McGuiney says. "Most of all, this award shows that we are building a team that fits the goal of being a consultancy of engaged, entrepreneurially spirited, energetic, and client-focused technologists."

McGuiney says the morale at ImagineX is strengthened by consultants who get excited from "the hustle" of delivering innovative client projects successfully, finding and nurturing deals that bring value to clients, and building, supporting, and developing the best team in the industry. "Being a great consultant is hard work that, let's face it, can be a grind, but I think our culture is best illustrated by the energy our team of 'grinders' gets from that process," he says. "Our team seems to feed off of that so it's very much a self-sustaining culture and morale."

Ashburn, Va.-based ImagineX has had an incredible start to the year, McGuiney says, and is seeing huge momentum across all, of its practices. About 90 percent of the work is project-based, focusing on transformational efforts that leverage modern technologies and lean methods.  "We see growth potential in Cyber around web application scanning, GDPR, and security data visualization, and a continuing focus on software QA automation," he says. 

"We continue to work with a diverse set of clients, across most industries, from startups to Fortune 500s—we have worked with over 50 clients and delivered over 100 successful projects in just the past two-and-a-half years," McGuiney says.

What's your top priority over the next 12 months?

McGuiney: "Our top priority is to ensure we continue to provide personal attention to our clients and superior project delivery.  This means we have to scale our team with the right types of consultants, which has become increasingly difficult with the competition consultancies are facing from the Silicon Valley tech firms. And we also have to ensure that we provide our tenured consultants the flexibility and variation of projects that they crave. Our last goal for 2019 is to expand our work within our marquee clients to reduce the sales cycles typically associated with new client acquisition."