IT firm expands office and warehouse space, adds workforce on First Coast (Courtesy of the Jacksonville Business Journal) — Two years after moving its global headquarters to Jacksonville, IT consulting company Emtec Inc. is growing its physical footprint on the First Coast by about 50% and expanding its workforce both here and around the globe.
The physical growth sees the company expanding its leased Southside space from about 9,500 square feet to 15,000, allowing the fast-growing company to combine its warehousing and service facility into a space that’s about 60% larger than what it was using.
That additional space will allow the company to ramp up its offerings, said Emtec Managing Partner Doug Goodall, particularly in the areas of cybersecurity and educational technology.
“Those are areas where we’re advancing services, primarily here in Jacksonville,” Goodall said.
Emtec has three business lines, focusing on advanced software development, financial systems consulting and IT infrastructure support and management, with the latter the largest in terms of revenue.
It was also the one that had to shift into high gear during the pandemic, as customers had a greater need for hardware and were using networks that suddenly had to deal with employees working remotely.
In Jacksonville, for instance, Duval County Public Schools is an Emtec client, turning to the company when it had to procure 55,000 laptops for students. Other Emtec technicians, meanwhile, were focusing on making sure the workforce of a large Manhattan bank could stay connected after being sent home, Goodall said.
“I’m extraordinarily proud of them,” he said about the company’s employees. “Not a single client missed a beat in continuity of service.”
The coming year should bring growth as well. At the corporate level, Emtec has about 1,000 employees, up from about 600 when it moved here.
More workers will be coming onboard for cybersecurity, with a security lab taking up part of the expanded space.
The company is also working with one of the local universities — Goodall wouldn’t say which one — on a “classroom of the future” lab, building out a test space for hybrid education.
“Education — at the higher level and K-12 — has changed dramatically in the past year,” he said. “It will never go back to where it was.”
As part of its growth plans, Emtec recently refinanced its corporate debt, consolidating the financial structure of its three units. That move lowered the company’s cost of capital and provides funding for growth, Goodall said.
While Emtec has grown through acquisitions – particularly a buying spree about five years ago — none are planned for the short term, Goodall said, although the company is always looking.
Instead, expansion will come from a series of strategic initiatives in the works plus “raw organic growth.”
“We’re planning for growth,” Goodall said. “The coming year is going to be strong.”
Image courtesy of Emtec