AFTER YEARS OF "FLOUNDERING," LANCET SOFTWARE IS HITTING THE MARK
By Vicki Stavig
Tom Niccum is equally proud of both his titles: president of Lancet Software and one of the company's four "flounders." Lancet, founded five years ago by Niccum, Chris Holtan, Rick Thorp, and Jaime Plante, is an Internet software consulting services firm with an impressive list of clients that includes American Express, Ford Motor Co., Wells Fargo, SuperValu, and NBC Television.
It didn't start so well, however. "None of us had tried to build a business before, so we floundered," Niccum says. "We like the concept of 'flounders;' if you aren't floundering a little, you aren't trying new things."
That floundering has paid off handsomely. The Eagan company has been debt free for almost four years and maintains a five-month cash reserve that its owners say will allow it to survive a slowdown without having to lay off any of its 17 employees. "Despite the flat economy, last year was one of our best years," Niccum says. "We made $2.5 million and we distributed most of that as profit sharing to employees. In 2002 we paid an average of 11 percent of salary as bonuses."
Approximately 60 percent of Lancet's work involves analyzing sales data for large retail companies, then using Web technology to deliver that information to the client's appropriate decision makers. It also builds global Web commerce systems for clients such as Lifecore Biomedical, a Chaska-based dental products firm. Says Niccum: "That system is complicated and involves thousands of parts configurations, different languages and several ordering systems."
In California, a biomedical company is using one of Lancet's systems to make medical information easily accessible to its physicians at various clinics, and to analyze financial information that will help it determine possible future locations. A hospital alliance with more than 1,800 member organizations uses Lancet's services to distribute data to internal and external customers, while the Twin Cities metro area's Solid Waste Management Coordinating Board is using a Lancet system to share, analyze, and correlate information with users and policy makers.
Using Lancet's systems and services, clients have access to data they need to make decisions—and to make them quickly, Niccum says. A retailer, for example, might run an ad in the newspaper on Sunday and want to know by Monday how that ad affected sales. Using Lancet's expertise, the client will have that data.
Lancet's services, combined with its focus on treating its employees as well as it treats it customers, has resulted in a company that essentially has no employee turnover. "Even when it was difficult [for high-tech companies] to keep people, we never had that problem," Niccum says. "We've created a caring environment for our employees, which is good for clients, too, because they know the person who worked on their project will still be here in two years."
That caring attitude isn't just lip service. The company pays for 100 percent of its employees' health care benefits and has deleted the word "hierarchy" from its vocabulary. Lancet's financial statements are e-mailed monthly to each employee and individual job reviews are open to anyone who wants to participate.
Niccum is proud of Lancet, its people and its products. "We're constantly looking for new technology directions and figuring out what the next revolution will be," Niccum says. "We wanted to create a company that would last and be stable. We're in this for the marathon, not the sprint."