Originally hailing from a 150-person Central Texas town, Patrick Hemphill relocated to Dallas in 1998 to start his own systems applications and products consulting company, Hemphill Consulting. Before opening his own business, Hemphill was recruited to work on an SAP software project while working as a Cobalt programmer at Dell Computer. Encouraged by his family in Dallas, he saw an opportunity to launch a new company in the Metroplex. Last year, Hemphill worked on three projects in the area and is currently working with the City of Dallas on another. Most of the company’s clients are in other states, and he credits his marketing team and word-of-mouth for the success. Recently, Hemphill Consulting has found success with clients who, as a result of cutbacks, no longer use full-time SAP staff and seek the company’s “911OnDemandSupport.” Hemphill was interviewed by staff writer Phoebe Wu.
Q. What does Hemphill Consulting do for its clients?
A. We specialize in time management and payroll. If a customer goes out and buys the SAP system, it’s like a blank piece of paper. Someone’s got to come out and customize it to their time rules. We write the programming behind that to find out if you come in late or if you come in early. Our clients are in 48 states, but we do the continental United States and Canada. One of the things we push is to work remotely, because it saves the clients money. Twenty percent of our business is done remotely; the rest is on-site.
Q. How has the business grown since its inception, and what are you looking to do in the future?
A. We’ve grown from $300,000 to $1.7 million; last year we had our record year. We won the D-FW Minority Business of the Year Award for companies between $1 million and $10 million. We’re right at 12 employees. We are looking to expand the business with a possible merger with another local company. The other company has some skills and some talents that we don’t have, but we’re just talking right now.
Q. What makes Hemphill Consulting stand out from the competition?
A. Our competitors are Accenture, Deloitte and all the small firms in-between. We compete with the big boys for the same piece of business. People come to us because of our reputation and our service and also the rates we are able to offer and the flexibility. We take care of the customer; we go above and beyond.
Q. How has the recession affected the consulting industry?
A. It has been affected adversely. We have so many projects that are on hold — we’ve got four projects that are worth $10 million. But nobody’s willing to pull the trigger.