Estrada Consulting, Inc. (ECI) was initially incorporated in Sacramento, California, in June of 2000. Since then, ECI has enjoyed steady growth and success, expanded operations to include additional services, training, and opportunities, attracting industry leading consultants and serving clients at the city, county, and state level. Over the last 23 years, ECI has survived various economic downturns and several recessions, adapted to changing technology landscapes and evolving methodologies, and successfully completed hundreds of complex public sector implementation and development projects. Even with significantly notable challenges like Covid and escalating inflation rates in the last few years, ECI continued to outperform competitors without sacrificing quality of service.
As ECI has grown and matured its business practices over the last two decades and technology has continued to advance, the complexities and obstacles that arise during the implementation process of state and local government IT projects have also increased. Public sector projects often have strict procurement rules that can be lengthy and costly and include Covid requirements, interoperability of different IT systems between government agencies, some as old as the early 1990’s, created data discrepancies and inefficiencies that hindered success, and the need for specialized skills and knowledge required for government IT projects were not readily available in the market. As client initiatives often drive the need to become proficient in newer technologies and to meet the demand for the ever expanding technologies and skill sets, ECI augmented its consulting practice by broadening not only the geography that we serve but also the locations we recruit from.
Both North and South America have seen a dramatic rise in the production of a skilled technical workforce in the last decade. With major investments in quality technology education and training initiatives, the implementation and adoption of advancing telecommunications and business products, as well as funding from multiple government programs to improve and accelerate technology growth, has led to a growth of qualified and valuable technology labor pools. Recently, several advanced technology hubs have emerged, generating experienced and versatile consultants, trained on the most current iterations of cutting-edge technologies. ECI capitalized on these new markets by expanding its operations internationally, enabling us to not only participate in additional innovative technology projects, but to also recruit and employ some of the industry’s leading personnel.
In 2019, ECI opened its first international office in Vancouver British Columbia, Canada. Not only did we immediately begin responding and applying to Canadian government IT contracts, but we also employed several local personnel to engage in consulting, communications, and recruiting efforts. This provided us access to a new market and a new skilled labor force, but it also exposed us to new methodologies and practices only common to these areas, mainly due to differing country laws and their constituency wants and needs. The subtle differences in approach to technology, its development, implementation, and adoption contributed to a fresh perspective on common IT challenges and solutions. Building on this successful expansion of our business operations in North America, ECI then initiated its second international office in Guadalajara Jalisco, Mexico, in late 2022, with its large and growing economy, a favorable business climate, and to tap into the emerging technology markets and talented resources available there. It also provided us with a strategic location that offers access to both North and South American markets.
ECI is currently registered to do business in 35 states (and growing) across the US and has completed hundreds of successful city, county, and state IT projects in most of the country. We have several teams of accomplished professionals who understand the unique requirements and regulations of each jurisdiction and we have a strong recruiting team to identify and secure needed skills and experience on projects. Now that we have expanded our operations to Canada and Mexico, we also expand our team’s knowledge and availability to those new jurisdictions, as well as the ability to bring those qualified resources to bear on US projects. As ECI began participating in the H1B Program (which allows US firms to employ foreign workers in specialty occupations) in 2009, sponsoring hundreds of accomplished and knowledgeable professionals from around the world, we effectively extended our reach internationally. Diversity is always sought, and our demographics are a clear indication of this. We source people across the country and in other countries if the skills are stronger in specific regions. However, now that ECI has expanded further by opening offices in two international locations, we have advanced our ability to identify, attract, and retain technical experts and specialists with hands-on experience in trending technologies far beyond our borders. This enables us to continue enlarging our pool of expert consultants available to US public sector projects while still providing quality services at competitive prices. We hope you will join us in celebrating this new location opening in Mexico as we work to establish relationships with reliable suppliers, partners, and resources.
