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| CATHERINE DOMINGUEZ/SAN ANTONIO BUSINESS JOURNAL Balwinder Dhillon, president and CEO of Amer Technology Inc., says U.S. companies relying on offshoring can find better deals closer to home today. |
Balwinder Dhillon believes that Texas can be just as competitive as India and China when it comes to engineering services.
Dhillon, president and CEO of San Antonio-based Amer Technology Inc., is making the case that off-shoring is no longer as attractive an option as it once was for American companies and that they can now find the same services being done here at home for close to the same cost.
“Off-shoring is no longer the best option anymore,” Dhillon says. “We can do the same work here in Texas at a comparable cost and you don’t have the problems of a communication gap to deal with.”
At one time, off-shoring was very attractive because the labor costs were so low, Dhillon says. But today, high-tech workers in India and China are beginning to make demands for higher wages. Prices there used to be half of what they are here, but no more, he adds.
Dhillon says companies may still have to pay a little more to keep the work close to home, but they will be guaranteed to get good quality and have the support and resources they need close by.
STEM perception
But in order to stay competitive in a global economy, Dhillon says Texas needs to do more to excite a thirst for knowledge among its youth. To that end, Dhillon joined the San Antonio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce last year and is now leading its science education committee. This past year, he worked with the chamber to try and change the perception among young students that math and science is “hard.”
“It is just a perception that they have right now,” Dhillon says. “I want to make children excited about science and technology and show them that it can be fun.”
Ramiro Cavazos, president and CEO of the Hispanic Chamber, says Dhillon has been instrumental in helping the organization take its Core4 STEM initiative to the next level. STEM stands for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. The Core4 Expo, scheduled for Oct. 27-28 this year at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center, offers two days of hands-on experience, intriguing demonstrations, inspiring speakers, and lots of useful information.
“Mr. Dhillon is an example of someone who has achieved great things and now he is stepping up to help us spread this message to the community,” Cavazos says. “We created our Core4 program to be a source of information and assistance for area students and educators because we believe that an educated workforce is at the core of a strong and prosperous community.”
Cavazos says he is excited to have Dhillon co-chairing the expo this year because he will help them to connect the science and math education and training with local career opportunities.
“It is very important that we keep this brain power here locally by providing students with exciting career opportunities here at home,” Cavazos says.
Career opportunities
Dhillon says for his business to continue to prosper, he is relying on an educated workforce in San Antonio and across Texas.
Amer Technology, which he founded in 1995, not only provides engineering services, but also offers information technology consulting, staffing solutions, training services, and software development. The company employs 250 people in 30 states and had annual revenues last year of $30 million. The company has 20 employees at its corporate headquarters in San Antonio.
“If we are going to continue to grow we will need good workers here locally,” Dhillon says. “Anybody who does the undergraduate work in engineering has the basics and we can continue to train them. There are a lot of opportunities here.”
About 60 percent of Amer Technology’s clients, including the Department of Defense, are in the public sector.
But the company has recently been focusing more on the private sector with the goal of growing that segment of its business. It reaches out to all industries, from health care to manufacturing, including Fortune 500 clients such as AT&T, IBM and locally based Kinetic Concepts Inc.
Dhillon says the recent economic downturn has impacted his firm just like it has other businesses, but Amer (an acronym for Accountable Management, Exceptional Results) has maintained its position in the market because they have a loyal customer base and offer competitive pricing.
“We have been holding up pretty well,” Dhillon says. “No matter how bad the economy is, companies cannot go without their computers so there is always work that is available.”
Read more: Engineering firm Amer Technology builds competitive edge | San Antonio Business Journal