HISTORY
Diversified Telecommunications Inc., (DTI) was founded in 1985, as a pay phone provider. Knowing the needs of the communities it served brought DTI early success. Because DTI was an independent payphone company with lower overhead, it was able to offer a much larger percentage of the phones’ revenues to retailers than bigger providers, such as Illinois Bell, could offer. With the proliferation of cell phones, the pay phone business began to dwindle. Looking ahead DTI had already begun exploring the information technology services arena and found two areas in which to expand their business.
The first area of expansion was in network infrastructure. This included network cabling, which was a logical extension of the phone business. With the growth of business networks, it was a smart move. DTI has been offering network cabling, including network design, pre-project planning, structured cabling systems and on-site technicians, since 1994. Based on the success of the network infrastructure business, Diverse Technologies, Inc. was created in 2008 to provide network communication technicians from I.B.E.W. Local 134, project managers, project coordinators and of course account managers to offer an expanded set of Network Services to help ensure clients expectations were exceeded from beginning to end.
The second area of expansion is IT Consulting, including ERP implementations, software application design and development, computer programming, project management and supplemental staffing. DTI saw that a project often required additional sets of hands or skill sets our client did not have on staff. As opposed to hiring additional staff, they looked to DTI to fill their needs. The division, originally developed to support client needs for project assistance in 1996, grew into the establishment of Diversified Technology, Inc. in 2007.
Into the 2000s, DTI grew at an incredible rate. It was recognized twice by the Inner City 100 as one of the fastest growing inner-city companies in America. DTI’s client list included some of the top organizations headquartered in Chicago, such as Amoco, Ameritech, and Quaker Oats. But a series of mergers and acquisitions, with corporate decisions now being made outside Chicago, resulted in DTI losing some of its large, long-term clients. Therefore, DTI transitioned once again, balancing its portfolio to include more clients in the government and education industries that aren’t susceptible to mergers and acquisitions by out-of-state corporations, developing strong relationships with some of the largest system integrators and software providers in the business, and providing its service offerings to organizations throughout the country.
Today, DTI has three services: IT Consulting, Network Services, and Managed Services. Managed Services is the newest offering, where DTI can provide call center and ongoing system support. While it supports many industries, DTI is focused on government, education, healthcare and utilities. Its government practice supports federal, state and local governments, including a specialization in transit authorities. Its education practice addresses the needs of K-12 as well as higher education. In the Network Services area, DTI understands the rules, regulations, and codes that are required to keep everyone safe installing or modifying network infrastructure in hospitals. Its experience working with public utilities includes ERP systems, smart meters, and integrating systems to accommodate mergers and acquisitions. It has built strong relationships with its clients, large system integrators such as Accenture, Deloitte, and IBM, and software providers such as Oracle, SAP and Tyler Technologies.
DTI continues to innovate and adjust to the market. It provides its clients high quality services at a reasonable price by recruiting and retaining highly desirable talent, keeping its overhead costs low with a lean and agile infrastructure, and striving to exceed its clients’ expectations.