The Key Buzzword at MCP These Days Is ‘Growth’
Posted on February 22, 2021 by Darrin Reilly
Last week, Mission Critical Partners (MCP) announced the acquisition of MTG Management Consultants (MTG), a Seattle-based firm that provides strategy and management services to local, county and state government entities. The acquisition further strengthens MCP’s credentials as the leading provider of consulting services—as well as data-integration, network and cybersecurity solutions—for public safety and justice sector clients.
More on that in a bit—but first, a history lesson that will provide some context for this development.
The New York City that we know today bears no resemblance to the one that emerged in the late 18th century. In 1790, the city had about 33,000 inhabitants. A decade later, it had overtaken Philadelphia as the nation’s largest city—but it still had only about 60,000 citizens. But then it started to grow organically, and rapidly. Immigrants came seeking a better life. People living in other more agrarian areas flocked to the city seeking a different life. Once there, they proliferated, swelling the population to 1.5 million by 1890. The city also grew inorganically. In 1898, Brooklyn was incorporated. With the stroke of a pen, the previously independent city doubled New York City’s population.As the city was growing, it was evolving too. Situated on one of the world’s largest natural harbors, the city from its inception has been a major trade center. But as time passed, other industries emerged. Today, New York City is a world leader in such diverse industries as financial, media, real estate, technology/biotechnology, and tourism, while still maintaining its status as a world leader in moving cargo, by sea and air.
So, why am I telling you all of this? Well, as it turns out, companies grow and evolve in much the same manner as cities—and MCP is no exception.
The firm was founded a dozen years ago, and like New York City, MCP’s origins were humble, with a small office above a garage and a handful of employees beyond the founders. But like New York City, MCP grew rapidly, fueled in part by subject-matter experts seeking a better place to work—the firm twice was voted one of the best places to work in Pennsylvania—and, more importantly, seeking to make a bigger difference by improving emergency response outcomes.
The influx of top talent enabled MCP to attract more and bigger clients, which were drawn by the firm’s reputation for quality work. More than 90 percent of our clients have worked with us on numerous projects. The influx of additional high-caliber talent and clients also enabled MCP to foray beyond traditional public safety communications, e.g., land mobile radio and 911 call-handling, into new fields. Over the past seven years MCP tripled its talent pool. Today, our team members are extremely diverse and well-versed in all aspects of mission-critical voice and data communications. And we’re still adding new talent—and clients—every month. That’s organic growth at its best.
But there were other things that MCP wanted to accomplish that required inorganic growth. So, just as New York City grew beyond trade into other critical industries, MCP evolved and in doing so expanded its horizons via several strategic acquisitions:
- Athena Advanced Networks—This acquisition, in 2018, enabled MCP to deepen its information technology (IT) and managed services offerings.
- Black and Veatch Public Safety—This acquisition, in 2020, strengthened MCP’s talent and client base within the public safety community.
- URL Integration—This acquisition, also in 2020, enabled MCP to expand more deeply into criminal justice workflows and increase its expertise in the field of data integration, which has three primary elements: data gathering, analytics and exchange. A byproduct of this acquisition was the launch late last year of three new solutions:
- DataLink™ Interface Solution—This solution enables secure, bidirectional data flow between two specific endpoints, such as applications or databases, on a one-to-one basis.
- DataSphere™ Integration Solution—This solution enables data exchange on a many-to-many basis—think of it as a compilation of many DataLink connections.
- DataScape™ Analytics Solution—This platform leverages artificial intelligence (AI) and machine-learning (ML) technology to make sense of a tremendous amount of unstructured data.
Now we’re at it again. Our recently announced acquisition of MTG demonstrates our continued commitment to public-sector clients by improving their data-integration capabilities and helping them address technology challenges, in order to further improve outcomes for the communities that they serve. With this acquisition, MCP becomes the largest independent services provider in the justice and public-safety sectors capable of providing a vendor/technology-neutral, third-party view into clients’ networks, applications, IT infrastructures and operations.
While we never will lose sight of our core mission—which is to excite and delight our clients, as well as support their mission-critical operations, all with the underlying theme of helping them improve emergency response outcomes. Rest assured though, we will continue to look for ways to positively impact our clients as we grow, both organically and inorganically. Because it is through such growth that we are able to successfully achieve our core mission. We would love the opportunity to discuss how we can help you achieve yours—please reach out.
Darrin Reilly is MCP’s president and CEO. He can be emailed at DarrinReilly@MissionCriticalPartners.com.
Topics: Life at MCP, Public Safety, Consulting, Law Enforcement, Data Integration and Analytics, Criminal Justice
