SOLUTIONS CENTERED
ON YOUR BUSINESS STRATEGY
Our Services
At Occam Group, our team is committed to the productivity of your business. We see Project & Portfolio Management and Cloud Solutions as two sides of one powerful coin that can play a transformational role in helping your business achieve a sustainable competitive advantage.
Our Cloud Strategy and Optimization Practice Group will help you establish a secure and powerful cloud strategy, and then optimize the implementation to achieve your desired balance of flexibility and cost savings.
Private, Public, & Hybrid; we have designed and managed them all.
Let us help you harness the power of the Cloud.
Nothing is more important than delivering on your most innovative and strategically aligned projects, and yet, many organizations struggle to do just that. Data suggests that most organizations deliver only between 8% and 28% of strategic initiatives.
We have multiple ways to help you solve this challenge.
About US
We believe that unnecessary complexity is the enemy of productivity. In fact, we are so committed to the idea, we named our company after it. The Principle of Occam’s Razor states, “Given equal explanatory power, the simpler theory is more likely to be correct.” Since 2000, Occam Group has helped customers drive business strategy using technology as a force multiplier to create a sustainable competitive advantage. We generate solutions and deliver optimal results for our clients by creating high-value wins around Project & Portfolio Management and Cloud Services. At our very core, we are committed to our clients’ productivity and help deliver innovative projects on time and on budget.
HISTORY
CLIENTS
2000 - 2002
2003 - 2005
2006 - 2008
2009 - 2012
2013 - 2017
2000 -2003
IN THE BEGINNING
Founded in 2000, Occam Group focused on Project Management methodology training with strong relationships inside Boston University, Gartner Institute, and Microsoft Learning.
ORIGINAL "GANG OF EIGHT"
In the Fall of 2002, Microsoft launched its formal Server offering in the Project & Portfolio Management space, called Project Server 2002. Occam Group was a ground floor participant in the release of Project Server and was one of eight partner organizations that consulted in the product’s design and launch. Occam Group and the other seven companies were referred to as the “Gang of Eight” by Microsoft’s Chief Marketing Officer, Chris Capossela.
After Microsoft launched Project Server 2002, Occam Group immediately went to work helping organizations deploy and customize this powerful platform, securing one of the first commercial engagements for the state of Minnesota. By the end of 2002, Occam Group had completed dozens of commercial engagements including high profile initiatives for highly secure organizations, such as Los Alamos National Labs and Bristol Meyers Squib.
2003 – 2005
Early in 2003, Microsoft issued a challenge to the partner community to provide the project which had created the largest impact for a client, named the International Business Productivity Challenge. At the same time, Occam Group just completed its high profile project for Bristol Meyers Squib (BMS), which saved BMS seven figures per year. Occam Group submitted their solution for BMS to Microsoft and won the challenge.
Occam Group continued its campaign of on-premise Project Server deployments. As time progressed a cadre of organizations recognized that Occam Group’s multi-disciplinary approach and commitment to excellence meant the support options were usually more affordable and more effective than what the organizations could provide internally. At this point, Occam Group’s hosting operation was born, and the company began to offer clients the choice of traditional on-premise support or a private “cloud” solution. These private cloud offerings were made available to customers before the Gartner hype curve for “cloud adoption” even existed!
During this time Occam Group enjoyed tremendous diversity in its deployment base, helping companies as large as multi-billion-dollar global agriculture organizations, to as small as a one-million-dollar financial planning firm. Occam Group was servicing organizations in financial services, pharmaceuticals, manufacturing, legal services, publishing, engineering, education, public sector, telecommunications, and many others.
2006 – 2008
OCCAM’S CLOUD EXPANDS GLOBALLY
This time in Occam Group’s history was predominantly marked by the rise of new products and the maturation of its hosting and private cloud offerings. As more and more organizations came to the conclusion that Occam Group could support the Project and Portfolio Management (PPM) technology better than it could internally, the managed services offering grew to cover thousands of users across 6 continents (sadly, we had no users in Antarctica).
OCCAM INCREASES PROJECT SERVER CAPABILITY
During this time Occam Group also launched its first Project Server supplemental product, called Embark. Although Project Server was a powerful technology, it didn’t have a satisfactory answer for Work Intake and Demand Management prior to a project being approved. Embark generated millions of dollars of revenue, and helped dozens of organizations provide a complete end-to-end answer for project management, spanning from ideation to billing.
2009-2012
OCCAM PARTNERS WITH CLIENTS FOR LONG TERM SUCCESSES
In this period of Occam Group’s history, it saw dramatic increases in the scope and scale of its operations. While much of its customer focus was still targeting Project and Portfolio Management (PPM), it saw new hosting and managed services offerings in the development operations (DevOps) space. Previously launched products like Embark and Project Server engagements continued to thrive along two primary paths: (1) hosting and cloud solutions for large enterprise accounts, delivering cloud solutions that garnered seven figure savings, and (2) continued commitment to partner with medium-sized Midwest firms of all sizes to provide practical, no-nonsense solutions to Cloud, PPM, and Cyber Security problems.
2013 – 2017
ONE WINNING LEGACY, TWO BRIGHT FUTURES
As the scope of the Managed Services portfolio began to broaden and mature, Occam Group was sought out to host and secure assets of increasing scale, complexity, and value. Code assets from global development teams, propriety product formulations, confidential production portfolio information, and critical operations resource data all found safe harbor in Occam Group’s managed data centers and systems. As the value of the protected data grew, the rigor of its security and cyber defense capabilities had to grow in lock step. This naturally led to new practice areas and competencies.
In the summer of 2014, Occam Group formally launched its Cloud Optimization and Cyber Security practice groups. Having done private cloud for longer than the term “cloud” had even been coined, the long track record naturally led to new opportunities.
In January of 2017 The Occam Group, Ltd executed an amicable equity event that changed the ownership and leadership of the company. Founder & CEO, Ken Barnhart, sold his majority position to his brother, Randy Barnhart, and spun off the Cyber Security practice group into a new brand called Highground Cyber. Randy is now the sole Occam Group shareholder and will serve as the Chief Executive Officer moving forward. Occam Group will continue to service the market with its award winning tradition of excellence in Project & Portfolio Management (PPM) and Cloud Services. The services that won CIO Review’s Top 20 Most Promising Project Management Solutions will remain with Occam Group and the services that won the CIO Review’s Top 20 Most Promising Cyber Security Solutions will be moving forward with Highground Cyber. The two brands share one heritage of values based leadership and an unwavering commitment to excellence. Stay tuned, because the Occam Group is just getting warmed up!
.... Just to name a few
Occam Values
We take our values seriously. We live into them daily, report on them, keep score by them, and hold each other accountable to them. They are who we are and how we do business both internally and with our customers and partners.
Creating genuine win - win solutions is admirable, but at the Occam Group we strive to go beyond the vendor - consumer and product - services based
view of win -win. We consider the label ‘’vendor’’ to be an indication that we have failed to partner to our standard of creating shared success. We are always looking
for solutions that improve the lives of our clients, our company, our employees and our community. Our commitment to this principle is absolute and
if we can not create value we will not engage in a win - lose scenario.
We believe that focusing on the outputs and outcomes, rather than the inputs is critical to creating meaningful and lasting results for our clients, our company, our employees
and our community. In our view, results need to be defined, benchmarked, measured, analysed and reported before they become real. In order to achieve this standard,
every member of our team works together in a Management by Outcome approach, that ensures maximum impact for the resources applied
We believe that personal and organizational honesty and integrity are table stakes in life and business. Know - don’t guess. A determined pursuit of truth, followed by a willingness
to have courageous conversations creates real trust that withstands the test of time. Every member of our team digs into issues to understand their root causes, core truths, governing
dynamics and environmental factors. We expect clear and complete communication of choices and their consequences without shading the truth or holding back.
We value and wrestle with the big ideas, because most of the best solutions lie at the intersection of two competing ideas, unfortunately, so does mediocrity.
We believe mediocrity is the result of compromise and capitulation, while great solutions require creativity, innovation and synthesizing the best of competitive alternatives.
Even the most brilliant solutions will fail to produce results if they are not executed well. Every member of our team is committed to continuous improvement and flawless execution.
Sometimes that requires a commitment to the path of maximum resistance and we step into that when needed. Brilliant ideas, executed brilliantly.
Quality is more important than quantity. We require that every member of our team is fiercely competitive and committed to the goal of being elite. That means
setting aggressive goals for personal and professional development and being a life - long learner. As a team we hold ourselves up against the toughest competitors
and measure ourselves against the most challenging industry benchmarks. When we fail to measure up to that standard we make the commitments needed to meet the challenge.
We believe that extraordinary results are only achievable with the combined efforts of a complementary, multi-disciplinary team. We jealously guard our shared
and individual professional reputations, and we all commit to protecting each other. Every member of the team is expected to actively enhance the productivity
of the team and if an issue or problem is discovered it will be quickly communicated to everyone impacted. We demand loyalty to the team and teammates as the price of
membership in our culture. If you can’t keep faith with your team, then ‘’ring the bell’’.
TESTIMONIALS
Providing solutions to ensure your business's production and profitability is our core mission. We like hearing from you!
Thank you for trusting us with the growth of your business.
“What really stands out to me about the Occam Group is the individual approach to business relationships. The customer support at Occam is just fantastic, and I can always count on a quick and helpful response. They tailor their services to exactly what your company needs through their expert service.”
- Project Analyst, Large Education Organization
“The Occam Group currently supports a 3,000+ user environment for us. As a large and successful IT function, the idea of outsourcing…was originally met with some resistance, but it has ended up being one of our better moves. We have enjoyed great system stability, and the Occam Group team’s ability to provide technical leadership and problem solving has been exceptional. I would strongly endorse the Occam Group’s support function, even over a well-run internal IT department.”
- Program Manager, Large Multi-National IT Function
“We have had a strategic partnership with Occam Group and…we have come to see them as an integral part of our success. The Occam Group has a very value-centric approach; they just think like real partners. Their diverse set of service offerings means I can get whatever I need from one vendor. I would strongly recommend the Occam Group…”
- Director, Corporate PMO
“Occam has always been more than just a vendor; they are a true partner in solving problems. They don’t always tell me what I want to hear, but I can trust them to tell me what I need to hear. Their practical and experienced approach has helped up address a number of significant business issues.”
- Director of Project Management, Large Privately Owned Company
“We have been with the Occam Group now for years, and the reason we keep renewing our hosting agreement is simple: they are knowledgeable, efficient, and provide us with customer support that makes it obvious they care about our success.”
- Manger of Application Development, Publically Traded Corporation
“For ten years, we have worked with the Occam Group…so we can deliver on our mission…the business value just keeps growing.”
- Senior Director, Enterprise Project Management
"Randy (current Occam CEO) is one of those rare individuals that has an incredible ability to build successful solutions though his ability to actively help solve customer problems. He not only knows what would work, but customizes the solution such that it solves the underlying "real" problem - not just the presenting problem. Randy helped tailor a solution for management of resources that was ingenious - he was able to create something that served me and my team rather than asking us to serve an existing solution. Randy relentlessly pursues excellence to ensure customer satisfaction. I would highly recommend Randy."
- Dianne Henderson, Vice President, Psychometrics, Research & Learning Sciences at Renaissance Learning
"Randy (current Occam CEO) is a strategic thinking business partner who takes a practical approach to developing and deploying IT solutions. Expert in MS Project Server architecture, configuration and deployment. Results oriented and easy to work with."
- David Arnold, Experienced Global IT Professional
Contact Us
We understand this is big and we can help you simplify it. Let’s make your business productive.
Our office is located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Business hours are 8:00am – 5:00pm CST.
We'd like to hear from you! Here are a few ways to get in touch with us:
952-562-8990
Occam Group, Ltd.
6600 France Ave South
Suite #425
Minneapolis, MN 55435
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Solution White Papers
Contact Us
We'd like to hear from you, here are a few ways to get in touch with us.
952-562-8990
6600 France Ave South
Suite #425
Minneapolis, MN 55435
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