HIGHLIGHT NAMED A TOP 75 FASTEST-GROWING COMPANY AND TOP 50 FASTEST-GROWING SMALL BUSINESS IN THE GREATER WASHINGTON

Fairfax, VA — Highlight has earned a spot on the Washington Business Journal’s 75 Fastest Growing Companies award list and on Washington Technologies Fast 50 list, both outlets recognizing Highlight as a fastest-growing company of 2020.
Highlight is one of 75 companies in the Greater Washington area to accept Washington Business Journal’s award. The Washington Business Journal’s Top 75 Fastest-Growing Companies list is based on average percent revenue growth between 2017, 2018, 2019. Qualifying companies must have more than $10 million in revenue in 2019 to qualify with consecutive yearly growth. Highlight’s revenue has significantly grown for two consecutive years between 2017 and 2019 and has been recognized by Washington Business Journal as one of 75 companies that surpassed these expectations.
Highlight has additionally been selected by Washington Technology as one of 50 fastest growing small businesses in the government market, achieving the Washington Technology Fast 50 requirement of a continuous annual growth rate from 2015 through 2019. Highlight’s compound annual growth rate has accrued to 46.1% and has risen from 38th place to 28th place in one fiscal year.

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About Highlight
Highlight is an award-winning woman owned ISO® 9001, ISO 20000. ISO 27001, ISO 44001, ISO 56002 certified, CMMI-DEV Level 3 and CMMI-SVC Level 3 appraised woman-owned small business that provides critical services to more than 20 U.S. federal government customers. Using our HI-WAY™™ best practices framework, we design and deliver solutions that integrate current systems and procedures, address all stakeholders, and seamlessly advance the mission. With over 10 years of federal contracting experience, we apply our proven transformation and evolution process to deliver quality services that balance agility, continuity, security, and compliance.

About Washington Business Journal
Washington Business Journal is owned by parent company American City Business Journals. American City Business Journals (ACBJ) is the largest publisher of metropolitan business newsweeklies in the United States, with 44 business publications across the country reaching more than 3.6 million readers each week.

About Washington Technology
Washington Technology is a United States magazine for government contractors providing an in-depth look at government programs, technologies and spending priorities, as well as management issues, case studies M&A, and trends that impact the contractor community.

HIGHLIGHT ALIGNS WITH PROJECT MANAGEMENT INSTITUTE (PMI) IN PMI ORGANIZATION MEMBERSHIP AND CERTIFICATION PROGRAM

SEPTEMBER 25, 2020, Fairfax — Highlight has enrolled in the Organization Membership and Certification Program offered by Project Management Institute, the world’s leading association for the project management profession.

This program provides Highlight’s project and program managers with PMI membership and the opportunity to earn one of PMI’s globally recognized project management certifications.

As members, Highlight employees will have immediate access to globally recognized project management standards, resources and tools, academic research, publications, professional development courses, and networking opportunities. Benefits of PMI membership includes free access to select PMI webinars and events, discounts on certification exams, opportunities to earn free professional development units (PDUs) to maintain certifications, and many ways to network.

Additionally, PMI members have the opportunity to join one of PMI’s more than 300 chapters located around the world. Within a PMI Chapter, members can volunteer, further their professional development to advance their leadership skills, and growth their professional network.

Highlight employees will also be encouraged to pursue PMI certifications, such as the globally recognized and demanded Project Management Professional (PMP)® certification. Earning a PMI certification shows that these professionals have mastered the strategies, tools, and skills needed to keep projects moving forward, which delivers value to their organization.

“We are excited to partner with PMI to provide our leaders at all levels with project management resources and professional development opportunities,” said Rebecca Andino, CEO of Highlight. “By investing in project management training and resources, our managers will be better equipped to deliver successful outcomes for our customers.”

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About Highlight

Highlight is an award-winning woman owned ISO® 9001, ISO 20000. ISO 27001, ISO 44001, ISO 56002 certified, CMMI-DEV Level 3 and CMMI-SVC Level 3 appraised woman-owned small business that provides critical services to more than 20 U.S. federal government customers. Using our HI-WAY™™ best practices framework, we design and deliver solutions that integrate current systems and procedures, address all stakeholders, and seamlessly advance the mission. With over 10 years of federal contracting experience, we apply our proven transformation and evolution process to deliver quality services that balance agility, continuity, security, and compliance.

About Project Management Institute (PMI)

Project Management Institute (PMI) is the world’s leading association for those who consider project, program or portfolio management their profession. Through global advocacy, collaboration, education and research, we work to prepare more than three million professionals around the world for The Project Economy: the coming economy in which work, and individuals, are organized around projects, products, programs and value streams Now 50 years in the making, we work in nearly every country around the world to advance careers, improve organizational success and further mature the project management profession through globally-recognized standards, certifications, communities, resources, tools, academic research, publications, professional development courses and networking opportunities. As part of the PMI family, ProjectManagement.com creates online global communities that deliver more resources, better tools, larger networks and broader perspectives. Visit us at www.PMI.orgwww.projectmanagement.comwww.facebook.com/PMInstitute and on Twitter @PMInstitute 

“PMI” and “PMP” are registered marks of Project Management Institute, Inc.

COVID & Telework – What worked and what needed work….

Most of our company is currently working remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Highlight has prepared and planned for remote work for years… but certainly not to this extent. As I write this in September, we’ve been working mostly remote for 6 months. There are a few programs with requirements or logistics that have required employees to report to physical offices, but most of our company is currently working from home. Teleworking, working remotely, and working from home were all terms we’ve used for years. This commonly took the form of one day a week from home. The most extensive use of remote work for us was saved for weather events like snowstorms in the DC area. As we’ve transitioned to this remote enterprise, I have some observations of what worked well and what needed some attention over these past 6 months.

What worked well…

• Mission critical systems and platforms – All of our key systems (Email, collaboration, accounting, recruiting, HR, payroll) are cloud instances. We were able to access and manage all of our systems remotely.

 The ability to keep working – Over the past few years, we’ve implemented remote management capabilities, robust patch management, workstation configuration management, and monitoring tools to allow us to use and manage our IT assets. Anyone that needed IT assistance received it quickly and remotely. We’ve conducted annual continuity of operations tests for the past 3 years as part of our ISO 27000 certification, and the issues we’ve uncovered through those tests really helped us.

• Only buying laptops – For years, we’ve been a “laptop only” environment. It made sense for us to provide flexibility for telework and it really paid off in this situation. People just took their laptops home and continued working. People just took their laptops home and continued working.

What needed some work…

• Collaboration Tools – We used a combination of phone, Skype, and Zoom for audio/video collaboration and SharePoint/OneDrive for file sharing. We quickly ran into obstacles here. Email volumes surged because informal communication shifted to email. We found issues with screensharing content. Our migration to Microsoft Teams has solved this… the chat, team channels, content sharing, and collaboration features have really transformed how we work.

• IT Ticketing System– We used a very minimalist approach to service desk ticketing. Teleworking dramatically increased the volume and the complexity of the tickets. We quickly evaluated and implemented happyfox. We now have better visibility, better access to our knowledge base, and better ticket accountability.

• Supply Chain – We always had an extra laptop or two but didn’t keep more than that unless we were planning a refresh. Suddenly, we were on a 6 to 8 week waiting time for new hardware. Our new minimum stock level is now about 10% of our total capacity and should better hold up in the event of supply chain disruption.

We will be discussing our experience with remote work on an upcoming episode of the HighlightCast – available here….

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/highlightcast/id1410395374


Author: Adam McNair | COO