The “help wanted” sign remains on at the headquarters of high-tech services firm I-Cubed on N.C. State’s Centennial Campus. They have 20 jobs open right now and expect to add more to a work force that already numbers 120 after a 30 percent surge in 2013.

Just this week, the privately held company bought an analytics firm in Chicago.

By the way, I-Cubed is growing quickly the old-fashioned way: Organically. It’s never taken outside money although they have been “approached on multiple occasions,” says CEO Donald Thompson, Jr.

So what’s going on?

Thompson says what’s driving his company’s success is its emphasis and expertise in two areas:

  • Product Life Management
  • Web Experience Management

“Integrated Industrial Information” is the key.

III.

I-Cubed.

Cool.

Our Q&A follows.

  • What factors are driving growth?

We are growing in both of our core areas of product lifecycle management and web experience management.

We have continued our growth in PLM through new partnerships, as well as new opportunities with many of our existing customers due to our successful track record in producing successful go-lives.

With a significant investment in activities like data migration or the implementation of a PLM system, it is critical that companies partner with a firm they can trust, and we’ve proven our ability to deliver time and again.

We also continue to find new opportunities that align with our skillset, and develop new technologies that enhance the functionality of major PLM systems.

The web experience management space (WEM) is flourishing, and our rapidly growing WEM team is a reflection of this.

We are continuously adding new customers, as well as new projects from existing customers to the point where we actually needed to expand our workspace on Centennial Campus to accommodate the team’s growth.

  • What will happen to the Chicago operation – will the company be moved to Raleigh?

I-Cubed has an existing employee presence in Chicago so the Akoya team will continue to work there, as well as in Raleigh.

  • Why did you decide to make the deal?

This was a natural expansion of our product lifecycle management (PLM) related services. We’re focused on improving and assuring data integrity, and the addition of Akoya’s analytics provides a wider array of services built upon a solid foundation of product data quality .

Our existing customers will be able to get more value from their data, and maximize their PLM investment by getting significant savings from within their supply chains.

  • Are you hiring now – if so how many jobs are you adding and in what areas?

Yes – we currently have over 20 open roles and plan to continue expanding throughout 2014. We’ve had consecutive years of employee growth, with a 30 percent increase to our workforce in 2013.

  • Who owns the company and how is it financed?

We have always been privately held and financed internally. We have never taken any external capital.

  • Is the company seeking any additional financing or investors at this time? Has it raised any funding recently?

As our business and reputation have grown over the last few years, we have been approached by potential investors on multiple occasions.

However, while we are always open to new ideas, we are not actively seeking to raise capital.