I-Behavior among fastest 50 in growth, Tech list's No. 2 joined by 10 other local companies
Sunday, October 31, 2004

A firm that helps catalog companies find likely buyers, a manufacturer of optical lenses for NASA and a corporate computing giant are among the 11 local companies in the latest New York Technology Fast 50.

This is the sixth year that Deloitte & Touche has ranked technology companies in New York City and its northern suburbs by revenue growth over the previous five years.

New York City-based Internet Commerce Corp., which helps businesses distribute data, was No. 1. The company's revenues increased by 11,408 percent between 1999 and 2003.

The top-ranked local company was I-Behavior of Harrison, whose 9,624 percent climb in revenue secured its place as No. 2.

Lynn Wunderman, president and chief executive of I-Behavior, said her company's swift growth is a result of a service that helps direct marketers effectively identify potential customers.

Ninety percent of I-Behavior's clients are catalog retailers. The rest are publishers and online retailers as well as a few club marketers.

I-Behavior's clients, which number just under 1,000, pool their customer information into a giant database that I-Behavior then analyzes to predict behavior.

"We help them slice and dice the data," Wunderman said. "We can help them better target their efforts to find more customers."

An additional 30 to 40 new clients are joining in the cooperative database effort each month, Wunderman said.

What makes I-Behavior's service unique, Wunderman said, is a partnership with market researcher Yankelovich, which forecasts consumer trends.

I-Behavior combines the consumer research with its database of sales and demographic information to analyze an individual's buying behavior.

Any one factor, such as demographic data, won't tell enough to identify shopping preferences, Wunderman said.

Two 60-year-old women with retired husbands, three grown children and similar incomes might be completely different in their shopping habits. One might be a homebody who likes tried-and-true products. The other might be socially active who likes to experiment in her purchases.

"As a consumer, you should hear from companies you want to do business with," Wunderman said.

Wunderman started I-Behavior in 1999 with the goal of providing direct marketing companies with a better way to identify potential customers.

A resident of Hartsdale, Wunderman has had a 30-year career in her field, including 13 years at Ogilvy & Mather's direct marketing unit.

I-Behavior's chairman, Lester Wunderman, is well known in the advertising business and was named one of the "Top 100 People in Advertising" by Advertising Age in 1999.

Wunderman said I-Behavior employs 40 people, including programmers, statisticians and systems developers on the technical side.

"This time last year, I had 25 people e, and this time next year, we'll probably employ 60 people," she said.

Edward Moran, leader of Deloitte & Touche LLP's product innovation group, said I-Behavior is benefiting from the desire of advertisers to get more value from their marketing efforts.

"With the Internet and more targeted advertising, clients are starting to say, `I want proof of return on my advertising investment.' A company like I-Behavior allows you to do that," Moran said.

This is I-Behavior's first year on the Fast 50. Last time the company was identified as a "rising star."

Applied Wireless Identifications Group of Monsey was also a rising star last year, but catapulted to No. 4 this year with a 2,256 percent increase in revenue from 1999 to 2003.

Applied Wireless makes radio frequency identification tags and readers. Wal-Mart gave a boost to the industry in the past year after it required its top suppliers to use the tags to track their merchandise.

The electronic data in the tags contain detailed information about goods , and can be scanned from 15 feet away.

Donny V. Lee, Applied Wireless's chairman and CEO, jumped on an emerging opportunity when he started the company in 1997, Moran said.

"He was able to do that because of great technology in a hot area," Moran said. "I expect to see that company on the list for a while."

What's also interesting about Applied Wireless, Moran said, is that it's run from "very unsexy offices in a strip mall."

More companies in the Deloitte & Touche ranking are coming from the northern suburbs as the Internet makes it possible to do business anywhere, he said.

Last year, just seven companies were from Westchester and Rockland counties.

"We're seeing more activity in Westchester, Rockland and farther up in the Hudson Valley. I'm pushing to expand the jurisdiction up toward Albany," Moran said.

The median revenue growth for this year's Fast 50 was 250 percent.

Amid high-flying new businesses with short track records is venerable IBM Corp. of Armonk, the area's largest private employer with almost 9,000 workers in Westchester.

Many of the companies on the ranking are privately held and don't reveal revenues. IBM, as a longtime blue-chip stock, doesn't have that luxury.

Big Blue's revenues climbed from $87.55 billion in 1999 to $89.13 billion in 2003 - eking in a showing at No. 50.

Reach Julie Moran Alterio at jalterio@thejournalnews.com or 914-694-5228.

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