By Samidha Manu and Gregg Garrett

In a recent REI Systems’ customer survey, we found that 100% of the customers who have chosen REI say they chose REI for its reliability – knowing that REI will “deliver reliably, and finish the job.” This wasn’t their only reason for selecting REI, but it was the most frequently identified motivation. Every U.S. Federal, State, and local government customer identified reliability as a motivation. This confirmation of REI’s reliability is an important differentiator for our company.

Setting aside for a moment our obvious pride in this result, we think it is useful to dig into how REI got to be so reliable, and why REI’s customers notice. That “How” and “Why” can benefit government agencies who would like for all their vendors to be reliable. It can also benefit other vendors, either prime contractors or subcontractors, who have experienced challenges providing consistent high quality and on-time service delivery.

How REI Got to Be So Reliable

Our customers know that we are reliable. But they don’t see the recipe we used to achieve that reliability. We believe our reliability is not an accident. Here are the reasons which we believe, in combination, make REI reliable:

• Our Active Owners Have Made Reliability a Non-Negotiable Core Value. REI’s owners are private individuals who actively participate in delivering our company’s services (not anonymous stockholders). The employee owners are supporting customer missions that they personally care about, and they have intentionally hired people who care about those missions, too. We expect this to be multiplied as ownership control of REI fully transitions to an Employee Stock Ownership Plan in late 2024.
• REI Employees Feel Empowered When They Keep Customer Interests Front and Center. REI’s people feel that they have discretion to make and to keep commitments aimed at the customer’s best interests. Even if they make mistakes, our people feel safe that they won’t get fired as long as they tried to do the right thing. And they observe the company’s track record – people who behave in the customer’s best interests don’t get fired – even if the company suffers a financial loss as a result. This dynamic has led to a strong pride in teamwork and sense of ownership by teams – a refusal to “let one’s teammates down.”
• We Go Above and Beyond the Call to Satisfy a Customer. REI’s culture values long-term customers. Our founders identified long-term relationships as a priority because they believe that their goal of mission impact is more likely to happen with customers who trust us to keep our promises based on having seen us do so. And customers are more likely to implement REI’s advice and assistance – creating impact and business success – if REI knows their mission well based on long experience and familiarity. Unlike many companies, REI is willing to take a financial loss to do what is right to support our customer’s mission.
• We provide the right solutions at the right time. We tailor our solutions to a customer’s need – leading federal agencies with complex missions to think of REI as more reliable than a product vendor because too many product vendors won’t take the extra steps to ensure their deliverables meet their complex mission-specific needs and deliver the desired mission outcomes.
• We anticipate changes – even after a customer promises “no more changes.” In fact, we look forward to changes, because that flexibility can bring more value. Such changes indicate that either the customer or REI (or both) have learned something during the course of a project. Thus, we help the customer embrace agility and willingness to change – it is important, but not enough for REI to be ready – we help our customers to be ready and accept changes in the solution, too. At the end of the day, REI is still prepared for changes, even after a customer has already given a final sign-off on requirements, and “promised” no more changes.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with REI Systems, our company’s name is an acronym. The letters R, E and I stand for Reliable, Effective and Innovative. We have always strived to embody these characteristics. But the results of our most recent customer survey help prove that we are living up to our company’s name, and that our customers value our reliability.

Samidha Manu is an REI Systems’ Vice President.

Gregory Garrett is the REI Systems’ Chief Operating Officer