SDI Presence

SDI Presence LLC (commonly referred to as SDI) is an IT consultancy and managed services provider (MSP) that provides technology-based professional services. As of 2020, the firm has over 230 employees. SDI is a certified Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) with the City of Chicago, State of Illinois, National Minority Supplier Development Council (NMSDC) and the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). SDI is ranked as a Top Workplace by Built In Chicago, the Chicago Tribune, and Crain's Chicago Business.
History.
David A. Gupta founded the company as System Development Integration (SDI) in 1996 in Chicago as a spinout from his father's mechanical engineering company, Environmental Systems Design, Inc.; its business was systems integration.
Over the next decades, the firm gained business in its IT systems work in government-run systems, like transportation and public safety, as well as utilities and commercial buildings. SDI was selected by the City of Chicago for its security technology systems at O'Hare and Midway airports, a paperless permit system in the buildings department, customer service and billing for the water management department, and the City payroll system. The firm's IT managed services practice added several clients, including large transportation and transit agencies in the Midwest. SDI also continued several community initiatives as it grew, including its First Chance Initiative, which provided hands-on technical internships for Chicago Public School and City Colleges of Chicago students.
SDI took on private equity partners between 2008 and 2016, to further expand. The firm was selected to deploy additional mission-critical systems at airports in the U.S. In 2016, Gupta renamed the organization SDI Presence. The company had about 130 employees at that time.
In 2017, the firm acquired NexLevel Information Technology Inc., an IT management consulting firm whose clients include over 200 West Coast government agencies and special districts. The NexLevel consulting team operates under the SDI Presence brand, and includes local California senior consultants of municipal/financial leadership in local government and utilities. The team has delivered over 100 IT Assessments/Strategic Plans throughout West Coast. It also has a long experience in municipal and utility IT systems selection and program management oversight, with a specialization in ERP systems.
As of 2019, the firm further positioned itself as “IT Keepers of Chicago’s Aviation, Transit and Utility Industries” and recorded a 98% customer satisfaction score across its portfolio of clients. SDI also expanded its MBE partner network through Chicago United's Five Forward Initiative and spent $11M with its diverse minority/women/veteran-owned partner companies in 2019.
The Chicago Tribune named SDI as one of its Top Workplaces in 2020 for the third consecutive year. As part of its focus on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I), SDI projects spending $22M with its minority, women and veteran-owned business partners by the end of 2020.