SUCCESS STORIES OF SYSTEM INTEGRATORS

After Digital India campaign, it has become essential for businesses in India to build their IT infrastructure. Here comes the role of a System Integrator, businesses can get the required IT infrastructure under roof. The solution business has also undergone massive change as the business requirements is continuously changing. The System Integration business in the country has evolved from providing generic solutions to the most complex and customised solutions, using products and technologies from several vendors.

According to researches, the system integration market in India is expected to reach around Rs 21,000 crore by 2020. Though the market is growing but it is not free from hurdles and challenges. There are challenges like immense competition, shrinking margins, staying relevant for customers and OEMs, domain specific skill set, aligning the company with customer objectives, high implementation costs etc. In a cut-throat competitive scenario, in order to be a top system integrator in India, it is important to reach out to its customers with unwavering commitment and integrate solutions that offer best the best solution to the customers’ needs.We are bringing forth to our readers a few of the success stories of the System Integrators across the country who have managed to reach heights in the market with their sheer knowledge of understanding, dedication, motivation, meticulous hardwork and foresight.

Gurusons Communications to come up with its own Brand SIGNTEL

Soami Bhatia, Director, Gurusons Communications

Gurusons Communications believes in adding value to customers

Area of Expertise: We were traditionally known as a Voice Communications provider, however over the last decade, we have built up a decent image for us as a reliable AV System Integrator and a trusted partner for their Data Networking, Office Automation and Surveillance requirements. In short we are today offering solutions in all four modes of communications i.e. Voice, Video, Data and Image.

Roadmap for 2019: We are an organisation who keeps pace with the technology trends in the market and believes in adding value to its customers. All the product lines that we bring in are necessarily of great quality and will add up to efficiencies at the customer place. In 2019, we are also introducing our own Brand - SIGNTEL and will be offering Voice as well as Data products under that name.

Success Mantra: Gurusons Communications was founded in 1987. As for our success Mantra, we have always believed the fact that it is important to "Walk the Talk" that we commit in front of our customers and thus we have over the years always focussed on building the right infrastructure by putting in right kind of investments in manpower and technology to ensure that we become a trusted partner for our customers by ensuring time bound service deliveries.

Taking business to next level: We believe in keeping things simple. We are pretty clear with our focus, which is to ensure that we add value to our customers and are different from the crowd who only believes in selling. To achieve this, it is crucial that we keep evaluating our vendors who can help us in achieving the target and then keeping our workforce aligned with them. With the current disruptions in technology, it is extremely important to keep pace with the technological advancements happening in the industry and we achieve this by continuous in-house training processes for our pre sales and post sales teams besides of course the sales teams as well who need to understand and keep abreast of the technological advancements happening in the industry.

“We ease-up our customer’s pain behind managing complex IT Security”

N K Mehta, Managing Director & CEO, Secure Network Solutions

“We only do ‘Security’”- Success Mantra of SNS

Area of Expertise: Secure Network Solutions (SNS) address all the layers of Cyber Security. We were not addressing the Endpoint (Anti-virus) business. Changing security needs means Endpoint is back in focus. DLP, EDR, and integrated Security fabric have created new funnels in securing end-points. Privileged Account Management (PAM/PIM) is gaining momentum. We are ready to address the Integrated Security Fabric requirements. Power end-points with AI, ML and Analytics. Cloud based Security solutions on the move (such as Cloud WAF, DDos, Email and Web Security).

Roadmap for 2019: We are growing at a healthy 20% YoY. We have set ourselves for higher numbers this year. This is due to new compliances and regulations both in India and globally. This has opened the markets for us. We want to grab a sizable share to remain leaders in our segment.

Success Mantra: SNS started its operations in the year 2000. The Y2K challenges, dotcom burst and what followed were the initial challenges we had to face. SNS founders are from strong technology background. This helped us to cope-up with the changing landscape. We are here, nearing two decades. We continue to deliver high quality services around niche Cyber Security products. While our competitors also do security, We only do ‘Security’. This is our success mantra. Servers, Storage, Backup and other non-Security infrastructure are definite top-line business. No doubt! Yet, we remain focused on ‘IT Security.’ This helped us in carving out a niche place for SNS.

Taking business to next level: Digital transformation is not an overnight story. It has been happening in bits and pieces and now the industry has given a definitive shape to that. Plan is to stitch our offerings to provide a single platform:

• any-device (laptop, mobile or tablets)      • any-time (across time-zones)

• any-where (office, home or cafés)             • any-applications (on-prem or cloud)

This single platform will provide authentication, data-leakage-protection, user, application and data security.

We ease-up our customer’s pain behind managing complex IT Security. We achieve this through remote and managed services. We offer cloud security advisory and OPEX-based billing. We specialize across technologies and products. This helps us to understand the specific needs of our customers. Outcome is creation of a bouquet of solutions that work integrated; not stove pipes.

Symmetrix Computers ventured into a new business vertical called “Digital Solutions”

Dinesh Dhanapathi, Managing Director & CEO, Symmetrix Computer Systems

“We as a team believe in quality, timely delivery which is the key to our success”

Area of Expertise: Our core competency is in customizing and designing Business Solutions specific to our clients’ requirements.

Two Significant Projects Executed during FY 2018-19:

Hardware – With our pricing strategy, timely deliveries and after sales support, we have been consistently winning big orders from few major customers since over 12 years. We supplied 2000 laptops pan-India, to one customer during the FY 2018-19, where we were well appreciated by the customer for keeping up the delivery commitments and supported for deploying the laptops as per the schedule given. We are proud to be their “Preferred Vendor”. This has helped us to get more references and opportunities for Digital Solutions as well.

IT Security & Managed Services – With our strong expertise in IT Infrastructure Management and Facility & Helpdesk management, we won the order for End-to-End IT infrastructure implementation & Management from ADC India Communications Ltd – recently acquired by CommScope. This is primarily to connect ADC to CommScope global network with required security layers, building the server platform, migrate the users and data without any downtime, using Red-Jack / Green-jack approach. Our solution and service support are well appreciated by the customer and gave us the opportunity to manage their end-to-end IT infrastructure support. Now we are managing their IT Infrastructure with onsite IT resources and managing their L2 and L3 support remotely. 

Roadmap for 2019: Despite a slight slump in the market, we continue to grow as many of our customers are on a growth mode. Happy Customer, happy Vendor. We see a growth of between 10 to 20% in 2019-2020.

Success Mantra: A team of young professionals sculpted Symmetrix (earlier Hardsoft Solutions) about three decades ago, whose dream was to create a brand “Hardsoft and now Symmetrix” as a front runner providing IT Service and Solutions. Having said that, we as a team believe in quality, timely delivery which is the key to our success. More than 70% of our business comes as repeat business which proves our ability towards customer satisfaction and delight. This would not be possible without our highly enthusiastic and committed workforce who are the true assets of this organization. With the same high spirit, we are opening our feathers for a deeper penetration in the market so as to be recognized as “First Choice” of our customers.

Taking business to next level: During last year, Symmetrix Computers ventured into a new business vertical called “Digital Solutions” which mainly focused on Digital Marketing, Branding and Data Analytics initiatives. Having been in the IT industry for the last 30+ years with a profound customer rating, we once again proved our capability with a quick turnaround by signing a couple of large projects at well-known MNC’s for their Branding and Digital Marketing initiatives.

Our innovative ideas piggyback with our IT hardware sales (computers, smartphones, etc) that leverage technologies or platforms such as Websites, E-mail, Custom built apps, Social networks and Data Analytics turning out great results for us.

The journey of CIPL started in 2007 with a strong ideology of fair, honest and ethical business practices

Vinod Kumar, Managing Director, CIPL

CIPL driven through the vision to create a “one stop technology destination”

Area of Expertise: Skilled workforce is one of the key drivers of CIPL. We have in-house domain specific certified resources in all the domain of IT industry. Our offerings are Data Centre Infrastructure Solutions and Managed Services, Storage and HCI Solutions, IOT, AI, Virtualization and Cloud Services, IP Surveillance and VC Solutions, Network and Security Solutions, IT Facility Management Services, Data Science and Analytics, Office Automation and Power Conditioning Solutions, Multi-Vendor Support, IT Infrastructure Consulting Services, Digital Solutions and Software services. We have in-house capabilities to execute turnkey projects starting from designing a solution, implementation, trainings and hand hold support to the users and facility management support services.

Roadmap for 2019: To future proof our business, we have created a diversified portfolio of products and services. To keep up with the dynamics of the industry Internet of Things, Cloud Computing, HCI, Middleware software etc. has been added to the portfolio. Strategic partnerships with the most renowned OEMs in the industry are in place. The organizational strategies have been aligned with the government strategies by analyzing the fund distribution in government departments and the past purchase behaviour of the customer. Building in-house capability in various domains of the IT industry is another approach to be future proof our business.

Success Mantra: The journey of CIPL started in 2007 with a strong ideology of fair, honest and ethical business practices. CIPL is a leading System Integrator company, gets driven through the vision to create a “one stop technology destination”. Excellence is an integral part of the company. We are a customer-focused organization and have competencies and capabilities to meet the present and futuristic needs of the customers at competitive prices, with high quality standards and within agreed timeliness. With our ethical business practices, we have become a front-runner in quality as well as quantity.

Hitachi Systems Micro Clinic wants to become a System Integrator of choice

Tarun Seth, Managing Director Hitachi Systems, Micro Clinic

Hitachi Systems Micro Clinic aims to become a Billion dollar Enterprise

Area of Expertise: We bring the technology through our expertise to help customers improve process efficiencies, automate, transform and enable them for the new digital economy. Briefly our portfolio comprises from Managed Services to Cloud, Data Center to Digital Workplace and Information Security.

Roadmap for 2019: Hitachi Systems Micro Clinic will have a horizontal focus mode as of now with concentration around BFSI and government. The new markets on the functional side will be around Social Innovation, Managed Services and Cloud.

Success Mantra: Incepted in the year 1991, Hitachi Systems Micro Clinic has always seen technology as an enabler. Our business mantra is delivering innovations that can solve challenges faced by the society.

Taking business to next level:  Hitachi Systems Micro Clinic should be become a system integrator of choice across India in the digital transformation space. We aim to geographically expand in middle- east countries and also to become a billion dollar enterprise.

“Customer first and resolution should be fast is the approach we follow at PSSPL and it has been our mantra for success.”

Sairaman Mudaliar, Director, Pentagon System and Services

PSSPL aims to be an enabler for business growth and Digital Transformation

Area of Expertise: IT Infrastructure and services to operate them are our area of expertise.  Right from setting up a Data Centre, managing, maintaining it on premise to any complex setup be it public cloud or on a hybrid setup is what Pentagon System Services Pvt. Ltd. (PSSPL) specializes in. We help customers in maintaining and sustaining their IT with our comprehensive offerings on infrastructure, network and security.

Roadmap for 2019: We have set our goal looking at the current market trend and our business vision.  We are planning to increase our revenue in both solution and services with a global customer focus through our Cloud, services and Hybrid offerings.

Success Mantra: We started in 1994 as a service provider from Mumbai and expanded our service delivery nationally as well as to international customers. Customer first and resolution should be fast is the approach we follow at PSSPL and it has been our mantra for success.

Taking business to next level: We intend to become an enabler for business growth and digital transformation of our customers. With various offerings and expertise on the cutting edge technologies, we are working with our customers to transform them digitally as well as for a great operational efficiency. We are also planning to grow our global footprint in customer support and delivery centres. 

Team Computers is now India's first Apple Authorised Enterprise Reseller (AAER)

Ranjan Chopra, Managing Director, Team Computers

Team Computers coming up with their 2nd experience center 'Xanadu' in Bangalore this year

Area of Expertise: For the last 30 years, Team Computers has been providing end to end IT solutions across industries with presence across the country. On the technology front, we have done digital transformation projects with some of the biggest companies in pharma, auto & NBFC like Ford, Maruti, Home Credit, etc. Some of the biggest Indian banks have also been our customer where we have designed, architected, deployed & managed their data center infrastructure. Also, we are the market leader in Analytics & look at predictive analytics as one of our solution-based growth drivers. We are also building solutions using tools from vendors like Liferay, Alteryx, Qlik Technologies, and Tableau Software to help our customers. Talking about analytics, I would site example of a solution we provided to bookmyshow.com for which we have won an industry award too.

A new feather in our cap is is our "Xanadu" at Gurgaon.; it is a customer experience center where you can experience various leading technologies implemented in a live running environment like AI / ML, Data Center solutions, Mobility solutions, Workspace solutions and many more. It also has one of India's state of the art 24x7 Network Operations Center (NOC) to remotely manage IT of our customers. We call it as RIMCC (Remote Infrastructure Management Command Centre).

We also enjoy the highest level of partnership with most of the technology leaders. For example, We are the first & only Apple Authorised Enterprise Reseller (AAER) in India. We are also Dell Titanium partner & Dell EMC Partner President’s Circle. This has been possible due to years of mutually rewarding business relationships and trust.

Roadmap for 2019: Last year, our business has grown significantly with some of our business units doing exceptionally well like our Workspace business, analytics business, and managed services. Also, we have done great business from West and North region of India contributing to 80% of total revenue. This year, we are aiming to grow our business at 40-50% since we are expecting our mobility business to grow by 50-60% followed by managed services and analytics.

Success Mantra: Going into the critical success factors for our growth, we would credit our ability to spot the trends and market opportunities early, our investment in domain expertise, the top level of partnership levels with most of the technology leaders & our marketing strategy. We entered the Managed Print Services (MPS) business as it has limited competition and not everybody understands this business. We created a focused sales and delivery team for MPS, which enabled us to grow this business which is growing at around 50% every year. We have brought in an automobile veteran with over 25 years of domain knowledge to lead our analytics business division. Likewise, we have brought an industry veteran with 30 years of experience helping us to win PSU business. Our presales and delivery teams are adept at handling multilocation, multi-technology projects. Post-delivery also includes change management and adoption, which is quite crucial for the successful completion of the project. Our marketing strategy also focuses on educating/updating our customers about best of breed IT solution for current and future business challenges.

Taking business to next level: Over the next 12-18 months, we want to go deep into the existing markets we operate, especially down South. Our focus will be to develop the market, customers, people, and processes. Moreover, we are focused to improve our warehousing and supply chain processes in order to double our revenues over the next 2-3 years. Also, A second bigger version of our experience centre 'Xanadu' is coming up in Bangalore by August this year. Since we have offices across the country, we have plans for similar experience centers across all major metro cities by 2021.

The mobile & business apps is another area where we are focusing since that complements one of our biggest division which is enterprise mobility where we provide mobiles and tablets to our customers like Maruti, Lupin, Uber and many more. Now, we have plans to offer our software applications and hardware combined as a solution-as-a-service.

Arrow PC Network will remain focused on optimising the IT infrastructure of customers understanding their needs and budget

Gurpreet Singh, Managing Director, Arrow PC Network

“We wish to be a Service Integrator to our customers and their first choice of IT partner”

Area of Expertise: Arrow PC Network is in the business of modernisation & automation of  the Data Centres. We help our customers to move from Premises to Virtual and to cloud forming a hybrid environment and optimise efficiency. We offer end to end IT Infrastructure, Data management & Data security services.

Roadmap for 2019: We will remain focused on optimising the IT infrastructure of our customers understanding their needs and budgets. We are adding various technology verticals to provide end to end  IT infrastructure solutions to the progressing companies. We are investing in skillsets to participate in the digital transformation journey of the clients.

Success Mantra: I am in business since 1996 but the System Integration (SI) company Arrow PC Network was founded in the year 2013. I believe my success mantra is to treat my employees, customers and vendors as the partners in growth and to be flexible & agile enough to adapt the changes.

Taking business to next level: Digital transformation is a challenge as well as an opportunity. We should be able to see growth in business in the coming one to two years but we need to be more observant. We wish to be a service integrator and consultant to our customers and their first choice of IT partner.

Orbit Techsol plans to double customer base in next 12-18 months

Sushil Kumar Jain, CEO, Orbit Techsol

Driving business innovation with expanded software & services: Key growth strategy of Orbit Techsol

Area of Expertise: Our core competence revolves around Data Centre Infrastructure solution and services. All our clients vouch for our competence around Trusted Advisory, Effective Solution Design, Supply and Implementation, Professional and Managed Services skills. Today, with our added focus on Hybrid Cloud, Automation and Cyber Security, we are “the IT-Partner of Choice” for leading corporate, PSUs and government departments.

Roadmap for 2019:  Driving Business Innovation for our customers with expanded Software and Services capabilities remain our key growth strategy. We have already made good progress in that journey and over next few quarters we plan to further strengthen our portfolio, skills and competency.

Success Mantra: Orbit Group was founded in 1993. Our business success mantra revolves around four pillars, namely (a) Customer Centricity (b) Employee Happiness (c) Use of Technology to drive Business Outcomes and Innovation (d) Sustained focus on robust Business Processes, Performance KPIs, & Governance.

Taking business to next level:  We strive to excel further on our capabilities to transform customer’s business, with focused solution and services around Private & Hybrid Cloud, Business Process Automation and Cyber Resilience. We plan to double our customer base in next 12-18 months.

Galaxy Office Automation aims to expand its offerings in existing and new geographies

Sanjay Patodia, CEO & Director, Galaxy Office Automation

“Our ability to spot technology changes at early stages and adapting accordingly is the key to our continued success”

Area of Expertise:  We, at Galaxy, continuously strive to give our customers the very best technology infrastructure solutions in order to make their digital journey a smooth ride. We have business units dedicated to solutions for Data Centres, Networking, Mobility, Security, Internet of Things and Robotic Process Automation and Endpoints

Over the past few years, our main focus has been on developing skills and solutions around the latest technologies in data centre, storage, networking, cyber security, robotic process automation and mobility. We have invested in an IT consulting company to augment our offerings to cover the gaps between product sales and services. For well settled businesses like IT infrastructure, we have started consultative selling which involved partnering with OS and Middleware vendors too. These innovative strategies along with building on our previous investments stood it in good stead as we have grown by almost 50% CAGR over the last four years.

Our consultants are vastly experienced and are certified on a wide spectrum of technologies. This experience puts us in a unique position to recommend and implement the most cost-effective solution for enterprises by combining the technologies best suited for the solution.

Our Mobility services and solutions offer end-to-end capability, which help customers adopt mobility and benefit from its transformational power to drive business.

Our Cyber Security solutions protect all IT assets including virtual assets and traditional infrastructure for our clients as we combine people, technology and processes to deliver a true enterprise grade experience.  We cover Network, Datacenter, Endpoint, Information Rights Management, Security Analytics & Data Protection domains.

Our Data Centre Group helps our clients to bring their technology and business priorities together, thereby accelerating business transformation. Our DCG portfolio includes Servers, Storage, Converged infrastructure, Hyper converged infrastructure, Virtualization, Public/ Private/ Hybrid Cloud & Business continuity solutions.

 Our IoT practice helps clients with solution designs using appropriate sensors, embedded systems and data analytics to build an ecosystem that will enable each device, equipment or machinery to be connected to the cloud.

Our Networking team helps build reliable, secure, scalable and high performance network infrastructures which offer superior return on investment for our clients by bringing together the core networking functions, including routing, switching, wireless devices & multi-service gateways.     

The core of our Robotic Process Automation offerings are focused around strategy development, proof of concepts, implementations & managed services to help our clients improve accuracy and efficiency in their business process.

Roadmap for 2019: To expand our offerings in existing and new geographies and markets.

Success Mantra: Galaxy was founded in 1987. Our ability to spot technology changes at their early stages and adapting accordingly is the key to our continued success.

Taking business to next level: We have grown by a CAGR exceeding 30% over the past four years. We would like to continue this rapid rate of growth over the next few years.