DATACRAFT INDIA: Coming Full Circle

20 Sep 2004 00:00 IST

New Update

Nagendra Venkaswamy,
MD

SERVICES: Telecom solutions, enterprise networking, business support systems, IP convergence, networking storage, managed network services,
e-conferencing solutions, security, outsourced services, network audit, maintenance, e-business consulting and cabling solutions

EMPLOYEES: 320

BRANCHES: 78

ADDRESS: Trade Center, 2nd Floor, Kamala Mills Compound, Lower Parel, Mumbai 400013

TEL: 022-24981212

STRENGTHS

Ability to execute projects in 120 countries for local customers

Strict SLA policies leveraging its NOC in Bangalore

WEAKNESS

Relatively small sales force of 28 people, which lead to missing some opportunities

Need to work more on application integration for broad-based enterprise offerings

Advertisment

Datacraft India' decision to get into providing end-to-end solutions in
2003-04 held it in good stead as it increased its agency revenue to Rs 350 crore
in 2003-04, up from Rs 214 crore the previous fiscal.

This was a healthy growth of a 22%, with network integration remaining the
mainstay of its business. Datacraft also has its own brand of proprietary
services like 'Primer', which chipped in Rs 97 crore to overall revenues.

Nagendra Venkaswamy donned the mantle of Datacraft's Indian business after
his predecessor, Dilip Kumar moved to Singapore as regional director for
Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and Philippines.

Advertisment

Solutions and services together contribute 30% to the company's revenues,
while the rest comes from the integration business. Services contributes 60% to
the entire solution business and is expected to grow at 30% this fiscal,
according to the company. Service revenues grew by 19.5% to touch Rs 96 crore
last fiscal, while products grew by 19%.

Datacraft has a well-documented service level agreement policies, which is
adhered to by roping in its network operated center (NOC) at Bangalore.

BPO was a major customer vertical pitching in 40% to its overall revenues
besides telecom. The company also forayed into the banking space last fiscal,
which is already emerging as a key buyer vertical.

Advertisment

A key project that Datacraft implemented last fiscal was networking of 4,500
offices of State Bank of India (SBI) across 393 towns. 1,200 SBI offices went
online in the first phase of nine months and the others locations following in
seven months. It also worked with Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) to provide
5,000 leased lines for these SBI branches.

Datacraft also worked very closely with Cisco, for which it is a gold
partner, for setting up Internet Protocol Contact Centers (IPCC). Almost 77% of
Cisco's IPCC implementation was done this SI.

The company also recruited 200 employees to its payroll, most of whom were
taken into its post-sales support division. It also added vendors like Nokia,
RSA and Checkpoint to its portfolio and focused more on security, categorizing
its offerings for protection, detection and prevention. Security is expected to
grow at 50% this year.

Advertisment

The company also put its toes into the storage water, and this business is
witnessing a 300% growth for it.