DIAMOND INFOTECH: Shining Bright

This shows that it has truly arrived in the solution provider scene.

Starting from its very first day, the priority of Diamond Infotech has been
providing customized solution and service to each of its customer. Because the
basic principle that drives this company is that no two clients are alike.
Therefore, their needs will be different too.

Founder Manoj Rathi firmly believes that earning mere margins is should not
be a business person's prime focus. Instead a successful entrepreneur is one
who takes away his client's organizational pain areas and provides them with
tension-free solution.

Taking ownership of customer

For Manoj, his customer's benefit is as important as his own. During his
tenure in the channel industry, he has gradually realized that selling servers
and other products is easy and something that even his next-door competitor can
do. But what differentiates one partner from another is the quality of support
and coming up with the correct solutions for customers. This is the toughest
task and something that not every solution provider is conversant and
comfortable with.

Manoj Rathi Combining customised solutions along with product sold give an edge over its other competitors

This is precisely what made him move from box-pushing to providing
comprehensive solutions. That's why he makes it a point to maintain a strong
support team. Undertaking continuous R&D to develop the company's own
designed and integrated solution techniques is another way of making sure that
Diamond Infotech stands apart from the rest of the breed.

"We also sell the same product. But along with that, we combine our own
customized solutions and deliver it to clients," said Manoj. According to
him, this effort has given the company an edge over others and is responsible
for the company's growth and reputation.

Making customers secure

As the proliferation of the Internet increases, broadband connectivity is a
major concern for most users and so is security. For such clients, be it a
home-user or a corporate house, Diamond Infotech has designed several VPN and
firewall-based solutions. "We are developing these solutions based on the
individual requirement of our clients to give them 100% security and
satisfaction at a reasonable cost," explains Manoj.

This approach has helped the company ramp up its turnover from Rs 6.6 crore
in 2003-2004 to Rs 10.5 crore in 2004-2005. This fiscal, Diamond is aiming for
revenues of Rs 14 crore.

To sum up, he further explains that irrespective of whichever direction the
market graph might take, service will remain a continuous affair. It is for
precisely this reason that the company is changing its slogan to, 'The Network
People to Diamond Infotech: Where Solution Begins'.

The struggle

Manoj started off his career, when he was barely 16 years old. "During my
matriculation, our family was going through a financial crisis. And at that
early age, my only aim in life was to earn money and establish myself,"
reminisces he. Advised by a well-wisher, he took admission in Aptech to learn
software courses. "Computers was the most upcoming option back then, with
immense scopes and possibilities," he adds.

While continuing with his preparation for higher secondary exam, Manoj was
offered a job at an IT company called AVJ Infotech. "That changed my life
as I learnt everything in IT business starting from marketing to communicating
with people under the guidance of my boss," he says. "I started my
career with just Rs 150 per month," chuckles Manoj.

He started Diamond Infotech two years later with a measly Rs 9,000 in hand
but armed with varied experiences from his previous job. The company started
operations in 1998 with just three people, besides another of Manoj's friends.
He soon ran into Subhendu Dhar and liked discussing business ideas with him. And
today, Subhendu is the Technical Director at Diamond. This shows that Manoj puts
great onus on caliber and knows how to hone it further.

The company's main goal till 2000 was to survive and establish its name in
the market. At that point, Manoj's friend, who was also his partner, quit.
"This was a major blow for us. But gradually, Subhendu and I composed
ourselves and changed our perspective towards growing our company," says
he.

With the support of their team, the two young entrepreneurs worked hard to
establish the credibility and brand name of Diamond Infotech in the market by
providing quality service and solution to its clients. "And that hard work
has hit pay dirt if the tremendous growth we witnessed from 2003 onwards is any
indication," Manoj proudly says.

The company at present has a strong client base in the city, comprising the
Kolkata stock market, SMBs, corporate houses, call centers and home users. For
each of its client segment, Diamond Infotech has its own customized range of
security solutions.

Achievements and future aspirations

Chosen as the first Intel premier provider of Eastern India, Diamond
Infotech is on its way of becoming one of the leading solution providers in the
region. Apart from capturing an enviable figure of 800-strong clients in the
city, it is also one of the biggest Intel server sellers in the region, for
which it has won several awards from the vendor.

Recently, Diamond was also awarded the Best Retailer from Eastern India by
Intel for selling maximum numbers of PCs

and notebooks based on P4 processors with HT technology and Intel Centrino
mobile technology. "We also got an

opportunity to visit the Intel factory at Penang and it was a wonderful
experience," beams Manoj.

Diamond was also awarded as the best SI of Kolkata by DQ Week for two
consecutive years (2004 and 2005). Growing at a fast pace, the company is
already listed among the top SIs and SPs of the region. Therefore, it is only
natural that Manoj is now aiming to reach the top spot in the coming years.

To achieve his objective, he is increasing his manpower and is in the process
of building a strong support team across

the nation. This is because in the coming two years, he wants to expand his
company's footprint and bolster his client

portfolio.

"We need to design more customized and specialized security-based
solutions and support. That can be achieved only through quality manpower. That's
why we pay more attention towards the comfort factor of our team and provide
them with a cool and professional environment to carry on the research
work," explains Manoj. He cuts no corners, when it comes to ensuring that
his team works like a family.

Profile

CEO: Manoj Rathi

STARTUP YEAR: 1998

ADDRESS: 6, Lyons Range, Kolkata 700001

BRANCHES: 2

TEL: 033-22106948, 22106949, 22256156, 22372109

URL: www.dipl.co.in 

PIYALI GUHA