FRONTIER BUSINESS SYSTEMS: Vendor Loyalty At Its Best

One of the biggest reasons behind the emergence of Bangalore-based Frontier
Business Systems as a leading SI in the region is its relentless loyalty to its
vendors. Director Ravi Verdes has maintained strong ties with every vendor that
he started working with when the company was in its initial stages of business a
decade ago.

Having been in existence for over a decade now, Bangalore-based Frontier
Business Systems has achieved what most of its contemporaries have failed
tobecome a Rs 100 crore-plus systems integration outfit. This is a milestone
that has eluded many other SIs despite being in the business for as much as
15-20 years.

What also makes Frontier a class apart is the fact that it has been a
pure-play SI since inception and a very profitable one at that. And its director
Ravi Verdes, through his sharp business acumen, has ensured that his company
always moved up the high-growth path. In fiscal 2003-04 Frontier grew its
topline by 31% to touch Rs 104 crore and is pretty much on its way to record
similar growth this year too.

LESSONS OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Being a first-generation entrepreneur, Ravi combines new-age wisdom as well
as strong fundamentals of business, to give a right direction to his
organization. And a large credit for his entrepreneurial skills goes to his
four-year stint with HCL, which he joined immediately after completing his
education. "HCL was a grooming ground for willing entrepreneurs as a lot of
responsibility along with freedom of decision-making was given to us," says
Ravi.

However in those four years, he also realized that if he were to make it big
he would have to start something of his own. Very soon he tied up with one of
HCL's customers to undertake systems integration projects. The investment that
he made then into the business: just Rs 10,000. Shortly after that he founded
Frontier as an independent SI organization and began by just doing IBM business.
"Our focus right from the beginning was to service fewer accounts but
command better margins," remarks he.

LOYAL TO THE CORE

Shortly after the IBM tie-up, Ravi struck partnership with Emerson (then
known as Tata Liebert). Two months later, Lucent Technologies followed and
within a year's time Frontier had already become a partner for Cisco.
"All these vendor relationships exist till this day and we have remained
loyal to the core," says Ravi. Few years later the company also forged
relationship with Sun Microsystems and today is one of its prominent partners.

Despite carrying two competitive brands: IBM and Sun, the vendors have good
words to say about Frontier. "A focused approach, aggressive team and
ability to bring lot of value-adds to the customers is what makes the
relationship with Frontier special," remarks KP Unnikrishnan, Marketing
Director, Sun Microsystems.

And it is this focused approach that has also made the company become very
strong in the segments of EOUs (export-oriented units) and manufacturing. Over a
period of time, it also expanded its geographical presence by starting its
Chennai operations in 1998 and that of Hyderabad in 2000.

Today, Frontier has managed to consolidate its business from these two
locations with contribution of 40% to its total revenue. In a bid to go deeper
into the South Indian territory, it recently opened its Coimbatore and Mangalore
branch as well.

PEOPLE'S COMPANY

With nearly 300 employees to manage, Frontier has managed to do a brilliant
job by keeping attrition rates really low. One of the biggest reasons behind
this is the transparent policy and open work environment that the company
maintains. "Also, we try not to get tied down to too many processes. The
flexibility allows our team to perform even better," elaborates Ravi.

Apart from giving its competition like Wipro Infotech and Accel ICIM tough
fights while bidding for projects, Frontier has also been successful in hiring
quality people to work for it. And in some cases, it has attracted personnel
from Wipro and Accel as well.

Ravi believes that the company will gradually strengthen its image as a
national player and find a place in the elite league of other tier-1 SIs. While
not particularly bothered about just the topline, he will now be focusing on
improving Frontier's service revenues, which are currently at little over 10%.

GOLDIE