On Government Duty

What started as a two-member PC assembling company way back in 1992 by two
childhood friends - Sunil Kakkad (MD) and Vijay Mandora (Director) - Sai
InfoSystems (SIS) has grown into a giant solutions provider operating from
Gujarat.

Based out of Ahmedabad, SIS has around 350 qualified professionals working at
almost 13 states. In the beginning, it catered to the SOHO segment, but went on
to explore the SME segment with PCL products.

It started selling to the government in 1996, a segment most SIs shy from.
Today 70% of its business comes this segment, while corporates constitute the
remainder. "Most SIs dislike doing business with government customers
because of the payment delays and lengthy procedures. But we have mastered the
art of doing business with the government," says Sunil.

Vijay notes that though government business is tough, as customers, they are
very loyal. "Your money may be delayed, but it will arrive for sure. We
work with certain bankers who help us in terms of funds," says Sunil.

CLASS INFRASTRUCTURE

Besides being a complete solution provider, SIS also manufactures PCs,
servers, laptops, UPS and routers under the brand name 'Sunny'. Named after
Sunil's son, these products are certified by respective vendors whose
components are used.

Sunil believes that a world-class infrastructure is a must if one wants to
deliver world-class services and products. Subscribing to this philosophy from
day one, SIS has established its own manufacturing facilities at Silvasa.

"We are an ISO 9001:2000 and ISO-14001 certified company," says a
proud Sunil. The most important part of this infrastructure is the Product
Certification Lab, equipped with 15 workstations, five servers and four
qualified hardware engineers.

Sai also has 13 regional support centers and branch offices in Jaipur,
Silvasa and Parwanoo. All these offices are equipped with digital connectivity
and latest communication facilities.

With such an infrastructure in place, SIS shares excellent relationship with
principal vendors like Microsoft, Intel, HP, IBM, Acer, Sun, Cisco, D-Link,
Epson, SCO, Oracle, Zyxel, MRO-Tek, Multi-tech, LG, Samsung, Tata Liebert, APC,
Sharp, AMP, Avaya, Siemens and Apara.

SOFTWARE PRESENCE

SIS knew that merely selling hardware does not a complete solution provider make
and therefore ventured into software development. Since a majority of its
customers were from the telecom segment, it developed software solutions useful
for telcos. "We have developed a call-center application that can be
deployed in any environment," says Sunil.

SIS' extensive experience of dealing with telecom service providers helped
them understand the Management Information System requirements of telecom
service provider as well and it built a telecom specific MIS.

Today, SIS is capable of providing turnkey solutions to any industry
vertical. During the last 12 years, SIS has rendered services to BSNL and other
telcos in number of ways. It recently installed BSNL's biggest network in
Gujarat with 1,000 PCs spread across 120 cities.

SUCCESS FORMULA

There is no better way to success than hard work, say the duo, as other
means of reaching the top will not keep one there for long. "Often, my
employees and I put in more than 12 hours a day," says Sunil.

In the next six months the company hopes to start providing security
solutions. It also has plans to explore markets outside India, emulating an
earlier incident of exporting products to Uganda.

NELSON JOHNY

PROFILE

ADDRESS: Sai Infosystems, Paresh CHS, Near Stadium Petrol Pumps,
Navarangpura, Ahmedabad-380004

TEL: 079-26564425

EMAIL:info@saicare.com