Xpress Computers : Forging Ahead

Mumbai-based solution provider Xpress Computers had its beginning in the year
1988. Almost 22 years later, it is a Rs 10.5 crore company with a growth of 18
percent over last year. The man behind this journey Chetan Shah, MD, Xpress
Computers, has led from the front and through various ups and downs has been
able to come through successfully. Chetan explained what keeps him going, "I
live by the adage 'Live-Don't just exist' and this attitude always gives me
positive energy everyday as I wake up in the morning." So how was business in
the early days and why the name Xpress Computers? "Initially I used to sell
products door-to-door in office complexes and also go about fulfilling orders,
building PCs, I was in fact doing everything myself. It was really a very
challenging period but then just as a river forges its own way, so I too did
move on from strength to strength and soon grew to be a formidable system
builder in the city. I started from home as a single man company, assembling
PCs, while still studying in the second year of my graduation at Sydenham
College and today we have around 70 employees housed in a single 3000 sq ft
office in South Mumbai. As far as the name Xpress Computers is concerned, it
just appealed to me very much. In fact I immediately registered the company and
trademarked this name in 1995," said Shah.

Highlighting the top three areas where Xpress is doing the right thing,
Chetan said, "Firstly being solution-centric, secondly focusing on remote system
services and finally making substantial investment in getting Xpress to be
highly process-oriented are the top three things that are going right for us
today." And what about those areas where Xpress can get better, "We would like
to better our focus on key industries needing critical IT services, also there
is scope to improve in our 'use of the online media' for business promotions. We
would also like to find a quick path to explore new opportunities in fields like
cloud computing," replied Shah.

Shah believes that the customer is king and likes to keep reminding his
employees about that. "I always emphasize that our customer's vital operations
depend on us and they are the real bosses for all of us. As a whole, we should
strive to ensure customer delight. Being just good is not good at all,"
reiterated Shah.

According to Shah, business has helped shape his life in many ways. "I have
learnt to tackle challenges calmly and in fact learn to break down problems
clearly and work towards solutions. Also I have learnt to take disappointments
as lessons and move on in life," said Shah. He believes he is a person who is
open to innovation and looks to move on to newer spheres and technologies in his
field, besides always looking to catch the coming waves of opportunity. "I am
currently busy consolidating our new remote support offerings. I am hoping to
make virtualization and other trends as a key part of our solution offerings."
Shah also delineated the goals for his company this year. "We are looking to
grow by 25 percent in 2010-11. Furthermore, I am looking to broaden our base of
services customers and increase billings by 40 percent," he said.

Shah calls himself an outdoor man and is active in sports. "Personally, I
hate spending boring days sitting at home instead I love to go trekking,
rafting, cycling and playing cricket. On some days, I spend lots of time with my
media center PC-based entertainment and gaming setup in my room, which has
thousands of songs, movies, videos and photos on demand," said Shah. His family
consists of his wife and two daughters, ages fifteen and eleven. Shah talked
about how they spend time as a family, "As a family we do go for long drives
very frequently and also go out to restaurants and movies," quipped Shah.

Shah termed getting Xpress to successfully make the transition from a pure
system builder 10 years ago to becoming a solutions provider to the mid-market
companies as his biggest achievement. "We have clearly moved from being a
products-only company to offering a varied basket of IT solutions and services,
aimed to help customers overcome their business challenges and scale up to a
higher level. I am listing this as my biggest achievement as this shift has
largely helped me to shield Xpress from many issues facing the legacy IT
channels and also offer unique value adds to customers as well," said Shah.

Talking about one of the business failures, Shah revealed, "10 years ago, I
did make a foray in to software development, however it did not go well. In fact
we had to abort the entire venture after a couple of years. Nevertheless like
all failures, this experience also had its own share of learning for us as a
company."

Finally, sharing his biggest strengths, Shah said, "I believe my focused
approach, discipline and vision is my biggest strength as a person."

John Jacob

johnj@cybermedia.co.in