Nothing But Solutions

From servicing telex and fax machines to assembling PCs to moving boxes,
Mumbai-based Orient Technologies has done it all. After about a decade of
reselling, the company embraced solutions selling in 2001.

Excelling in each of its chosen business was possible only due to the hard
work put in by Ajay Sawant, the man behind Orient's success. He made it a
point to keep in pace with technology, and if possible, even stay a step ahead.

A BE in Electronics, Ajay started his career in UK-based General
Telecommunication and Electronics in Mumbai. Ajay and his two colleagues, Ujwal
Mathre and Jayesh Shah, played a key role in the company, but were not
appropriately rewarded for their efforts. This forced them to leave the company
together and start their own venture, Orient Technologies.

Ajay Sawant , Md Orient Technologies

A GOOD START

The company got some big names as their customers, such as the Tata, Birla,
and Bayer group of companies. It was in Jamshedpur that Orient gave Tata Steel
its first LAN within the factory premises.

The dynamic nature of Orient Technologies helped it move with the industry.
While Ajay remained the MD, Ujwal took over as the Director for corporate sales.
Jayesh was made the Technical Director for both software and hardware-related
activities.

As business grew, the company appointed two more directors-Umesh Shah for
value added services and Divya Jain as Director Marketing. Ajay's tryst with
IT started in 1993 selling assembled PCs. He later moved on to sell Zenith's
PCs.

By 1997-98, Orient topped the west region for being the highest selling
channel partner for Zenith PC. Till this period, the focus of the company
remained on customers from the SME and SOHO segment. The very next year, Orient
strengthened its focus on the corporate segment by adding few more PC brands
like HP, IBM and others. It also managed to achieve the No.1 reseller award from
HP in the corporate segment.

TASTE FOR SOLUTIONS

With increasing competition, Ajay decided to call it quits for moving boxes
and focused on selling solutions. The decision was tough, but an important one
considering the worldwide slowdown had affected the IT industry. "We hired
the best of people who got sacked from big MNCs because of the slowdown,"
says Ajay.

This strategy helped Orient grow by 10% even during the slowdown. "This
opened our eyes," says Ajay. From then on Orient Technologies focused only
on selling solutions.

The company currently specializes in the complete plethora of IT solutions
business, starting from server solutions from Citrix, storage solutions from HP
and NetApp, IBM's Lotus Notes solutions, Veritas and Backbones' storage
software solutions,

and many others. Currently, the company works with over 27 vendors.

EYE-CATCHING ACTION

Moved with industry trends Specialized on providing storage solutions Hired best engineers and ensured their retention

ROBUST GROWTH

The company clocked revenue of Rs 28 crore for the year ended 2003-04, with
a CAGR of around 25% in the last five years. However, the solutions business has
helped the company close the year with a bottomline of over 30%. With around 275
employees and six offices in the metros of the country, Orient is a
well-organized company with clear focus on what it does. It has created five
divisions within the organization, viz.: PSG ( Personal Systems Group), ESG
(Enterprise Systems Group), Networking Group, ESG (Enterprise Software Group)
and ISG (IT Services Group).

Of these, ISG plays a very important role in coordinating works of the other
groups as well. Very soon, Orient will be shifting its Mumbai office to a larger
area to accommodate its growing staff strength and business.

Creating a full-fledged HR department and appointment of a new HR director
shows the company's commitment to employee welfare. It organizes one office
picnic every six months and gives quarterly awards to performing employees.

NELSON JOHNY