SI market is up for a tremendous boom Date:   Tuesday , March 06, 2012 Reputed as one of the oldest System Integration Services provider in India, Tata Elxsi Limited, part of the multi-billion dollar Tata Group of Companies, through its SI service practice continues to enjoy an enviable position in the Systems Integration market space today. The company designs total integrated solutions by leveraging our core expertise in the areas of design tools, visualization, advanced compute infrastructure, networking and storage systems. Systems Integrations market in India It is huge in India. And we have been in this market since the late 1980s. We started with our expertise in particular peripherals and we are kind of stuck to it because we are comfortable working in those areas. If we actually look at the SI market, there is tremendous growth in Banking, Finance, Insurance and government where there is a whole lot of buying involved. This is where maximum growth taking place. We are essentially focusing on the Automotive, Manufacturing, Entertainment, Education, Defense, Government and similar large sectors. Top concerns of customers The first thing is reliability which is really important. When we are looking at an SI partner, we are actually looking at a long tem partner. We are not looking at people who are just going to select, install and walk away. We look at somebody who can take the installation as his own and integrate all the products that are there with it. At the end of the day, it is the responsibility of the SI to integrate that activity and make sure it not only works but also be the single point of contact if any problems arise. This is how we earn the reputation with the customers we work with. Challenges in this competitive market There are obviously margin pressures. We have smaller people, local distributors playing the same game and MNCs too are truing to sell and move their products. At the technology front, you always have to be at the cutting edge. These are technology which have been in the market for quite some time and in the storage space itself it does not make a mark unless you are keeping pace and you are getting into space where others do not have the skill set. So, the value has to be some sort of an extra skill or an extra service which people are prepared to pay for. For an SI company, it is mandatory that you are aware of what the current trend is. For example, virtualization is here to stay and you need to be a part of it. We need to have a strong partner channel with who we can work with and deliver excellent service. We need to identify what the weakness is and plug it either through recruiting right people or through an organization that can deliver that service. New areas to be explored We are always looking at new areas to explore. We have 3D technology, which is everywhere and that’s one of the areas we are thinking about by providing 3D theaters. Another area is the virtualization on the desktop by converting a PC into a 3D engine. Hence, if we are the first mover, we have an advantage. We want to be one the leading players in 3D technology. We are in discussions with people for bringing in such technologies. Areas like Health education is one more area we are venturing into where the service will help students in learning anatomy better. It depends on the kind of defence contracts we look at, opportunities that are there today which were not there some years ago. Also people who have multiple skill sets have an advantage. So, we have that advantage and it is a question of how well we can market ourselves and how we reach out. (As told to Vimali Swamy)