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18 - Building For Future

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DQI Bureau
New Update

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ALIGN="center">MD: PRADEEP KAR
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T size="2">he last two years have been remarkably sedate for Microland. In fact, last

year’s growth of 15 percent is half of the previous year, but it has managed to

retain its place at # 18 for the second year at a turnover of Rs 181 crore. As a matter of

fact, in a year when corporate buying nosedived, literally, Microland, which has no

presence in either the small and medium business segment or home, should show a growth of

15 percent is indicative of its move into other areas.

In many ways, the diversification of Microland into

areas such as systems integration, facilities management, software, and maintenance,

besides network integration and education, its earlier mainstay, was expected. It has been

talking about it and reorganizing itself in the past two years, given that its topline has

always been under severe downward pressure, thanks to its over-dependence on pushing

products in the enterprise networking market space.

alt="https://img-cdn.thepublive.com/filters:format(webp)/dq/media/post_attachments/632519a3ea2ddb59502cb1e94448ba06de751073eeae6656eb0366b0c6ef4d21.jpg (10130 bytes)" border="0" hspace="2" vspace="2" align="right"> size="2">Its defocus on pushing products is more than evident in its hardware business

last year. With a unit growth of less than 4 percent, the division was saved from complete

disaster by the sale of workstations, a segment where Microland debuted last year. In a

stark departure from the past, channels’ contribution to system sales last year was

nil. In fact, its Rs 65 crore from system sales is thanks to its alliance with Sun and

acquiring a new one in the form of Hewlett Packard.

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More proof of the same comes in the form of revenue from

networking-related products, where the growth in value was simply 13.5 percent over the

previous year. Some of this has also come about as a result of the company’s decision

not to participate in ‘cash less’ accounts–that is, in bids where payments

could have extended beyond

S T R A T E G Y

  • Exploit the emerging net paradigm by building satellite

    companies, around Microland.
  • Create engines of cash flow by leveraging on its

    competency in networking.
  • Earn 50 percent of revenue from software services.

O B J E C T I V E S

  • To build foundation for managing significant growth.
  • To create new engines of growth for the company.
  • To provide value to customers through a process of

    delivery, enabling it to respond quickly.
  • T A C T I C S

    • Set up three educational centers in Chennai, Pune, and

      Hyderabad.
    • Put nine senior managers full-time into SAP

      implementation.
    • Signed up with Computer Associates for enterprise

      management software.
    • Refrained from participating in businesses with cash flow

      problems.
    • P E R F O R M A N C E  H I G H L I G

      H T S

      • Grew by 15 percent when corporate buying showed a

        negative trend.
      • Services and software business grew by 72 percent.
      • Launched planetasia.com to address the needs for content

        and ecommerce.
      • Launched Micro Media and announced Internet World.
      • Implemented a private VSAT network and implemented SAP in

        nine months.
      • Made its entry into the international markets.
      • PRODUCTS AND SERVICES:

        Network Integration, Web-related Services, Training, Maintenance color="#ff0000">* Agency Operations: Compaq, Sun,

        Netscape, HP, Bay Networks, Cisco, AT&T, Intel, Lotus
        * COLOR="#000000"> START-UP YEAR: 1989 * COLOR="#000000"> QUALITY CERTIFICATION: ISO 9000



        l ADDRESS: 58, 80 Feet
        Road, Koramangala, Block 7, Bangalore 560095
        * COLOR="#000000"> TEL: 5711340 * COLOR="#000000"> FAX: 5710992



        l WEB SITE: size="2" COLOR="#000000"> www.microland.net

        the available credit period or even landed as bad

        debts subsequently. This has affected the numbers to some extent.

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        Its move toward providing IT services is what led

        Microland to tie up with Computer Associates in the area of enterprise management

        solutions. Hence, last year, one saw Microland bagging orders from companies such as

        ICICI, Price Waterhouse, Standard Chartered Bank, and HDFC for services involving

        planning, deployment, and management of their networks. Earlier, it restricted itself to

        planning and deploying of networks.

        Similarly, it moved on its plans to leverage on the

        network training market, and set up centers in Chennai, Hyderabad, and Pune, in addition

        to its existing centers in Mumbai and Bangalore. However, these came toward the end of the

        financial year and therefore it did not get reflected in the earnings last year. Microland

        plans to do what NIIT has successfully managed—backward integration into software

        development and at the same time



        creating avenues for its students. In the case of Microland, the model is slightly
        different—the students get work on projects in India and the company in turn gets to

        deploy the expertise overseas. This will get further accentuated this year with Microland

        going in for franchisee centers.

        From the outside, Microland seems to have lost focus on

        its key business—networking—what with the high-profile launch of planetasia.com

        and Micro Media last year. But a closer look at what it has been doing the whole of last

        year reveals a different story—that of a company engaged in building a foundation to

        manage significant growth: it grew rapidly in the initial years starting 1991, creating

        new engines of growth.

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        For instance, last year was spent on implementing ERP in

        the same way as the previous year was spent in getting ISO 9000. This, too, was achieved

        in record nine months, with web-enabled SAP running in all locations

        simultaneously—making Microland one of the few companies perhaps to be completely

        online on VSATs. This will soon be extended to its customers as well.

        But, more importantly, the company put together its

        Internet strategy and launched Planetasia.com and Micro Media. Microland Software is yet

        to be known publicly. All these are complementary to each other and to the future growth

        of Microland. For instance, while Planetasia.com will restrict itself in the area of

        providing content and enabling companies to get into ecommerce, Micro Media will be

        engaged in spreading the awareness through seminars, symposiums, and exhibitions. The

        first such event—Internet World—is being held this year in August.

        As for Microland, it will become the company that builds

        the infrastructure for its customers to enter the Internet-centric world. As for the

        little-known division Microland Software, it is currently working with a small start-up

        company in the US to build parts of an Internet search engine using Java and ActiveX.

        In the International arena. Mileoland won a $ 500,000

        contract from Al-Rajhi Bank of Saudi Arabia for migrating from NetWare to NT in 347 of its

        branches and a MS Exchange Project in Aranco Oil.

        alt="https://img-cdn.thepublive.com/filters:format(webp)/dq/media/post_attachments/4b04b5e64832310077a3a0a7e5ec5044971af221bb5498b90e8c322212e93c9a.jpg (22439 bytes)" border="0" hspace="2" vspace="2" align="right"> size="2">After two years of near silence, Microland is ready for another round of rapid

        growth. However, one is unlikely to witness it this year. The pay-off is expected to come

        not before year 2000. Perhaps it will herald the new millennium. 

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