36. CMS: Computers The Alarm is Ringing...

This
Mumbai-based hardware maintenance and services company registered a meager growth of 3% in fiscal 2000-01, compared to the previous year. It earned Rs 326
crore, only marginally above the Rs 317 crore earned last year. It was in the last quarter that CMS fared worst, as more and more of its clients turned “cautious and tight-pursed” in the aftermath of the slowdown and bargained for lower rates. CMS, however, managed to enter new areas: smart-card production, development of
WAP-enabled portals and e-commerce.

CMS secured some outsourcing projects from banks, financial institutions and utility firms, primarily in the field of statement printing. It also entered the ASP space by hosting JD Edwards’ ERP application and bagged a project to network the
NSE, apart from a systems integration project called ‘Twin City’ in
Hyderabad, part of the e-governance initiative there. The company plans to enter the SAN and broadband spaces. The company’s main weakness is that its services are targeted at only
corporates, not at the fast-growing small office, home office or other industry segment.