'We want to be a one-stop shop for all EAI needs'

Having built upon its enterprise application integration (EAI) strengths on
the Oracle front, Hyderabad-based Sierra Atlantic has successfully moved towards
adding PeopleSoft and Siebel capabilities. Zia Askari of CyberMedia News spoke
with Sierra Atlantic MD Sarath Sura about the company's plans and the changing
ways of EAI.

What is the current focus for the company's operations?

The focus for the company has always been to provide services on the EAI
front. Now we are positioning ourselves to be a one-stop shop for all EAI needs,
and towards acquiring global customers. We started our operations focusing on
Oracle, but now we have successfully integrated capabilities of PeopleSoft and
Siebel as far as EAI is concerned. We have started a universal application
network for Seibel. We have a team of 150 people working towards testing and
development on this front.

MD Sarath Sura

The idea is to integrate all the best practices for enterprise segment. We
already have capabilities in the area of Oracle, PeopleSoft and Seibel. Now we
are working towards having a SAP capability as well and are looking forward to
acquire a SAP focused company in the near future.

What kind of acquisitions are you looking at?

Presently, we are looking forward to acquisitions in two segments of SAP and
BFSI, however we would acquire only one at a time. Ideally, we are looking at
Indian companies with revenue size between $5-10 mn and focusing on SAP
capabilities for the enterprise or BFSI sector. We are also interested in
companies having good number of US based clients, so that we can develop instant
synergies with them. We have not fixed any dateline for this acquisition but we
will try to do it soon.

How has the EAI business changed over the years?

EAI has undergone a lot of change. The whole mindset of an enterprise has
changed now. Earlier EAI was viewed as a technological problem while now it is
predominantly viewed as a business problem. Now there are a lot of software
companies that are open to outsourcing their product development work to
locations like India. It is very interesting to know that Silicon valley based
VCs are suggesting US based companies to seriously look at low-cost location for
development work.

The concept of outsourced product development has taken off well in India. We
started our product development initiative towards getting US companies to India
about 15 months back and now we have 10 clients, primarily US based companies.
We have a team of 90 people working in this regard.

What are your expansion plans?

At present, we have a manpower strength of close to 800 people and we are
looking forward to doubling this number by the end of next year. In addition, to
this we are also exploring possibilities of expanding our base to at least one
other location within India. We will be investing close to $2 mn for the coming
year, towards construction of the first phase of our Andhra Pradesh campus,
which should not take longer than 15 months.