Cost-effective business solutions

Mr Vishal Grover, Vice Chairman, CMS Group, President and CEO, Systime, elaborates on various services of the company in an interview to the RETAILER

Retailer: When and how did Systime originate?

Vishal Grover (VG): Systime, originally a UK-based company, began manufacturing DEC compatible machines and developing applications on VMS platform. The company entered India in 1979 to develop outsourcing system for its ‘retail banking product’. CMS group in India, involved primarily in hardware maintenance, acquired Systime in 1984, with the objective of materialising its plans to become a global enterprise. A wholly owned subsidiary of the CMS group since then, it has been providing high quality services to customers worldwide.

Systime entered the local market and provided support to CMS customers in India. It became the first company in India to import IBM AS/400 in January 1989. Systime formalised its partnership with JD Edwards in 1994. Phillips became our first JD Edwards customer in India. Today, Systime is the largest JD Edwards practice in Asia Pacific and third largest worldwide. The company forayed other technology areas by forming strong alliances with companies like SAP, Informatica, Cognos, Motive and WebMethods.

Retailer: What is the range of services provided?

VG: Systime, global provider of reliable and cost-effective solutions, offers a wide array of services that support business strategies and facilitate growth in varied industry segments. Its support service provides a support option that assists managing IT infrastructure. The company delivers a cutting-edge solution in the space of ERP, CRM, e-procurement, process collaboration, business intelligence, business integration, infrastructure management, human resources and wireless technology.

Retailer: Which are the countries where the company is operating?

VG:  Besides operating in North America, USA (New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Minneapolis and Dallas), Australia and UK, we are also operating in Japan, Singapore and Dubai. In India, the company has its offices in major cities such as Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore Chennai and Delhi.

Retailer: Who are your prominent clients in India?

VG: Among our major clients figure companies such as HPCL, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance, GSK, Greaves, Videocon, Electrolux, Philips, Elf, Total, Wyeth, American Express, Seasons, Boudoir London and BILT.

Retailer: What is the range of solutons offered?

VG: The spectrum of software solutions include Point of Sale (POS), Middleware, ERP (JD Edwards and SAP), customised applications, Oracle E-business suite, e-commerce and business intelligence. The most recent addition is the Oracle E-business suite, a single integrated suite of business applications that meet various needs of retailers. The company offers complete information and transaction kiosk solutions to its clients like Citibank, Standard Chartered bank, HDFC bank and BSNL. (Kiosks are ergonomically designed with customised hardware and software, touch screens and remote management capabilities.)

Retailer: What distinguishes Systime solutions from others?

VG: Systime leverages the best of both worlds. Its delivery model incorporates best practices followed in western retail markets and highly skilled resource pool from India. Its world-class offshore development centre enables to manage product development in India whereas project management is handled on website.

Retailer: What is the future plan of the company?

VG: The company plans, in the coming years, to foray markets of Australia, Europe and Middle East. We are also looking to China, which is an important destination and a promising market for driving global expansion initiative. In the coming years, we intend to see Systime as an organisation with employee strength more than doubled and revenues increased substantially. In order to achieve this end and emerge as a stronger organisation, we have embarked on the twin strategy of ‘service line expansion’ and ‘geographic expansion’. Systime continues to build and expand its global presence by coming up with Global Delivery Centers in various parts of the world.