Issue: 01/01/04
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Compiled By Mark Pickering (India New England Staff)
 | Shelton, CT, Jan 01
SAI Systems has branched out into a whole new area of business by landing about $1 million in contracts with the federal government, including the departments of homeland security, defense and the interior.
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For the article online, please click here.
"Three years of an aggressive marketing and sales effort are now bearing fruit," said Ramesh Wadhwani, the company's president and chief executive officer. "It's a great feeling. We knew they were going to be spending money - and we spent money to get their business."
SAI Systems' contracts call for it to integrate the various computer systems at agencies for which it is working. The company buys and installs everything ranging from laptop computers to servers and communications equipment.The initial $1 million in federal work was set to be completed by the end of 2003.
SAI Systems' core business has been software development and information-technology consulting. Wadhwani said it has about 50 employees in its Connecticut headquarters and another 140 in its software-development offices in Pune, Maharashtra.Wadhwani expects SAI System's business with the U.S. government to at least double in 2004.
"We have another $2 million in the pipeline," he said. The first step to gaining federal contracts was when the U.S. Small Business Administration certified SAI Systems as a minority-owned business in 2000, he said.
"With that, we thought we were done with it, and the orders would start flowing," he said. "We learned the hard way." It turned out SAI Systems still needed something crucial: certification from the U.S. General Services Administration. It received that last year. Then it had to get the word out to federal agencies about what it could do.
"You've got to make your face known," Wadhwani said. "Now it's starting to pay off." Part of his company's sale's pitch was its long track record of doing work for big-name companies.
Wadhwani co-founded SAI Systems in 1986 and owns it with his family. In 1994, the company struck a deal that had India's Satyam Computer doing some of its software development.SAI Systems' business continued to grow - so much so that in 1998 it opened its branch offices in Pune, Wadhwani's hometown.One focus of SAI Systems' work has been financial-services companies, such as Deutsche Bank, The Chase Manhattan Corp. and Citibank.Another has been telecommunications and semiconductor companies, such as Verizon Communications and Connecticut-based TranSwitch Corp.
By 2000, SAI Systems peaked at about $8.4 million in revenue, said Wadhwani. But those were the boom times.Total revenue for 2003 will be about $6 million, he said. But he is predicting big changes in 2004, saying the company's goal is to be back up to $8.4 million."There are pockets of growth," he said. "I'm very optimistic about the next year."For one, SAI Systems is poised to take advantage of the increasing trend that has U.S. companies sending software work to India. In the 1990s, he said, companies like his still had to sell that concept. Now it's an accepted thing.
"We just have to get customers to trust us as a medium-size company," he added.Another growth area for SAI Systems is the federal government.
"There's a bidding process - you've got to win your share," he said. SAI Systems plans to open a Washington, D.C., office early this year.
"In the future, we hope to cross that magic $10 million mark - and see if someone wants to invest in us," Wadhwani said.
About SAI Systems International, Incorporated
SAI Systems International, Inc. was established in 1986 by a group of professional engineers and marketing executives whose mission was to provide full service IT solutions at reasonable costs. With headquarters in Connecticut and offshore development facilities in India, SAI delivers functional, customized, cost-effective technology solutions for mid size to Fortune 500 businesses and Government sectors. SAI works collaboratively with its clients by providing innovative business models in the banking, brokerage, insurance, telecommunications and government sectors.
For additional information, please contact:
SAI Systems International, Inc.
(203) 929-0790
press@saisystems.com
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