Creating value.

Ramco Systems, a global software solutions provider and integrator, is cementing its presence in the region by offering specialised and niche expertise in the enterprise OLTAP space. R.Shankar, VP at Ramco Systems Middle East & Africa operations recently spoke to CNME to share the companyAAEs strategy about its offerings in the region.

CNME: Briefly explain about RamcoAAEs offerings and its presence in the Middle East region.

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RS: Ramco Systems is a global, multidisciplinary enterprise OLTAP solutions provider and integrator. The company specialises in building Web-architected, SoA-compliant solutions that enable business innovation, growth and transformation. Our powerful value proposition for customers stems from the Aoglove-fit, yet change-readyAo solutions that we deliver on time and within budget.

Ramco commenced its Middle East operations in 2005 with an office in Dubai. We invested our initial efforts into understanding the market, customer needs, creating a solid, referenceable customer base and building partnerships in the region. Having achieved excellent traction in all these areas, our foot is now on the accelerator.

Currently, our solutions are deployed across 14 countries in the MENA region, and accessed by over 1200+ users in UAE, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan and Yemen. RamcoAAEs HRMS and Payroll solution generates the monthly payslips for over 48,000 employees of our customers in the Middle East.

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CNME: How important is specialising in the solution provider and systems integration space?

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RS: Part of our success in the short time that we have existing in the region has to do with the fact that we are focused on strategic verticals. We have established a strong presence in vertical segments such as manufacturing and Aviation, as well as horizontal offerings like HRMS across several industries.

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Some of our key customers include Al Ghurair Iron & Steel, Alsalam Aircraft Company, Commercial Bank International (CBI), Ducab, Emirates Driving Company (EDC), Group 4 Securicor, Gulf Helicopters, Lupp Middle East L.L.C., Mulk Holdings, RAK Bank, Schlumberger, Sharjah Teaching Hospital (STH) and United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).

Recently, we entered into a significant partnership with a leading government ministry in North Africa to provide an integrated solution addressing financials, procurement, inventory, project accounting, project management, budgeting, grant and loans, management reporting and HRMS.

RamcoAAEs technological strengths, as well as the breadth and depth of our solutions and our global presence were other factors that were much appreciated by the customer.

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CNME: You have gotten off to a good start in the region despite being a relatively newer entrant into the Middle East. What would you attribute this solid start to?

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RS: Our international pedigree helped us considerably in our acceptance by Middle East customers. Also, as an emerging player in the region, we offer significantly more value to customers than our competitors, both with respect to quality products and our approach to professional services, implementation and support.

We lead the way with our innovative approach to create enduring value for our customers. Our unwavering focus is to deliver best-in-class solutions with end-to-end functionality. Two important facets are the flexibility of our system and its readiness to quickly and painlessly adapt to change at all times. We render a predictable experience to our customers, be it with respect to Aaeon time/ within budgetAAE delivery, or subsequent roll-outs of the solution.

We dive deep into every engagement and ensure that all our customers derive true value from our implementations. W e bring in dedicated professionals who demonstrate sincerity, commitment and honesty of purpose during customer engagements. Our ecosystem of partners and 24x7 support infrastructure has enabled our customers to reach us whenever they need to.

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CNME: What is your view on the potential of IT applications space in the MENA?

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RS: Even after the effects of the recent slowdown, the Middle East market has shown a lot of resilience. Countries such as Qatar and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will be exciting markets to work with, given their size and growth potential, and also the fact that they have hardly been impacted by the global financial meltdown.

Technology continues to evolve in this market. Enterprise applications built on SOA and Web 2.0 architectures will dominate the market. There is also increased acceptance of .NET as a platform of choice for growing businesses.

While there has been a lot of talk about the emergence of On-Demand applications and AoCloud ComputingAo architectures, these concepts may appeal to the mainstream ME market only after some time.

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CNME: What is your business strategy and how does Ramco differentiate itself from its competitors?

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RS: Customers have pain points that impact their entire business. Through its well-integrated solutions, Ramco addresses these pain points very uniquely and emphatically. This is achieved through a combination of deep functionality, a distinct implementation methodology with quality consulting, and flexible solutions. We nurture an ecosystem that delivers high customer satisfaction through superior products and services. This level of customer satisfaction pays off handsomely in the long term, particularly since enterprise solutions is a reference-driven business.

We invest in people, processes, partnerships and products that ensure sustained and profitable growth. While we bring in global best practices, we believe in partnering with local firms that enable us to deliver localised global solutions.

From a technology perspective, our strategy is to remain evergreen by continuously investing in R&D and partnering with best-of-breed technology vendors. This helps us stay ahead of the curve, and enables our customers to derive a distinct competitive advantage.

Our flexible solutions can be implemented quickly, to provide a glove-fit for enterprise needs. Based on open standards and SOA principles, our solutions are Aaechange-ready,AAE supporting our customersAAE ongoing business changes with no disruption to the business.

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CNME: What are RamcoAAEs growth plans for the Middle East and Africa region?

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RS: ME and Africa form an integral and important part of RamcoAAEs global operations, contributing almost 30% of RamcoAAEs global revenues. Our efforts in the region are yielding positive results. We will be enhancing our field sales teams, rolling out an integrated marketing programme and also forging new partnerships to accelerate our growth.

We expect to maintain a minimum growth rate of over 40% in the region over the next three years, particularly in Aviation, Manufacturing, Human Capital Management (HCM) and Government solutions.

We strongly believe that business partnerships/strategic tie-ups are the best way forward to leverage emerging markets in the region. We already have several strategic partners across the region, such as CERT, CEM Business Solutions, Al Kalima, International Finance and Business Consultancy, etc. Ramco will invest into strengthening these relationships.

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CNME: How do you ensure your company achieves customer satisfaction?

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RS: We achieve customer satisfaction through Au powerful solutions on the latest technologies, deep and dedicated support during and after implementation, long-term relationships, comprehensive, functionally rich and scalable systems and predictable experience to our customers.

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