NEUGEN DESIGN SYSTEMS: Networking Nawab

His thorough
understanding of IT and networking has also given the company an edge over
competition in the fields of integration, consultancy and services.

Providing service and end-to-end networking solutions has become the forte of
Bangalore-based Neugen Design Systems. After graduating from the Ambedkar
College of Engineering, when Mahipal K established Neugen in 1994, little did he
know how his company would grow in times to come.

Coming from an electronics background, Mahipal set out to harvest the
opportunities in the IT market by investing Rs 40,000 to set up a manufacturing
facility for components in Bangalore. Soon people started calling him up asking
for complete networking solutions too. This marked his gradual shift from
manufacturing to networking.

Today Neugen has a long list of successful network implementation projects to
its credit. These include different projects for industrial sectors, research,
government, financial and educational organizations, among others.

IN-DEPTH NETWORKING KNOWLEDGE

Getting into the IT industry by setting up a manufacturing unit is an
uncommon feat. Though such a move was challenging, Mahipal was determined to
make it a success.

While manufacturing add-on cards gave him a toehold in the industry, Mahipal
noticed that networking solutions was the place to be in. "I was a keen
observer of the networking industry right from 1994. When I noticed that there
would be a revolution in this market, I decided to become a part of it,"
says he.

His keenness to understand various networking processes and ability to use
this knowledge to his benefit, helped Mahipal acquire the expertise and skill
sets to successfully implement solutions. He finally decided to take the plunge
into the networking arena in 1996, by investing all his profits from
manufacturing.

Today, Neugen has acquired a reputation for being a provider of high-quality
cost-effective services and solutions. It is focused on providing network
integration services and building and managing e-business solutions and
infrastructure.

Company’s strength areas also include converged network integration
services (voice, data, and video) and specialized professional services in the
areas of network (LAN and WAN) and systems integration.

A SMOOTH TRANSITION

Though Mahipal expected the transition from manufacturing to network
integration to be a tough one, his loyal customers helped him smoothen the
creases. "I would attribute my success to my faithful customers. In fact,
it was their encouragement that helped me stabilize in the highly competitive
networking market," says he, with a smile.

Mahipal is today identified as a classic example of a budding
techno-entrepreneur, with undivided focus on customer services. "I always
wanted to undertake projects that were knowledge-intensive rather than
capital-intensive," says he.

In its early days, Neugen was more involved in offering consultancy and
network integration services. Slowly and steadily it also developed expertise in
providing end-to-end management solutions. It has built several large networks
that use over 100 nodes and is today more recognized for its networking skills
rather than for its management consultancy services.

TECHNICALLY TENACIOUS

A thorough understanding of IT and networking has enabled Mahipal to offer
the right kind of solutions to his clients. He believes that a motivated team is
an essential asset for the company. He has managed to instill a sense of
ownership among all his employees. "We all share a deep sense of belonging
towards the company," says Govindiraj, one of his engineers.

Surprisingly, when the entire market is investing in strengthening its
marketing force, Mahipal has invested in building up a strong technical team.
"Our work involves careful study of the customer’s premises, physical
layout, application requirements, operating systems, bandwidth requirement,
seamless data migration, sturdy designs and professional implementation,"
says Mahipal. According to him, this is a very demanding task for a technical
professional and to gain customer mindshare, it is important to focus on
developing these skill sets.

Mahipal has climbed the ladder of success only with customer reference.
"I have spent zero amount on advertisement campaigns or participating in
major events or exhibitions," states Mahipal proudly.

Says Naveen Rolands, Directior, Ostfold Software, "We admire Neugen’s
spontaneous response time to attend support calls.

The company is also aligned with technical and non-technical trends in the
networking market."

Banking on this goodwill, Mahipal believes he will be able to achieve the
targeted revenue of Rs 1 crore in 2003-04 against its performance of Rs 40 lakh
in 2002-03.

FIT FOR FUTURE

Neugen’s path to the future is brightly lit because of Mahipal’s able
leadership and well-defined direction set by him for the next two years. His
immediate focus is to venture into the ITeS and BPO segments. "ITeS and BPO
are two new areas that we are currently evaluating. Technically speaking, we are
already into the BPO segment as Airtel and Touchtel have outsourced their field
support system to us," says Mahipal.

However, Mahipal plans to focus on service as his core business area. Given
his heavy investment gone into the diversification of business, he is not too
happy with Neugen’s revenue growth.

But optimistic as usual, Mahipal says, "This will yield results in the
times to come. Our management philosophy is to continuously invest resources to
identify and provide products and services of the highest quality, which meet
the ever-growing needs of the computing society."

According to Mahipal, Neugen´s success in this highly competitive market can
be attributed to its strength in timely deliveries, in-depth knowledge of
product line and excellent and prompt service offering. "These advantages
have helped us respond rapidly to growth opportunities in this volatile and
fast-growing industry," says he.

Not one to rest on his laurels, Mahipal is already thinking of integrating
newer technologies into the solutions that he can provide to this customers.
With him it is customers first, technology next.

SUNILA PAUL