Young And Committed

Nikhil Murarka and Jayant Poddar, both young and ambitious, were raring to go

at the end of their engineering studies in 1992. They grabbed the opportunity to

become PC Point's franchisee for hardware and networking training and started

the venture with an investment of Rs 50,000. Today, the venture called Ross

Computers has a turnover of Rs 7 crore (FY 2000-01).

In fact, immediately after setting up shop, Ross Computers also started

offering AMC services in Navi Mumbai. And this, Nikhil informs us, was a great

success. He says, "We signed nearly 3,000 contracts in the very first year

and were offering our services at one-third the prevalent market rates."

Their AMC service is today patronized by a large number of corporates, including

ICICI, HDFC, UTI, KPMG, Reliance and Wartsila among others.

Sailing the success ship

While their training and service business was still flowering, Nikhil and

Jayant added another credential to their profile. Towards the end of 1993, Wipro

appointed them as a dealer for its range of peripherals.

The appointment was remarkable because they were the first non-Wiproiites to

be appointed dealers at that time and the youngest in the country to get the

dealership. And thus began their third business, that of distribution.

Ross Computers also acquired Aptech's franchise for their 'Hardcore' training

program. The program was meant to provide a wide range of hardware training, but

wasn't quite successful. So Nikhil and Jayant decided to dissociate themselves

from Aptech and launch Solution World.

Their tenacity paid off and today Solution World has two branches near Mumbai,

at Vashi and Dombivali. Solution World offers a six-month training and other

short-time courses in hardware and networking. It offers an in-house,

industry-oriented curriculum and boasts of excellent placement record.

Says a proud Jayant, "The placement record of Solution World is nearly

100 percent and unparalleled. We ensure that everyone who enrolls for a course

gets a job within three months. For the remaining period, the students get

on-site training. We even go to the extent of offering money back for those who

don't get placement. That however, rarely happens." This record according

to him is a result of the strong relationships that they share with a large

number of companies within and outside of Navi Mumbai.

The number of students getting enrolled averages 700 plus a year. Jayant

says, "Last year, we saw over 900 students coming to us for various

courses." He believes the demand for skilled hardware professionals is only

burgeoning and Solution World will cater to it by opening newer branches in the

near future. "We plan to have 100 centers for Solution World in the next

five years," says he confidently.

In 1995-96, the company got involved in various other activities including

selling motherboards, sound-cards and even importing HDDs. However, very soon it

realized there was not much money in these businesses.

Reminisces Nikhil, "We suddenly got ourselves into selling a lot of

things, but quickly realized that it was very difficult to make money on them.

So we made a firm decision to stick to Wipro and concentrate on selling their

products." And this association has been fruitful and profitable till date.

Now, the duo not only distributes peripherals for Wipro but are also the

company's authorized service provider for computers and printers. Over the

years, Ross Computers even established itself as the authorized service center

for Epson printers.

Presently, it also represents IT-Maple in the Western region for keyboards,

mouse and speakers, among other products.

Recording impressive growth

Ross Computers' growth over last nine years is nothing less than impressive.

Nikhil says that the company recorded a turnover of Rs 7 crore last fiscal and

wants to double it this year. What started as a two-man outfit, has grown

manifold in terms of manpower including a large number of skilled professionals.

The entire business has been carefully structured into three main areas:

distribution, services (including AMC and FMS) and training (hardware and

networking).

Reminiscing the business scenario 10 years ago and now, Nikhil says,

"Previously skill-sets and brands were highly valued by customers. Today

however, with all the brands making a strong presence and offering equally good

value, price has emerged out to be the essential differentiator." He

believes that customers have become much more technology-savvy and best price

offerings are what they look for.

And what has ensured success for his business in this fiercely competitive

market? "It is our commitment to customers and offering of good services

that has helped us grow and even sustain ourselves in these difficult

times,"replies Nikhil.

Says Kishor Patil, Center Manager, Solution World, "I have been with

Ross for nearly six years now and the very basic reason of this long association

has been its consistent growth over the years."

He is also very appreciative of Nikhil and Jayant for giving him a great

degree of freedom as far as running the centers of Solution World are concerned.

More words of praise are voiced by Pothen Zacaraiah, Assistant Manager-IT,

Wartsila, one of Ross's many clients. He says, "We are extremely satisfied

with the kind of services they have been offering and would be only happy to

recommend Ross."

However, all these praises notwithstanding, Nikhil emphasizes that Ross is

yet to become a big name to be talked about and prefers to maintain a

low-profile.

Technical expertise pays

Apart from the unassuming and soft-spokenness that the duo possess, their

sound technical background also adds to their advantage. This has helped them

understand the business much better.

In fact, remarks Nikhil, "Our technical know-how should help us to get

into software selling and development easily." However, he is presently

looking forward to moving into a 3,500 square feet office close-by. This office

will house a showroom as well as the service center.

Nikhil believes in doing his best and about the future he comments, "We

cannot predict our future. We believe in doing our best and hope that the work

just keeps on going smoothly. If our hard-work pays off, we may even see

revenues of over Rs 100 crore coming in some day and we may even become a listed

company."

GOLDIE in Mumbai