NG Pillai integrates operations with Microsoft’s SBS

Shipra Arora chronicles NG Pillai’s experiment with Microsoft’s Small Business Server that has helped the company integrate its operations and boost employee productivity

NG Pillai, found it easy to start a service centre as Microsoft’s Small Business Server (Windows 2003, Exchange Server 2003 and SQL Server) offers an integrated solution for all its requirements

Delhi-based customs house agent (CHA) NG Pillai caters to MNC clients such as LG Electronics and American Express. It has built its technology infrastructure around Microsoft’s Small Business Server (SBS) platform. This has given the company a competitive edge and facilitated a new revenue stream by helping it set up an authorised service centre of customs and trade (for import and export).

Dealing with customs

Started in 1983, NG Pillai has 35 employees and is approved by the Ministry of Finance to handle customs clearance for a variety of products on behalf of companies based in the National Capital Region (NCR). The company works closely with the customs department to get clearances for import consignments.

NGP is one of Delhi’s privileged few as it uploads customs clearance documents over the Internet to NIC’s (National Informatics Centre) servers tapping into NIC’s electronic data interchange (EDI) infrastructure. These documents include import/export declarations, manifests, bills of lading, invoices and packing. The customs department, in turn, responds with the bill of entry and shipping bill, which the CHA uses, to clear cargo. This set-up is called the Indian Customs Excise Gateway, a single-point interface between the computer network of the customs department and its partners in the customs community system.

NG Pillai has had a Remote EDI System (RES) running on its front-end terminals since 1995. It lets the company fill in documents and upload them online into the NIC server instead of physically sending them to the two inland container depots authorised by the customs department in Delhi for this task.

To begin with, these operations were conducted using various computer terminals. That wasn’t cost-effective as each computer had its own dial-up connection and TCO was high. In a highly competitive market, with around 600 CHAs in New Delhi itself, this wasn’t good enough. NG Pillai, chief executive officer of the company says, “If another agent is able to clear goods in a shorter period of time then we may lose lose customers.”

The trigger for switching to a more robust infrastructure was Pillai’s plan to set up a service centre that would cater to smaller CHAs in the NCR. This business would run alongside its existing CHA business. As its infrastructure wasn’t equipped to manage such a large number of customers (the smaller CHAs needed to file and upload documents using NIC’s RES) a complete revamp of the IT set-up was in order. “We wanted a simple and cost-effective IT environment that would address key elements of reliability, security and integration, and be able to scale up to match our future needs,” explains Pillai.

Small business server at work

Early 2004 found NG Pillai opting for a solution based upon Microsoft’s Small Business Server 2003. This software bundle gave it Windows 2003, Exchange Server 2003 and SQL Server at one shot. The company needed to work with NIC to port some excise applications from NIC’s Oracle database onto SQL server, so SBS was a natural fit. A HP TC 2120 server and Pentium 4 desktops from IT Solutions India, a Microsoft partner, made up the hardware platform.

IT Solutions was picked to design and deploy the new solution. In the first phase, a LAN connecting 20 PCs with a high-speed DSL connection to the Internet was put in place.

In the next phase, the company created a client-server network based on SBS 2003. Apart from managing Web access and the e-mail infrastructure, the Windows server is also being used as a file and print server. SQL Server has been deployed at the back-end for storing filed documents that have to be sent to the NIC server. It is also being used to store information related to each and every transaction. Exchange takes care of messaging and communications at the service centre. Pillai is working with NIC to port the excise application to make full use of SBS. A file share on the server lets users store and access documents. Some CHAs catered to by the service centre are small and lack e-mail, therefore, confirmations are often faxed to their offices or printouts are provided. Keeping this in mind, shared fax services have been deployed.

The company was able to get its new IT infrastructure up and running in a short span of time. “It has been easy to start our [new] business as SBS offers an integrated solution that met our requirements,” says Pillai. The company was able to deploy SBS in a day. Online license activation was used to simplify the proecss.

Scalable and secure

The new infrastructure helps in managing the network, inventory and reporting better. It has helped the company standardise processes. The company has a secure and reliable infrastructure that’s equipped to take care of the large number of CHAs and confidential information handled by its service centre.

NGP has internal firewalls and third-party external firewalls for greater security. The centralisation of data and application access has improved employee productivity by ensuring that employees can locate relevant information from their desktops. This has resulted in cost savings for the company. All said implementing SBS paid off in spades for NGP.

shipra@expresscomputeronline.com