Spotlight

SDG all set to expand

From increasing its headcount to planning numerous business strategies, SDG is all geared up to acquire considerable marketshare in India and abroad. A report from Chirasrota Jena

SDG Corporation, a technology consulting services provider, after opening its second centre in Hyderabad, has decided to increase its headcount to 500 within a year. The company, established in 1993 at Connecticut in the US, started its Indian operations in 1999.

SDG has been able to make a global mark through its products and technical services such as strategic advisory services, security offerings, identity management services, enterprise solutions and provisioning, enterprise application solutions, QA and enterprise testing services, and enterprise integration and infrastructure solutions. The company leverages pre-built, reusable software components supporting the industry’s widest array of tested solutions for e-business and distributed applications.

Pioneering services

"We implement enterprise-wide package applications and infrastructure services using a proven method and a phased approach" - Sriram Potti Country Manager SDG Software India

SDG has coupled technology and business processes which enable businesses to manage and audit every system, application and transaction that their employees, partners and customers collaborate on. “We are the pioneers in providing this range of services to clients across the globe. Now software giants such as Wipro, i-flex and Satyam have entered the market. But the quality of service that SDG provides along with the incorporation of the latest technology would help clients optimise their revenue,” says Ajay Gupta, founder and CEO, SDG Corporation.

By aligning four important dimensions of the organisation—people, process, structure and technology—SDG has supported its e-business strategies. The strategies help clients assess, design, plan and build infrastructure and support services that help in running e-business application transactions.

The products developed by SDG are centered around e-security solutions. “SDG specialises in services that are focussed on comprehensive business solutions. We implement enterprise-wide package applications and infrastructure services using a proven method and a phased approach. This approach is geared to help clients realise the benefits of enterprise-wide, Web-enabled solutions with quicker return on investment and greater overall competitiveness,” explains Sriram Potti, Country Manager, SDG Software India.

Services and products

The company would be serving all its US clients from their Noida- and Hyderabad-based e-offshore development centres which are ISO 9001:2000 certified.

Through these centres, SDG provides corrective maintenance including bug fixes and application support; perfective maintenance covering restructuring, revitalising and rewriting code for future ease of maintenance; and greater maintainability through rationalisation of data and performance tuning.

SDG also maintains considerable focus on its product offerings. The company is in the process of developing different kinds of software for anti-money laundering and fraud detection, stock exchange surveillance, trade order management for brokerages, and broker back-office clearing and settlement. For these products, SDG is targeting the growing Indian banking and financial sectors. It is also working on strategies to gain a better presence in stock exchanges across the globe.

“The Bangalore region presently accounts for about 20 percent of the domestic revenues of SDG Software, and these revenues are expected to grow by 50 percent. Bangalore and its neighbouring areas have manufacturing and services industries that are world-class. Thus, SDG with its experience is ideally positioned to meet the IT-related requirements of these companies,” states Potti.

Most of the solutions are designed and developed in India, with its marketing personnel working at its US office to get customers across the globe. SDG has a presence in Britain, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, India and the US. Along with selling solutions to customers, the company educates them through proper training in its solutions. After-sales-services are also part of SDG’s services.

On their pricing policy Potti reveals, “We charge different prices for our solutions depending on the size of the company, its level of needs, the size of its user base, its infrastructure and its geographical location.” The company is also working with other software vendors to enhance the market for its products.

“Globally, SDG has achieved 300 percent growth within the last 15 months. With the number of competitors in the Indian market increasing, we are expecting healthy competition for our products. But our business strategy coupled with an appropriate pricing policy will definitely help us maximise our revenue,” says Gupta.

Growing strong

SDG Corporation expects 45-50 percent growth rate in the current financial year for SDG Software India. The company is targeting the Indian telecom sector to push its e-security and enterprise application solutions. Along with this, it aims to win clients in the banking, financial, insurance and airlines sectors. Some of its clients are Accenture, GE India, GE Insurance and Motorola.

The enterprise segment contributes nearly 70 percent of its total revenue, so the company has made specific strategies for the enterprise sector in India as well as across the globe. The software developer now wants to make a presence in the delivery of QA and enterprise testing services market. Informs Gupta, “The developers at SDG have always tried their best to satisfy the requirements of clients. For overseas clients the developers provide support to the clients as and when they require both at technical and management level.”

SDG has 200 employees working at its Noida and Hyderabad development centres. It is planning to increase its headcount to 500 within a year. Potti states, “We will recruit both engineering and management background candidates to enhance our development centre capacity. We are planning to establish another centre in Noida to accommodate the increased headcount.”

Roadmap

In order to remain updated in the market, SDG staffers are working on developing solutions to target the enterprise segment. In the next two years, the company wants to be among the top five technology consulting companies specialising in the areas of enterprise e-security, enterprise application and integration. This explains why SDG Corporation is planning to enter other developed markets in the world.

The company has planned a strategy to invest 10-12 percent of its total revenue in R&D every year. This year it will invest nearly $300,000 in India towards R&D. Apart from this, the company will expand its infrastructure facilities. Since there is growing demand for compliance, SDG hopes to acquire good marketshare in India as well as in other countries.