Ampersand's growth plans

By Our Special Correspondent

BANGALORE, JAN. 14. The new mantra in the business world is e- commerce or business via the Internet. Although a lot of media hype has been built around the B2C (business to customer) aspect of e-commerce, the reality is that it is the B2B (business to business) segment that is growing rapidly. One estimate puts B2B e-commerce reaching $1.3 trillion in 2003, against $150 billion for B2C.

There is a bonanza here for software companies which can design solutions for clients to enable them to do business on the web. One such specialist company is the Bangalore-based Ampersand Software Applications Ltd. set up a decade ago by three ex- employees of Infosys Ltd. Ampersand works with both dot Com startups which are net-businesses from the word ``Go'' and with established companies which wish to integrate their traditional processes into the new medium of the Internet.

According to the Managing Director, Mr. Narasimhan K. Mandyam , Ampersand's strength comes from its ability to model a business, extrapolate its value to customers and then combine it with leading edge technology to build a superior web-based solution.

``Of course, we have plenty of competition,'' says Mr. Narasimhan, `` But our ability to address aggressive time-to- market schedules with fixed-bid solutions gives us an edge.''

Lending a sharpness to this edge is a software platform called iWorks, which takes a design concept and spits out the business application solution which is almost two-thirds complete. After presenting it to the client and getting his feedback it can later be finetuned. The ability to cut time by using iWorks impresses clients , particularly the dotCom startups who always seem to want to start their businesses in quick time. The initial version of iWorks was developed two years ago by a small outfit in the U.S. started by three Indian researchers. Ampersand acquired this firm and its intellectual property in 1998 and has further refined the product.

``We expect to patent iWorks later this year and then put it on the Web for use by other application developers - at a price, of course,'' says Mr. Narasimhan.

In the last ten years, Ampersand has acquired quite a reputation in the U.S. for its expertise in designing web-enabling solutions in quick time. In 1998 it was ranked the 35th fastest growing technology company in Southern California. Among the company's high profile clients are Walt Disney Pictures, EMJ Metals, Eaton Corporation, Motion Picture Association of America , NCR Corporation , Sony Pictures Entertainment and The Gap Inc.

``Our revenues should top Rs. 22 crores this year (1999-2000),'' says Mr. Narasimhan, ``But our target is to grab at least one per cent of the projected global e-services business of $24 billion by 2004.''

Almost all of Ampersand's clients are U.S.-based. However, the company expects to pick up customers in the Netherlands and Japan this year. According to Mr. Narasimhan, the company is likely to go in for an IPO in the second quarter of 2000-01. The IPO is mainly to raise resources for marketing, retire some of the debt and also to provide liquidity for the employees' stock options. It is proposed to raise around Rs. 12 to 15 crores through the IPO. The present equity is Rs. 2.30 crores.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Business
Previous : Forecasting with undue caution
Next     : Templeton's two new schemes