Ajesh Sivan started Teksalah (‘Tek’ is for technology and ‘Salah’ is ‘advice’ in Urdu) providing IT infrastructure solutions in 2007. Teksalah today, with two branches and two support centres, serves over 400 companies and has morphed into a Technology Consulting company.
Why ‘Teksalah’?
In the beginning it was a simple wish and a belief that something big could be achieved. The belief was based on the understanding that business and IT managers needed a technology partner with the combination of know-how and good service. There were only a few companies providing it.
We have now become the platform for growth for “Techno-passionate” team members. These individuals are positively transforming themselves and our customers. The vision now is to create a global technology organisation, built on goodness, and contribute to the success of all.
What do you do for an SME?
Today information technology has become the backbone of every business — small, medium or large. All CRM, ERP, Email, Voice applications need a platform to run. It is very important that this platform is secure, always available and performing. The platform needs to be enterprise class and at the same time affordable for SMEs.
Teksalah provides innovative infrastructure solutions to the SMEs in the UAE, at the same level of quality as is served to larger enterprises. We do this at a price point that is affordable to the SMEs. We have also expanded our SME portfolio by adding an SME ERP solution and managed desktop services.
When do customers start thinking of a hardware platform?
IT spending for businesses is mostly on the business applications which are visible. IT infrastructure is invisible. Most of the time customers make mistakes before identifying the criticality of IT infrastructure. Software solutions partners also hesitate to highlight optimum infrastructure needs when selling their solutions; as investment in infrastructure adds a cost to the evaluation. We are usually approached when things stop working. The ideal way for customers is to work with a specialised infrastructure partner in the early stages of planning so a solid foundation is built early.
How is Teksalah different?
In every project we de-risk the customer by taking ownership of the entire engagement life cycle. It is very important as in an Information Technology initiative as there are multiple “potential points of failure”.
Our technically enabled sales team provides consultation, design engineers bring out the optimum design, project teams integrate and SLA teams provide ongoing support. We have adopted a global delivery model with most of our operational activities happening from our back-office in India. This helps us reduce costs and in turn offer our solutions cost effectively. These factors have helped us maintain a near impossible 98 per cent success rate for all projects executed.
How did you become an entrepreneur?
It was more of destiny than anything else. I was working at the time and during week-ends would attend courses to expand my learning.
We had a family friend who had spent over 35 years in Dubai. He offered Dh100,000 and urged me to start something of my own. Having seen my keen interest in technology he would say that there was some latent potential but I wouldn’t take him seriously.
It so happened that the trainer of my week-end class during a casual conversation mentioned that his plans of starting an IT business did not take off as his investor had backed out. I told him about the family friend. The capital came in and we became equal (50 per cent) partners in the formation of the company. This was my first entrepreneurial experience.
Did you know how to price projects? You had no experience.
When we started, our focus was on technology training leveraging the skills of my partner. Our investment was minimal. We rented the infrastructure and equipment and thus could offer trainings cost effectively.
Training gave us the opportunity to interact with IT engineers and managers who were involved in IT decisions. They came, learnt about technology and started engaging us in the projects. From these interactions we learnt how the market moved and slowly developed our pricing strategies.
How did Teksalah come into being?
In the year 2007, my partner and I made a mutual decision to close the company and go separate. It was driven by the feeling that we had individually grown enough to create our own success.
In May 2007, Teksalah was born and here we are today, serving more than 400 customers in the UAE and other ME countries.
Any lessons on how to partner?
Partnerships should be based on mutual trust and above all common vision and values. If your values are different and you think it will work out somehow, know that it never will. Things will get more complicated as you grow bigger. Just like any other partnership, a business partnership also requires high levels of compatibility, mutual respect and trust.
It is also important that you agree and detail (in writing) the terms of your partnership including each partner’s roles and responsibilities, values, decision making process, conflict resolution plan, profit sharing and even the exit plan.
How easy was it to restart?
At the time I started afresh, I had with me four enthusiastic, selfless, and eager to learn team mates who was our foundation and strength. Added to it were my multi-domain knowledge and the relationship we had built with our clients.
We had built credibility in the market, so there was extended support from our Vendors and Suppliers, who helped us a lot in the transition. All these factors worked positively to help us kick-start Teksalah.
What challenges did you face after you restarted?
The challenge came in the form of cash liquidity. We had to set-up a new office, salaries for the team, hire additional staff, needed cash support for projects which were on credit. But having made the decision, we set out as one team with Dh100,000 cash-in-hand and a personal loan of Dh200,000.
Another challenge we faced was bringing customer confidence back. Many customers were hesitant and wanted to reconsider. I introduced my team, the team we had built, and explained to them why we believed we could serve them. There were maintenance agreements for which advances were already paid to the previous company. We promised to continue with the service for the duration of the contract without additional payment. Over a period of time our quality of service built the confidence back.
How has been your HR experience considering Teksalah is a service business?
It has been a mixed one. In almost all the recruitments I have been directly involved and have always gone by my gut feeling for a ‘good’ person. We would look for values and commitment than anything else. The excellent team on board today is a result of the value based hiring decisions we made.
We also made many mistakes as we learnt that all good people are not necessarily good performers and also that good performers elsewhere may not be able to recreate the success with you. Another mistake was that we never tried to fit the person and their skills to the job description and to define the expectations. We also did not have enough measures of performance in place to warn us of a wrong recruit. We believed that people would create their own success given the opportunities.
I would advice any start-up to engage a reputed HR team as soon as finances permit. HR is a specialised activity and with multiple activities that a start-up demand you may easily forget to focus on it and this could be very costly.
Is the IT network business a competitive market? Commoditized?
Surprisingly no!
Though there are many IT companies, customers have a wide range of choice and hardware margins are thin, I feel the IT network business is far from being Commoditized as system integration service forms an unavoidable part, is complex and needs specialisation.
It is in this segment that you can prove your mettle and differentiate yourself from the rest of the players. Right skill and right service is still scarce. Clients are valuing know-how and quality service.
How do you acquire customers?
Three ways. Our vendors, suppliers of products we integrate to offer solutions, work with us to create opportunities. When customers come to them searching for solutions, they often point them in our direction.
Positive customer experience is priceless. Customer recommendation is the second way.
The traditional way of a sales team prospecting for customers is the third.
Milestones of growth?
The growth of Teksalah has been in an organic fashion. We are very conservative. Our focus has been on delivering quality service to all our customers at all times and has seen our turnover grow from four million in our first year to 18 million now.
We have achieved premier partner status with all the vendors we represent. Like we are the first Platinum certified partner in the Middle East for Riverbed. Similarly we have specialised partnerships with Cisco, Citrix, NetApp, Trend Micro and so on.
Creating the back office in India to manage accounts and order processing was another milestone.
And being a service business moving to a new larger office in the Business Village, adding high fixed costs believing in growth, was a big decision. It has given our team an inspiring and happy working environment.
What makes you an entrepreneur? Or you have been lucky — right place, right time?
I feel I have many more lessons to learn and need to still grow as an entrepreneur. Yes I have been wonderfully lucky in the way the initial capital came, to be gifted with a wonderful team, to be associated to the growth initiatives in UAE; I was indeed at the right place at the right time.
As I look back I also see that we have responded positively to opportunities that came our way putting in absolute commitment, continuous efforts and a focused vision. All that we have achieved I believe then has been a natural outcome.
Your strategy for change?
We are a knowledge centric organisation and our biggest assets are our people. In an industry where attrition rates are high, I think the reason why the core team still finds Teksalah as their home is because we could grow the organisation at a fast pace and provide our team enough challenges and opportunities to grow within the company.
After six successful years I feel it is time to accelerate our growth and replicate our success multifold. I am currently in the process of furthering the skills of the next line of leaders who will take Teksalah to greater heights. I am also securing investors who would be able to take Teksalah’s presence and growth across the Middle East.
What worries you about the business?
The primary concern I have always had ever since the economic downturn is payment collection and management of cash-flows. Even during the hard times, Teksalah had never to delay on a single supplier payment and has always paid salaries on time. Being able to continue doing so is very dear to me.
