There were two defining themes for HCLI in FY 08: while its affordable computing strategy was more visible, perhaps more important was its added focus on system integration.

The fact that the pure services component of its system integration revenue increased by 43% (from Rs 316 crore to Rs 452 crore) last year speaks volumes about the success of its strategy. HCLI already had presence in telecom, e-gov, BFSI, and power and as far as the SI business goes, last year it set up new practices in media and entertainment, retail, healthcare, and infrastructure.

Early FY 08, the company won the multi-crore Punjab SWAN project, along with some other big infrastructure management projects for several ports and some of the newly revamped airports. The acquisition of Natural Technologies re-emphasized its SI focus in BFSI. Result: it won an MIS project from a leading bank in India, and another for a financial inclusion pilot from a nationalized bank.

HCLI has never presented itself as a channel-friendly company in the past but FY 08 saw it making up for that, perhaps to stoke its SI ambitions. In the IDC-DQ Channels Channel Satisfaction survey, HCL climbed up the ranks on most parameters, way above even some MNCs. However, its channel relationship score was very low. HCL also lost its exclusivity in Toshiba distribution. The same thing happened with Nokia a year ago.

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l Start up Year: 1996 l Products & Service: Computers, storage systems, managed systems, infrastructure, office automation, software and network integration l Employees: 5,901 l Address: E-4, 5, 6, Sector-11, Noida, Uttar Pradesh l Tel: +0120-2526518/19, 2520977 l Fax: +0120- 2550923 l Website: www.hclinfosystems.incom/in
Highlights n Launched MiLeap series of HCL Leaptops n Launched HCLs career development centers in various cities across the country, including Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune, Jhansi among others n Launched Indias first One Terabyte Personal Computer n Kodak and Hcl ink agreement to distribute digital cameras In India Strengths p  Pure services revenue increased by 43% from last year p Enjoys lucrative agency operations with high value vendors Weaknesses q Lost out on exclusive Toshiba distribution tie-up q Still needs to make up for its lukewarm channel ties		Ajai Chowdhry, chairman & CEO JV Ramamurthy, head, Operations/COO George Paul, executive VP, Marketing Sandeep Kanwar, head, Finance/CFO Sanjoy Nag, head, Technology

While the year saw Nokias contribution going down, there was growth in revenue from Apple iPods and Kodak range of products.

SI apart, products still contributed nearly 30% of the revenue with remaining coming from distribution. Affordable computing was the buzzword as HCLI launched the MiLeap series of HCL Leaptops, an ultra portable range of laptops that offer mobile Internet computing and full PC functionality at a price point starting from Rs13,990.

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