31|Sonata Software : European Solace
In a year when the fluctuating dollar more or less impacted most IT services companies (US still remained the key geography), a new entrant from among offshore players entered the DQ Top50 club. Which implies that Sonata was less affected by the US slowdown. With 40% revenue coming from the European market and over 30% from the domestic market, this was not surprising. Also, the integration of TUI InfoTech was delayed, but was completed successfully, and it gave Sonata further foothold into the European market.

Now a subsidiary, TUI InfoTech acquired new clients including Lycos Europe, a leading provider of Internet portals and online advertising. The OPD client base also increased significantly, while the company strengthened its expertise in areas like infrastructure management, and in verticals like travel and construction.

There was a strategic partnership with Cambridge-based Curl for its rich Internet applications (RIA), and with Oceanus for its integrated case management and environment management solutions.

32|Financial Technologies India : Extraordinaire
One of the eight companies identified by Dataquest as the companies to watch out for in 2008, Financial Technologies (FTIL) did impress everyone by a 600% plus growth in revenues in FY 08. While its flagship product ODIN continued to do well with close to 300 new licenses, its new initiative Atom Technologies, a mobile payment platform, won recognition in India and abroad. It added over 20 clients in the Middle East.

Its most successful exchange, MCX ceased to be a subsidiary of FTIL. Another notable step was the setting up of the IEX (Indian Energy Exchange), Indias first power exchange, in partnership with Power Trading Corporation.

In the organizational development front, FTIL focused on human resources and was recognized with the Global HR Excellence Award in the Asia Pacific HRM congress. It also set up an independent advisory board to strengthen corporate governance which include luminaries such as N Vaghul (former chairman of ICICI Bank), Kiran Karnik (former president of Nasscom), and GN Bajpai (former CMD, LIC).

33|eSys Information Technologies : Survival Strategist

The absence of that one big vendor in its kitty was apparent for eSys in FY 08. With a big-ticket earner missing, eSys revenue dropped, albeit marginally.

Intel and Samsung account for a major chunk of the companys revenues. However, with falling desktop average selling price and a marginally growing market as compared to laptops, the Intel business has not seen growth. During the year the company operated around a 1.3% margin.

eSys is now targeting its own branded products and manufacturing business to offset and make up for the lower margins in the distribution business. During the year, the business from its own brand of PCs accounted for 5% of the total business. The company is pitching for executing specific manufacturing contracts for vendors. However, it plans to steer clear of contract manufacturing per se and focus on built-to-order kind of specific contracts. eSys India has successfully executed an order from one of the top PC manufacturers.

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