Starting a company to deliver Web services may not be the best idea during an economic slowdown. But Joseph Sim and David Ong, CEO and CTO of Converscient Pte Ltd, strongly believed that they could provide products that would expedite the delivery of Web services' promise in Singapore. "At the time, the concept for Web services was sound. Unfortunately, its implementation was lacking, leading to problems for users. This resulted in its low credibility and 'bad name'," Sim said.

Converscient's founders all had good IT background in areas such as telecommunications and software development. They realised that by coming together they could pool together their experience and knowledge to design winning business solutions.

"Initially we found problems in getting people to adopt the Web services solutions," said Sim "But with patience and through the demonstration of the benefits of our solutions, we were able to find interested companies." Sim and Ong have found that more and more business are slowly becoming receptive to the idea of using Web solutions as an enabler to grow their businesses.

Successful implementations of their solutions have been carried out for clients in Singapore and China. Currently, their clients range from major Singapore Telecom operators such as StarHub and M1, to MNCs like Phillips Singapore and NEC Singapore. They even have customers from the education sector, like the National Institute of Education.

It was during one of these projects that they met technology giant Siemens. Both companies realised the synergies they could create from a technology partnership under the Infocomm Local Industry Upgrading Programme (iLIUP) by the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA).

For Siemens, Converscient represented a "breath of fresh air", according to Siemen's Systems Integration Manager, Jeff Loo. "Our procedures for solutions may not be ideal for some local companies who may only need parts of an entire solutions package. By working with companies like Converscient, we are able to tailor our solutions to meet the unique requirements of local companies," Loo said.

The iLIUP partnership has since flourished. Both Converscient and Siemens are continually working on RFID and other joint systems integration work, and they hope to implement these solutions in the government and education sectors. They have recently won a project from the Singapore Polytechnic. The project calls for the partners to design and install and Web-based asset inventory management system based on RFID and Barcode hybrid technology. This solution is expected to cover the Polytechnic's 3000 assets.

Both Sim and Ong are looking forward to the new challenges ahead! "As a small company it is important that we manage our growth well," said Sim. "It is especially important for us because we have taken no venture capital funding. Thus, it is vital that we scale and grow carefully."

A complementary partnership, like the one they have formed with Siemens, is one practical way towards realising their vision.