S. Baskaran believed that if he could succeed during tough economic times, he could be successful all the time. With that thought in mind, he founded Gurusoft, a logistics and retail solutions provider, in 2003. And he has done so thus far, delivering profitability to the company for the past two years.
According to Baskaran, when the company first started, growth was slow. "We had no external funding and we were a new company," he said. "In order to convince potential clients to give us a chance, we had to show them our commitment and demonstrate the benefits of our products and services."
Gurusoft now has a number of well known clients in Singapore. Mitsubishi Logistics Pte Ltd and GNC Singapore have both implemented Gurusoft's solutions. They have also worked with a Korean partner to deliver two solutions in the competitive Korean market.
Now that the company has grown and is looking to expand both geographical reach and products portfolio, Baskaran says that his role has become more managerial than a hands-on leader. "I find myself reminding my team that as we grow in size and number of customers, we need to maintain the same focus on customers that we had when we were small. We can't afford to lose that edge," he explained.
With Gurusoft also looking to expand its operations and clients overseas, Baskaran is looking for ways to organise his team as well as have processes and procedures in place for the local and overseas offices and partners. "We have to be careful when it comes to choosing partners. You need to choose one who shares the same vision and goals as yours," he added.
This is part of the reason why Gurusoft is so happy with its partnership with Oracle, under the Infocomm Local Industry Upgrading Programme (iLIUP) by the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore. By partnering with the global database giant, Gurusoft has access to technologies that would have been closed to them.
"We were previously a technology partner of Oracle but we've since moved on. We are now offering Oracle products as components to our solutions to customers, thanks to a licensing agreement we signed with Oracle," Baskaran said, adding that Gurusoft staff have also attended Oracle training and participated in Oracle seminars. "We can also show our customers our newly developed proof-of-concept solutions. This is all thanks to an Oracle product testing platform that they have set up for us."
With the iLIUP partnership, Gurusoft also gained access to Oracle's large partner and distribution network around the region. According to Baskaran, the company is always looking forward to new markets and growth areas. "Although we are strong in our technical competencies, products and services, we need help in marketing and opening new doors and opportunities," he said. "This is where our partnership with Oracle can help us. Their good name and network give us the opening we need."
Baskaran views success as a delicate mix where customers, employees, partners and himself can all reach a level of satisfaction and happiness. "Only by working as a team can we help each other and succeed," he said.