Koh Yang Uei's university days were spent doing more than homework. Driven to make the most of his time and the skills he learnt in the classroom, Koh offered his services as a freelance programmer to companies.
His employers encouraged him to start his own company. As a result, Information Technology Transfer (ITT) was born in 1990. His small team focused on turnkey projects and gained a good reputation in no time. However, Koh soon realised that creating a product without retaining any of the intellectual property was a very labour-intensive prospect. At the same time, he realised that 80 percent of the technical requirements of SMBs were the same.
In 1995, Koh split his group of six programmers into an R&D team and a sales & marketing team. Soon after, ITT became a true product-based company, rolling out the cryptically named P-Accounting package, one of the first Windows-based accounting packages in a field of largely text-based packages. P-Accounting proved a big hit, with over 200 companies implementing the solution.
In 1998 the company was renamed Synergix Technologies Pte Ltd and the company started creating ERP systems based on the SQL-92 standard. "At the time, this was a reliable industry standard for us to adopt," said Koh. "We rewrote all our logistics, sales, distribution, purchasing, and project costing programs so that we would have full compliance with an objective standard."
The 2001 market slowdown was a wake-up call for the company: they could no longer rely on local successes. A healthy cash reserve helped them weather the storm but they realised that they needed to venture overseas. They started by making their modular software more adaptable to regional markets by taking into accounting local requirements and tax laws.
When IBM proposed a partnership with Synergix under the Overseas Development Programme (ODP) by the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA), Koh realised that this was the partnership that would give Synergix the framework for overseas growth. "IBM has offices everywhere in the region," said Koh. "We tapped on IBM's ecosystem of local partners who have been pre-qualified for doing good work. They became the local implementers of our solutions."
Often it just took little more than a simple introduction from IBM to open the doors for Synergix to form mutually-beneficial partnerships with local IT companies. "ODP brought us two valuable branding advantages," said Koh. "One is the co-branding with IBM and the other is the strong Singapore branding that carries huge credibility in the region in terms of IT competency."
Through the ODP partnership, IBM gave Synergix free access to technical assistance, its competency centre and whitepapers. It also listed the company under its worldwide directory of partners so they could be easily contacted. "Early in the relationship, we were in a learning mode and asked a lot of silly questions but IBM didn't seem to mind," said Koh. "Furthermore, we found it easy to work with IBM offices in different countries because they all had the same company structure."
Koh's advice to the aspiring technopreneurs? "When going regional, don't try to do it alone. Windows of opportunity close fast and there is little time to learn from mistakes. Having a big brother, like IBM, will help you find the much-needed good local partner. Build rapport on the ground with the people who are helping you in the foreign country. You will see better results."