Mr Lim: It is important to deploy sufficient manpower in the region.

NCS (www.ncs.com.sg) provides a holistic range of IT and communications engineering solutions to support its customers' business goals throughout the technology lifecycle. It has a presence in six countries across the Asia Pacific and Middle East, from which it offers customers the convenience and cost-effectiveness of local support.

NCS' services include consulting, applications development, systems integration, IT infrastructure and outsourcing services such as business recovery, call centre services, data centre management, hosting and Internet services, infrastructure services, communications and network integration, communications engineering and IT security services. Mr Lim Yew Seng, NCS' Chief of Global Business/Communications Engineering, tells iN.SG about the company's plans in the Middle East.

When did NCS first venture into the Middle East market and why?
NCS Bahrain began its operations in the Kingdom of Bahrain in June 2005, when it worked on a multi-million dollar project for the iconic Bahrain World Trade Centre. The project involved the development of a unified voice-data-video network that would enable tenants to enjoy a whole range of high-tech services from high-speed broadband Internet access to Internet telephony, and wireless and messaging applications.

How has the IDA office in the Middle East assisted your company in its business activities in the region?
IDA has helped to promote Singapore companies as a whole to the region. NCS participated in the Infocomm Singapore delegation to the Saudi e-Government forum in Riyadh in the early part of 2008, which helped to showcase and share the Singapore experience to Saudi Arabia.

Tell us about your Middle East operations.
We have full-fledged offices in Bahrain and Dubai, with project and network expertise to respond quickly and proactively to our clients' needs. Our staff strength in the region ranges from 50 to 100 at any one time, with project teams mobilised based on the expertise and core competency required. Our key offerings in the region include intelligent building/integrated building management services, public sector services, airport and infrastructure solutions, and financial services solutions.

Describe the Middle East market.
It is optimistic, bullish and most importantly, the governments in the Gulf Cooperation Council are eager to develop the IT space to improve efficiencies and benefit the people. There is definitely robust growth and plenty of business opportunities.

What are some of the major achievements of your Middle East operations to date?
The Bahrain World Trade Centre project marked the start of a series of projects in the Gulf region. Examples of these include the development of a re-engineering of processes and procedures plan for the Bahrain Civil Service Bureau; the Ubar Portal for the Information Technology Authority of Oman (one of the key initiatives under the Digital Oman programme); QATAR's e-Government portal Hukoomi (www.gov.qa) and consultation work for a smart service centre for the Saudi Arabian General Investment Agency's Economic Cities Agency. Over the past three years, we have clinched a total of US$50 million worth of projects.

What are some of the key learning points that you can share with other Singapore infocomm companies venturing into the region?
It is important to manage the human resource challenge, that is, to expand the workforce fast enough and to deploy sufficient manpower in the region. It is also very important not to compromise on the quality of the projects that we deliver to our clients.