Information Technology

December 18, 2006
Banks becoming super markets, courtesy SunTec

NEW DELHI -- SunTec has been managing high growth by constantly evolving and innovating its product portfolio to suit the needs of growing customer base, which includes prominent names such as CableOne, Comcast, HSBC Global and ICICI Bank (India). SunTec is around for around 16 years now, catering to the varied demands of telcos in India, and globally.

Today customers are no longer only 'subscribers'. They are a challenge to the service providers. Various financial institutions, such as the banks, have picked up relationship-based pricing as a mechanism to counter this challenge. This pricing model advocates that each customer is unique, and deserves to be treated differently. Reward levels such as special pricing on loan and deposit products, along with other free services, based on the services and balances that the customer holds with the bank are typical instances where relationship-based pricing comes into the picture. Simply put, it is how a financial institution looks at a relationship, say, with its customer, partners like credit card or collection agencies and with other banks in case of inter-bank clearances and settlements.

SunTec Business Solutions, the pioneer of relationship-based pricing concept, manages the complex transaction value management of the banking and financial services industry through its Transaction Business Management System for Finance (TBMS-F) suite. The TBMSF suite has been designed to handle complex value chain dynamics in a financial supermarket, managing the four critical entities of business, namely, customer, product/service, partner and information.

As far as banking and telecom industry are concerned, SunTec enjoys the first-mover advantage in offering state-of-the-art billing solutions. The fact that it understands the importance of support systems for managing interconnect operations, which are critical for telecom players, gives it an edge over its competitors.

K. Nanda Kumar, president and CEO, SunTec Business Solutions, said: "We have successfully implemented our solution at ING, Netherlands, the largest bank in Europe. We have been able to break into the space of implementing the concept of more micro-level transaction-based charging for the banking industry. This mode will help clients go a long way in dealing with their revenue shortage problems and give fantastic returns to our clients."

"Customer and billing care solutions are mission-critical in the telecom and financial business applications. SunTec has been working in this domain for more than a decade now. We would like to make these mission critical solutions as a strategic tool for our clients. We have already succeeded in doing this for some of our clients," Nandakumar added.

The Indian telecom market is going through a period of consolidation and a highly matured market is now visible. The maturity of the market in terms of subscription base, number of competitors etc., is pushing up demand for support systems to help them manage and retain their customers while adding more services to their portfolio.

New facility in Technopark

As part of its expansion plans, SunTec Business Solutions has taken up a floor in the Nila building at Technopark, in addition to its existing infrastructure. The new office is around 6,400 sq. ft and has the capacity to seat 100 employees and has a state-of-the-art conference room.

Nanda Kumar said: “The new facility has been taken keeping in view the increasing employee strength of the company with the sharp rise in the number of projects. SunTec will also expand its city facility, with the construction of a new building that can accommodate 450 resources and a full-fledged training center.”

SunTec is one of the first companies to have understood the importance of support systems for managing interconnect operations, which is becoming critical for almost all major telecom players all over the world. Within the banking industry, SunTec is uniquely placed as a first mover in providing billing solution, and has successfully implemented its solution at ING, Netherlands, the largest bank in Europe. "We have been able to break into the space of implementing the concept of more micro-level transaction-based charging for the banking industry. This mode will help clients go a long way in dealing with their revenue shortage problems and give fantastic returns to our clients," noted Nandakumar.

SunTec plans to ramp up and strengthen its Indian operations and relocate its solutions center from Germany to London. According to Nandakumar, the relocated center at London would serve as a hub for the big financial services market and would be upgraded to a solutions support center.

Currently employing over 200 people, SunTec is investing in R&D for providing solutions to clients worldwide. "We will continue to invest in development within the country, including the possibility of expansion into Bangalore. As we continue to consolidate our position in Europe and invest in creating sales, marketing and customer support infrastructure, we will consolidate our product and services portfolio. As we strengthen our development as well as support teams in Thiruvananthapuram, we hope to create a campus for our R&D team in the long run. On the financial services sector, we are in the process of consolidation to reach out to the industry. The retail business is another space, which offers huge potential. We had revenues of $6.5 million last year; we expect this to double this year," Nandakumar said.