Chennai-headquartered Sify Technologies (Sify) — touted to be the largest ICT service provider, system integrator and all-in-one network solutions company — has said cloud services, network access and security services, and e-learning would be the prime growth areas for the firm after the lockdown. Customers will look for flexible and agile technology and contracts. Service providers with consumption-based business models will get more attention from customers compared to others, it said.
The company is currently addressing the upgrade and downgrade requirements of customers, based on demand. It is remotely managing mission critical infrastructure of customers who are serving the core industries and consumers. The current situation has also stimulated conversations with customers on the need for scalable, flexible IT infrastructure that can be consumed on demand, said Kamal Nath, CEO, Sify.
After releasing Sify’s annual earnings performance, Nath said the current scenario under lockdown had created challenges in the short-term and opportunities in the mid- and long-term for the company. “We are seeing the cloud sceptical customers showing enthusiasm on cloud adoption to ease their capex cost and cash flow. Organisations are reviewing how to provide secured and productive work from home deployment. As a digital ICT service provider, we see this as an opportunity to further boost utilisation of our investments and enhancement of our services revenue,” he said.
For some time now, Sify has been increasing the level of automation across its entire suite of services. During the lockdown period, the company has been able to perform remote commissioning and maintain high service levels without any major impact.
Raju Vegesna, chairman, Sify, said, “Every adversity presents an opportunity to rethink the way we do business. I am incredibly proud of my team who are continuing to rise to the challenges faced by our clients every day. The biggest lesson for the market from this lockdown is that there is no escaping the digital economy of tomorrow. Sify’s future is in enabling that for our clients.”
Sify reported revenue of Rs 2295 crore for financial year 2019-20 as compared to Rs 2155 crore in the previous financial year. While ebitda for the year stood at Rs 408 crore. It registered a net profit of Rs 71crore against Rs 107 crore.
CFO M P Vijay Kumar said, “We had a reasonably good year 2019-20. The ebitda growth has been healthy, while we continue to spend for the future — both in people and tools — to increase our digital transformation service capabilities. The net profit is lower as the company is now subject to full taxes as past tax benefits have expired. As global trade shrinks substantially and overall demand and supply chain recovery is expected to take time, we are preparing the organisation for new contracts to be slow to conclude as some of our clients are likely to take time to regain their momentum in the market. We continue to carefully manage our costs, while ensuring that services to customers and their experience remain the best.”
He said the company was committed to its data centre, cloud and network centric expansion projects, and will exercise due caution in terms of timing and cost structure of these projects. Sify has also expanded to the US, with headquarters in the heart of California’s Silicon Valley. The company partners other major network operators to deliver global network solutions and has presence in more than 1600 cities in India, North America, the UK and Singapore.