SCICOM TO FOCUS ON ASIA'S EMERGING MARKETS

By Tengku Noor Shamsiah Tengku Abdullah

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 18 (Bernama) -- Scicom (MSC) Bhd, a business process
outsourcing company, which has been making successful forays abroad, is focusing
its investments on Asia's emerging markets, its Chief Executive Officer and
Group Executive Director Leo Ariyanayakam says.

He said the company was eyeing Sri Lanka, China and Vietnam, with plans to
further expand into the growing market in Indonesia.

PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia (PTTI) has recently raised its stake in Scicom
to 29.85 per cent, a move seen as a vehicle for the company to further widen its
horizon in Indonesia.

Scicom has a tie-up with Telekom University through PTTI.

"Scicom would expand in huge markets like Indonesia and China in phases,
using different model of operations. We are looking at franchising our training
business there," he told Bernama.

The company is also currently finalising its joint-venture partners in Sri
Lanka and China, he said.

Ariyanayakam founded Scicom -- short for Science of Communications -- with
partnership in 1997.

The public-listed company is a global industry leader in business process
outsourcing(BPO), servicing multinational clients from over 50 nations.

Some 80 per cent of its business is derived from overseas, especially
Singapore and the United States, although the company is based in Malaysia.

Over the last few years, Scicom, a specialist in outsourced customer contact
management, has evolved into providing technology solutions to foreign and local
companies.

At present, it has four main business divisions -- outsourcing, training,
customer relationship management and technology.

"The education business is primarily what we call global contact management
whereby we primarily train people who work in the services sector, be it
hospitality, tourism, contact centres and anything to do with interfacing
with customers," said Ariyanayakam.

"We have created a formal education in customer contact management. It is a
very new concept around the world, and certainly in South Asia, we are the first
to do it," he said.

Scicom has been appointed by the Human Resources Ministry to recruit,
educate and place suitably qualified Malaysian graduates into the BPO industry.

As a result, a comprehensive programme, specially customised for entry level
graduate students, has been developed to meet this end.

Over the last two years, he said, Scicom has been working with the
Education and Human Resources ministries to prepare unemployed graduates for the
job market.

"We managed to help those who were unable to get jobs after their graduation
18 months later.

About 96 per cent of them were able to get jobs after attending a three
monthcourse with us," he said.

Ariyanayakam said he was encouraged by the figures, which augured well for
the company, which was poised for further growth.

"We think this year is going to be even better for us. Last year alone, we
trained over 2,000 graduates and this year we expect to exceed the number," he
said.

For the nine months ended March 31, Scicom posted a net profit of RM6.43
million on revenue of RM90.5 million.

He also believes the company is moving on the right track especially with
the introduction of a formal education in customer contact management.

"For example, after completing his or her SPM, a student can enrol for a
certificate course, then a diploma, and later a degree in customer contact
management.

"With government recognition, the company is taking off in a big way to
train the students and transform their lives," said Ariyanayakam.

He said Scicom courses were certified by one of the institutions in the
United Kingdom.

Scicom currently has a vocational training facility, with a 500-seat
capacity here and at the PKNS building in Petaling Jaya.

He said the company was also applying for a college licence to offer
certificate, diploma and degree courses related to the services industry.

Ariyanayakam also sees the potential of providing English training in
Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and China, given the increasing demand for
employees to interact with customers in the language.
-- BERNAMA


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