INFORMATION technology equipment and services company Fujitsu Malaysia is expecting a spike in revenue from public sector projects in the coming months.
Charles Lew, president of Fujitsu Malaysia, said that with large-scale public sector projects now getting the green light after a period of slow growth, the company expects the sector to be its leading revenue source for this year.
"The enterprise segment would be second on that list, although the growth rate would not be as good as last year's due to cost-saving measures by many organisations for IT procurement," he said.
The company foresees only minor growth from the healthcare sector and in education. "For the education sector, it's more of a hardware play which has traditionally had lower profit margins," Lew said.
Lew shared that non-Japanese clients currently account for 40% of the company's revenue, with the percentage expected to rise to 60% within the next three to four years.
According to research firm IDC, Malaysian IT spending is expected to reach US$8.2bil (RM24.6bil) by the end of this year.
After a lacklustre showing two years ago, the Japan-based company has reported a turnaround in its business, recording a 31% gain in revenue for last year, with a profit jump of 250%.
Globally, Fujitsu reported consolidated revenues of 4.5 trillion yen (RM174.4bil) for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2011.
Lew said that the company is targeting to grow its revenue by 30% this year.
He credited many factors for the jump in revenue, including the growing trend of companies in Europe, Japan and the United States shifting much of their managed services operations to Asia.
"With the economic situation in Europe and the United States, coupled with the floods in Thailand last year, many companies are looking to set up operations in Malaysia," he said.
He also admitted the company's past efforts had been focused on servicing existing international clients that have a presence in the country rather than growing its business as a whole.
Moving forward
However a change in strategy, motivated by declining sales from its core clientele of Japan-based companies, has made the company refocus its efforts locally.
"In that past, most of our revenue has come from Japan, so there was less incentive to look beyond those borders, but with many companies shifting operations to South-East Asia and Malaysia specifically, we see massive growth coming from this region moving forward," he said.
Lew shared that non-Japanese clients currently account for 40% of the company's revenue, with the percentage expected to rise to 60% within the next three to four years.
The company is intent on shoring up its presence in the local market, with a mid to long-term goal of being in the Top 3 for enterprise solutions. It is currently ranked eighth in the market.
To achieve this, the company has revived its channel network to increase product and solutions marketing. Called the Select Partner Programme, it currently has 25 partners.
The company has also strengthened its offerings to focus on delivering complete solutions packages for clients, as a hardware-only or software-only offering does not yield high enough margins.
"We are going after high-margin business, with an emphasis on multi-product projects," said Lew.
To raise its brand profile in the market, the company has kicked off outreach efforts via social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook in March of this year.
"Moving forward, we are also looking to raise our engagement level further with topical blogs and microsite, in addition to making our library of case studies available," said Michele Lum, marketing director for Fujitsu Malaysia.
Within Malaysia, Fujitsu comprises six subsidiaries with distinct functions.
Established in 1997, Fujitsu Malaysia with more than 300 employees is the enterprise solutions division.
Its portfolio of clients includes the Royal Malaysian Police, Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission, Maxis Communications, Hong Leong Bank, Toyota, Panasonic and Sony.
The consumer retail division operates under the name Fujitsu PC Asia Pacific Pte Ltd. - GABEY GOH