Navantis exploits Lankan talents

18-May-2008
by Gamini Warushamana
gamini@sundayobserver.lk

In the technology business, some prefer mature technologies and mature markets which are stable and low risky.

However, some others go for the latest technologies and innovations. We, the team of Navantis belong to this second category and we feel this is exciting, said Indaka Raigama CEO of Navantis (Pvt) Ltd., a fully owned subsidiary of Navantis Canada.

Our company adopts new technologies. Accepting the risks of the customers is not an easy task and the cost of any mistake or error in implementation is high.

However, the rewards are also high and that is the nature of this business, he said.

Raigama said that the start of the Navantis development centre in Sri Lanka was also a challenging decision.

In 2004, a group of nine young Sri Lankan IT professionals took up this challenge, which Raigama referred to as a dual shoring operation for the Canadian software giant. Navantis wanted a quality and an efficient service similar to what it has in Canada, he said.

Navantis, the Canadian company was set up by a group of business and technology leaders in 1998. Their vision was to build a company that delivers exceptional customer service and high performing business solutions. Navantis is a leading provider of premium quality enterprise IT services.

Customer focus

Navantis prides itself on its customer focus, consistently delivering quality solutions and superior systems integration.

The focus is on custom development and integration for portals, communication and collaboration, content management, relationship management and business intelligence solutions.

The company has secured a list of world renowned customers such as Altamira, Honda, CIBC, Microsoft, Sirius, AGFA, Bell Canada, CBC, MSN, Toshiba, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and many government organisations in Canada and North America.

Having won many solution awards it is one of the first Microsoft Gold Certified Partners worldwide and has been recognised by the Branham Group, and IDC as one of the Top 100 professional services firms in Canada. More recently Navantis secured the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Award for best customer experience.

Good communication

The talents of Sri Lankan IT professionals are also behind Navantis achievements and the Sri Lankan development centre shoulders a significant part of the company.

The operational process here is not totally outsourcing.

We have full fledged teams in Canada and Sri Lanka and in the development of a project we work together.

Our Canadian counterparts are excellent for business analysis and we handle development work better.

For this system it needs good communication and processing infrastructure as well as a good working culture. With the operational complexity after 2004 we looked at these three aspects.

The two offices in Canada and Sri Lanka were connected via a data pipe and today it is like us working in the same office, Raigama said.

Navantis has domain expertise in health care, e-governance, automotive, finance, retail and media. From the inception, we did a great deal of work with the government, cities and municipalities in Canada. Two-and-a-half years ago we took on a project for the Elections Department of Ontario, Canada.

We completed the project in March and a significant part of the project was done in Sri Lanka.

The Department ran an election last October using the software and it was highly successful. It was a massive project and there are eight million lines of codes and the solution is a rich and elaborative election management system.

Software industry

The growth of the software industry in Sri Lanka is reflected in the accomplishments of Navantis in Sri Lanka.

During three-and-a-half years it has grown nearly ten-fold in number and today there are around 90 IT professionals including all nine trailblazers.

We focus on organic growth and specialise in technology and not domain. We have a sound development process and it is flexible and changes with demand.

We build technical people within the organisation in our own professional culture. People are transferred between Canada and Sri Lanka and it provides opportunities in sharing experience and harmonising the work culture.

Raigama, a graduate of the University of Moratuwa started his career as a software engineer. Having worked in some of the leading software companies in Sri Lanka and overseas he moved to Navantis.

Raigama said that the global software industry has faced a difficult time as a result of the recession in the US economy. In Canada, the first quarter of the year was a difficult period. However, the start of the second quarter shows positive signs.

What is important is that with all these difficulties all countries have not reduced their IT budget. The US recession will be a hard blow to India, because the industry depends largely on the US, he said.