Correct decisions made IFS reap dividends

13-Dec-2009

By Surekha GALAGODA

IFS is rolling out a new agile development methodology across the group and Sri Lanka is controlling the technical training from the second half of last year said Thomas Petersson - Senior Vice President - Product and Marketing - IFS in an exclusive interview. The branding exercise in Sri Lanka is significant as training and education are key to the growth in Sri Lanka.

Thomas Petersson,  Senior Vice President - Product and Marketing, IFS

He said that being an offshore development centre Sri Lanka has become one of the most efficient distribution development organizations in the world.

IFS has worked with the University of Peradeniya for a long time and we have now intensified it with the opening of the IFS Kandy office and also IFS has opened a IFS lab to conduct advanced research.

He said that the market has changed a lot and today customers make decisions based on the information they get from the peers, websites and comparing them as opposed to the traditional marketing methods practiced earlier. Therefore, vendors have to live their brand.

No matter what you say you have to deliver and be true to your customers. Most major brands carry out rebranding exercises since they don't deliver what they promise. But we deliver what we promise and the customer is intelligent to understand it.

Explaining the rationale for the change in the graphical identity he said that IFS has been in operation for a long time and we have a lot of international customers.

Over the last five years we have become one of the biggest players in the industry and we are no longer an emerging company challenging others.

Today IFS is recognized as a financial stable player and IFS wants to position itself as the best in electronic communication.

IFS took steps to invest in new markets as well as infrastructure and today the company is reaping the benefits of its investment, said Petersson.

He said that the correct decisions taken at the correct time has helped to reap dividends.

During the recession and upto now IFS has been able to increase the financial figures and since we are in specialized areas our customers were less affected by the recession.

For example the IFS market share in the area of defence is double that of its closest competitor which is proof of our quality.

Therefore, at IFS nothing has changed but yet everything has changed said Petersson explaining the rationale behind the new graphical identity.