"At the
epicenter of Pakistan's internet world"
By Ali Haider Gokal
and Syed M. Aslam
Jul 24 - 30, 2000
There seems to be a growing consensus that Pakistan is getting its IT
act together. After being a silent observer to the spiralling growth of the Information
Technology industry worldwide and in particular to the Bangalore and Hyderabad technology
centers, Pakistan is beginning to take its first steps in the international foray. The
most public and notable example has been the remarkable success of the Ghauri brothers and
Netsol who have achieved a great milestone by having their company listed on the NASDAQ
exchange in the USA. They have shown the world that Pakistan has the ability to provide
International Blue Chip companies with software solutions as good, if not better, than
their First World competitors at a fraction of the costs of Western-based tech companies.
Pakistan has been dabbling in the software industry for some time now,
but with the advent of the Internet and the growth of e-commerce worldwide, Pakistan now
has to take a giant leap forward. The Internet is accessible to anyone worldwide who has
access to a computer, a modem and a phone line and as such has become the most
cost-effective method of creating huge information flows and advertising. It is cutting
down all traditional barriers and restrictions to trade and commerce. The website has
become the most public face of a company or corporation.
The first aim of a website is to allow the company to make its presence
and its purpose felt. The second aim and perhaps most critical to Pakistan is to create
and increase trade flows, that is to develop e-commerce. If one takes into account the
amount of choice a web surfer (and potential client) has available to him or her in a
matter of seconds, the initial success of first creating company or corporate awareness on
the web hinges fully on the effectiveness, accessibility and esthetics of a company's
website. There is no company in Pakistan better suited to web designing and development
than Net Access (Pvt.) Limited run by the very knowledgeable and enterprising Faisal Khan.
From humble beginnings in his bedroom with his 'powered-up' personal
computer in 1996, Faisal and his founding partners have taken Net Access to the forefront
of Pakistan's Internet world. Its client list (see table) speaks volumes about the quality
of understanding and work that Net Access puts into the development of a website. After
visiting some of the sites that Net Access has designed and continues to maintain, one
gets the feeling that Net Access does more than just act as 'architect'. "We tell our
clients that we are an extension of their company", Faisal said during a recent
interview, " before we start our work, we want to fully understand the intricacies of
their business." This desire to know and understand the core business of its clients
is the best recipe for creating the perfect mix of both effective and accessible knowledge
and art, key ingredients for a successful website.
Faisal has seen his company grow from a one person shop in 1996 to one,
as of June of this year, that employs 42 people. This period has also seen the company's
turnover increase a whopping 2000%. With blue chip clients including Engro Chemicals,
ABN-AMRO, ICI and the Habib Group, Net Access is in the best position to benefit when
business to business (B2B) e-commerce comes online in Pakistan. The company concentrates
on developing sites only for large companies and multinationals and understandably so.
With credit card use at a minute ratio to total consumer spending, Pakistan's first
serious commerce dealings on the Internet will be in the form of B2B transactions. Net
Access hit this nail on its head almost five years ago and has stayed focused. Its clients
are those institutions that will be amongst the first to really need e-commerce solutions
and when push comes to shove, their clients won't have to waste time trying to explain
their e-commerce requirements.
Net Access offers corporations to deploy professional, high-traffic and
mission-critical Intranets. It offers state-of-the art services at a fraction of the costs
compared to the US, Canadian and European markets. Net Access provides its clients with a
high quality work, timely delivery and object-oriented (modular) programming techniques
which greatly cuts the developmental time without compromising its quality of work.
Enterprising corporations and businesses can now communicate far more
efficiently than ever before by deploying the Intranets as the homogeneity of the
Internet/Intranet applications across a cross platform environment. Almost all
applications today, whether off-the-shelf or customised, running on TCP/IP based network
or using proprietary protocols, from supercomputers to clustered server environments to
legacy systems, can all be meshed within the Intranet.
Net Access' client's list include 70 plus multinational companies in
automotive industry, chemical manufacturers, financial brokerage houses and banks. At
present, Net Access is in the process of developing and beta-testing a modular
Internet/Intranet system for sale and manufacturing units, and pharmaceutical
institutions.
Net Access offers specialised services in IT consultancy, software
applications and support services. It offers such IT consultancy services as establishing
Internet presence, web designing, hosting and maintenance, e-commerce solutions, virtual
private networks, Intranet, network designing from the Internet/Intranet to incorporate
LAN/MAN/ WAN ENVIRONMENTS as per the specific need of a company.
It also specialises in developing application software for Executive
Information Systems on the Intranets, Process Control with graphically mapped/hyperlinked
SOP (Standard Operating Procedures), Point of Sale Terminal, Sale Systems (incorporating
query, ordering, shipping, return-merchandised, status check, etc.), Administrative
Systems, Management Systems for GroupWare messaging, inventory and manufacturing
processes. Support services consist of preventive maintenance, network statistics and
polling, modular expansion of Internet/Intranet.
All these services are directed at industrial manufacturing units,
wholesale trading institutions, banks, financial institutions (equity trading, brokerage
houses etc.), pharmaceutical manufacturers, textile companies, trading houses, real estate
businesses who are interested in establishing Internet presence, Internet/Intranet and
maintenance services.
Net Access has strategic partnerships with Jehangir Siddiqui & Co,
Pakistan's largest brokerage firm which also owns an investment bank, mutual fund and an
Asset Management firm. Net Access' international investors are TechPacific Inc., a
technology investment and venture capital firm in Hong Kong. Net Access' most valuable
project valued at Rs 4 million came from Jehangir Siddiqui and Company and includes
development of the corporate website, a financial portal and e-trading website.
During a recent talk, the Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz asked the Stock
Exchanges and the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan to take measures to
encourage the listing of more companies on the stock exchanges, particularly the hi-tech
companies which offer immense potential for foreign investment. Taking into account its
proven ability and its strategic partners, Net Access will be an inviting investment if
and when it goes public.
The vision and focus that went into the creation and tremendous growth
of Net Access hasn't been and will not be the sole reasons for its continued success. In
an industry, where employee loyalty and turnover is respectively low and high, the future
of Net Access will lie in its ability to retain and hire talented web site developers and
engineers.
With a cumulative experience of 78.3 years, an average employee
experience of 19.1 years and enjoying clientele of 70 plus multinationals the Net Access
is poised not only to maintain its leading edge but also to enhance it in the future. With
its market position, its focus, its no-nonsense approach to its business and the great
respect that Faisal has for his colleagues, Net Access will be the company to watch as
Pakistan goes more and more online.
Net
Access Client List
|
- ABN-AMRO Bank
N.V. (Pakistan) |
- ICI Chemical
Pakistan Ltd. |
- Engro Chemical
Pakistan Ltd. |
- Pakistan
International Airlines |
- State Bank of
Pakistan |
- Citibank
N.A.
(Pakistan) |
- Union Texas
Petroleum |
- Muslim
Commercial Bank |
- Habib Bank
Limited |
- Gul Ahmed
Textile Mills |
- Habib Sugar
Mills & Group |
- Jehangir Siddiqui & Company
Ltd. |
- Pakistan Cables
Ltd. |
- Government of
Sindh |
- Fauji
Fertilizer |
- National Bank
of Pakistan |
- Emirates Bank
International |
- Karachi Stock
Exchange |
- Jinnah The
Movie |
- NIT |
- Artal Group |
- Ali Gohar
Pharmaceuticals |
- French
Consulate |
- IDPB |
- Hub Power
Company (Hubco) |
- ICAP |
- IT Commission
of Pakistan
and more |
- First
International Bank (Interbank) |
| Net Access has the following affiliations
|
- |
Pakistan Software
Export Board (PSEB) |
- |
Pakistan Software
Houses Association (PASHA) |
- |
Internet Service
Providers Association of Pakistan (ISPAK) |
- |
Pakistan
Institute of Management (PIM) |
- |
Management
Association of Pakistan (MAP) |
- |
Chamber of
Commerce & Industries - Karachi |
- |
Allaire Alliance
Consulting Partners |
- |
Pakistan
Telecommunication Authority Licensed Carrier (PTA) |
- |
Computer Society
of Pakistan (CSP) |
- |
Internet Society
of Pakistan (ISOP) |
- |
Member: The
Outsourcing Institute, NY, USA. |
| Net Access are authorized sellers/resellers of the following
Products/Principals
|
- |
Eudora Pro (all
products) by Qualcomm |
- |
ColdFusion (all
products) by Allaire Corporation |
- |
WinGate,
MDaemon,
WorldClient by Deerfield Corporation |
- |
TrendMicro
Anti-Virus Solutions (all products) |
- |
EMUMail |
- |
Smart-Spider +
Toolkit |
- |
NetObjects'
Fusion |
- |
WebTrends |
- |
Xerox DocuShare
(Document Management System) |
|
