First published on April 15

BACK in 1978, Mr Mark Lee Tian Hock felt deeply frustrated by the slow manual data processing at a major Malaysian shipyard where he was an accountant.

But it was the frustration that propelled him into the world of information technology.

He is now chief executive of S & I Systems, which has a presence in several key markets and $50 million in annual sales. Its partners include Hewlett Packard, Siemens, Microsoft and Symantec.

Mr Lee, 53, vividly recalls the painstaking task of tracking data three decades ago. 'Data was collected manually and processed, so it was a struggle.'

Computers were primitive then, but when he witnessed the power of the first IBM machines obtained by the shipyard, he was smitten.

'When computers came into play, we said: 'Wow this is fantastic', so that was how it all got started.'

He went on to set up an IT business that was the forerunner of S & I.

The business has weathered several major downturns over the years - and its bosses see opportunity in the latest crisis.

Its senior management has maintained that same strong belief in the capacity of technology to meet the needs of clients that Mr Lee felt so strongly when he saw the IBM machines three decades ago.

Despite the economic crisis, S & I intends to expand its portfolio of solutions and continue to focus on staff training.

Chief operating officer Eric Sng, 41, is optimistic too: 'For every crisis, the customer is thinking of new ways of managing (his business).

'As long as we respond to the real situation of the customer quickly, that makes us one of the firms that continue to survive and be profitable in difficult times.'

S & I provides infrastructure and business application solutions.

Mr Sng described what the company can do for clients with its infrastructure and business application solutions.

'Our customers...could be expanding in the region. Their existing (IT) system could run out of capacity. We can give customers the right implementation to do a server infrastructure revamp.'

The firm is headquartered here, with offices in China, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Thailand. It sells its solutions and services to various markets, including Brazil, India, Taiwan and the United States.

After Mr Lee's formative accounting experience at the shipyard, he went on to work for Sunway Group in Malaysia in 1984. In 1989, he moved to Singapore to set up Sunway Computer Services Singapore (SCSS), which became an IBM partner selling IBM's software.

Armed with this experience, he persuaded Ipacs, an IT services provider, to enter a joint venture with him in 1998 and S & I Systems was born. By 2000, all of SCSS' business was transferred into S & I.

The new firm had 12 staff and an office at Cecil Street. It was not spared a dose of difficulty early on.

'As a relatively unknown company with no track record back then, S & I not only faced challenges in establishing a customer base but also difficulties in recruiting and retaining talent,' said Mr Lee, who is married with two daughters.

'To build our name, we actively invested in training our staff and collaborated with technology leaders. Soon, our reputation for reliability and quality service grew.'

It moved to a Tiong Bahru office in 2003 and finally to its current office at Kaki Bukit Road last November.

S & I employs more than 160 employees in its local and overseas offices and enjoyed an annual revenue of US$50 million (S$76 million) for its 2008 financial year.

Mr Lee remembers past economic and financial crises as times of opportunity.

He said the Asian financial crisis hit when the firm started: 'We had some good loyal customers so we went through that quite easily.'

Mr Sng said the lesson learnt was 'to believe it would be over and plan to go through it and continue to maintain good relationships with customers'.

There was also the bursting of the dot-com bubble and the Sept 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the US.

'We did not invest too heavily in the dot-com bubble. We maintained our forte, we didn't really get distracted,' Mr Sng said, of its IT solutions core business.

'The events of 9/11 actually helped us, in the sense that customers started to be more concerned over disaster recovery practices,' he added.

But it was hurt by the Sars crisis.

Mr Lee said: 'We were hit because I remember all the consultants didn't go to work in China. Nobody travelled. It immobilised a lot of our operations, all across.'

S & I consultants were meant to meet customers, so the toll was drastic.

'That lesson learnt is, I think, building a more robust remote support and services infrastructure,' said Mr Sng.

Mr Lee emphasises the importance of cash liquidity: 'It's about keeping some reserves to cover for any downturn.'

He has other tips: 'Don't take projects too big beyond your financial capability, and also, for overseas projects, be selective and more careful, and understand the customer's financial position.'