News Article -- November 24, 2006
Telecoms a platform to expand IT outsourcing, says CSA
(source: Stazbiz, The Star)PETALING JAYA: Computer Systems Advisers (M) Bhd (CSA) views telecommunications as a platform to further expand its information technology (IT) outsourcing services business, said director Peter Yong.
“As more 3G and high-speed data services roll out, we believe telcos will be looking at managed services for their back-end processes,” he told StarBiz yesterday.
He said the complexity of enterprise IT infrastructure, coupled with the strengthening economic climate, would drive demand for managed IT and IT-outsourcing services in the coming months.
“The top requirements of enterprises today are speed and the ability to deploy a wide range of applications. Most businesses made major infrastructure upgrades back in 2000, so they are now beginning to embark on replacement cycles,” he said, adding that the company was eyeing two or three local outsourcing projects.
CSA’s outsourcing division provides technical support in areas such as data centre management, network management and security. At present, 70% of the firm’s outsourcing contracts are from local customers.
Managing director Chuah Tai Eu said the company’s data centre had just undergone a RM15mil upgrade owing to its growing outsourcing business.
“We expect the centre to reach 100% utilisation rate by September next year,” he said, adding that the current rate was about 70%.
The company, Chuah said, would consider various options, including acquisitions and outsourcing, to expand its data centre when it became fully utilised.
CSA’s pre-tax profit for the second quarter ended Sept 30 rose 37% to RM9.24mil while revenue increased 16% to RM118.97mil compared with the previous corresponding quarter. Earnings per share for the quarter was 7.96 sen against 4.74 sen before.
In terms of revenue mix by industry sectors, banking, finance and insurance remained the top contributor with 45%, followed by manufacturing (26%) and trading and services (13%).