Muscat: Inside a large hall in a commercial building in Azaiba, more than 10 young employees silently tap away on their computer keyboards. At first, one might mistake this for a call centre, but they are actually helping corporate companies and government institutions with developing integrated web solutions.
From web designing and technical improvement to web management and enhancement to Internet marketing and scalable and secure applications, Gulf Cybertech E-solutions, Oman’s leading Internet application development and web designing company offers everything that one needs at your fingertips.
At the helm of affairs, constantly watching, monitoring and controlling, is a young, friendly and “no airs” tech-savvy boss Smithesh Chandran, who has been at the forefront of Gulf Cybertech since its inception in 2003. But the soft-spoken Chandran credits his boss Mohammed Abdul Malik Al Qadri, the chief executive officer (CEO) and founder of Gulf Cybertech for his vision in making the company the best in the country.
“I must give full credit to my CEO for his vision. His motto in life is never give up and never be afraid of failure as it is always worth the effort,” Chandran said.
Gulf Cybertech offers web solutions to a majority of the government institutions in the country, including the Muscat Municipality, State Audit Institution (SAI), the Dhofar Institution, Oman Oil Company, Oman Airport Management Company, Omran, Oman Arab Bank, Bank Nizwa, Orpic and others.
“We have done more than 1000 projects in the last 12 years in Oman and we currently cater to 500 companies and government institutions by offering hosting rights and email services through our server,” Chandran pointed out.
30 Awards
At the Oman Tech Awards held recently, Gulf Cybertech took home 30 awards. “We have also won the Oman Web Awards continuously for three years and that made us the best web designing company in Oman,” Chandran said.
What he unfailingly does is to constantly motivate and provide leadership to his youthful and talented team. “We all have to stay strategically focused and relevant, keep things simple but not simplistic, be united and actively address challenging industry dynamics,” he said while sharing his work formula.
"The idea of setting up a web development company was originally conceived by my CEO, who drew up the business plan and the strategy to see his plan in action. We started in January 2003 and had our first client order in April 2003. He utilised his experience from work, business ventures and business studies to execute his vision into reality,” Chandran recalled.
Dream Big
As with all businesses, there was a lot of struggle on the way, which included establishing a marketing and promotional strategy to compete with well established companies providing similar services, resourcing the business with honest and experienced staff and reliable business associates.
“We started our office in Ruwi with just one staff member and later moved to the CBD area and today we have 20 young employees who are working hard to make our CEO’s dream a reality,” Chandran said.
Gulf Cybertech has also opened an office in Mumbai that takes care of the designing work for the company. “We have seen consistent growth in the last 12 years. The recent austerity drive has not affected us in any way because every company in Oman is on the web and all their services are rendered online. We also offer Internet management system, which is now an essential tool for corporate companies and government institutions,” he noted.
With CEO Al Qadri’s business acumen and Chandran’s interest in new web technologies, the company is being credited for innovation and performance enhancement capabilities in the Sultanate. “Every delivery model is unique and fuelled by passion to achieve higher levels of client satisfaction through cost-effective and innovative IT solutions,” concluded Chandran.