Bristlecone eyes 60% business growth

Bristlecone India, a global consulting firm specialising in extended enterprises solutions and business process solutions is targeting 60 per cent growth in 2006-07 to become a Rs 225 crore company.

Shekar Chandrasekaran, the company's vice-president (international operations), told Business Standard that a business model which will give thrust to the independent software vendor (ISV) segment will drive the company's progress this year.

Chandrasekaran said that as the software products market looks to consolidate, focusing on the ISV market, which involves software development and integration services, is necessary to maintain better customer relationships.

"We are seeing tremendous growth in the ISV market and expect it to contribute 15-20 per cent to our turnover this year," said Chandrasekaran. Other revenue streams such as implementation and consulting will account for 40 per cent and application management and business support will account for the remaining, he elaborated.

Head quartered at San Jose, US, Bristlecone has 1,250 people in India spread across its centres at Mumbai, Pune and Bangalore. The company is also planning to expanding its operations. "We will have 1,700 people by the year-end," said Chandrasekaran, adding the company is actively increasing its capacity across its centres in Pune and Bangalore.

"We are opening a new 120-seater centre in Pune and are also considering capacity expansion in Bangalore," he said.

With operations spread across the US, the UK, West Asia and Asia Pacific, the company is planing to launch operations in Australia and New Zealand," he said.

Part of the $2.6 billion Mahindra group, Bristlecone closed FY06 with revenues of Rs 135 crore.

While implementation services and consulting accounted for 45 per cent of the turnover and application management and business support for over 60 per cent, ISV accounting for a mere 4-5 per cent.

The company has recently bagged its first double million dollar contract and is confident of winning a few more in the coming year.

"We have just got our first $10 million contract for three years. This is 250 per cent jump from our last single biggest contract of $4 million," said Chandrasekaran. "And this will only mean more similar deals," he pointed out.