Innovative approach helps Astek to succeed

Born in the non-IT era, with a princely capital of Rs. 5 lakhs in the year 1996, Astek Networking had it tough to sell their computers, printer and UPS in the market. The early years were only about educating the consumer – motivate customers to using the personal computer, showing its utility and the advantages of the technology was a big challenge. For Ashish Agarwal, CEO Astek Networking and Solutions,    growing his business was a tough challenge but he overcame all odds to achieve success. He also succeeded in changing the mindset of his customers and even grew the next step- from selling IT hardware to Internet Solutions. He has indeed come a long way.

1. Where have you positioned your company today? What are the solutions Astek is offering?

Presently we are focusing on small to medium businesses for IT Solutions. We have invested in integrated server center for SAP last year and are the only one in Agra to have added the solution to our offering. At present we offer networking solutions, Wide area  connectivity planning, execution and maintenance, Company’s data centre, server room, Servers, SAP data centers Virtualization, Email solutions, Internet security solutions, end point security, Domain security etc. We look forward to adding more projects to our portfolio by the next year.

2. Where do you see future growth coming for Astek Networking and Solutions?

We are focused more on selling solution to the users, than being just a box pusher. Today we are a big name in Agra and we have extended our portfolio while giving integration and support services to the customers. Besides focusing on consumer centric approach we see the potential growth of IT usage in verticals like Manufacturers & exports, BFSI, Construction, Oil, and Automobile as the growth drivers for our business.

Manufacturing and Exports adds 35%, BFSI 15%, Construction 15%, Oil 10%, Automobile 10% and other business 15% adds to our total revenue.

3. What are your expansion plans?

Technologically we are offering solution more on virtualization, SAN, organization backup and continuity planning since almost a year now, and we are getting much better results as we expected. Apart from core SI business I’ve been working on establishing a software company which will cater primarily to the US and other global markets. Now I am confident that we will succeed, and for a while now we are offering our customized solutions globally.

4. Which are the potential cities for your business and why?

NCR specially Noida and Greater Noida is a big potential market for us. That region is full of new opportunities and is also growing.