Thakral Group Kicks off 2010 with new capital investments for RP market

Thakral Group to focus more on SMEs and Services segment

 

Manila, Philippines – 12 January 2010 – Singapore-based multinational conglomerate Thakral Group jumpstarts 2010 with an infusion of new capital investments, extended line of business and market focus as it continues to strengthen its operations and presence in the Philippines.

 

A $1.5 billion company, Thakral Group, through its subsidiaries, is geared towards aiding Philippine-based market players achieve their business goals. “Philippine business owners today are more sophisticated and discerning in choosing the right IT-related service provider for their business, despite the challenge to maintain operational efficiency given the limited funding for IT. For this, Thakral’s subsidiaries will help businesses address their concerns in terms of enterprise resource planning (ERP) from Microsoft Dynamics, LS Retail for the retail industry and ZAP, a  business intelligence (BI) solutions with seamless integration to ERP, as well as IT infrastructure management, including end-to-end IT products and services,” says Thakral Group Director for Global Business and Technology Services and Raffles Solutions CEO Bikram Singh Thakral.

 

Crème dela crème management team

Thakral Group is exceptionally strong in Asian emerging markets, namely: Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, India, Bangladesh, and of course, the Philippines where it started its operations in 1997 with its current flagship company Technopaq Philippines.

 

The company has achieved great success in the Philippines where they formed strategic partnerships with some of today’s IT giants such as IBM, Microsoft and Oracle. Technopaq Inc., for one, managed to become the market leader in IT technology while Raffles Solutions has been named as a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner.

 

“Thakral Group recognizes the world-class talents of Filipinos and the advantages of making them part of the organization — not only here in the Philippines but also in our operations overseas,” Thakral explains.

 

In fact, Thakral Group appointed prominent IT professionals and industry experts to head the various subsidiaries based in the country and continue to hire local talents not only to serve Philippine market but its other subsidiaries in Emerging Asia.

 

Teddy Sumulong heads Thakral’s flagship company, Technopaq Philippines, as General Manager. He also leads the Philippine operations of Thakral subsidiaries - Orion Electronics Ltd. and Thakral Infotech.

 

Local IT industry personality and IT Veteran, Dittas A. Formoso, holds a dual role as the newly appointed Senior Management Advisor of Thakral Group in the Philippines and OIC General Manager, Raffles Solutions. She works hand-in-hand with Asst. General Manager for the ERP Division, Ruel Enconado, a champion ERP and implementer, and heading the Infrastructure Solutions practice is Deo Co.

 

Business Goals for 2010

In light of their vision for the Philippine market, Thakral is gearing towards expanding their offerings from the retail and distribution segment to the services industry as well. “We want to focus on the dynamic SME market to help them be more competitive and efficient with our best-of-breed products and value-added services offerings,” Thakral explains.

 

Thakral Group boasts a strong and experienced Retail team through Raffles Solutions to cater to the Philippine retail market consisting of local experienced talents to be complemented by experts who have implemented global retail projects.  It’s Consulting Services in ERP offers Project Management and Implementation, Project Auditing, Application Support, Customization and Upgrades, Certification Training for Microsoft Dynamics, Business Process Evaluation and IT infrastructure solutions.

 

Raffles Solutions has recently set up a practice focused on IT infrastructure solutions based Microsoft technologies such as Windows Active Directory, System Center and Sharepoint.

 

Thakral sees that their world-class product portfolio and services offerings with its pool of experienced management and support team give the company the key differentiator as the preferred business partner and IT resource provider in the country.

 

“The global economy is steadily getting back on the road to recovery and we see the same for the Philippines, if not at a quicker pace. Thakral Group, through its subsidiaries, is ready to address the IT needs of the large enterprise and the thriving SME sector,” Thakral closes.

 

 

About Thakral Group of Companies

Thakral Group, founded in 1905, is a diversified entity with business interests in distribution of IT products, provision of value-added IT services, Retail, Real Estate, Textile & Manufacturing. Thakral operates in close to 35 countries, and employs in excess of 10,000 people worldwide. Thakral is also a major Real Estate player in Australia (via a public listed entity known as Thakral Holdings Group – ASX Code THG), where it owns a number of 5-star hotel properties and shopping malls. Among these are the Sofitel Brisbane, Sofitel Gold Coast, Hilton Melbourne, The Menzies Sydney, etc

 

Well known in the Philippines for its dominant IBM Distribution business, Thakral is considered a reputable and formidable IT institution in the Philippines through Technopaq Inc. Thakral has 2 other subsidiaries in the Philippines - Raffles Solutions & Services Inc., and Thakral Infotech

 

About Technopaq Inc.

Technopaq is a market leader in IBM technology and its hardware distribution business serve a multitude of industries through its 500 resellers and ISV alliances. In addition to its status as a local distributor of IBM, Red Hat Linux and Oracle software products, as well as Acer products, Technopaq provides implementation services and warranty maintenance support for its products.

 

About Raffles Solutions

A Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, Raffles Solutions and Services Inc. is a leading implementation partner of ERP and Business Intelligence products from Microsoft. Its Consulting Services offers Project Management and Implementation, Project Auditing, Application Support, Customization and Upgrades, Certification Training for Microsoft Dynamics, Business Process Evaluation and IT infrastructure solutions.

 

Raffles Solutions has recently set up a practice focused on IT infrastructure solutions and Microsoft technology such as sharepoint.

 

About Raffles Services
Raffles also offers ‘M2M’ (Machine-to-Machine) products and services to distinct sectors such as Banking and Finance, Distribution and Retail, and Telcos. M2M is a strong emerging technology for enabling intelligent and energy efficient facilities. This is spearheaded by Raffles Services headed by Mr. Pons Tugonon Jr.