CDG Group seeks internal improvement

While Thailand's economy is dragged down by the global crisis, local IT company CDG Group is employing internal performance improvement techniques to create efficiency in its business and expects its revenue to rise to Bt10 billion by the end of this year.

Chief executive Nart Liuchareon said that after operating for more than four decades, CDG Group began to adopt internal performance improvement at the end of last year in order to realign the company in the areas of human resources and business organisation, and to develop key performance indicators to make the business and its workforce more efficient.

The project will be completed within the first half of this year and CDG expects the project to add 10 to 15 per cent to value of work performed by each employee.

He said the economic slowdown would have a clear affect on the Thai ICT market in the third and fourth quarters of this year. This will include a global effect as well as a domestic one, because in the third quarter of each year, the government sets its budget for investment in each sector, and it may choose to spend in the IT sector to create competitiveness for Thailand. However, if it does not spend money or set aside a special budget to support and encourage the IT industry, there will be a direct impact on the industry.

Nart said that local IT companies seeking to survive the economic slowdown should be carefully managing cash flow, focusing on their business segments and reducing expenses to maintain their operational costs.

This year CDG group will target business sectors that are using IT to improve public services, performance, capabilities, efficiency, and reducing investment costs. These include the education, banking, financial, telecom and state-enterprise sectors.

Moreover, the company has expanded its customer base in Vietnam. It has established ESRI (Vietnam), in Hanoi, as a representative office to provide geographic information system (GIS) services to niche markets.

"We set up the company in Vietnam as a trial project and have found that the market has high potential because the country plans to use GIS to support various activities such as land use planning and land development," Nart said.

The firm is also building its business in Burma, Laos and Cambodia. It has implemented infrastructure for the Post and Telecommunications Corporation in Burma and Burma Ports.

Nart said the CDG Group had eight subsidiaries, most of them taking care of government mega-projects and state enterprise projects. They include Control Data (Thailand), CDG Systems, Computer Peripherals and Supplies, ESRI (Thailand), G-Able, First Logic, CDG Microsystems and The Communication Solution.

The group has 2,200 employees. It generated revenue of Bt4.3 billion in 2007 and this reached Bt9.5 billion last year. It aims to reach Bt10 billion by the end of this year.

He said CDG Group's success came from various factors, including experienced technical teams, its knowledge base, its business practices, quality of service and good business partners. The group has more than 75 service centres around the country.