TAKE a walk around S&I Systems' office premises at Central Plaza, and you will notice that none of the management staff have their separate rooms. Instead, all staff members, including the chief executive, work from open workstations, while the rooms are reserved for meetings or private discussions.

Chief executive Mark Lee and senior vice-president Eric Sng tell BT in a recent interview that the management at S&I, an integrated IT solutions provider of enterprise infrastructure, business solutions and integrated services, is serious about promoting a culture of respect and trust for each other.

The open office environment is part of that culture, says Mr Lee. This makes it easy for his staff members to interact with one another and when they want to speak to him or other managers, they do not need to make any appointments. Mr Lee and Mr Sng believe that this culture helps to encourage creativity and innovation - key qualities that help propel the company's business.

In fact, the company started implementing a mobile work scheme at the beginning of this year, which allows employees to work flexible hours, without the need to get into the office. Most of the 20-odd chosen for the initial phase of implementation are those who often have to travel to clients' offices or work abnormal hours. The results so far have been encouraging and the company is soon extending it to other staff.

'We want to create a more conducive environment for our people in balancing their work and private lives. We also looked at our business' cost structure and the limits in the expandability of our physical space (as we increase our headcount). Taking these into consideration, the best solution is to have a mobile workforce,' explains Mr Sng. He adds that this is possible only when there is a climate of trust in the company.

Besides attracting and retaining talent, Mr Lee says that working closely with customers and understanding their needs is an integral part of S&I Systems.

'We put our focus on translating some form of business benefits to our clients, such as being able to offer better services to their customers or lowering their costs of operations. We have been conscious of it from day one, to make IT solutions more supportive of business operations. It's not just technology selling,' he says. 'And we grew on that assumption.'

Starting with just five people, the company, which is majority-owned by Sunway Group and IPACS Asia, now hires over 200 staff with a presence in Singapore, China, Thailand and Malaysia. It serves around 1,000 clients today, with the majority being medium or large enterprises. Most of S&I's clients here are from the finance industry, while overseas the focus is on manufacturing and engineering companies.

S&I started its overseas operations in China and Thailand just two years ago. Mr Lee says that this stems from its growth aspirations, as well as the existence of opportunities - some of their customers in Singapore had expanded into the region and S&I wanted to cater to their needs overseas as well.

For the financial year ending March 2006, the company's turnover increased by 24 per cent while net profit doubled. Mr Lee estimates that the company has been growing consistently at around 15-25 per cent annually for the last decade, even when the general economy is not doing too well.

'Downturns present new opportunities for us. For example, demand for services such as disaster recovery and infrastructure robustness enhancement soared after the 9/11 incident. During the Sars period, companies looked into implementing systems that allow for remote accessibility,' says Mr Sng.

'There is a need to reposition and adapt to the conditions. Ultimately customers want to become more competitive in their businesses. During an economic downturn, companies look for ways to contain or reduce costs in anticipation of the markets turning around,' he adds.

Another key component of their business is building strong partnerships with technology providers. Over the years, the company has forged partnerships with leading tech companies such as IBM, Oracle, Siemens UGS PLM Software, Lenovo, DataMirror, Create!form, SPSS, Hyperion, Cognos, NetIQ and NoMax.

The company has also won multiple awards for excellence over the years. For the past four years, it had been recognised in the Enterprise 50 award, which celebrates Singapore's best 50 privately held enterprises. Recently, the company won IBM's Asia Pacific Business Partner Excellence Award for driving 'innovative solutions across all enterprise class server platforms', according to the citation.Mr Lee and Mr Sng believe these awards enhance the company's credibility. 'It helps when we present our company profile to new customers. It also helps in attracting talent to join our company,' said Mr Sng, noting that the demand for IT professionals is very high here.

Given that new IT products and services appear at a very fast pace, S&I believes the key to staying relevant is to adopt a strong learning culture. S&I needs its employees to be self-motivated and be able to apply the new technology in new ways to benefit clients.

The company also recognises the challenges in its overseas operations. In China, for example, there is currently a shortage of managerial talent as competitors abound there.

S&I sees plenty of potential for growth in the Chinese market and is seeking to increase the size of the management team there. 'We have been quite successful so far because we focused on the manufacturing segment...we need to invest towards reaching a critical size in our team there so that we don't become too dependent on a few people. We also want to identify managers who can build up the same culture we've been trying to create here,' says Mr Lee.

He predicts that the company will grow by around 20-25 per cent this year, with its Chinese operations the fastest growing. The company is seeking further expansion into the region through strategic partnering. Preparations to start operations in Vietnam, the region's fastest-growing economy, are in the pipeline.

Noting that the competition in the IT services area is intensifying with the entrance of large IT companies into the region, Mr Lee says that the company needs to constantly find new ways to serve its customers. 'The casualty rate (in the IT services industry) is very high. If we become complacent, we may get into trouble,' he says.