Role Model
Forward March
 Col Balwinder Singh has always led from the front, be it his army troop when he was in the defense services or at Targus Technologies
By Varun Aggarwal
“During the 1971 war, while facing the enemy, I always led from the front. It instilled great confidence in my soldiers. Even at Targus, I am at the forefront. If my sales team is facing any problem, I’m always available to talk to the customer. It gives both, my employees and our customers, enough confidence,” says Col Balwinder Singh, Director, Targus Technologies.
Being at the frontline is not the only inherent quality that this hands-on-leader boasts of. Other characteristic that has been the hallmark of Col Singh’s success is his penchant for taking on challenges and choosing the road less travelled.
Born in a successful business family, Singh chose to serve the country and after schooling joined the National Defence Academy. Within two years of joining the Armoured Corps, he fought the 1971 Indo-Pak war as a young Lieutenant in the Chhamb sector of Jammu and Kashmir.
The beginning
Col Singh commanded the 72 Armoured Regiment in 1990. On successful completion of the command, he took an early retirement to start his own entrepreneurial venture. “While in the army, I closely followed the IT sector. I realised that information technology, if used effectively, can help India to become a superpower. I wanted to make my contribution to this success story,” he reminisces.
But he wasn’t alone in this venture. In May 1992, Col Singh partnered with his army colleague and an extended family member Lt Col HS Bedi. Together they started a software solutions company Tulip, with a seed investment of Rs 60,000.
However, in 1997 both partners decided to amicably part ways. Col Singh moved out of Tulip to start his own venture, Targus Technologies as a corporate reseller.
While at Tulip, Col Singh had already built a good reputation in the market. So he had little difficulty signing up vendors and customers. Soon enough, Targus bagged Nokia as its client and became the authorized partner for Microsoft, IBM and HP among other companies.
“We managed to sign up many large projects in no time. But the tough part came after that. We had to arrange for finances to service large projects. Hence, I decided to mortgage my residence to extend my overdraft facility from the bank to Rs 1 crore,” informs Col Singh. After this, there was no looking back.
From a turnover of Rs 1 crore in the first year, Targus has come a long way. In 2008-09, the company recorded a turnover of Rs 108 crore and is targeting revenues of Rs 120 crore in the current fiscal.
The present
The company has offices in 20 locations and is the leading technology partner for HP, IBM, Microsoft and Cisco.
“Today we have the capability to provide technology solutions to our clients irrespective of the underlying hardware, software and networking available. We can provide a complete solution including pre-sales, sales and implementation support, which we are proud of,” says Col Singh.
In the current fiscal, the company bagged several large projects including a project from Religare
to set up their data center, a Rs 7-crore project from MTS, and Bharti’s Rs 9 crore project to deploy superdome servers. “Superdome is the world’s fastest and reliable server platform. Each server costs about Rs 4.5 crore and we bagged an order for two servers. The entire Terminal 3 at Delhi International Airport is being networked by us,” informs Singh.
Targus’ other customer wins around that time include Aircel and Cairn Energy.
A key highlight for Targus in 2009 was its entry into the Silver partner network of Cisco. “There are less than 10 Silver Cisco partners in the country. We invested a substantial Rs 15 lakh in setting up a Cisco lab,” informs Singh.
Success mantras
Targus’ focus has always been quality of service and managing people smartly. As far as the customer goes, Col Singh believes that sales function is a subordinate to services and not vice versa. Thus, he ensures that Targus provides the best of services to its clients to win more business.
Milestones | 1997 : Founded Targus Technologies as a corporate reseller 2002 : Was lauded by HP, IBM and Microsoft as the best north India partner 2008 : Recorded a turnover of Rs 108 crore 2009 : Bagged a Rs 9 crore project to deploy superdome servers at Bharti 2009 : Became a Cisco Silver partner and invested Rs 15 lakh in setting up a Cisco lab |
Given his background as a commander in the army, he understands the value of building teams. “I follow the army commandments while managing people. First commandment is to source the right talent, the second is to train them rigorously so they can take any kind of challenge; third is to create a value system in the company that inspires them to do better than the best and eventually reward them for their bravery thus motivating them to continue the good work.”
Targus lays great emphasis on training and certification of its employees, and invests a great deal of finances for the same. To further ensure employee satisfaction, Targus gives away high-cost gifts to its top employees every year. “Last year we gave Maruti SX4 cars to four of our best employees. This is apart from the regular benefits and incentives an employee gets,” he informs.
He has instilled an open door policy at Targus. “Once the roles and responsibilities have been assigned, my job is to facilitate my team to achieve their respective targets. If anyone has any problem, he can walk straight into my office and talk to me. I believe in the philosophy that humans have great potential, the only thing they sometimes need is a leader who can help them channelize their potential in the right direction.”
Looking forward
Expanding its reach, the company has opened up an office in US as well as in Canada. Targus is also venturing into videoconferencing solutions and boardroom integration space. The company has recently entered into the passive business of structured cabling. Currently, that business has grown by 500 percent.
In the next one year, the company plans to remain a little conservative in terms of expansion. Their plans include opening up just three new offices within India. But Col Singh believes that the business that can give them better yields is services. So the company would be focussing on it.
“Currently, only 8 percent of our revenues come from services and rest from products,” he states. “To expand our services portfolio we have floated a separate division headed by an ex-army officer, Brigadier VK Pahwa, whose mandate is to grow our services business at a CAGR of 100 percent over the next five years.”
The company is also working towards an IPO. “We’re making our accounts book healthy. As of now we’re headed for good growth. We’ve had some good projects and new clients added. Even in the time of recession, the state of the company is good.”
Behind the scenes
Family plays an important role in Col Singh’s life. He credits all his major achievements to his wife. “Without her support and encouragement, I wouldn’t have taken an early retirement from the army and started my own business.”
Col Singh was very close to his late father, who he regards as his role model. His other pillar of support is his son Raunaq Singh, who after his education and a 5-year stint at Motorola in US is back in India. He is focused on growing the networks business at Targus with core KRAs to ensure exponential growth and high profit business.
Col Singh takes pride in the fact that his family is true example of national integration. “My daughter, who is settled in San Francisco, is married to a Gujarati, while my son is married to a South Indian,” he jokes.
Since his early days in the army, Col Singh had a passion for golf. He makes sure that he takes time out for golf from his busy schedule. Reading is another passion and some of his favorite books include fiction titles Among Equals by Jeffrey Archer and A woman of substance by Barbara Taylor. While he is fond of fiction, he doesn’t miss out on the Defence Reviews that still tie him to his love for army.
Known among his peers as a caring, fun-loving and friendly individual, Col Singh loves to drive his new Mercedes E350 and likes watching classic cinema fare Mughal-e-Azam.
Col Singh wants to be remembered as an individual with a ‘never say no’ motto. “No challenge is ever big for us to overcome. With the right purpose, team and strategy you can win even the biggest war.” You can take the man out of the army, but you can't take the army out of the man. |