Business, the Absolute way

In the present day market scenario, while most system integrators claim to be ‘Specialists’ in all product areas and solutions, Absolute has stayed put with specific vertical customers and solutions.

“For 9 years we have focused on the oil and gas industry. Absolute has specialized in building business process solutions for this sector, for service companies involved in the construction and fabrication of oil and gas but not production,” says Michael Jamieson, director at Absolute.

Absolute claims that they do not restrict themselves and are open to client problems and build solutions around them. As far as products and solutions go, Absolute has been actively involved only in providing business process solutions specifically and until recently also RFID technology based solutions.

Absolute has been able to work on some prestigious projects that has built up its credentials as a solution provider. For instance, Radio frequency identification (RFID) systems are being used for the Dubai International Airport extension project which is one of the implementations from Absolute. This is one of the latest projects from Absolute and one of the two RFID projects they have completed.

The ‘Absolute’ past and the future

The company started as an IT solutions company back in 1999 with a focus on web technology and business processes. Based in Scotland, it started with a 5 member team which has now grown to 15.

“The web is quite young and has advanced a lot as we are totally dependent on information which is easily available. Absolute now provides intranet and business processes for enhancing businesses performance. Our solutions are a result of our team’s cross functional expertise providing a mix of technical and marketing skills. We also have a development team in Scotland supporting the local office,” says Jamieson.

Absolute is also looking at being a one stop solution provider in their specialization areas. The development team for the business processes and RFID deployment works with Intermec. Along with their hardware, Absolute sells its solutions and so clients don’t have to go looking for solutions separately from other suppliers.

Jamieson adds, “Some of the younger people are smarter at understanding technology details and older ones are involved in the business processes. Therefore we maintain a mix of people in the teams. We provide services with most of these solutions. The client may require the services for a short period so we put our resources at the client site at their disposal instead of them hiring additional staff.”

For infrastructure communication solutions, the solutions provider works with Unlimited for providing network and project management. The solution provider in the true spirit of customer service takes the onus for enabling a user friendly IT infrastructure.

“Clients are not in awe of IT but they don’t want additional hassles and want a seamless working experience. They want their PCs plugged into the network with the software and servers working fine,” says Jamieson.

One of the areas of emphasis would be to improve business processes for the labor According to Jamieson, times have changed and therefore there is increased focus on his work, living conditions and getting them to complete projects on time. With 10,000 to 15,000 men required for projects on a daily basis, construction and project companies are looking for deploying state of the art technologies such as an RFID tracking system for ensuring a safe and hassle free working environment.

Absolute does work on projects in UAE but as of yet not outside the country. “Our focus has primarily been on customers in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah. While presently we are yet to do a project outside the UAE, we will pursue if any interesting projects come up. Thankfully, we now have customers who come to us having heard of our work by word of mouth,” says Jamieson.

While training is not a core area of expertise, Absolute considers IT services as an area that has the potential of becoming a profitable business model. Absolute does offer support 24/7 or according to what the customer requirement is.

Seonaid Mac Farlane, project and training manager says, “Absolute has also been involved in delivering training, IT support, documentation of system guides, ITIL and developing software systems. There are too many competitors in the market and therefore was never a core part of the business. The effort to keep up with technology of other vendors didn’t seem lucrative enough and therefore focused on our own products and processes.”

Absolute is looking at taking technology to the workplace, especially the oil and gas industry sector. It sees a lot of potential in technologies like document control enabling electronic flow of information and easier synchronizing of information. Jamieson says, “Instead of manual feeding of data, PDAs can be used along with RFID technology improving productivity and efficiency within the organization.”