CEO Interview - RAMSEY WALKER - FREEBORDERS
December 10, 2004
Ramsey Walker is Co-CEO and Co-Founder of Freeborders since 1999. Mr. Walker brings almost 20 years of business experience to Freeborders in a wide variety of functions including senior level positions in strategy, planning, operations, product development, finance and business development. At K-III Holdings, a KKR-backed media and information business that grew from inception to $1.5 Billion in revenue in 10 years, Mr. Walker was responsible for the acquisition of 8 companies. He was also responsible for strategy and planning for the Business Information Group, a multi-hundred million division that included both on-line and off-line business information and data products.
Previously, he was CEO of Walker & Company in New York City, which under his leadership became a New York Times best-selling publisher and subject of a Harvard Business School case study. Mr. Walker is a graduate of Yale University and Harvard Business School.
SECTOR: MARKETING SERVICES
TWST: We would like to begin, if you will, with a brief historical sketch of the company and a picture of the things you're doing at the present time?
Mr. Walker: Freeborders was started in 1999 as a software company providing Product Lifecycle Management software to the retail vertical market. We now, today, have two businesses. We have the original software business. We also have the leading technology outsourcing business in China. We're the most advanced provider of application outsourcing services in China and that's our second line of business.
Today, we are going to focus on that second business versus the first one. And, we can go into more detail if you like.
TWST: Let's talk with the second business then. Can you tell us something about the services and solutions that you provide?
Mr. Walker: We're focused on three vertical markets. The first vertical market is financial services, the second vertical market is providing application outsourcing to other software companies, and the third vertical market is providing application outsourcing to consumer and retail companies like Target, Coach and Saks Fifth Avenue. Within those three vertical markets, we focus on two or three areas of expertise. Number one is application development, basically software development and coding. Number two is automated testing and Quality Assurance. We also have expertise in Web Services applications and architecture. So, those are the vertical markets and the services that we're providing within those vertical markets.
TWST: In relation to China you're talking about customers in China?
Mr. Walker: All of our customers are in the United States or in Europe, and the services are provided from our team in China where we've got about 250 people in Shenzhen today, as well as in Hong Kong. That's expected to grow to about 500 to 700 by the end of next year.
TWST: Is there any company that competes with you along these lines?
Mr. Walker: We are the largest company providing these services from China. We do compete with the Indian outsourcing firms like Wipro and Tata and some other smaller ones. But, what we are finding is that customers are very interested in diversifying so that they don't have all their eggs in one basket in India. India is growing very rapidly, but it's also suffering from high staff turnover as well as very high inflation rates, wage inflation rates, and most sophisticated outsourcing customers realize that they need to diversify their vendor base and the locations in which these vendors are located.
TWST: Now, I think it's a lot harder to find people who speak English in China than in India.
Mr. Walker: That's really not as much of a problem as people think it is. English is required at the undergraduate level in the universities in China. And certainly, India has a wide English-speaking population.
It has had that for many years. But, most of our customers are surprised by the level of English and the quality of English of our team in China. We actually provide English training, language classes, in our facility on a regular basis to ensure that the quality is improving as well.
TWST: Could you tell us how you got started in China, the steps you had to take to get things going there?
Mr. Walker: Some of our executives have had a long history in China. John Cestar, the co-CEO and co-Founder of the company has worked there for well over a decade. And so, we had been doing business in China for a long time and had very good contacts and experience there. We found that our customers were increasingly interested in coming to us and expanding -- basically asking us to do work over there -- and that we really responded to customer demand and then capitalized on the opportunity from there.
TWST: What kinds of savings can be achieved with this?
Mr. Walker: The savings on the US side is about five-to-one, and it's about roughly 30% to 50% more cost-effective than outsourcing in India.
TWST: Have some companies that are your customers come back to you and ask for increased service from China as time went by?
Mr. Walker: All of our customers have increased their work with us over time. Typically, people will start with a pilot project or a relatively small team of people, and as they get comfortable with the quality and the service level, they increase the levels.
TWST: What are the key elements in your strategy going forward for the next two to three years?
Mr. Walker: Number one is to stay focused on our vertical markets and provide the specialized services that each of those vertical markets require. In financial services, they obviously have a specific set of needs and expertise. We are building that out in China. The same goes for the software sector and the same for the retail consumer sector. Number two is to ensure we're focused on quality, quality is critically important. Quality is really driven by two things. One is people and the second is process. And so, we are very focused on hiring and training the top people, and then ensuring that our disciplined development processes are in place and are followed rigorously.
TWST: Now, looking down the road, what would be the main opportunity lying ahead for the company?
Mr. Walker: The main opportunity is that the demand for outsourcing is exploding in the United States and elsewhere. Companies realize that they must outsource in order to remain competitive. And so, overall, macro demand is just huge. Secondly, India is being tapped out in terms of its ability to respond to that demand, and as I said, suffering from attrition and staff turnover and inflation. China is emerging as the only real competitor to India, and we're in the lead there. So, our biggest opportunity is to execute on those two things that are coming our way.
TWST: Let me ask you, why do the problems in India exist? How is it tapped out and why do people keep leaving their jobs in India?
Mr. Walker: Well, it truly is supply and demand. There is a lot of supply and there is a lot of demand, but the demand is so great in India that the supply actually can't keep up. And so, companies are approaching other companies' employee, which is driving up wages, which is driving up staff turnover. The education system, which of course is turning out a number of people there, is not turning out enough, frankly, to meet that demand. And so, some customers are realizing that they do need and want to be in India, they're going to stay in India, but they also need to diversify. It's not an either or proposition, it's really both, both India and China.
TWST: As you develop things in China, were there certain cultural situations that you had to deal with?
Mr. Walker: To succeed in China, having enough expertise to do business in that area and working with people there is a must. It's an expertise that we've developed over many years. We've also made a point of hiring people who have been educated in the United States but are Chinese nationals and are returning to China because of the great opportunity there.
TWST: Let me ask you, why do the problems in India exist? How is it tapped out and why do people keep leaving their jobs in India?
Mr. Walker: Well, it truly is supply and demand. There is a lot of supply and there is a lot of demand, but the demand is so great in India that the supply actually can't keep up. And so, companies are approaching other companies' employee, which is driving up wages, which is driving up staff turnover. The education system, which of course is turning out a number of people there, is not turning out enough, frankly, to meet that demand. And so, some customers are realizing that they do need and want to be in India, they're going to stay in India, but they also need to diversify. It's not an either or proposition, it's really both, both India and China.
TWST: As you develop things in China, were there certain cultural situations that you had to deal with?
Mr. Walker: To succeed in China, having enough expertise to do business in that area and working with people there is a must. It's an expertise that we've developed over many years. We've also made a point of hiring people who have been educated in the United States but are Chinese nationals and are returning to China because of the great opportunity there.
TWST: Now reversing things from opportunities, what about challenges and problems, anything that you're worrying about?
Mr. Walker: If we don't worry about some things we won't be in business. Our biggest challenge is the speed with which we can execute against the opportunity. And so, it's executing quickly, but executing by keeping the quality up. So, that means again, we're hiring people but we want to hire the right people under the right circumstances. So, that's probably our biggest worry.
TWST: Now, during the campaign Kerry made a big issue of outsourcing. What do you expect -- what will the government's attitude be in the future?
Mr. Walker: I think Kerry made a big issue of it. Of course, many business people responded by saying that they needed to look more closely at outsourcing, not the other way around. I'm not sure what the Bush administration's response is going to be, of course, but I think they're advocates of free trade, frankly, as are the Democrats. I think most people recognize the overall benefits of a free-trade environment. Obviously, people do need to invest in training programs, retraining programs, and some type of employment security in order to help people who are losing jobs because of outsourcing to transition to new jobs. But, what we find is, we have, in all of our customers, never actually replaced someone who has a job in the United States in fact. So, my point is that our customers are not firing people in the US and hiring them in China. That's not what they do. What they do is, they have a project or an effort that they want to execute, they don't have enough money to execute it in the US, so through a combination of offshore resources and new US resources, they can execute on that project. So, most of the work --all the work that we're doing really -- is new effort, new work. This is work that frankly would not be done without using outsourced and offshore resources.
TWST: Then, with all these things in mind, what would you reasonably expect Freeborders to look like three years from now?
Mr. Walker: Three years from now, we would be the dominant provider of application outsourcing services in China. We believe we can be a serious competitor to the leading providers in India, and we'll have an entrenched footprint in the financial services vertical market, as well as among software companies and in the consumer retail space.
TWST: Will you ever have any interest in doing an IPO?
Mr. Walker: People have talked to us about doing an IPO. At the moment, we are focused on continuing to grow our business rapidly.
TWST: Can you tell us one of the elements in your own background that led you to found the company and develop it?
Mr. Walker: The company was founded by John Cestar and myself. We've both been tremendously interested in international business, and within international business, the growth of cross-border services businesses is an emerging area. So, of course, manufacturing was the first to be an international segment. And, the services business is following on those heels fairly rapidly. So, it's an interest in the international business and in international services and cross-border services that led us into this.
TWST: Can you tell me something about the backgrounds of several of your other colleagues as well?
Mr. Walker: People at our company have many decades of experience both in technology at companies like IBM and Oracle as well as in the specific vertical markets whether it's financial services or software or consumer retail. So, we try to combine a technology expertise with vertical market expertise, and then with general business expertise.
TWST: How many employees do you have in the States?
Mr. Walker: In the States today, it's about 50 to 70.
TWST: Do you feel you'd be able to increase your top-line without adding too many people?
Mr. Walker: No. We're planning on adding a number of people both in the States and in China and in Europe. So, over the next few years our staff will be growing significantly.
TWST: What are the barriers to entry since what you're doing seems to be a very good business; are others likely to follow or would it be difficult for them?
Mr. Walker: Any good business always has competition. So, we do expect increased levels of competition. But, it is not easy to execute on what we've done -- either building the vertical market expertise in the US or the footprints that we have and the lead that we have in China with the people, processes, infrastructure and experience that we have there. It's very difficult to replicate, and we're moving very rapidly. So, we are fairly confident about our competitive position.
TWST: What occupies most of your own attention as CEO on a day-by-day basis?
Mr. Walker: We spend a lot of time planning for the next 12 months in the key areas, financial planning and personnel planning. We also spend a lot of time with our key customers, both key existing customers as well as new customers that we're bringing on. So, it is really planning and customers that I spend my time on and John Cestar does as well.
TWST: Are you open at this time to outside investors?
Mr. Walker: We're not. We've got the money we need to execute. And so, we are really focused at the moment on executing against our plan and not dealing at the moment with additional financial resources. We do have people approach us on that front on a regular basis. But it's not something that we're spending time on at the moment.
TWST: Thank you.
RAMSEY WALKER
Co-CEO & Co-Founder
Freeborders
350 California Street
Mezzanine Level
San Francisco, CA 94104
(415) 433-4700
(415) 433-9300 - FAX
www.freeborders.com
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Noch einmal Freeborders
der neue Outsourcing-Star mit extremem Potenzial, an dem Internet Capital 48% hält. Und die Mitgesellschaft sind vom Feinsten: Freeborders shareholders include Internet Capital Group (Nasdaq: ICGE - News), IBM, Hutchison Whampoa, TAL Group and Fountain Set (Holdings) Ltd.
Aus Sicht von Internet Capital ergibt sich noch ein interessanter Aspekt. Wie nie zuvor gesehen, werden hier Synergien sichtbar: An den unten angeführten Marketron hält Internet Capital auch 38% - und die haben vor einiger Zeit durch ihren CEO schwarze Zahlen verkündet, gerade vielleicht, weil sie ein Teil ihrer Softwarearbeit über Freeborders outgesourct haben. Ähnlich dürfte es bei der 87%-Beteiligung von Internet Capital, CommerceQuest sein, die jetzt nachstehend nicht besonders aufgeführt werden, die aber auch schon als Kunden von Freeborders angeführt wurden. Auch deren CEO hat gerade verkündet, dass man nach einer Durststrecke von über drei Jahren in diesem vierten Quartal erstmals schwarze Zahlen schreibe.