For PDC, dedication spells success ... five times over
Pacific Business News (Honolulu) - by Timothy Ruel Staff Reporter
Shakil Ahmed sounds more like a customer relations officer than a computer geek, especially when he explains computer hardware and its relation to company sales.
"I have this little flaw," Ahmed said with a dead stare in his dark brown eyes. "I like to make people happy."
That's why Ahmed's 8-year-old company, PDC Systems, has gone from third place on 1997's Fastest 50 to second place in 1998, with a 544 percent increase in revenue from 1995 to 1997.
PDC stands for "Personally Designed Computer," which is his stock-in-trade.
Although Ahmed's comment about making his customers happy risks sounding obvious, fluffy and downright corny, he has a valid point.
The link between the high-tech world and its tremendous recent growth, he explained, is customer service: People buy computers for convenience; an inconvenient supplier doesn't sell.
Moreover, since PDC reaches most of its customers through word of mouth, Ahmed said, the company can't afford to let bad words out. Every complaint comes to his desk, he said.
Ahmed's immediate response to any problems with his computers is largely why Strategic Information Solutions Inc. does business with PDC, according to Philip Bossert, chairman, president and chief executive officer.
"There's no question. He just comes over and picks it up and walks away," he said.
Paying attention to customer needs pays off, not only for Ahmed but small companies like his nationally.
Nonbrand "white box" sellers of computer components such as PDC shipped more units in 1997 than did such computer makers as Compaq, Dell, Packard Bell or IBM, according to PDC.
This shows the power of forging careful relations with a smaller number of clients, Ahmed said.
By itself, PDC saw 15 percent to 20 percent revenue growth for 1998, Ahmed said, and has reached about $5 million in sales.
Not bad for an operation that staffs fewer than 15 people, several who are local high school students helping in PDC's small packaging room in an unassuming office near Ala Moana Center.
Ahmed, formerly an engineer for ABC Chemical Corp., is pretty unassuming himself. After working with chemical detergents for a few years, he noticed many of his clients also were asking him to fix their computers.
One suggested he become a consultant, which, Ahmed said with another stone-cold stare, released his "entrepreneurial spirit."
Although PDC started out by selling to users, it switched over to distributors after the first few years, which widened the customer base, but not too far, he said.
"Our main thing is to keep clients," he said.
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