What was once an eight-man team with one project in the past is now a 60-man company with four project sites and a few awards to boast about. Recently awarded as Independent Software Vendor (ISV) of the Year and Business Partner of the Year by IBM Philippines, GeoSpatial Solutions Inc. (GSI) now wants to give it all back and inspire Philippines startups to succeed like them.

A provider of IT solutions and geographic information system (GIS) applications, GSI went through a roller coaster period since the day it started in March of 1998 until September of 2003. During this span of time, the company almost went bankrupt before it began to gain a foothold in the market.

Formed by friends who are geodetic engineers and IT specialists, GSI had only one major project for its first six years, leading the company to retrench manpower every year until it went down to a headcount of eight.

In an interview with Computerworld Philippines, GSI CEO and president Efren Ricalde, said, in jest, that perhaps if IBM had known that GSI was only an eight-man team, it might have had second thoughts about partnering with GSI.

According to Charles Manuel, ISV and Developer Relations regional manager for IBM ASEAN and South Asia, IBM partners with regional ISV businesses, like GSI, because they provide niche capabilities unique to the industry and territory they play in. This will then provide an added advantage of being able to address the specific needs of small and medium businesses -- a growing market segment in which IBM is focused on winning.

According to Ricalde, the company grew five-fold in 2004 and is still growing. Ricalde admits though, that at first, the company went through a transition period where there was some ?fear? of the transition to a new platform from the one they had been working with for almost the past six years.

There also was the lack of confidence to market and sell IBM-based solutions, and the uncertainty of generating business. The employees had to go through training, and there was a lot of adjustment, according to Ricalde.

?IBM sent a consultant to perform a partner plan, which helped us develop our business model,? said Ricalde. The company CEO claims that IBM helped them in every way, investing in their training, providing a URL which they could use to know more about the products, learn strategies, and to collaborate a link-up with the IBM ecosystem.

GSI has since then been able to develop an array of solutions like the Licensure Examination and Registration Information System (LERIS) for the Professional Regulatory Board (PRC), the eCREBA Portal for the Chamber of Real Estate and Builder?s Association (CREBA), and the eMindanao Portal for World Bank. The eMindanao portal was developed for World Bank, which provides collaboration with development partners in Mindanao like AUSAID, USAID, JICA, among others, where partners can also do project monitoring, instant messaging, conferencing, and the like.

ECREBA, on the other hand, is a portal-based development solution that manages vital data and information for various real estate programs and projects in the country, also serving some 8-12 million overseas Filipino workers who go online to do business or buy real property estates in the Philippines, which they can locate through a Web-based GIS.

Now GSI has several more projects lined up like the Web-based GIS SyncGIS, SyncLGU for local government units, SyncUtility for electric utility companies, and SyncInsurance for the insurance industry. ?While working on the project (SyncGIS), we discovered business opportunities and saw that this system can also be used by the government, by banks, insurance industries, financial institutions, local government units, schools, and more,? Ricalde said. GSI also currently has a project with the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) -- another portal that will allow online examinations for radio operators in the Philippines and at the same time integrate the different business processes in NTC.

?The key to our success is creating the discipline to get things done, which is exactly what a small company like us needs to do,? said Ricalde. Recognized as the Sales Champion of the Year at the 2005 IBM Kick-off in January, Ricalde shared that they had learned valuable lessons through the challenges GSI had to overcome. ?Speed kills, Dream creates, Fear motivates, and Trust glues,? he said, stressing that companies should never be afraid to dream, and that no matter how difficult times may be for the company, there will always still be a chance to succeed.

?Embracing technology and being loyal to your partner really does wonders,? said Ricalde. GSI is currently working on ?Team GSI Perform?, a program for succession in the company, where they will be training their people to become leaders in the industry. ?When there is good business, it follows that you need good leaders and successors,? he said.

IBM?s Manuel attributes the success of their partner to Ricalde?s dynamic leadership and GSI?s focus on integrity and business ethics which, according to Manuel, ?places them in a strong position among their customers.? An accomplished tennis player, classical guitarist, and a photography hobbyist, Ricalde shared that one of his greatest dreams is to be able to write a book -- a book where he can share the company?s success with people and to inspire them. ?The company would, for many, many years, be an IBM partner,? said a beaming Ricalde.