An interview with Tony Weeresinghe, CEO,
Millennium Information Technologies

What was your biggest achievement during the past year? Two achievements stand out. First, was our resounding success with our placement. In October 1999 Millennium placed 44.8 million convertible preference shares with several leading foreign institutional investors. Through this placement we were able to raise Rs. 448.4 million. The preference shares will be converted to ordinary shares in 2001, based on Millennium’s net profits in the year that has just ended, and that in the new financial year. Before conversion, the preference shares will be considered as being equivalent to 2.1 million ordinary shares for dividend and voting purposes.

Through this placement we became the first Sri Lankan company to be valued at a price-earning multiple of 24 times our earnings. Given the depressed condition of the local Stock Market and that even the average PE for blue chips was only about 5 times, for us to achieve 24 times gave us immense satisfaction.

The other major achievement was the development of the Dynamic Business Innovator. Software applications function in three blocks: right at the bottom you have the technology, one level higher is the application and the highest level is the business.

The integration between the technology and the application has worked very well. Most vendors claim that their applications run on any technology. But few vendors can claim that when the business rules change the application will adapt itself to this change. This is where Millennium’s Business Innovator has stepped in to provide a bridge between the business and the application.

If a business wants to introduce a new product or service, you do not need to re-write the software to support the change. With the Dynamic Business innovator all you need to do is type the changes in and the software adapts itself. If you think you made a wrong decision and you want to go back, it does not cost you anything. The implications of this software for modern businesses is tremendous. The opportunities limitless.

The Dynamic Business Innovator has freed our clients from having to worry about their technology and allowed them the freedom to dream fresh dreams and walk new paths. Today the Dynamic Business Innovator is part of our software suite for Exchanges. And we plan to incorporate it in all our software products soon.

What has been Millennium IT’s main contribution to the software industry?

Our main contribution has been our willingness to be different. We have dared to be bold and devised solutions that have made a difference to client performance. We have been guided by a philosophy that the human imagination knows no boundaries. We have innovated and created solutions unique to each company’s particular needs.

While doing this we have been able to convince companies of the potential of the internet and the need to do business through the internet. The internet offers huge potential for companies, especially those based in the developing world. It is now possible with relative ease to access markets in any part of the world through the web. E-commerce is changing forever the way we sell, purchase and market. At Millennium IT we have produced solutions that give our clients a competitive edge when they do business through the web.

Apart from the Dynamic Business Innovator what are the other products that travel made MillenniumlT a cutting edge software company?

We pioneered an application for the mobile communications market to facilitate mobile commerce: mit~e.Anyware.

mit-e.Anyware enabled us to pack a whole lot of applications into a mobile phone and convert it into a powerful tool of commerce and information. Through this we helped Dialog GSM to offer their subscribers a whole range of value-added services. We also helped Union Bank offer their clients a wide range of services through their mobiles converting their phones into virtual pocket ATMs.

We have also developed a dynamic tool to support end-users. Each end-user has his or her own particular needs and requirements. Sometimes it is something very small, often it is something big and complex. We have developed a product that has enabled the end-user to develop his or her own unique front end without touching a single line of code. This product enables the end-user to build 90% of what they want without having to call on us. We believe that software solutions must be flexible enough to enable a variety of customers to adapt them to their own particular needs.

How has this infatuation with innovation helped win new customers and make new friends?

Our single-minded focus has been on the network and the Internet. We have great faith in the internet as a trigger of unlimited opportunities. Our relentless drive to innovate and create new and dynamic products has seen us win new customers both in Sri Lanka and in the international marketplace. We are now a company with a global reach. Malaysia recently chose us to supply the software for their new technology-driven exchange, MESDAQ. In a market with older and more established players this has given us confidence that those who dare innovate, succeed.

Locally, SriLankan Airlines, Sri Lanka Telecom, Sampath Bank and the Colombo Stock Exchange have all benefited from our daring approach.

How do you think changes in technology will shape your future applications?

The future is going to revolve around a service-driven network. Everything is going to happen on the Net. This will provide a huge cost benefit to smaller customers as they ride on the back of this architecture without having to spend large sums of money developing their own.

What is really going to propel global trading in the future is mobile commerce or m-commerce. The mobile phone with its punch keys will fade out. What will emerge is an instrument with a pen to facilitate m-commerce. We will need to develop applications to run on such mobile devices. We will soon see communities of buyers and sellers getting together to trade on the net. Our product mit-e.Marketplace will cater to this emerging trend. It will allow factors such as price, technology compliance, delivery time, credit terms and other factors to be taken into account in deciding what to buy and sell in the international marketplace.

We also think it important not to build a cyber elite: those with the requisite m-commerce skills and those without. Technology should bring communities together, destroy hierarchies and improve the quality of life of all. It should not create divisions and stratify communities by allowing only a select group to reap the benefits of technological excellence.

What plans for the future?

We have started work on our new corporate facility, a few kilometres outside Colombo. It will have a campus-style architecture with vast open areas. We believe the space will allow for greater creativity and facilitate even more innovative products. The design will also allow our different groups of employees to constantly interact with each other and build a community of excellence. We will also provide facilities to those with great ideas but with little resources to pursue them.

Next year we will also open an office in the United States. To be the best you have to move with the best. In addition, we are pursuing a listing on the NASDAQ, within the next eighteen months. We are also looking at opening an office in either Singapore or Malaysia with a view to developing our operations in South East Asia.

Next year we will be establishing the MIT Foundation. A part of our profits will be channelled to the Foundation to develop internet and technological skills for all classes in society.

We are looking at linking up with the World Bank through their World Link Project to establish Cyber Cafes throughout the country. The Bank will train and pay for the instructors and Millennium will set up the facility and provide state-of-the-art equipment.

"We will also ensure that browsers are available in local languages. The objective is to ensure that those who are exposed to this facility will enter the world prepared to compete with the best", he said.