Introduction to Information Technology

DISC 250- Section 1 (1500-1615 PST)

Final Project Report
Submitted to: Sir Shehzad Mughal
Company: NetSol Technologies

Group 9:
1)

Aneeq-ur-Rehman (16100212)

2)

Hamza Mehmood (16100039)

3)

Saad Javed (16100006)

4)

Zayan Nadeem (16100203)

Contents
About the Company..................................................................................................................... 3
Strategic Business Objectives.....................................................................................................3
Operational Excellence............................................................................................................ 3
New products, services and business models..........................................................................3
Customer and supplier intimacy...............................................................................................4
Improved Decision Making.......................................................................................................5
Competitive advantage............................................................................................................. 5
Survival.................................................................................................................................... 6
Types of Information Systems......................................................................................................6
Transaction Processing Systems.............................................................................................6
Management Information System:............................................................................................7
Decision Support Systems:......................................................................................................7
Executive Support System:......................................................................................................8
Information System...................................................................................................................... 8
Management............................................................................................................................ 8
Organization............................................................................................................................. 9
Technology............................................................................................................................. 10
Primary Activities........................................................................................................................ 11
Logistics................................................................................................................................. 11
Operations.............................................................................................................................. 11
1.

Data Analysis:............................................................................................................. 12

2.

Data Mapping:..........................................................................................................12

3.

Build phase:............................................................................................................. 12

4.

Reconciliation Phase:...............................................................................................12

5.

Revision:.................................................................................................................. 13

6.

Migration:................................................................................................................. 13

7.

Maintenance:........................................................................................................... 13

Sales and Marketing.............................................................................................................. 13

Service................................................................................................................................... 14
Outbound Logistics................................................................................................................ 14
Support Activities....................................................................................................................... 15

Administration and Management............................................................................................15

Human Resources................................................................................................................. 16
Technology............................................................................................................................. 16
Procurement.......................................................................................................................... 17
Business Process workflow.......................................................................................................17
Online Contract Placement....................................................................................................17
Online Billing Process............................................................................................................ 18
Online Employee Recruitment................................................................................................18
Loan Origination System........................................................................................................18
Performance the I.S................................................................................................................... 19
Management:......................................................................................................................... 19
Technological:........................................................................................................................ 19
Culture:.................................................................................................................................. 20
Technological acceptance:.....................................................................................................20
Seven main components IT Infrastructures...............................................................................20
Computer hardware platforms................................................................................................21
Operating system platforms...................................................................................................21
Enterprise software applications.............................................................................................21
Data management and storage..............................................................................................21
Networking/telecommunications platforms.............................................................................21
Internet platforms................................................................................................................... 22
Consulting system integration services..................................................................................22
Strengths, Weaknesses and Our Recommendations.................................................................22
References................................................................................................................................ 25
Appendix.................................................................................................................................... 26

About the Company

NetSol Technologies is among the first IT companies in providing leverage
finance and leasing solutions. It is a multi-dimensional technology company that is
deriving revenue and customer satisfaction from a variety of information technology
(IT) services and custom software offerings including Technology Outsourcing,
Systems Integration, Application Development, Processes Consulting, Business
Intelligence Consulting and Information Security Consulting.

Strategic Business Objectives

NetSol has a vast number of satisfied clients which to date are still
currently using their solutions to enhance production of their sales to address the
sophisticated market needs and high volume of transactions.

Operational Excellence
The IT company is among few large scale companies that have successfully
cleared the ISO 9001, ISO 27001, and SEI CMMI Maturity Level 5 assessments; a
distinction shared by fewer than 150 companies worldwide. Their expertise in
providing high quality finance and leasing systems technology earned them to be
part of Dow-Jones 30 Industrials and Fortune 500 manufacturers. NetSol has also
been awarded the prestigious Teradata award for Excellence in Software Export.
They confidently state that all projects they have received have met with 100%
success rate.
NetSol having more than 1500 employees/experts with diverse skill sets
ranging from people with marketing background to technical staff having
background in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering. The company has
constantly focused on improving its work culture to enhance productivity among its
dedicated employees who are pivotal in providing high quality products.

New products, services and business models

NetSol has a number of services that they offer to its clients. Among the most
prominent ones are SAP business consultancy which aims to guide and enable
businesses effectively. Their initiatives are focused towards growth, cost reduction,
risk and streamlining the operational process of the client business. Apart from that
NetSol has testing services to cover important aspects of development and ensuring
quality of Software products. They also have expertise in Information Security
aiming to maintain integrity of critical data.
Considering NetSol is in contact with several companies in the competitive
market such as Toyota, Volkswagen, there is a general need for new, state-of-the-art

products catering to the ever changing environment and technological

advancements. The products before the official launch and deployment, undergo
rigorous quality assurance, usability tests and control procedures. As of recently
NetSol launched two products as part of their NetSol Financial Suite (NFS): NFS
Mobility and NFS Ascent.
NFS Mobility will give customers visibility into their auto financing contract
on-the-go. The system aims to provide a single regional platform that improves
business visibility and assists with strategic planning with real time information. The
product was designed keeping in mind to save valuable time in making important
decisions, allow collaboration among project teams and high scalability of
businesses. The product comes with customizable business intelligence dashboard
to encourage better and optimized decision over the dealer network. The system is
designed to support tablets, mobiles and other portable devices. A breakdown of
NFS can be viewed ion Appendix (Figure 1).
NFS Ascent comprises of three separate applications to choose from namely
Loan Origination System (LOS), Contract Management System (CMS) and WholeSale
Finance System (WFS) designed to target three differents segments. Common
features among them are enterprise level security, information/intelligence fusion to
give the right data at the right time and business agility to stay ahead of the
competition.
Since there is a boom of entrepreneurial ventures in Pakistan, NetSol recently
initiated the NSpire project, an incubator for upcoming start-ups, providing them the
necessary tools, resources and skills to help them operationalize products or
businesses. It has been successful in its scouting drive to incubate entrepreneurial
ventures through marketing itself by organizing information sessions in various
educational institutes, having a social media presence and also through attending
startup events. As of currently they are in the process of recruiting their first batch
of startups.

Customer and supplier intimacy

NetSol has wide international reach when it comes to dealing with customers
and keeping relationship with companies they are providing solution for. NetSol has
successfully helped the worlds leading finance organizations; such as BNP Paribas,
Investec, Baxter Co. and First Hawaiian Bank to name a few, to navigate challenges
and capitalize on opportunities as they arise with the rapidly changing global
economy.

NetSol has always been ahead in providing top class leasing solutions in a
timely manner to its customers. Having multiple bases in different continents of the
world has allowed the company to strategically establish and maintain customer
and supplier intimacy in case a hindrance or a rare fault was detected in the
system.
Apart from leveraging Information technology in different companies. NetSol
has a well-established outreach program, providing support to prestigious
universities in Pakistan by funding bright and talented students from smaller cities
who are unable to meet their program fee requirements. The company also
welcomes NGOs to spread knowledge on their cause and also raise charity directly
from NetSol; as of currently the organization working with over 5 NGOs dedicated to
various social causes in Pakistan.

Improved Decision Making

NetSol is a huge and diverse organization that has expanded since it was
founded in 1979. At first the decisions might have been easier since it didnt have
multiple employees from different regions around the globe. Now, with over 1500
employees they need a system to communicate with each other. Information
Technology is a way that has been used to achieve this task.
IT has not only solved their communication problems but has enabled them
to make better decisions while not being physically present. One such example
would be of fulfilling their corporate social responsibility (CSR). IT has helped them
in creating a system that helps them in conserving electricity in their office at
Lahore. They have deployed a hardware and software solution that switches all of
the lights and fans off when the employees leave the offices.
They also have different IT support systems that help them in conducting
their day to day activities. For example, NetSol uses its Transaction Processing
System to keep a track of all the elementary activities and transactions of its
organization with external parties that includes its partners and customers. It has an
online system that keeps a track of all the stock data. This system gets updated in
real time showing what transaction took place and the inventory levels. Similarly,
The Decision Support System of NetSol hopes that the new system will offer more
competitiveness and a higher profitability to NetSol in the near future .

Competitive advantage
An organization as diverse as NetSol faces competition from all its many
dimensions. NetSol is unique in its field as far as regional development is concerned
and faces little direct competition as Lahore, or even Pakistan does not have an IT

development organization as large and diverse as NetSol. However, since the IT

market has always been a global one, NetSol faces competition from companies
based in US and UK along with some big names in Asia. Gaining clients like
Mercedes-Benz Finance Singapore by beating US competitors, NetSol has done a lot
to make sure theyre products and prices beat those of their competition in the
global market.
NetSol, after being listed in NASDAQ was able to step in the big leagues of IT
and emerged as a fierce competitor with stronger financial ties through mergers,
acquisitions, investment banking and brokering. NetSol rapidly expanded through
global alliances and joint ventures that allowed them to expand rapidly leaving the
competition behind.
NetSol being the only large scale IT Company in Pakistan has been able to
recruit the best programmers, project managers and business minds in Pakistans
untapped IT resource pool. Gathering them under a single roof, with all their
departments working with close intimacy, they were able to gain a strong
competitive advantage over competitors globally. They further gained advantage by
expanding internationally with branches in Australia, Thailand and Dubai. Through
this expansion they entered new markets to help further their goals over their
competitors.

Survival
NetSol has been successful in establishing different bases in various locations
internationally. They have prominent large scale office in Melbourne (Australia),
Bangkok (Thailand), Dubai (UAE) and only recently they established a new office in
the United Kingdom. Along with establishing their offices in different regions they
have been successfully releasing new products and services. One such example
would be of their startup incubator, NSpire, which they recently launched in Lahore,
Pakistan.
NetSol also works with different NGOs and universities in Pakistan to achieve
customer intimacy. Not only does this give company a good reputation but they
receive their returns in form of highly skilled graduates who are eager to work in a
company that invests in social causes and is eager to send students on Fulbright
scholarships for higher studies.
NetSol has also been expanding and penetration newer markets in Thailand and
Australia which gives it an edge over its competitors. They are working closely with
big companies like Mercedes and PNC which constantly brings them revenue. Also,
they were earning a revenue of 20.4 million dollars only from the service sector by
the end of 2014. They also had around 1600 employees by the end of 2015.

All of these achievements have been made by the help of Information

Technology. IT has not only allowed NETSOL to create newer services and products
but helped them take better informed decisions regarding market penetration and
investments. Ultimately, the companys revenues are increasing, allowing it to not
only survive but grow as a multinational IT consultants.

Types of Information Systems

Like any other typical business organizations, NetSol has information systems
designated to carry out major business functions; that is, it has systems specialized
for sales and marketing, manufacturing and production, finance and counting and
human resources. At various levels of management, NetSol has systems to support
different groups, the details of which are as follows:

Transaction Processing Systems

NetSol uses its Transaction Processing System to keep a track of all the
elementary activities and transactions of its organization with external parties that
includes its partners and customers. It has an online system that keeps a track of all
the stock data. Sales, receipts and cash decisions are monitored, and all the basic
information of the stock purchased are recorded. Figure 2 below shows the
Transaction processing system of NetSol that monitors the flow of materials along
with various parameters. Toyota Motor Finance China Co. Ltd. successfully deployed
the NetSol Financial Suite (NFS) in 2009. Since then they have been able to boost
productivity, enhance transparency and innovation with respect to financial
offerings. For better understanding, a sample quote for NetSol for the month of
February is attached in Appendix (Figure 2).
The TPS offered by NetSol monitors real time data and updates data on each
subsequent order made. Moreover, The TPS of NetSol monitors current assets (cash
and cash equivalents, restricted cash, revenues in excess billing , intangible assets,
goodwill assets etc.) , current liabilities (unearned revenues, common stock to be
issued, accounts payable and accrued expenses, long term loans), Stockholders
equity (paid in capital, accumulated deficit etc.) , cash flow data, income Statement
including license fees, maintenance fees, salaries , travel costs, Gross profit,
Research and development costs, total operational costs etc. All this data is given
to the Management Information System which consolidates the data for the middle
level of management.

Management Information System:

The MIS of NetSol provides the middle management with a consolidated

information governing cash flow, income statements, balance sheets of expense
data, sales data, unit product cost data, product change data offered by the
transaction processing systems. Table 1 below summarizes the consolidated data of
cash flow for NetSol for two years collected by the transaction processing systems.
An example of a MIS for NetSol can be found in Appendix (Table 1)
The middle managers use data provided by the MIS to optimize their
companys performance for example In the cash flow data given above, the middle
managers in NetSol can curtail unnecessary investments in cash flow by reducing
the payments on capital lease obligations and loans, stocks issued for services in
the operational activities, avoiding debts. Moreover, they can improve the quality of
their services by observing the cash flows in investing activities. So all these
parameters help the middle level managers of NetSol for improved decision making
in which the companys business processes get highly optimized.

Decision Support Systems:

The major sources of revenue for NetSol were the licensing, maintenance and the
implementation services fees, from a set of financial applications known as the
NetSol Financial Suite (NFS). NFS is a suite of five software applications that
provides financial solutions to the global leasing and the finance industry, however,
over subsequent years, NetSol exhibited a moderate growth rate in revenues. The
growth further decreased due to the aging of NFS system leading a reduced
competitive advantage. So the decision support system of NetSol made some
unique decisions part of their non-routine decision making in which they came up
with a modern system known as the NFS Ascent. The new system improves
performance based on an improved accountability system, wide scalability
enhanced security and increased robustness. The Decision Support System of
NetSol hopes that the new system will offer more competitiveness and a higher
profitability to NetSol in the near future. This was verified when the companys
performance improved in 2015 with a growth of 30% on the net sales. Table 2 (in
Appendix) shows the changes that occurred in the in the two years with the
introduction of NFS Ascent and it is clear that NFS yields higher revenues, gross
profit with a lower expenditure , operating margin, net loss, so the decision support
system of NetSol is effective in developing unique solutions to enhance the
companys performance.

Executive Support System:

NetSol uses its executive support system to provide its executives with historical
sets of data. Often these data are in form of graphs, bar charts, pie-charts. This
helps the senior management to make non-routine decisions regarding judgement,

evaluation and insight because there is no agreed procedure to arrive at a solution.

It has an online web server that allows executives to view historical data in which
the user can enter a time duration and the list of all the trades and their values are
available a seen in figure 3 (in Appendix)

Information System
Companies like NetSol deploy Information Systems to achieve their strategic
goals. However, there are three components of Information Systems that help and
interact with each other to achieve the goals. The three components of IS are as
follows.

Management
Creating and managing a coherent information system raises multiple
managerial challenges such as the maintenance, updating and governance of the IT
information system to enable effective communication across organizational
hierarchies. This helps in a better allocation of assets and the goal is the
management of the information systems to provide efficiency leading to effective
strategic decision making. Moreover, in relation to the managerial aspect, the
deployed information system should also improve relationship with the customers
and the suppliers.
NetSols NFS Ascents mobility suite is a dynamic platform that gives the user
increased transparency and helps to maximize profitability. Applications such as
point of sale simplify business processes relating to financial lease and operating
lease. The point of sale application has a customizable business intelligence
program that improves decision making. Furthermore, NetSols Financial Suite
mAccount helps to maintain relationship with the customers and hence yields
customer loyalty. Its smart dashboard allows the customers to view their contract
details and payment updates. Chat and email tools help the customer to
communicate directly with the dealer network and their queries are answered in a
timely manner. The communication gap between the customers and NetSol is
reduced and this boosts customer loyalty. NetSol, themselves use their own
products to facilitate the working.
Managers at NetSol need to take both day to day and monthly decisions and
goals to achieve the strategic goals. Some of the decisions they need to take relate
to the project they are working on. They use softwares like Asana to monitor the
daily goals and objectives related to a particular project. Asana allows the project
management to monitor the amount of work/tasks performed by the executives.
This enables them to both grasp the amount of work left and see if their employees
are working fairly or not. This also helps them in managing the team size, deciding

the topic of the daily scrum and also see different paths that they can take with a
particular project.
Similarly, having their own system allows them to plan out how they will
shape their day to day objectives to achieve the 5 yearly plan. NetSol, have their
own IT department which is responsible for all the IT related work. Their managers
help other employees in updating, replacing and advising them on softwares and
hardwares. One such decisions they took was to deploy information protection
system to safeguard their data from both malware and other companies. Since they
are a technology solution company they are keen on searching for the best and
most updated products so to have a constant competitive advantage in the market.

Organization
Information systems and organizations influence one another. The
organizational aspect of a deployed information system involves the use of the
information system across organizational hierarchies to increase collaboration and
to maximize managerial efficiency. The deployment of information systems in
NetSol has increased managerial efficiency and has created a flat organizational
structure in which the lower level employees are empowered. This is possible due to
increased collaboration tools as well as other tools offered by the NFS mobility suite
that has increased the distribution of information to all organization hierarchies. The
point of sale application mentioned earlier, for instance, has built in collaboration
tools and keeps a track of the teams.
Another tool known as the field investigator displays progress statistics, latest
notifications on a dashboard that allows the teams to get and revise their daily
goals and it allows the top level managers to keep a track of the teams current
performance. Additional features such as GPS tracking and geo-location
functionality help NetSol to overcome the limitations of geographical location and
physical configuration of Network and helps them to keep a track of their teams.
Moreover, collaborative tools such as audio conferencing, video conferencing,
instant messaging, chats, emails, File sharing, event scheduling, work scheduling,
document sharing, mind mapping further boost collaboration and create a
decentralized organizational structure, open culture, in which maximum exchange
of information is done to maximize innovation, managerial efficiency, productivity
and profitability.
As explained before NetSol has deployed systems which protects their data.
This is crucial for them to survive in the market. They have to both empower their
data workers and scientists to take decisions on the projects they are working on
and also protect the same data/information from malware and other companies.
This is only achieved by the IT solutions that are employed. This puts both a

pressure on managers and they organizational hierarchical structure in place.

NetSol has acieved in flattening their hierarchy and empowering their employees.

Technology
The technology part of the organization the use of intelligent architectures,
computer aided designs, customizable or complex but easy to use softwares to
maximize operational excellence to optimize productivity. NetSols NFS Ascents
contract management system is a powerful tool for managing and maintaining
detailed credit contracts that simplifies the most complex business operational
processes in the world. Power tools inside this application also maintain security and
accuracy of lease and loan portfolios while allowing transactions with different
business partners. The computational algorithm in the application allows an
unlimited scalability to accommodate business growth allowing the user to cater
with the business needs. The diagram

below shows NetSol applications for different

components of information system mentioned above.

Figure A: NetSol Mobility Products

NetSol,
different systems
software
realm
Macintosh
and
systems and it is
to
develop
android
and

has
deployed
in place. In the
they
have
both
Windows for their
because they have
applications on both
apple
phones.

Similarly, they have various number of softwares that they use in both management
and production. In the management side they have software coupled with hardware
that allow them to save electricity, monitor employees and also take decisions
related to any goal or objective. And on the opposite side, they have various
powerful hardware loaded systems to help run heavy and resource consuming
softwares for development. These softwares include as basic softwares as Sublime
Texts to having Unity to work on projects needing Virtual Reality. To support such
heavy systems they have different laptops and desktops to work on. They also have
a data center that stores and distributes data. This can be accessed by their
computers. They have up to date i7s and i5s for product development.
They also have deployed different systems for networking and transmitting
data from one place to another. To achieve this goal they bought internet from
Multinet. Hassan Farooq Bhatti, senior associate corporate sale Multinet, told us that
they are providing NetSol with both the infrastructure, fiber optic cables and give
them manageable devices that route the internet to the respective domains to get
the required data.
Summing up, NetSol has invested respectfully in Information Systems that
allow them to continue being the leader in the software industry.

Primary Activities
Logistics
NetSol is a creator of state-of-the-art software for finance and leasing
companies. We can dissect its logistics department into internal and external
counterparts. Internal logistics involve any operations taking place within the
vicinity of NetSol while external logistics involve operations taking place either
outside of NetSol or outside Pakistan.
NetSol recently signed a multimillion dollar contract with TCS Private Limited.
NetSol will retain the global rights to market the logistics solution outside of
Pakistan, both partners may later engage in a global joint venture leveraging
NetSols technological expertise and TCS logistical domain and business process
reengineering expertise.
Inbound logistics includes the receiving and storing materials for distribution
to production. NetSols smartOCI Channel partner program is an on-demand
Business to Business platform that allows the organization to optimize their
procurement process by unifying procurement content from suppliers, standard
stock parts and internal content and presents the results in a unified search
interface. This makes it easier for the procurement team to browse and receive their
desired products on demand. Moreover the distribution and warehousing of

procured products is maintained by NetSols partnership by the TCSs logistical

domain.
Internal logistics include transportation of employees (living outside domain
of Lahore) to and from the office, delivery and recycling of food to staff, managers
and teams travelling abroad via plane and logistics involving field research and
surveys often carried out in projects.

Operations
NetSol is operating in different parts of the world. It has bases in Australia,
China, Pakistan, California (USA) and Sussex (United Kingdom) providing Asset
Finance and Leasing solutions to big organizations and companies such as BNP
Paribas, Baxter, and Investec Finance etc. NetSol drives success by providing the
right solution to business problems in the most efficient of ways, rigorously
following rules and processes which has earned them a strong position among our
clients.
Operations transform inputs into finished products. The inputs acquired by
Nestol are in the form of raw data, raw computational algorithms of how SAP based
solutions, IT applications, Software enterprise applications can be built. It has a
team of software developers and IT specialists that focus on data migration to
convert raw data into meaningful information to build related applications. The
phases of data migration are described as follows

1. Data Analysis:
This phase starts with the defining the overall project, the application to be
built. The project manager then decides a team dedicated to that overall project.
Clear communication of the teams priorities, responsibilities, project criticality are
laid out. Accuracy, visibility, control and security issues are brought up with the
initial data collected and these concerns are handled to further teams specialized at
each tasks. The last part in the data analysis phase is to get acquainted with the
data planned to migrate, it is important to get some picture of the IT based solution
to be developed by getting an information of the quality and quantity of data
received. The ideal quality and quantity of data extracted varies from application to
application i.e developing an online transaction processing system, online analytical
processing system etc.

2.

Data Mapping:

The next step is to decide what data needs to be migrated, these data
elements are mapped onto the fields of the new system to be implemented. This
involves going through the list of data elements from every data source, and
deciding whether to place these in the new system or to compare these fields with
the new system implemented. If the data elements from a data source surpass the
ones in the system, then the data is chosen to be migrated into the new system.

3.

Build phase:

In this phase, a staging database is used as which verifies the data mapping
done and supports the cleansing and transformation of data done. This stage acts
as a reassurance that the data extracted is mapped successfully.

4.

Reconciliation Phase:

This phase takes a subset of data and full monthly data extracted from clients
that this phase highlights to users the historical data or any data elements missing.
That need to be migrated but were not apparent during the analysis sessions. Data
mapping does not always yield the correct results for the first time and it is through
this historical data collected that the users identify that a particular data element
was missing from the system to be implemented. So the system model needs to
revise. NetSol focuses on reaching this stage of new software application fast, so
that issues related to client specific requirements can be accommodated in a timely
manner.

5.

Revision:

System model is revised in accordance with the elements pointed out by the
reconciliation stage. Necessary changes are made to correct the system model. Two
to three iterations are sufficient and once reconciliation and revision stages yield
satisfactory results, necessary changes are made.

6.

Migration:

The final piece of code written is dry run for considerable test cases as the
migrated data should be thoroughly user tested and reconciled. Following a
successful reconciliation, revision, full migration of data takes place and the
software is implemented and distributed.

7.

Maintenance:

Additional software patches and updates are released to boost efficiency of

the finished product/software.

Sales and Marketing

NetSol has clients both local and international. Its mode of marketing is
mostly need based when companies are looking to gain competitive edge over
other companies. Another way is to provide after-sales services which NetSol has
mastered in doing by serving so many clients the best software any tech solution
company has to offer. With new emerging markets NetSol is seeking to create
breakthrough technologies to stay ahead in the competition. With an established
clientele of over 200 companies, NetSol is focusing on more complex
implementations of their solutions that scales well and performs at optimal level.

Since they have an international market base, NetSol can target more companies
globally or in a specific region.
Companies using technologies and legacy software created and provided by
NetSol are going to undergo upgrades, a method to maintain and enhance customer
loyalty.

Figure B: NetSols new Business Pipeline

Service
NetSol is providing services in the form of its products NFS Ascent and NFS
Mobility. NFS Mobility system aims to provide a single regional platform that
improves business visibility and assists with strategic planning with real time
information on mobile phones and tablets. It is designed to save valuable time in
making important decisions, allow collaboration among project teams and high
scalability of businesses.
The Ascent solution offers a smart user experience. With three highly
dynamic and configurable work engines for applying rules and checkpoints at
different levels, for better risk management, automate tasks to speed operations or
even re-engineer business processes to expand their business. These work engines
streamline and automate even the most complex business operations saving time,
resources and delivering unparalleled levels of agility, control and performance from
a local or global perspective.

Apart from its products, NetSol is a business consultancy in designing the IT

infrastructure of an organization. With an experience of over four decades in the
field of finance and leasing, NetSol provides value for its clients to help evolve and
transform their business effectively. It concentrates primarily on matters pertaining
to growth, cost reduction, regulations, risk management, and the general
streamlining of the business processes. NetSol excels in strategically aligning the
business interests of its clients by identifying possible innovations and synergies to
help realize their maximum potential.
NetSols dedicated Information Security Consulting team (InfoSec) has a
wide-ranging and in-depth experience in creating watertight information security
conventions. Their focus is predominantly on regulation compliance, continuous
management, support and governance of security with utmost care given to the
integrity of systems and networks. InfoSec caters to a wide spectrum of issues in
advanced security processes, security consulting, and research and development.
NetSol is an industry leader in customer-centricity; an approach where it
puts its customers first and at the core of its business. NetSols Independent
System Review ensures that its software application is extensively tested before it
goes live. This strong attention to detail has been perfected by NetSol through its 12
years of experience of adherence to industry yardsticks .

Outbound Logistics
Outbound logistics entails storing and distributing finished goods, in NetSol
case being software packages created in their software houses. NetSols partnership
with TCS caters to the delivery of NetSols IT based solutions. Operating in over 3500
locations worldwide, TCS and its affiliated companys services cater with the
warehousing, distribution of NetSols SAP solutions;
While NetSol had been actively expanding its boundaries to foreign land in
the past few years, heavy logistics were involved to transfer important equipment,
hardware and systems equipment to set up the office in the region.

Support Activities
Administration and Management
NetSol has vastly expanded its top tier of management and administrators.
They have included names like Eugen Beckart who worked at Chrysler Daimler
before joining NetSol. Headed by founders Salim, Najeeb and Naeem Ghauri, a

strong network of upper level senior management is key to a multi-faceted

organization like NetSol.

The senior level management includes the following posts

Founder, Chair and Chief Officer
Founder, Director, Head of Global Sales, President
Chair of Nominee, Corporate Governance Committee
Independent Director & Chair of Audit Committee
Chair of Compensation Committee
NetSol consists of a comprehensive management team as well. Posts in the
management team include the following:
Chief Executive Officer
Head of Global Sales
President Legal and Corporate Matters
General Counsel and Corporate Secretary
Chief Financial Officer
Product Head Ascent
Chief Operating Officer
Product Head Ascent
Head of Strategy
Director Australia
Global Program Director
Chief Operating Officer, Europe
Figure 4 (Appendix) explains how the management team works with the
product development team to assess a software for quality. More processes like
these follow to ensure the 100% satisfaction rate claimed by NetSol and in due to a
formalized hierarchy the organization is able to perform and provide excellent
results as shown by their client base and multiple testimonials available on their
website.

Human Resources
NetSol has a strong Human Resources (HR) department that performs several
functions unlike most companies in Pakistan. First, the company conducts nationwide recruitment drives for selection of competent candidates to start their
professional careers at NetSol. HR is responsible for holding information sessions in
different educational institutes where they provide relevant detail regarding the
company, what it strives for and about the hiring process. The IT Company has a
diverse set of departments from IT to marketing and technical support; hence open
to candidates of different fields. Interviews of these candidates and graduates are
taken by NetSol representatives selected by the HR department.

The HR department of NetSol also handles eRMS (employee Response

Management System) that involves insertion of employee details and status,
reimbursement handling, leave emails, follow ups, performance appraisals,
extensions, issue letters as well as managing the employees profile database, for
which NetSol created a dashboard for convenience.
Talent management, performance management and annual audits of NetSols
employees are carried out by the HR department in coordination with the
administration management. Any management concerns and grievances are
handled by the Human Resource department and to tackle such issues, the
mentioned department carries out counselling sessions for its employees.

Technology
NetSol is marketing its next generation solution namely: NFS Ascent and NFS
Mobility, to its clients. These are latest technologies that are set to take over its
legacy solutions and set a benchmark in the field of finance and leasing solutions.
The organization has partnered with well over 200 companies and provided
satisfying products due to which they reached SEI CMMI Maturity Level 5, a rarity
among Pakistani companies.
NFS Ascent comprises of three separate applications to choose from namely
Loan Origination System (LOS), Contract Management System (CMS) and WholeSale
Finance System (WFS) designed to target three differents segments. All provide
enterprise level security, information/intelligence fusion to give the right data at the
right time and business agility to stay ahead of the competition. The backend
features include Business Rule Engine to help automate business decisions,
Business Process Designer that helps manage the dynamic flow of the entire
contract financial business lifecycle and Dynamic Flow Manager assists in capturing,
managing and distribution of information, tasks and requests.
NFS mobility is also among NetSols new technology providing services such
as Field Investigator, mAccount and Point of Sale. All these have several features
such as a smart dashboard for easy navigation, picture verification for improved
security when accessing sensitive data, geo tracking for convenient inventory
management and task management to handle logistics and allow collaboration
within task forces.
NetSols main purpose is to provide automated systems and solutions to
Finance and Leasing companies to enhance their performance and productivity, help
in improving decision making at the right time. The IT Company has been able to
provide that with the above mentioned cutting edge technology . NFS Ascent
breakdown is shown in Figure 5 (Appendix).

Procurement
Since NetSol is a software development company, it does not procure
materials in the traditional sense. A large degree of its procurement is information,
employees and managers since the business model is not a brick and mortar one.
But NetSol however does procure a large amount of computing necessities including
systems, point of sales terminals, handheld devices etc. NFS Ascent and Mobility
come with hardware components that NetSol provides.
Most of these systems come from warehouses and direct suppliers
internationally. Along with this NetSol procures items needed for its day to day
workings which work indirectly in value addition of existing products.
Through expansion, to countries like USA and Australia, a large degree of
procurement happens to set up offices and systems abroad. These also contribute
to indirectly increasing value to existing products and help create new products.But
the major part of NetSols value chain remains, information and knowledge. The
core component at the heart of NetSol would always be skilled programmers,
efficient managers and experienced senior management.

Business Process workflow

Online Contract Placement
The online contract management placement begins when the users initiate
contracts and the accounting and finance department process that request with the
help of authoring different word processing too and previous redlined terms in
different contracts are compared to note potential discrepancies in the contract, any
financial discrepancy, additional costs associated with the contract placement. Once
extensive negotiation is done, approval to form the contract is granted. The
manufacturing and production department manages the obligations bounded by the
contract and ensures that certain rights are granted and deliverables are met in the
allotted time frame. The manufacturing and production department also oversee
the potential contract renewal process. If a particular contract has been beneficial
for NetSol, the manufacturing and production department coordinates with the
accounting department and after the approval is granted it renews those contracts
that have been beneficial for NetSol. The Human Resources department carries out
a range of a valuable audit and reporting tools such as contract compliance alerts,
audit tracking at field level and on-demand report generation and amends all

documents pertaining to a particular contract so that it is easier to fully analyze a

contracts potential. Refer to the workflow diagram in Appendix (Figure 6).

Online Billing Process

The online billing process begins with an invoice input sent to the sales
department, which verifies the type of data entry, i.e. whether the invoice is for a
monthly, daily or on-demand bill. The accounting department checks the total dues
pertaining to that service and then clears the amount by subtracting the amount
given from the amount due. The manufacturing and production department then
generates a receipt and sends it to the Human Resources department which
updates the customer data records. Moreover, it also has a record of the customers
billing history so for loyal customers it does send out certain incentives for various
services at NetSol. Refer to the workflow diagram in Appendix (Figure 7).

Online Employee Recruitment

The online employee recruitment process starts with the sales and marketing
department, as it sends out a recruitment requisition in which there is a pre-defined
criteria and eligibility for various jobs offered at NetSol. After that it generates a
data entry/ applicant tracking ID for each application that it receives. The Human
Resources department then selects applicants who meet the recruitment criteria
and successful candidates with the required skillset are trained according to the
skillset and job they have applied to. The Accounting department calculates the
compensation that needs to be given for each employee for their service and
hardworking candidates at NetSol are rewarded with promotions and other
employee friendly packages. The Manufacturing and Production department assigns
tasks to trained employees according to their skillset and emphasis is placed on
innovative and creative ideas to produce new products for efficient solutions to
common IT problems. Refer to the workflow diagram in Appendix (Figure 8).

Loan Origination System

The Loan origination process beings with a request from the borrower to get
some loan. The sales department generates an entry and the accounting
department evaluates the credit of the the employee, the employees past records,
loan history, time period in which the loan was returned, outstanding dues and then
grants an approval if certain prerequisites are met for each of these sub-divisions of
evaluation. The Manufacturing and Production department then documents the loan
process and is accepted by the human resources department which establishes a
committee that supervises the disbursement of aid/loan. Refer to Appendix (Figure
9).

Performance the I.S

NetSol as an organization dealing with technological solutions in Finance and
Leasing has to utilize Information Systems to measure and analyze performance of
its products and carry out transactions to stay ahead of the competition. There are
several factors that can cause major impediments to the organization, of which
each of them are described below with the solution NetSol has devised to tackle
them.

Management:
Their management as seen in the previous deliverables involves an intricate
hierarchy. To give a response to a particular request, the turnover time (the actual
time taken for completion of an action) is quite high. Since NetSol has more than
1500+ employees locally and internationally, it is difficult to process all transactions
and requests.
Spanning different continents and parts like North America and Asia Pacific.
NetSol follows largely the same management pattern with some small regional
differences. It has a scalable model which has been fine-tuned over decades of
existence and expansion over the world. Management it seems has been the top
objectives when it comes to their solutions and IS has helped them achieve their
goal for themselves too. NetSol has developed management software for their own
running that presents a high level and low level view of all operations that are going
on, helping the management make strategic decisions at the right place and at the
right time. Dashboard views, report generation, collaboration and reporting are
some of the functions that help provide managers with accurate and appropriate
information.

Technological:
A tech giant like NetSol would have very little they could improve when it comes to
collisions between IS and its technology. NetSol has worked very hard to use cutting
edge technology to compliment their strategic goal and their existing assets. It has
made it their strategic aim to help other companies to use technology and IS to
meet their own strategic objectives. NFS Ascent and Mobility are products aimed at
maximizing usage of IT in achieving objectives as an organization. Technology
similarly has helped NetSol itself where a combination of hardware (top of the line
desktops, clusters, laptops, storage and networking devices), software (MIS, TPS,
collaboration tools etc), networking (servers, hosting services, Linux/Unix) and
storage (cloud storage services, Amazon web services) help NetSol derive maximum
benefits from their IS helping their strategic objectives of creating IT solutions for
big names like TESLA.

Culture:
Culture is a borrowed concept from the discipline of anthropology and has
been an important issue in management and international management for NetSol,
and in information systems in particular. The culture can affect the organizations in
both ways either success or failure of adoption of any technology.
With the increase in the number of employees (upto 500+ in the office based
in Lahore), NetSol conducted training sessions for veteran and experienced
employees of the company to make transitioning to newer technology easy through
hands-on simulation and testing of their products. The purpose of adaptive culture
is to help management not face any difficulties when performing crucial tasks and
adoption of technology actually drives productivity as it is visible in its topline
products: NFS Ascent and NFS Mobility.
The technical support department is tasked to instruct new recruits with
background in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering to help them through
understanding legacy codes so they are able to better solve complex problems and
work with a team that appreciates team-work, openness and information sharing.

Technological acceptance:
The technological acceptance within NetSol is given high priority because
without it the organization would face a plethora of impediments. In order to
promote acceptance project teams are encouraged to participate in the design,
research and implementation of projects. More participation among users and
testers establishes trust in the success of the project as they are the prime locators
of issues and loopholes in the new technology. On a personal meeting with the CEO
of the company, Salim Ghauri, said that he himself visits and tries the new
technology/software in development and then asks his other colleagues in the office
to use it and find bugs or issues.
This methodology involves imparting otherwise hidden knowledge among
peers and allows the developers to improve and correct any faults in the existing
system in order to optimize NetSols Information System (IS). This inculcates a
feeling to exceed and perform well; therefore, prompting the employees to learn
new technology and keep themselves update.

Seven main components IT Infrastructures

On our meeting with the Director of the Information Technology, Mr. Asif
Zafar, we were able to extract valuable information regarding the components that
make up the Information System of NetSol and the backend softwares used to
operationalize the system and its products user globally.

Computer hardware platforms

The director of IT stated that different types of hardware and devices are
used in the IT sphere of NetSol. Server machines, Desktop machines, network
devices. Server machines are used for hosting the corporate infrastructure services
as well as the development and testing machines normally in the form of Virtual
Machines (VM). There are network devices/hardwares such as routers, network
switches, access points, wireless controllers. On the desktop sides there are laptops
and workstations utilized by developers in the software house.

Operating system platforms

Microsoft Windows is the prime choice of operating system both on the clientend side and also on the server side. For corporate infrastructure platforms and
developer testing side Windows is still preferred. In few cases some softwares have
been tested on Linux and Unix based systems as well in but otherwise its use is
limited.

Enterprise software applications

As far as enterprise software is concerned NetSol does not make use of offthe-shelf softwares but they have applications that are developed and built inhouse; that is, in the software house. Example of the Human Resource department
is managed electronically by their self-developed dashboard system: ERMS,
Electronic Resource Management System. Similarly they have developed several
other applications for duty tracking and performance evaluation.
The marketing and finance department does not use full-fledged systems but
rather marketing tools that assist in extracting statistics and daily transactions
taking place in NetSol.

Data management and storage

NetSol utilizes DAAS (Database-as-a-Service) but for specialized requirements
such as performance testing or load testing the company uses SAN (Storage Area
Network).

Networking/telecommunications platforms
The director specifically stated that the company uses CISCO at the network
layer. At the distribution and access layers, the company utilizes CISCO again.
Intrusion prevention systems and firewalls, all the layers surrounding the network
and hardware devices of which the director refused to disclose the name of the
brand.

Internet platforms
NetSol has ample bandwidth available to carry out important tasks,
transactions and decision making. Along with bandwidth they also have
redundant/multiple links to the internet in order to ensure there is backup available
if there is a system crash or failure or any other faults from the software side, to
keep the system functioning at all times. NetSol has backups in terms of media,
service providers, and tiers of the country backbone. Pakistan has two main tiers or
internet cable lines (Transworld Atlantic. NetSol has links from multiple service
providers that are interconnected to these two tier.

Consulting system integration services

The IT services provided to internal employees of NetSol are taken care by
the company itself. NetSol has not outsourced its IT services so most of what they
have is registered and managed by the company themselves. There is a necessity
for vendors from whom hardware and software items are procured. The vendors
support is needed from time to time but it depends upon the situation and need.
DellTM is the provider of hardware, workstations and after sale services for
employees of NetSol.

Strengths, Weaknesses and Our Recommendations

NetSol being a supergiant of the tech industry especially in the Asian region,
would have mastered their IT and IS needs to a large extent. However, nothing is
perfect and there is always room for improvement.
Computer hardware platforms at NetSol
architecture. Beyond the standard setup of laptops,
routers, access points and switches, we have a
Machine) architecture. NetSol has a centralized hub

have a heavy client server

desktops, workstation, clusters,
heavy reliance on VM (Virtual
of computing power in the form

of clusters that have multiple instances of operating systems running. This helps the
firm run more standardized and powerful tests with state of the art machinery.
However, advantage of a centralized computing power is also its disadvantage. Any
degree of centralized structure, if fails, would fail everything around it. This being
the main disadvantage of the mainframe model in the early days of computing.
However, a centralized structure maintained properly is not prone to failure and can
bring about unparalleled mobile computing power. AWS (Amazon Web Services) is
the industry leader in cloud computing and provides powerful machines running VM
for very small costs. A 32 core 64 GB computer would be a few dollars an hour. Now,
our reason for recommending AWS would be the state of the art data centre
Amazon has which has virtually zero chance of failing. It is also cheaper than
owning your own large computing power and will be more secure than most
homebrewed solutions. So we recommend NetSol to shift to AWS cloud computing
solutions.
Coming on to Data Management and Storage, NetSol uses DAAS (Data as a
service) which is an offshoot of the SAAS (software as a service) computing model.
It is a relatively new approach to data management and has its ups and downs. In
DAAS data is stored in a centralized authority and can be accessed online through a
server accessing page. API calls are made to the server usually on a pay per call
basis and results are displayed to your machine in a format like a graph or a scatter
plot. DAAS is good at keeping abstraction of data and users preventing the data to
be mistreated and safe from human error. It also keeps the data secure as it is
contained in the central authority. However, common disadvantages of DAAS would
be the same as that of any centralized authority. Although it provides access to data
everywhere, you cant actually access the data or see it in its raw form. You can only
see it in readable format through API calls limiting flexibility. Also, like above, a
centralized authority is never safe from failing and since it is remote, there will
always be server downtime. However, DAAS is an industry standard and has its pros
largely outweigh its cons.
NetSol has its networking laid out and implemented by CISCO. CISCO being
the industry leader in networking has made sure everything is state of the art.
CISCO performs frequent updates and security fixes to make sure everything works
as planned with minimum downtime. The networking of NetSol is top notch and we
cant recommend anything better or find any major weaknesses. The network
platforming at NetSol is also commendable with connections to multiple tiers of
internet providers directly to the source along with have multiple backup internet
options making sure that no link ever goes down. All in all NetSol has internet and
networking handled very efficiently and have minimized downsides through good
choices and proper investment.
Operating Systems wise, NetSol has stuck with Windows on server and client
sides with minor testing Linux and Unix testing. However, distributions of Linux like

Ubuntu are not that uncommon. With operating systems, you cant really go wrong
with Windows. Although Linux and Unix are considered better for secure server
hosting, Windows Server distributions are very secure and have upgraded to almost
Linux and Unix standards. Development and client side is done on Windows which
suits the applications theyre developing. Although Linux and Unix are better for
secure hosting, NetSol has its OS choices on track.
Discussing their choices regarding the Enterprise Software Systems, they use
the ones they have built in house. It provides them with two major advantages:
firstly, the software is tailor made by the company that intends to use it and
secondly, that any issues they run into they have the developers present that can
help them in recovering from the issues. This also helps them in their business
because they are themselves the first ones to use the software and that allows
them to not only test it but also amend any flaws they find in it. Also, when they
need something new done they are able to get their own manpower invested on it;
because NetSol have a high number of employees, they can invest their human
resources to get the job done. So, they are right on track with their Enterprise
Software choices.
As explained earlier, NetSol has its own systems and functions in place to get
the job done. One major reason of doing so is because of the nature of industry they
are in. they are in software and technology solutions, so having a system developed
by another company does not reflect well on their image. That is why NetSol,
provides itself all sort of IT assistance it needs. They have internal IT department
that takes care of all the work and assistance required. For their hardware
requirements they have a list of vendors that help them in procurement of different
systems and stuff. So, if keeping their integrity intact is important to them that they
should not hire any consultant but we believe that sometime a new view from a
different vantage point is helpful so they can either have experts visit different
branches so they can help them get an opinion from a different angle.

References

http://www.slideshare.net/NetSol_Technolgies/NetSol-investor-presentation-2013
Ir.NetSoltech.com/financials
http://www.mobility.NetSoltech.com/#nav-pos
http://www.NetSoltech.com/products/#nfsmobility
http://ascent.NetSoltech.com/retail/#los
http://ascent.NetSoltech.com/
http://www.NetSoltech.com/products/#nfsascent

http://www.NetSoltech.com/consultancy/#Information-security

http://www.atheebNetSol.com/solutions/smartoci.htm
http://www.determine.com/resources/guide/contract-management-process#.Vv_E4E997IU
http://career.NetSoltech.com/content.php?ulid=1908-NetSol-how-can-i-apply-at-NetSol
https://www.google.com.pk/search?q=online+recruitment+flowchart&tbm=isch&imgil=qYeVWKvZQFrWXM
%253A%253BupcJsTafN0Sz_M%253Bhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fcreately.com%25252Fblog
%25252Fdiagrams%25252Ftop-10-flowchart-ideas-for-your-small-business
%25252F&source=iu&pf=m&fir=qYeVWKvZQFrWXM%253A%252CupcJsTafN0Sz_M%252C_&usg=__s6wZOKlhlER6axs0mAAUoxD79w
%3D&biw=1366&bih=599&ved=0ahUKEwiSpJvPkfLLAhXBfhoKHVdKBFIQyjcIIw&ei=_t8AV5KtNcH9adeUk
ZAF#imgrc=qYeVWKvZQFrWXM%3A

Appendix
Figure 1:

Figure 1: NetSol Financial Suite (NFS) framework and process overview

Figure 2:

Figure 2: Sample TPS Quote for NetSol for the month of February 2016

Figure 3:

Figure 3: Historical data for NetSol Technologies

Figure 4:

Figure 4: NetSol Management Hierarchy

Figure 5:

Figure 5: NFS Ascent Component breakdown

Figure 6:

Figure 7:

Figure 8:

Figure 9:

Table 1:

December 31,2015

December 31, 2014

Cash flows from operating activities

$ 1,538,935

($3,735,156)

Depreciation and amortization

$3,512,489

$4,621,096

Provision for bad debts

$37,043

Loss on sale of assets

$14,206

$ 80,595

Net Income (loss)

Adjustments to reconcile net income (loss) to
net cash provided by operating activities

Stock issued for services

$326,019

$606,536

Fair market value of warrants & stock and options

granted

$145,716

$311,244

Accounts receivable

$111,967

($2,279,774)

Accounts receivable - related party

($2,383,828)

$40,907

Revenues in excess of billing

$535,937

($765,672)

Other current assets

($758,802)

$286,838

Changes in operating assets and liabilities

Accounts payable and accrued expenses

Unearned revenue

$142,008

$59

($1,190,072)

$4,857,469

Net cash provided by operating activities

$2,031,618

$4,024,124

Purchases of property and equipment

($1,177,443)

($1772,866)

Sales of property and equipment

$357,933

$ 179,904

Purchase of non-controlling interest in

subsidiaries

($347,623)

($577,222)

Net Cash used in investing activities

($1,167,133)

($2,170,184)

Proceeds from sale of common stock

$ 64,931

$ 1,610,000

Proceeds from exercise of stock options &

warrants

$ 194680

Restricted cash

$ 2,438,844

Dividend paid by subsidiary to non-controlling

interest

($780,106)

Proceeds from bank loans

$ 306,750

$ 57,405

Cash flows from investing activities

Cash flows from financing activities

$ 116,400

Payments on capital lease obligations and loansnet

($530,733)

($ 2,867,974)

Net cash provided by financing activities

$ 35,628

$ 574,569

Effect of exchange rate changes

($1,082,297)

($404,696)

Net increase(decrease) in cash and cash

equivalents

($182,184)

$ 2,023,831

Cash and cash equivalents, beginning of the

period

$ 14,168,957

$ 11,462,695

Cash and cash equivalents, end of period

$ 13,986,773

$ 13,486,526

$ 132,764

$ 107,418

$ 156,737

$ 74,850

Cash paid during the period for

Interest
Taxes

Table 2:

Rs (Million)

2015 (NFS Ascent)

2014 (NFS)

Change

Net Revenue

702

341

105.7%

Cost of Revenue

571

457

25%

Gross Profit

131

116

Gross Margin

18.6%

-33.6%

Selling & promotion

expenditure

56

41

37.7%

Administrative
expenditure

119

127

-6.4%

Other income

14

88

-84.1%

Operating Margin

-7%

-76.4%

Net Profit/(loss)

(62)

(274)

-77.3%

Net Margin

-8.9%

-80.3%

Table 2: NFS Ascent vs NFS