Ta' Xbiex has seen an impressive upgrade these past years but even so I was not prepared for the experience of walking into a comfortable, well-lit, huge floor in one of the newer buildings on Abate Rigord Street to find an international company that services the IT needs of top multinational companies operating from there.

Despite the bustle because the next day there was to be the inauguration of the office, Chairman Yaniv Natan  and CEO Reuben Muscat found the time to explain what Tek Experts is all about and about its very rapid expansion in Malta.

Tek Experts is a blue chip IT firm and global leader in the provision of customer-centric outsourced IT and software solutions.  Apart from Malta, Tek Experts have offices in Costa Rica, Bulgaria, Vietnam and China. The organisation employs over 1,500 people worldwide and offers support services to companies in more than 20 languages including English, Spanish, German, Russian, Korean, Chinese, Japanese and Arabic

The company originated in Sofia, Bulgaria four years ago.

The company's management discovered Malta last year. Visits were paid to the island and by August the Tek Experts office in Malta had opened with 20 employees.

These have now grown to 60 and the company intends to grow to 140 by the end of this year.

Essentially, the company provides IT expertise to high-end companies by liaising between the providers and the IT sections of its clients, including trouble-shooting, assessing upgrade needs and basically hand-handling on the IT side.

One of its sections consists of IT experts, with some Maltese and expat employees while another section is staffed by persons who speak the languages of the clients as natural speakers who keep strict liaison with the clients on a daily basis.

Malta attracted the Tek Experts management because of the country's membership of the EU, because of the skill with English of practically all Maltese, because in Malta nothing is more than half an hour away, but most importantly because in Malta the Tek Experts management found a workforce that is highly educated including in IT. Above all, what attracted them to Malta was the pro-work mentality of the employees, the young people especially who were very keen to learn. This matched the DNA of the company itself.

Furthermore, in Malta the Tek Experts management found a very pro-active official side, from Malta Enterprise to the government.

Speaking at the inauguration of the company's premises in Ta' Xbiex Yaniv said "we have selected Malta as our fifth global hub because Malta is open and pro-business. It is also geared up to assist companies to set up shop in Malta in a relatively short period of time. Furthermore, Malta also has a trained work force most of whom are fluent in English and another European language. It is also a member of the European Union and is located at the gateway to Mediterranean, Middle East and Africa.  All of these factors make being in Malta a very attractive place for companies and particularly companies like ours."

The company invests heavily in training which is ongoing whatever the length of time an employee has been with the company. As I was going around, I could see some newer employees being helped by a monitor next to them. Training is given not just on the technical side but also on the product lines of the products that are coming out as well as on the company's way of servicing its clients.

The clients normally ask for back-up in the increasingly complex world of IT products especially as the clients business grows and they need to move upwards to more complex levels.

The clients, as said, are top multinationals who require support on their IT needs such as software development, etc. What they require regarding IT is normally out of their range. They require help and they require it immediately.

That is why, for instance, some of the Tek Experts Malta employees begin work as early as 6am, so that they take over from the Costa Rica office and can handle requests from people in different timezones, although the Malta office is aimed at the European and Middle East markets.

Sometimes, the clients require the Tek Experts employees to help out with their (the clients') clients especially as regards software products. It is not rare that these clients' clients find themselves talking to Tek Experts employees in Malta to solve their problems.

Tek Experts CEO, Reuben Muscat went on to say that "having been in operation in Malta for six months we already feel a part of the community.  Since our arrival in Malta we've embarked on a significant staff recruitment programme; recruiting people both locally and overseas, and from an initial  staff complement of 20 employees we now employ 60  and expect to continue to increase that number to 140 in the next 12 months. As with all Tek Experts operations we are committed to building our Maltese business and investing in our people, our office and the location where we operate."

TEK Experts Malta is not servicing any company located in Malta but it is using Malta as a hub to service other countries in Europe and the Middle East.

The Tek Experts management consider themselves to be very lucky to have found many talented young people at the University of Malta. The company then trains the new recruits further both from the technical side and also through the company's induction process on how to handle clients. Some of the training is done at the Malta office while some is done through telephone and internet links with experts at the other Tek offices.

With the IT sector being in continual evolution, any initial investment has to be very high, which is why the company in Malta is for the long haul, rather than a short term stay.

Mr Natan added that "Tek Experts today has a proven track record of delivering professional, high quality IT support services to some of the world's leading companies. Typically, these companies have a global presence and use our services to meet their needs quickly, flexibly and affordably. Our business is built on trust and loyalty. We give our customers every reason to have confidence in our ability to deliver. We are committed to recruiting, training and investing in the local workforce, who will be offered a career in IT and telecommunications.  Our dedicated teams will be trained to support our valued customers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week."