1SEPTEMBER 2020

5th ISV

Summit & Awards 2020

Recogn i s i ng Tech D i s r up to r s

VIRTUAL.......Page 8

Inside

Coverage on

iValue Readywith the

DigitizationJourneyKrishna Raj Sharma

Director & CEO, iValue InfoSolutions.......Page 16

� Northern � Eastern � Maharashtra � Gujarat � MP & Chattisgarh � North East � Southern � UP & Uttarakhand � Bihar & Jharkhand

Connec� ng with Solu� on Provider in

E M E R G I N G M A R K E T� Vol X Issue 6 � September 2020 � Pages 32

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Drones have Reduced the Risk of Spread of Virus

Niju Nair, Director, Business Management, aSEaN region, Detroit Engineered Products (DEP)

C o n t e n tCOVER STORY 8

SOLUTION SHOWCASE

IN CONVERSATION

Vertiv Solutions are Essential Services as per Government Guidelines

ISV SummIt & AwArdS 2020 FortiFies india’s Vision to become

Global saas Powerhouse

a.S. PraSaD, General Manager, Product Management & Marketing, Vertiv

iValue Ready with the Digitization Journey

KriShNa raj SharMa, Director & CEO, iValue infoSolutions

Ekin Unveils First Experience Centre in KolkataCHANNEL NEWS 27

Citrix Among Top Collaboration Platforms

ENTERPRISE NEWS 28

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jithESh MaNOharaN, CEO of techcloudpro, Vibing World inc

SMEs Need to Automate Back-Ends to Improve Business Process Efficiencies

20

SaMEEr MahaPatra, Country Manager & VP Sales, india & SaarC, aeris Communications

Amalgamation of IoT, AI and 5G will Drive Connected Vehicles

26

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COVER STORY

The India’s largest thought-leadership platform for Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) offered expert insights and directions for building

strategies for fund-raising, skill development and go-to-market as they prepare for their journey to become global SaaS organizations

By Kalpana SinghalBy Kalpana Singhal

ISV SUMMIT & AWARDS 2020 ISV SUMMIT & AWARDS 2020 FORTIFIES INDIAÊS VISION FORTIFIES INDIAÊS VISION TO BECOME GLOBAL SAAS TO BECOME GLOBAL SAAS

POWERHOUSEPOWERHOUSEThe 5th Edition Saw Record Participation The 5th Edition Saw Record Participation

with over 1200 Attendeeswith over 1200 Attendees

VIJAY JAYARAMAN VIJAY JAYARAMAN Director, System Engineering, Director, System Engineering, Citrix IndiaCitrix India

GIRISH MATHRUBOOTHAMGIRISH MATHRUBOOTHAMFounder & CEO freshworksFounder & CEO freshworks

JAY SWAMIDASS JAY SWAMIDASS Head of Cloud and SP sales SAARC Head of Cloud and SP sales SAARC region - Veeam Softwareregion - Veeam Software

9SEPTEMBER 2020

COVER STORY

The ISV Summit and Awards 2020, pegged as the largest congregation and thought-leadership platform to build a strong ISV Community in India, has recently concluded its flagship fifth edition. Organized for the first time virtually due to COVID-19 pandemic, the summit saw record participation from over 1200 ISVs, SaaS Providers, Solution VARs, MSPs, Tech Leaders, and IT OEMs.

Organized by Techplus Media, the leading new-age and disruptive B2B marketing technology media house, the industry’s premier ISV event not only deliberatedon the challenges faced by SaaS businesses but also offered directions on the customers’ software priorities and expectations, GTM strategies and ISV success stories.

The phenomenal success of the ISV Summit underlined the fact that during the COVID-19 pandemic Digital Transformation has emerged as the real saviour as businesses re-invent their processes and go-to-market strategies to remain relevant for the customers. The event highlighted that ISVs are the real agents of Digital Transformation and recognized their ardent endeavour to innovate and deliver customer experience.AsIndia’s share in the global SaaS market is expected to triple over the next 5 years, ISVs will play a crucial role in taking the software development to the next level. As per market estimates, India is likely to become a $10 billion revenue industry with an eight percent share of the global SaaS revenues by 2025.

The summit commenced with an exciting opening keynote on critical insights to address challenges in the fund-raising process from Professor Thillai Rajan, Department of

Management Studies, IIT Madras. He said that angel investors’ investment preferences are dynamic; hence, their past investment patterns cannot be used as a guide to determine their future investment preferences. “Even though an entrepreneur is targeting the right investor, the inertia on the part of the investor has to be overcome before one can start getting attention. The best way to break open the inertia is to approach it very systematically, as it brings with it a certain amount of force to overcome the inertia barriers. A systematic approach signifies passion to the venture, which is very much appreciated by the investors,” explained Rajan.

Further, Girish Mathrubootham, Founder & CEO, Freshworks, in his guest keynote,

stressed on the need to ignore few advises in order to come out successfully on our vision and mission. He revealed that many people advised them to move out of Chennai during their earlier days and few recommended them to move to Silicon Valley as they became a $54 million company. “However, we were passionate to build the world-class company from India. In fact, the successful execution of India’s Mission Mars in the first attempt encouraged us to believe in ourselves and build a global, $1 billion revenue product company from India. Silicon Valley is regarded for the talent availability; hence our mission is to create the talent pool in the country. This led us to open up the Freshworks Playbook to deliver courses and mini-mentoring programs,” said Mathrubootham while elaborating on his success story.

“We are extremely happy to say that we are seeing emergence of global SaaS start-ups from India. In fact, the next wave of software product companies is coming our way,” he added.

The summit witnessed a thought-provoking panel discussion on theNew Software Priorities of 2020 for CIOs and their Expectations from SaaS Companies. The panel moderated by Feroz Khan, Partner & Head, Digital Advisory, KPMG India, consisted of industry leaders including Prasanna Lohar, Head, Digital, Innovation and Architecture, DCB Bank; Sunil Kumar Pandey, Professor and Director (IT), Institute of Technology and Science, Ghaziabad; and Pooja Chatrath, CIO, Cryoviva Biotech. While starting the discussion, Khan noted that SaaS is witnessing uptake from emerging organizations because of their

PrOf. thillai rajaN, IIT Madras, Associate - Harvard University, Co-founder - YNOS Venture Engine and Geonomics Research and Tech

POOja Chatrath, CIO, Cryoviva Biotech

Dr. SuNil KuMar PaNDEy, Professor & Director (IT), Institute of Technology & Science

fErOz KhaN, Partner & Head Digital Advisory, KPMG India

PraSaNNa lOhar, Chief Innovation Officer, DCB BANK

2710 SEPTEMBER 2020

ISV AWARD WINNERSCategory Group Winner

Most Innovative Solution of the Year Startup Group Hari Om Tatsat Technologies

Best Data Classification Solution Startup Group Klassify Technology Pvt. Ltd.

Best ERP Solution of the Year Startup Group Solution Enterprises

Best Ed-Tech Solution Startup Group Ensonic Computech Pvt. Ltd.

Best RPA Solution of the Year - PROCMATE Startup GroupCompusoft Advisors India Pvt. Ltd.

Best Telecom Solution Startup Group Neron Informatics Pvt. Ltd.

Enterprise Mobility Management Solution of the Year Startup Group Esmito Solutions Pvt. Ltd.

Most Innovative Clean Tech Solution Startup Group Mudita & Radhesh Pvt. Ltd.

Most Innovative Solution of the Year Startup Group Porter (Resfeber Labs Pvt. Ltd.)

Most Innovative Solution of the Year Startup Group Idea Bridge

Most Innovative Transport Tech Solution Startup Group Yulu

Most Promising Blockchain Solution Startup Group Pingala Software India Pvt. Ltd.

Most Promising IoT Solution Startup Group Pingala Software India Pvt. Ltd.

Most Innovative Fintech Solution of the Year Startup Group Finway Capital

Big Data or Analytics Solution of the Year Startup GroupYNOS Venture Engine CC Pvt. Ltd.Private Limited

Best SaaS Solution of the Year Startup Group evalo

Best IT Consulting Partner of the Year SME GroupHarbinger Analytical Consulting Private Limited

Enterprise Integrated Security Solution of the Year SME Group Techfruits Solutions Pvt. Ltd.

SaaS Solution of the Year SME Group Ascent Technology Consulting

Vertical Market Solution of the Year SME Group Saranyu Technologies Pvt. Ltd.

Best CRM Solution of the Year SME Group Vtiger

Best Financial Solution of the Year SME Group Busy Infotech Pvt. Ltd.

Best HRMS Solution of the Year SME Group Beehive Software Services Pvt. Ltd.

Best IoT Solution of the Year SME Group Atlanta Systems Pvt. Ltd.

Best Retail Technology Solution of the Year SME Group Capillary Technologies

Most Promising IoT Solution of the Year SME GroupSomnetics Som Imaging Informatics Pvt. Ltd.

Restaurant Management Software Award 2020 SME Group GoFrugal Technologies Pvt. Ltd.

Intelligent Cloud Management Solution SME Group Centilytics

Next Generation Human Resource Management Solution of the Year

SME Group La Exactlly Software Pvt. Ltd.

11SEPTEMBER 2020

ISV AWARD WINNERSCategory Group Winner

Best Telecom Solution Govt. C-DOT Systems Pvt. Ltd.

Most Innovative Solution of the Year Govt. IFTAS

Best IT Consulting Partner of the Year Enterprise Group DigitalTrack Solutions Pvt. Ltd.

Best Managed Service Provider of the Year Enterprise Group Futurenet Technologies India Pvt. Ltd.

Big Data, IoT or Analytics Solution of the Year Enterprise Group Philips Innovation Campus

Government/Utilities Solution of the Year Enterprise Group Allied Digital Services Limited

Most Innovative Networking Solution of the Year Enterprise Group M/s Networks

Most Promising IoT Solution of the Year Enterprise Group Schneider Electric India Pvt. Ltd.

Next Generation Human Resource Management solution of the Year

Enterprise Group factoHR

Most Innovative Solution for Asset Management Enterprise Group Robosoft Technologies

Best Cloud Data Management Solution of the Year Enterprise Group Veeam Software

Best Contract Lifecycle Management Solution of the Year Enterprise Group Sironlabs

Best Enterprise Content Management Solution Enterprise Group Newgen Software Technologies Ltd.

Best Enterprise Email Solution Enterprise Group IceWarp Inc.

Best Helpdesk ISV 2020 – Fresh Desk Enterprise Group Freshworks Inc.

Best Integrated Security Solution of the Year Enterprise Group Seclore Technology Pvt. Ltd.

Best Managed Services Provider of the Year Enterprise Group Spectra

Best Mobile Testing Platform Enterprise Group BrowserStack

Best Smart City Solution Enterprise Group Ramboll India Pvt. Ltd.

Best Telecom Infrastructure Solution Enterprise Group Ramboll India Pvt. Ltd.

Most Innovative Artificial Intelligence (AI) Solution of the Year

Enterprise Group Analyttica Datalab Pvt. Ltd.

Most Innovative Data Science Solution Enterprise Group Course5 Intelligence Pvt. Ltd.

Most Innovative EdTech Solution Enterprise Group Simplilearn Inc.

Most Innovative Fintech Solution Enterprise GroupFinnew Solutions Pvt. Ltd. (Niyo Solutions)

Vertical Market Solution of the Year for PREMIATM Insurance Solutions Suite

Enterprise Group 3i Infotech Limited

Most Innovative Artificial Intelligence (AI) Solution of the Year

Enterprise Group Xebia Global Services

Best BPM Solution of the Year Enterprise Group Pegasystems India

Most Promising IoT Solution of the Year Enterprise Group Tata Communications Ltd.

Most Promising IoT Solution Enterprise Group E Infochips Private Limited

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Top Business DigiTal TrasnformaTion parTnerVENKAT MURTHY, Founder & CEO, 22by7

LALIT CHOUDHARY, Director, Aadhar Infonet Pvt. Ltd.

BIREN SHAH, Managing Director, Adit Microsys Pvt. Ltd.

MANOJ PATEL, Managing Director Amity Infosoft (P) Ltd.

SANDEEP ARYA, Chairman, Amtrak Technologies Pvt. Ltd.

GURPREET SINGH, Managing Director, Arrow PC Network Pvt. Ltd.

PIYUSH MITTAL, Managing Director, Asset Infotech Ltd.

DEEPAK KAGLIWAL, Managing Partner and Global head - Sales & Marketing, Blazeclan

BHASKAR KALITA, Director, BMG Solutions

PRARTHANA GUPTA, CEO, Cache Digitech Pvt. Ltd.

K.V. JAGANNATH, Managing Director & CEO, Choice Solutions Ltd.

NANDINI SHARMA, Director, Comnet Resources Pvt Ltd

PK SHARMA, Director, Comnet Vision (i) Pvt. Ltd.

PRANAV PANDYA, Co-Founder and Chairman, Dev Information Technology Ltd.

SUMEET PRAKASH, Director, Emarson Infotech Pvt Ltd

RAJNI KANT DAS, CEO, E-Soft Solutions Inc.

NITYANAND SHETTY, Founder & CEO, Essenvision Software Private Ltd.

KSHITIJ KOTAK, CEO, Fortune Grecells Pvt. Ltd.

VIPUL DATTA, CEO, Future Soft Solutions Pvt. Ltd.

ASHOK LAKSHMICHANDRAN, CEO, Futurenet Technologies Pvt. Ltd.

SUBBARAM GOWRA, Managing Director, Gowra Bits & Bytes Pvt. Ltd.

VIMESH AVLANI, Director, Graftronics

MANOJ KANODIA, CEO, Inspira Enterprise India Pvt. Ltd.

ADITYA NARAIN KAKKAR, Director, Intensity Global Technologies Pvt. Ltd.

NILESH KUVADIA, Founder Director, ITCG Solutions Pvt. Ltd.

PRASHANT JAIN, Founder, JNR Management Resources Pvt. Ltd.

Top 10 VaD

Compuage Infocom Ltd.

Inflow Technologies

Ingram Micro India Pvt. Ltd.

iValue Infosolutions

Redington India Ltd.

RP tech India

Savex Technologies Pvt. Ltd.

Supertron Electronics Pvt. Ltd.- Value Added Distribution

Techdata

Technobind

KAVITA SINGHAL, Director, Kamtron Systems Pvt. Ltd.

AMARNATH SHETTY, Managing Director, LDS Infotech

MANASI SAHA, Founder, Macaws Infotech

RAJAN ARORA, Director, Megahertz Infotech

VENU GOPAL PERURI, Founder, Meta Infotech Pvt. Ltd.

DEVENDRA TANEJA, Founder & CEO, PC Solutions Pvt. Ltd.

DHIRAJ VIJAYVARGIA, Founder & CEO, Priyam Infosystems Pvt. Ltd.

RAJEEV KUMAR, CEO, Proactive Data Systems

V. ANAND, CEO & Director, Raksha Technologies

PUNIT JOSHI, Program Director, Rapyder Cloud Solutions Pvt. Ltd.

JITESH JAYANTILAL CHAUHAN, Managing Director, Rubik Infotech Pvt. Ltd.

KULMANI GUPTA, Managing Director, Shrishti Softech Solutions Pvt. Ltd.

TUSHAR PAREKH, Managing Director, Silicon Netsecure Pvt. Ltd.

SEWAK NAUTIYAL, Founder & Managing Director, Spark Technologies Pvt. Ltd.

PRADEEP DAGA, Founder, Suntronix

RANJAN CHOPRA, Managing Director, Team Computers Pvt. Ltd.

SURESH RAMANI, CEO, Techgyan

YOGESH CHORDIA, Founder, Technosphere Solutions

SANJAY AGARWAL Founder, Umbrella Infotech

ALOK GUPTA, Managing Director, Unistal Systems Pvt. Ltd.

RS SHANBHAG, Founder, Chairman & CEO, Value Point

MOHD SHADAB, AVP & Business Head - App & Cloud, Velocis Systems Pvt. Ltd.

CHETAN SHAH, Managing Director, Xpresscloud

RAJESH KUMAR DORA, Managing Director, Printlink Computer & Communication Pvt Ltd

GUNASEGHARAN KRISHNAN, Director, eCaps Computers India Pvt Ltd

DHIRENDRA KHANDELWAL, Managing Director, E Square System & Technologies Pvt Ltd

13SEPTEMBER 2020

partner choice award Category Winner

Best Enterprise Security Solution Trend Micro India

Best Security Solution - SME Seqrite

Best AI Solution for Data Management NetApp

Best AI Solution for IT Management Service Now

Best BCP Solution of the Year Citrix Systems India Pvt. Ltd

Best Business Mobility Solution SOTI India Private Limited

Best Collaboration Solution of the Year LogMeIn

Best Collaboration Solution for Telehealth Poly

Best Data Centre YOTTA Infrastructure Solutions LLP

Best Data Protection & Information Management Solution Commvault Systems Pvt Ltd.

Best DLP Security Solution Forcepoint

Best Email Security of the Year Seclore Technology Pvt. Ltd.

Best Enterprise Secure Access Solution of the Year Akamai Technologies

Best Hyperconverged Infrastructure Solution of the Year Nutanix Inc.

Best IaaS Solution of the Year Digital Ocean

Best in Container Based Computing SUSE Software Solutions

Best in Open Source Innovation Red Hat Inc.

Best Innovation in Cloud Google Cloud Platform

Best IPAAS (Integrated Platform As a service) Solution of the year Informatica Business Solutions Pvt. Ltd.

Best Network Security Solution of the Year Fortinet Technologies India Pvt. Ltd.

Best Remote Desktop Solution Team Viewer

Best Risk Management/ Regulatory Compliance Solution. Tripwire Inc.

Best RPA Solution - Enterprise UiPath

Best RPA Solution - Enterprise Automation Anywhere

Best Smart Governance Solution of the Year Agile Labs Pvt Ltd.

Fastest Growing Enterprise Security Solution in India CrowdStrike

Most Innovative Business Analytics Solutions SAS Research & Development (India) Pvt. Ltd.

Most Innovative Collaboration Solution from India Jio Meet

Most Innovative Data Science Solution Data Semantics Pvt. Ltd

Most Innovative IoT Solution of the Year - Enterprise Intel India

2714 SEPTEMBER 2020

scalability and the way licensing is designed. “While many organizations have started using SaaS beyond CRM, CMS and payrolls, there are still many businesses which are reluctant to move their core applications on the cloud.”

Pandey added that while SaaS plays critical role in accessibility, scalability and cost reduction for the organizations, most of them are concerned about data, security and industry-specific solutions. “However, COVID-19 has proved to be a great level player. It has made organizations realize the importance of cloud and SaaS in order to keep their business up and running,” he stated.

Highlighting the SaaS adoption in the BFSI segment, Lohar said that most of the banks are opting for the cloud-ready non-core applications as they slowly move towards cloud. “Everything is now customer-driven. Customer demand has given rise to neo-banking organizations like PhonePe and

Paytm, which are using APIs of the banks to deliver highly personalized and innovative services.Traditional banks are already invested a lot on core banking applications and IT infrastructure, which makes their cloud journey slow. However, few of the newer banks are investing on cloud-ready core banking solutions,” detailed Lohar.

During his remarkablesession on marketing tips and go-to-market strategy for emerging SaaS organizations, Prasenjit Roy, CMO, NTT Netmagic, highlighted that businesses need to follow Minimum Viable Product/ Minimum Viable Marketing strategy to keep disasters at bay. “Don’t waste time and money on building full-fledged features of your SaaS product. Instead, create a video message with benefits and features of the SaaS product that you plan to develop. If required, you may develop 20 percent of the must-have features and test them in the market. However, go back to the drawing board if the ratings are below 8/10,” shared Roy.

He further stressed on the importance of digital marketing and advised to focus on SEO, Google search, thought leadership quotient, online video content, email marketing and Internet banner ads. “Companies with aggressive social media marketing and mobile-first approach are finding success faster than their traditional counterparts. However, everything boils down to the customer experience (CX). As per Gartner, 80 percent of businesses would primarily compete on the basis of enhanced CX. The differentiation between product and services are declining as CX leads the decision making with elements like personalization, integrity of the company, expectations, resolution with customers, empathy, and time and effort to minimize customer efforts,” he detailed.

Roy however cautioned that businesses must not fall in love with their products or its features; instead, should love their customers and listen to their feedback.

In his appealing session on Techplus Media’sunique initiative to strengthen ISV community through Aatmnirbhar Bharat project, Anand Sharma, Executive Director, TechPlus Media, highlighted that the country iswitnessing an unprecedented time not only because of the pandemic but also due to Atmanirbhar Bharat and ‘Vocal for Local’ initiatives of the government. “As the leading B2B marketing technology media organization, we have been the preferred partner of large enterprises for their marketing projects. We provide services like marketing consulting and thought leadership as well as sales enablement and account-based marketing with our immense intelligence gathered on IT landscape. To further fortify the Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative, we are offering marketing services consultation to Indian ISVs at zero cost and all of our services at flat 50 percent discount,” said Sharma. He concluded that the initiative will be a game-changer for emerging software businesses in India.

The summit concluded in a scintillating evening of celebrations and recognitions with the much coveted ISV Innovation Awards. The ISV Innovation Awards are Techplus Media’s initiative to acknowledge the best ICT solutions by ISVs, system integrators, VARs, and MSPs across the country. The award ceremony recognized the top ISVs under 58 categories, leading system integrators and VARs in 50 categories, top VADs under 10 categories and leading IT vendors under 35 Partners’ Choice categories.

The ISV Summit and Awards was supported by Citrix as presenting partner; Cisco Cloud as the cloud partner; Veeam and Hewlett Packard Enterprise as supporting partners; Beehive, Klassify, ProcMate, 3i Infotech, YNOS, Futurenet, and Somnetics as SaaS partners; as well as ISODA, Gesia, ASIRT and PCAIT as Association partners.

aNaNt Dhar Solution Architect, RedHat Asia Pac

COVER STORY

PraSENjit rOy CMO, NTT Netmagic

aNuj SiNGhal Founder & MD, Techplus Media

KalPaNa SiGhal Co-Founder & Editor In Chief, Techplus Media

aNaND SharMa Executive Director, Techplus Media

15SEPTEMBER 2020

ENTERPRISE NEWS

Juniper Networks and Netcracker Announce Joint Enterprise Service Automation SolutionPartnership enables managed service providers to increase business value and lower costs with seamless service orchestration across the AI-driven enterprise

Juniper Networks (NYSE: JNPR), a leader in secure, AI-driven networks, and Netcracker Technology, a leader in modernized digital BSS/OSS solutions, announced today a joint solution that facilitates the end-to-end management of LAN/WLAN/WAN networks with automated service provisioning and workflows, AI-driven insight and full lifecycle management from client to cloud. The combined solution delivers seamless service and security operations with unique insight into user experiences, increasing service provider agility while maximizing value to enterprise customers.

The new solution, Enterprise Service Automation, enables service providers to unify LAN and WAN environments, providing additional value to their enterprise customers. Juniper delivers this with LAN, WLAN and WAN solutions driven by Mist AI, which complements Juniper’s secure SD-WAN portfolio to bring robust insight, automation and self-driving actions. Netcracker augments this capability with end-to-end Service Orchestration and a Digital Marketplace, based on its

Netcracker 2020 Digital BSS/OSS portfolio, to automate the full lifecycle of services across multiple network domains with management from a single view.

The combined solution delivers the following benefits to managed service providers:

• Automated service provisioning and full lifecycle management from client to cloud

• AI-driven analytics and insight based on user interactions, alerts and diagnostics with full correlation across the LAN and WAN, enabling services to scale on-demand and incidents to be resolved automatically

• A branded self-service portal for enterprise customers, enabling them to provision new capacity, add functionality, view reports and manage their networks

from one interface• An industry standard solution

with open APIs so it can easily expand into additional network domains, such as the transport network and 5G, and seamlessly incorporate additional partners

• Frequent and rapid updates via a microservices cloud, using Agile/DevOps processes and tools that are aligned to

each service provider’s unique business needs

• A fully pre-integrated and validated solution providing out-of-the-box service ordering,

management and monitoring capabilities with a number of artifacts, including service models and configured APIs for rapid, simplified deployment

• A platform for potential new advanced wireless location services such as Asset location, user engagement and contact tracing based on Juniper Mist’s patented virtual Bluetooth® LE

(vBLE) technology• A proven solution that is already

successfully deployed with a Tier 1 global service provider in Europe

The growing complexity of enterprise IT with increasing IoT, cloud applications and remote operations calls for a new networking approach. By combining the network, security and orchestration strengths from Juniper and Netcracker as strategic partners, we can help CSPs solve these complex issues for their enterprise customers, creating additional value deep inside the organization.

BOB tituS CTO, Netcracker Technology

For many enterprises, meeting the demands of an increasingly complex and dynamic network environment is an uphill battle. Through this expansion of our long-standing relationship with Netcracker, we can combine our industry-leading technology to offer a strategic value proposition to service providers and deliver end-to-end SLAs with fully managed enterprise networks. This approach can help increase revenues and profitability with existing customers as well as expand an SP’s managed services into new B2B vertical markets, leveraging new opportunities in the 5G era.

Juniper and Netcracker Enterprise Service Automation brings new levels of suppleness and flex to service orchestration and automation. Providers that opt to weave Enterprise Service Automation into their enterprise offerings and service delivery platforms stand to gain an elevated competitive position against rivals. Blending Juniper’s secure software-driven networking and Mist AI with Netcracker’s OSS/BSS skillsets and a Digital

Marketplace accomplishes wide-ranging service provider digital objectives, spanning all the way from local site-based infrastructure deep into the LAN, up to the network edge, WAN, and cloud.

jOEl StraDliNG Lead Analyst, Clavem Research

raj yaVatKar, CTO, Juniper Networks

2716 SEPTEMBER 2020

What is your assessment of the current scenario and the lessons learned?

We see most of the customers are currently prioritizing business continuity. They also have increasing digitization need to meet as the physical world is very restricted currently. We are seeing a great improvement in engagement and traction every month from April. We are happy to say that we had a good April and May. Even in the current scenario we have almost grown around 3%

over the previous year. The focus is actually going to be around protection and optimization transformation of the data. This is how the scenario is going to be currently.

how well are you prepared to handle such unprecedented situations? What are some of the best practices followed?

Being a solution provider for 100+ brands across BFSI, ITES and manufacturing verticals, our internal processes were already

in line with remote working. We did get impacted when the physical movement of goods got restricted as 40% of our business still remains hardware. We are actually training our sales team largely to address remote selling. We have actually reimagined iValue in our process, our space in the market and our customers including partners and OEMs. We have taken very different initiatives to address and meet all the needs of the stakeholders.

During this period of uncertainty, how are you ensuring 24×7 support and service to your customers and

in the process, helping them in maintain continuity of their business operations?

The time is very uncertain. Our service is to the stakeholders or the partners, largely customers. We are on with remote working, so the restriction comes only when we try moving goods especially in some zones which are not accessible to us. Otherwise we were completely ready and none of the services were blocked to the stakeholders. We do support and deliver services to the customers and partners. In today’s world, remote delivery of services has

Krishna Raj Sharma | Director & CEO | iValue InfoSolutions informs how they assessed

the current situation and accordingly tweaked the

digitization plans.

IN CONVERSATION

iValue Ready with the

Digitization Journey

KriShNa raj SharMa, Director & CEO, iValue InfoSolutions

17SEPTEMBER 2020

been enabled and accepted across the ecosystem. In delivering the remote services and support to the customers or to the partners, we had any challenges.

What kind of support have you received from OEMs / vendors that is not only helping in smooth functioning of your business, but also living up to the changing customer expectations?

The challenges we had are especially with the partners and customers who are not used to working in such scenarios. Partners from tier 1 and tier 2 cities were not digitally ready to work from home or remotely, especially their back-end processes and supporting staff. The challenges were around the receivables because certain functions of the partners were restricted to physical work. There were delays and and it would continue to be especially on the receivable side. They actually joined hands with us for a number of enablement sessions which we have done for our internal staff and also for lot of our partners. We have conducted a lot of enablement session focusing on certain technologies, certain solutions, up-skilling especially on the new solutions which may have been launched. OEMs have really helped us in such activities.

how the it channel industry will evolve post COViD-19 crisis?

Some permanent disruption has happened during Covid. The post COVID effect would continue largely on industries on the IT side that have already announced certain sector of people or department working from home. I think that is going to be the norm of the post COVID era. Large investment is going to come around

business continuity, how to keep the business running in spite of having scenarios like what we are going through or maybe something which is uncertain. A lot of investment would continue on connectivity, secured working from home and things like that.

how would you outline your growth roadmap and GtM strategy post COViD-19?

We have been growing at 3x of the market from the past 11 years. We did close P funding last financial year and this is what would help us to be very strong financially. The plan was to grow 4x times and beat the market growth. Hopefully we

should be able to achieve that even in the current scenario. After the investment the balance sheet is pretty strong financially. We have been upgrading our credit creating continuously to have a better status with respect to credit. We did put some blueprint for our growth for the next five years and that would have helped us in the right time correctly. Certain actions which we have initiated last year would have surely resulted us being in a better position to face the current scenario. One of the adoptions we have done is largely improving service capability to offer services

to partners on the solutions which we sell. We did decent investment in this area and that is really going to help us stabilize our position in the current scenario.

Could you share details on the new Wfh solutions for your customers?

Work from home is a new norm in the industry and IT industry have adopted it pretty fast and quick. Few of the industries which are related to IT are also adopting following this kind of work from home. Work from home has become a critical need in this hour for the current scenario. The most critical requirement in the work-from-home situation is

connectivity, availability and security. Cyber attacks have drastically increased in all the sectors and cyber risk also need to take care of as a new norm. Thinking of all this we have divided into three segments to look at the protection of network and also keeping security in the mind.

When you work for an independent network which is at home you need to protect the device irrespective of whatever it is. So we have divided into network protection, defense-in-depth and endpoint protection. We have chosen certain solutions and bundled

them together under these three segments. So a customer or a partner looking out for a network protection and a partner who is looking out for an endpoint protection, it is very modular and he can pick and choose the product he needs. The solution bundle will start as low as $20. So that is the walkaround which we have done with the mix and match of brands and solutions to offer the right bundle. With respect to the requirement, customers and partners can choose between any one of them and commercially also it has been worked out very efficiently.

What is ivalue’s digital strategy for 2020 and beyond?

Our focus is on data network and application protection, and optimization management and this has been the right strategy. We are able to be part of the digital journey of most of the customers with whom we participate. This strategy actually has enabled us to be ahead of customers’ life cycle of adoption of technology. This actually has given us a growth of 30-35 % year on year. Search areas where you are participating recently is very relevant even in the current scenario like COVID.

Every customer is currently looking at digitization, automation of every process which he is adopting. He is looking at how do I automate certain processes in the organization so that the physical need of person is not required at any given time. We have adopted uncertain initiatives which have actually put us ahead of the current requirement. Certain initiatives that we have taken internally to onboard certain OEMs have actually helped us a lot. Between the earlier digitization story and the current digitization story there is a shift which is coming out from the customers. We were ready to take the digitization journey ahead.

IN CONVERSATION

We have been growing at 3x of the market from the past 11 years. We did close P funding last financial year and this is what would help us to be very strong financially. The plan was to grow 4x times and beat the market growth. Hopefully we should be able to achieve that even in the current scenario. After the investment the balance sheet is pretty strong financially.

2718 SEPTEMBER 2020

What are the solutions and products available in the DEP portfolio?

DEP is a complete product development house where the customers get their product solutions realized during any stage of its development, right from conceptual phase till the prototype & production. DEP has the expertise and experience in the development of both Rotor drones (quadcopter) as well as fixed wing drones.DEP has Drone development capabilities as one of its solutions offering & is not in the business of developing and marketing drones.

DEP team participates in the Drone development requirement of customers from multiple industries. The technology and product engineering at DEP stands out in the market because of several factors & one of the major factors is its design team’s ability to build variants of the drone model right from the conceptual stage & conduct parametric studies catering to the specific application area. This will enable the possibility of obtaining exceptional designs. DEP has supported customers in the development of bird scaring drones (to drive away the birds which causes damages to the assets in the aerial territory), customers in agricultural industry for various applications including surveillance.

What are the verticals witnessing maximum traction for these products from DEP and what are their use cases?

The verticals which witnessed maximum traction in general for commercial drones during this fiscal year 2020 are energy, transportation, agriculture and construction. The business focus for DEP is into complete product development support as well as engineering support to drone makers. DEP has supported customers from agriculture as well as construction industries. For agriculture, the applications are mostly into land mapping as well as weed spraying for large farms. There are also new programs in progress especially in the harvesting side too. It is interesting to note that the farming & planting community has realized the need of technology and innovation and are trying to implement technology right from the start of process. The other vertical where DEP has supported the customers is from the construction industry mainly on the inspection of site and equipment. The selection of the relevant sensors & deployment of the same, integration of sensors & electronics, assembling, prototyping etc are some of the capabilities which DEP has in addition to design and development.

Niju Nair, Director- Business Management, ASEAN Region, Detroit

Engineered Products (DEP) explains his business model and the dynamics of the

drone industry

IN CONVERSATION

DRoNES hAVE REDucED ThE RISk of

SpREAD of VIRuS

Niju Nair, Director, Business Management, ASEAN Region, Detroit Engineered Products (DEP)

in the current COViD-19 pandemic situation, how has drones been used for enforcing lockdown in containment zones?

The main task which is cut out for governments and authorities across the world during the current times is to stop the spread of the COVID-19 virus. There are several practices getting implemented for the same like social distancing, lockdown etc. However, the people in many areas do not abide by these norms or the restrictions in place (many of them are not even aware of the same). The deployment of drones has significantly helped authorities & police to reduce the risk of spread of virus through some of the actions as follows:

• Surveillance: The drones enabled monitoring of the social gatherings and movement of people and authorities were able to take necessary actions (like dissolving the crowd, educating people etc) as required at a very quick pace.

• Temperature monitoring: The drones were used to measure the temperature for the people who were locked down in large apartment complexes. The authorities used infrared cameras enabled drones for the same. This avoided the close contact of the people.

19SEPTEMBER 2020

• Spraying: The spray drones were used in large scale to disinfect potentially affected areas.

• Delivery: The Drones were used for medicine as well as grocery delivery especially on the red zones where external contact should be bare minimum.

• Broadcasting: TheDrones equipped with loudspeakers were deployed for public announcements to make people stay indoors, take necessary precautions, ensure social-distancing and wear a mask if stepping outside from their respective homes.

how are drones being used by the weather department especially in situations like the recent locust attacks?

The drones are used extensively to understand about the chemical composition of the atmosphere, study air pollution and also for forecasting weather. The drones and other unmanned technologies can cost-effectively collect weather data in severe or remote environments and can play very important role in weather and climate predictions. For example, scientists use inexpensive, small and easily deployable unmanned systems such as tethered balloons & unmanned aircraft systems or drones to analyze lower atmosphere processes. The drones offer greater vertical and horizontal range, and can acquire data beyond the line of sight of the operator. Also, it can cover larger areas and capture measurements across a model grid box instead of a single point which is very important for weather model development.

In the recent locust attacks in a village near to Jaipur in India, customized drones (provided by union ministry of agriculture) were used by the state department. It was designed to spay 10 litres of chemicals along with generating a sound that would scatter the locusts to different directions. This resulted in successful containment of locust in the open area and foothills which were not accessible

through traditional methods or tractors. The department is planning to deploy more such drones.

What is the GtM strategy followed by DEP? What are the omni channels available for your delivery?

DEP is not into the business of manufacturing and marketing drones under its brand name. DEP has drone product development support and engineering as one of its solutions offerings and it support customers as required for complete product development or as piecemeal engineering services. The customers could be from multiple industries like Agriculture, Energy, E-commerce, Construction, defense etc. DEP will support these customers on their GTM strategies (GO-TO-MARKET).It will be the customer who will decide on the omni channels and work towards setting up the same. The responsibility of DEP engineers will be only to work on the product development programmes as per the requirements of the customers viz. deliver the complete product as a prototype or offer a particular engineering service. The engineers at DEP will also participate during the testing phase of the product along with the customers and many times participate on the technical design support of the product (which is already deployed in the market) either for attending specific technical issues or for optimization.

What are your business and operating models?

As DEP’s role and responsibility is totally into product development and engineering services, it has only execution business models to support its customers viz. Manufacturers of drones from different industries like agriculture, e-commerce, construction. The execution business models are categorized into long term engineering programs (time & material based complete product development programs) or short-term engineering programs (fixed

cost engineering service). The product business models, market launches &operating models are totally decided by the customers.

What has been the benefits offered by Garuda?

The Garuda is a self-funded drone program from DEP for various industry applications like agriculture, defense services etc. Following are the main highlights & benefits of Garuda:

• Flying wing drone with blended wing – body design and winglets for soaring and endurance

• Bird deterrent platform with onboard bird deterrent ultrasonic sound generator

• Lightweight Carbon reinforced hollow core form structure

• Twin Elevon flight control surfaces with digital metal geared servo actuators

• Electric brushless DC out runner motor with folding pusher propeller

• Lithium Polymer lightweight high-power density battery pack

• Onboard flight controller with built in motor control and autopilot features

• Onboard video and still camera with first person view capability

• Handheld transmitter with joystick flight control

• How does DEP differentiate itself from other drone manufacturers?

DEP is in the business of supporting the product development & product improvement aspirations of Drone manufacturers. DEP has several highlights which differentiate itself from the development of the drone manufacturers & hence is the reason that they approach DEP for technology and product development support as required. DEP has the experience and expertise of the complete drone product management including integration of electronics, electrical, mechanical and electromechanical components. However, one of the most important highlights is its design team’s ability to build variants of the drone model right from the conceptual stage & conduct parametric studies

catering to the specific application area. This will enable the possibility of obtaining exceptional designs.

how do you ensure compliance with different levels of security?

The compliance with different levels of security are to be followed by the user / operator of the drones synchronous with the guidelines provided by the manufacturer. The compliances do not apply to DEP as it only provides product development and engineering services support to its customers who will be the primary manufacturer & seller of drones. However, DEP will consider & follow all the security compliance requirements as stated by its customers during the drone product development and engineering. In India, the remotely piloted aircraft (RPAs) and unmanned aircraft (drones) are governed by the Civil Aviation Requirements (CAR) issued by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).

What about manufacturing the products in the domestic market?

There are several manufacturers available in India for the manufacturing of drone components as well as complete drone. DEP team was able to prototype and manufacture the drone within India with maximum components being sourced from the domestic market & limited international collaboration. The sourcing and integration of all the components viz. airframe, propulsion system (motor & battery), actuators, motor controller, onboard receiver etc was done in India except the flight controller & pilot transmitter / controls. However, the manufacturing ecosystem is only just started picking up in India as India accounted for about 20% of the global imports of the Unmanned Ariel Systems (UAS) till recently. The investment to the drone industry is going to be exciting because of the strong “Make in India” push by the government.

IN CONVERSATION

2720 SEPTEMBER 2020

What are the solutions and services in the techcloudpro portfolio?

Techcloudpro is a certified Oracle NetSuite Solution Provider, established in 2017, by a team of experienced, certified professionals carrying extensive understanding and know-how of NetSuite functionalities and application requirements across industries. While the company has been concentrating on

bettering their NetSuite Professional Services offering, it is also looking to become a one-stop solution for clients in the long run.

Apart from being resellers for Oracle Netsuite cloud ERP, Techcloudpro is soon going to venture into the cybersecurity space and strengthen its staff augmentation offering in the coming months. This is in addition to continually working on productization to supplement their service offering. The Netsuite Ecosystem

fulfills most if not all of clients’ cloud ERP expectations. But, there are those little gaps that can lead to cost overruns, partial automation, and difficulty in end-user adoption amongst many other challenges of a hybrid cloud existence. As a trusted and reliable Oracle NetSuite solutions partner, Techcloudpro is adept at understanding clients’ requirements to implement, optimize, and support their ERP on cloud. We also manage to get the best subscription costs

for our clients.Techcloudpros’ products

& implementation tools are designed to serve as propellants.

Product• SuiteSpots – AI powered

bi-directional business connectors that integrate NetSuite with enterprise platforms that a business uses for CRM & Ecommerce including Amazon, Shopify, Magento, Ebay and Salesforce amongst others.

Jithesh Manoharan, CEO of Techcloudpro, Vibing World Inc explains why SMEs should shift to NetSuite from Tally and QuickBooks.

SOLUTION SHOWCASE

SmEs Need to Automate Back-Ends to Improve Business process Efficiencies

jithESh MaNOharaN, CEO of Techcloudpro, Vibing World Inc

21SEPTEMBER 2020

implementation tools• BRD - A tool to conduct a

comprehensive discovery exercise right at the beginning of clients’ DX journey. This is to understand their technology ecosystem & its challenges so that there is no mismatch in terms of client expectations and the delivery. This exercise also ensures that the team can plan and stick to a strict timeline for implementation and keep costs low for the client.

• Dashboard - A specially designed agile platform for bringing in data singularity from multiple functions & layers, making data analytics a ‘suitespot’ for clients. This comes in – built with the range of business connectors which the company currently offers.

Key Services• Business Consulting: With

extensive industry experience and in-depth know-how of NetSuite, Techcloudpro works with companies as their Knowledge Partner to customize solutions which deliver optimum value.

• Netsuite Implementation: Techcloudpro delivers on-demand NetSuite implementation for a variety of industries and client needs. We have successfully implemented NetSuite solutions for 1000+ business users. Our USP has always been a reliable and prompt service. Our clientele includes customers from Retail, Manufacturing, Fashion, Software as well as the F&B industry.

• Netsuite - Support services: Techcloudpro’s best-in-class support services for clients NetSuite ERP system comes with a 24x7 support team. With certified consultants promptly attending to client’s business issues, the client can rest assured that their system will achieve near 100% uptime and timely resolution of any support incidents. This team is also ready at hand when clients need to scale – up or bring in new technology to speed up your digitization journey.

Our on-demand skills matrix includes:• Business Analysts• Netsuite Consultants• NetSuite Administrators• Solution Architects• Script Developers• Project Managers• Functional Architects• Product & Business Process

Managers• Training: Techcloudpro’s go-

to market program enables clients business users to be ready to work on the system, post-deployment. With a unique mix of trainer-led and AV-based sessions, we provide the tools and tips for the end-user to be fully equipped to use clients NetSuite Cloud ERP to the fullest of its capabilities. At Techcloudpro, we know that the key to a successful ERP implementation is a well-trained user base. We also provide full documentation of all customizations and configuration, apart from the comprehensive train the trainer programs & end-user adoption exercises.

What is the GtM strategy you follow in the indian market?

The Indian cloud ERP market is comparatively less mature than other markets but is expected to grow given the increasing demand from SME’s. The increased competition and globalization have become the key drivers for SME’s to deploy ERP on the cloud. This is primarily to minimize infrastructure costs and yet have the scale required to compete globally. Factors such as streamlined manpower requirement, low operational cost, data backup and recovery, and anytime/anywhere access are some of the key reasons why they are considering the move.

The specific feature of a cloud ERP system of being accessible from any platform or being omni-channel can be a considerably large advantage given that the Mobile usage and data network here in India is one of largest in the world. India is also a very price-sensitive market so for smaller SMEs who are surviving on Tally and QuickBooks, the shift to NetSuite requires a mindset change which is going to take time. For many, it is also a shift from a one-time investment to a subscription-based model. Although this is an illusion - the not so visible cost of hardware maintenance, upgrades, people cost, server licenses, etc do not usually come into the picture while decision making unless it is very clearly pointed out.

In most cases, we can only do this only once we are deeper into the purchase journey, so the process really requires a lot of effort. One must be patient

and take a more consulting approach rather than being transactional. So, it is essentially a shift from a cost predominant purchasing style to being more focused on quality and long-term value for money. And it is also a shift from having everything on-premise to having a hybrid existence, before going completely on to the cloud. Or having at least parts of the back end on cloud - you cannot touch and see it as opposed to a traditional on-premise solution. We are still getting used to that idea at least at the workplace.

But, India in any case is a paradoxical marketplace where on one end we have numerous digitally native e-commerce players and on the other hand, we have larger industries that are struggling with the change from a more linear to a more agile way of working. We need to be harbingers of that change.

With the pandemic in full swing, the weaknesses of the supply chain not only in India but globally, have come to light. Essential services were the most impacted. What also came to light is the increasing dependency on the online medium for procuring these services. While we are not in the favour of profiteering from anyone’s misfortune, we feel that this is a good time as any to fortify business supply chains & logistics; meaning speed up on digitization and bring in automation.

The lockdown will phase out as we learn to live with this new reality and businesses will be rushing to make the most of the opening markets. Only those who get there faster and more efficiently will be able to

SOLU

TION

SH

OW

CASE

2722 SEPTEMBER 2020

survive. Consumer demand for online services has quadrupled, if we are to go by the news & reports, it is a question of capitalizing on the demand by ensuring that fulfillment is as easy for the business as it is for the consumer.

Having been in this business for the last 18 years as an individual and for the last 4 years as Techcloudpro, we, as a team are in good stead to support businesses with aggressive growth aspirations & those who understand that digitization is the best way forward. We understand that investment in IT innovation at a time like this may seem foolhardy as it is a heavy investment. In fact it is like a double whammy!

But an investment now could help businesses tremendously increase their ROI in the months and years to come, as more and more consumers gravitate towards online procurement and the WFH routine becomes commonplace. To bring in fluidity to information flow, increase connectivity, and ensure that your processes are running smoothly with the least amount of manual intervention, digitization is a must. This is what we are trying to drive with our customers here in India.

Which are the verticals you witness maximum traction?

The key industry verticals that we service and witness maximum traction from are:• Wholesale Distribution• Retail• IT Services• Education• Healthcare• Manufacturing• Community Services and

Non-profit• Restaurant and Hospitality• Media and Publishing• Other Professional Services

Our latest project in the US was with a California based company called BH Cosmetics.

With the inclusion of NetSuite cloud ERP and SuiteSpots, the organization is now all set to go global. As technology partners, we have enabled the organization to bring in scale, geographical flexibility & consistency and also set up a foundation for the much-needed personalization required within the beauty products and make-up space.

In India, our last project was with ESI, a virtual prototyping giant. We have connected 40+ subsidiaries for them from a Financial Management perspective to ensure compliance with regulatory

parameters. A key add-on from us was a customized GST bundle which we believe is bringing in the ease when it comes to GST tax regime here in India.

There is no industry vertical as such that we cannot target except maybe complex manufacturing like pharma or chemical. But even these can be managed by bringing in the right customization. Having said that, unlike a lot of other service providers we do not believe in “force-fitting” a solution hence our approach is to first conduct a comprehensive discovery session with our potential clients, draw up a roadmap and a possible solution which

could also include third party integrations before we proceed further. It is best to avoid unpleasant surprises later on in the journey.

What are the special features in your solutions targeted at SMEs? What are the advantages or benefits SMEs can derive from your solutions?

For small and medium enterprises, automating the

backend is essential to realizing increased operational and business process efficiencies. Techcloudpro meets the enterprise where they are in their digital transformation journey, quickly and easily helping them take their next steps towards

digitization. With the disruption created by the pandemic and high probability of such disruptions in the future too, it has become imperative for businesses to get digitized, switch to cloud and Techcloudpro enables them to be ‘Future Ready’ while strengthening the ‘Digital India’ movement.

The rising SME and MSME demand for ERP systems in India is something Techcloudpro has been preparing for. The typical challenges that we see are the use of legacy systems and multiple technology platforms to support the primary production system, logistics, and the last mile fulfillment. More often than not this means multiple data sources, manual intervention, expensive and multiple upgrades & patchy integration. The cost to the business to just maintain this framework is huge. A lot of this pain could be taken away by digitization and the use of a single platform solution that NetSuite provides.

Being a team of techno-functional subject matter experts, we are in a position to guide businesses on what can work for them from a tech and process optimization point of view. Take for example online retail & e-commerce, the largest challenge that retailers face today is Return Merchandise Authorization, Free Shipping, and Refunds. And, these are the biggest influencers when it comes to consumers choosing one brand over the other while purchasing online. Retailers worldwide are collectively losing out on billions of dollars because these processes are still either manual or semi-automated. This was precisely the reason why we thought of SuiteSpots.

Other business connectors do exist in the market, but we have specifically designed our range of connectors to bring in complete automation. Our connectors do not require access by CSEs to initiate RMA, the data exchange is bidirectional, as mentioned earlier, right from inventory management, to sales order invoicing, to warehouse management, revenue streams per SKU – everything is auto-synced. This brings about the cost reductions that SMEs are aiming for. AI powered Least Cost Shipping allows them to further optimize costs. We bring

SOLUTION SHOWCASESOLUTION SHOWCASESOLUTION SHOWCASE

The rising SME and MSME demand for ERP systems in India is something Techcloudpro has been preparing for. The typical challenges that we see are the use of legacy systems and multiple technology platforms to support the primary production system, logistics, and the last mile fulfillment.

23SEPTEMBER 2020

in the customization, which is required, and we keep it simple in terms of pricing. There is a flat pricing model as opposed to what is on offer elsewhere.

What has been the business and economic impact of COViD19 pandemic on your business?

Honestly, the pandemic was a bit of a showstopper, initially. And, as a start-up and SME ourselves, we can truly understand why. A lot of companies have gone out of business and are experiencing cash flow issues now. However, many have realized that they need to use this time to upgrade & upskill. There is also an uptick with respect to adoption of cloud-based services given the limitations of on-premises systems in a situation like the pandemic where employees need to work remotely. So, after the initial slowdown, we have experienced an uptick with more businesses realizing the importance of robust technology and digitalization for the survival and growth of their own businesses. Like I mentioned earlier, it is better to be prepared before the race gets tougher.

Who are some of your marquee customers and what are their use cases?

Implementation of Cloud ERP for any business within the manufacturing segment requires granular understanding right down to the last molecule of the ecosystem, especially when the aspiration is to move to a completely digital existence. This held just as true for Molekule, a world class manufacturer of air-purifiers with ground-breaking PECO technology.

The Beach House Group is a consumer product solutions company that helps companies create their brands and build

them. Apart from brand development, they also do product development, design, licensing, and procurement services.

ESI, founded in 1973, is a “leading innovator in virtual prototyping software and services”. ESI allows manufacturers to replace their physical prototypes with virtual prototypes, allowing them to virtually manufacture, assemble, test, and “pre-certify” their products before the actual process of manufacturing begins.

BH Cosmetics, launched in 2009, is a cosmetics company that is vegan, affordable, and uses development practices with rigorous testing.

Based in San Jose, California, SVXR was founded in 2013 expressly to bring high speed inspection and metrology technology to the semiconductor packaging industry. SVXR’s founders anticipated the need to deploy inline 100% transmissive inspection into the semiconductor packaging manufacturing process and developed the company’s technology with this end in mind.

With SMEs being impacted severely due to the pandemic, what sort of incentives are you offering them in the current circumstances?

SMEs need more than a powerful ERP system; they need the expertise of a company that can come in, assess where they are, where they need to go and take them there quickly to gain a competitive edge.

Through our differentiators, our implementation, support, and training services – our expertise, Techcloudpro is offering complete support to SMEs in emerging strong out of the situation.

Our client journey begins with a comprehensive discovery session which leads into 40 hours of free consultation, a free cost assessment, a proof of concept demo, and for a limited time, we are willing to offer implementation at a discount and with a deferred payment structure. Our business connectors are also available for use for free, for a

period of 3 months.

What are the measures undertaken to support and service existing clients?

Each client has different needs and as such we are geared to support whatever the need of the hour is. In a nutshell, we offer dedicated post-implementation support to our clients as per their needs, instant troubleshooting through a 24X7 desk, L1, L2, L3 support, staff augmentation, knowledge sharing sessions, remote training, on-site and offshore presence, etc. Our team has a large talent pool of NetSuite certified techno-functional resources who are on stand-by as and when the need arises.

how are you prioritizing between retaining existing clients and acquiring new clients?

Our focus is on both. We have retained all our existing clients and worked closely with them during this period to support them. Meanwhile, we have attracted interest for many new clients who are looking to move ahead in their dx journey. There have been many opportunities for staff augmentation, especially during this period, which we are catering to.

What are going to be your key focus areas for the next 12-18 months?

Our key focus is to provide a holistic offering to our clients. This could be through our product offering or the diverse set of services that we are currently in the process of building. We are also looking to expand into newer markets. Our next destination after India, North America, and Canada are Australia & New Zealand.

SOLUTION SHOWCASE

Implementation of Cloud ERP for any business within the manufacturing segment requires granular understanding right down to the last molecule of the ecosystem, especially when the aspiration is to move to a completely digital existence. This held just as true for Molekule, a world class manufacturer of air-purifiers with ground-breaking PECO technology.

2724 SEPTEMBER 2020

Power solution players like Vertiv have a critical role to play in the current scenario to ensure business continuity. how is Vertiv enabling business continuity and ensuring its clients in india are not affected? how are you supporting your clients in the current pandemic scenario?

We provide round-the-clock preventive and breakdown maintenance to support our client’s critical infrastructure who operate under the Essential Services Maintenance Act. These include data centers, IT and ITes companies, telecom towers, banks, hospitals, media networks.

Vertiv’s solutions, as per government guidelines, are considered essential services. We provide critical digital infrastructure that allows data centers and telecommunication networks to function smoothly. We play a crucial role to ensure that hospitals, governments, and other essential services are running and stay connected. Therefore, even during the lockdowns we continued to run our manufacturing facilities while our service employees continued to assist our customers in a safe and responsible manner.

A.S. Prasad, General Manager – Product Management & Marketing,

Vertiv informs how Vertiv is serving the critical essential

service providers even during the lockdowns

IN CONVERSATION

Vertiv Solutions are Essential Services as per government guidelines

a.S. PraSaD, General Manager, Product Management & Marketing, Vertiv

Even in the post-lockdown scenario we look set for a long haul. how has Vertiv planned for contingencies over a longer period?

A significant percentage of Vertiv’s clients are from the essential services industry-

healthcare, hospitals, data centers, IT &ITes, telecom, BFSI, and continuous process plants like refining, petrochemical, and pharma companies. Vertiv plants in Ambarnath and Pune are operating in compliance with current government guidelines. All factory staff are advised to practice social distancing and the plant is disinfected regularly

25SEPTEMBER 2020

to ensure a safe working environment for our employees, as per government mandated guidelines.

We are now getting used to working in the new normal. We are fortunatethat we had the tools and strategies in place to adapt quickly to the changes required to keep our employees and customers safe. As long as we are designated an essential business, we will not stop work because we serve the essential services industry and we will be following all government guidelines and local body regulations to ensure our plants are working, to serve our customers to whom we have committed our products and solutions.

how are you internally ensuring your own employee health and safety? how much is Wfh and how much is on-premise and what will be the proportion of the business model going ahead?

Our employees are our most valued asset and therefore their safety, along with the safety of communities where we live and work, are of the utmost importance. We have undertaken several measures based on recent guidelines from local, national, and international health authorities, to best protect our employees. Some of these measures include, but are not limited to, adopting pharmaceutical-grade cleaning agents practicing social distancing, and ensuring that all employees have access to disinfecting wipes to keep their workstations clean throughout the day.

Additionally, we have implemented travel restrictions and work-from-home assignments wherever possible, and we follow the self-quarantine guidelines as outlined by the local health officials for any employee who

feels ill or who has a close family member who feels ill.

Several governments across the globe have implemented nation-wide lockdowns to combat this pandemic. No one knows how long this pandemic will last and to what extent it will change our lives – both at home and at work. We will continuously follow government recommendations and adapt our operations accordingly. This will inform our decisions about the best way to determine on-premise and work-from-home models.

What is the current scenario of production in the ambarnath and hadapsar factories and elsewhere?

We are responsibly ramping-up production in both the factories and anticipate getting back to a more normal level in about three months. We are with the nation when it comes to serving the essential service industry, so we have special permission to operate our plants only to service our essential service industry.

how are the current stakeholders in the entire Vertiv

ecosystem working?At this point in time, only

the factory staff are going to the factories -that too, as per the government’s guidelines. We have also madearrangements for stay of our personnel in Pune since our factory falls in a red zone, again following government and local body guidelines.

All our sales, business development, finance, operations, project management, engineering staff are working from home right now. The percentage of

employees working from home right now is significant, whereas, going forward, we will look at the new guidelines issued by the government and local bodies and try to have a good mix of work from home and actual office/plant going staff.

As for services, our service engineers in the field continue to serve our essential services customers, primarily data centers, telecom, cloud, and healthcare industries. So, a significant number of our service staff are already on our customers’ premises, following government safety guidelines in their interactions for the safety of our customers, and helpingthe essential services industry in the country to run 24/7.

What are the solutions on the roadmap in a post COViD environment?

Working from home is becoming the new normal for 5 million strong IT, ITes and BPO staff. A lot of companies have gone on record saying that 75% of their staff will be working from home. Vertiv is currently evaluating all options and looking at how we can package our solutions for a work from home scenario. Our marketing team is already in touch with customers along with front-end sales and channel partners to look at what kind of solutions we can provide to help our customers work from home.

We are also looking at other opportunities that are coming our way. For instance, remote management of UPS, precision air conditioning and other infra-assets, because in today’s post COVID world,it will all be about lesser human intervention and Vertiv does have solutions where you can have remote monitoring of our infra-assets. We are continuously looking at business opportunities for us to grow and expand into newer areas and applications.

What are going to be the key business drivers or initiatives for the next 12 months?

With the new normal of working from home, we are also looking to package our solutions accordingly. With remote management being a priority to figure out, we are working towards coming up with solutions with minimal human intervention. As a company that is technology focused, we are constantly looking for opportunities that address customer needs while also allowing usto continue to expand and grow to take our organization to the next level.

IN CONVERSATION

Our employees are our most valued asset and therefore their safety, along with the safety of communities where we live and work, are of the utmost importance. We have undertaken several measures based on recent guidelines from local, national, and international health authorities, to best protect our employees.

2726 SEPTEMBER 2020

What are the products and services in the aeris india portfolio?

We are an integrated IoT player with a diverse portfolio working across sectors like agriculture, manufacturing, healthcare and automotive. For us automotive has been a special focus area where we cater to deliver our services to OEMs and enterprises to realise a connected vehicle program using our state of art Aeris IoT platform, connected solutions and services.Other spheres including vehicle, component manufacturers, financers, ride sharing, delivery companies and more are benefiting from our constant innovation and R&D efforts.

In addition, we also have modules of use cases tailored on Aeris IoT Platform for each industry where the customer has to just choose from a bouquet of use cases availableplug in and roll out. Aeris in India is responsible for the company’s business operations across India, SAARC, SEA and Africa regions.

Can you elaborate on your solutions for vehicle tracking & employee tracking? how are they helpful during coronavirus pandemic?

It is great to see how vehicle tracking by Aeris has entered a high degree of sophistication with

The Aeris IoT Platform creating data sets much beyond the vanilla track and trace solutions. Customers are able to draw deeper analytics like predictive maintenance, driving behaviour, fault prediction, immobilisation, theft reduction, geo fencing and, much more.

People tracking using IoT solutions is a growing market with demand for monitoring personnel deployed at remote locations as well as on the field for productivity, health practices, baby monitoring, employee safety, are all driving growth in this space. With the unprecedented times due to this pandemic, we are already seeing plethora of new use cases emerging for IoT applications, such as remote temperature monitoring, social distancing alert applications people tracing enquiries have gone through the roof.

What is the GtM model followed by aeris india and how has it got impacted due to COViD19 pandemic?

Aeris GTM model includes direct sales, channel/partner led sales and online presence on digital platforms too. While we can say that the former two have got impacted due to the lockdown, but, our virtual connect with existing and prospective customers has gone to an all-time high. Virtual connect with customers, remote deployment capabilities using online tools

and self-service tools for the customers have been immensely helpful in making us a very efficient and connected enterprise altogether. Digital platforms have facilitated faster communication with prospects and customers, especially on the newly launched connected technology offerings in our portfolio.

What sort of traction are you witnessing in india? Who are the marquee customers and what are their use cases?

For us, fleet/ride sharing, and leasing are the fastest growing vertical in India. With delivery and last mile becoming a common place; the need for connected mobility is urgent and we are playing a lead role in this. Our footprint is national, and we have seen an equal penetration across states. Apart from North Eastern states we have had business implementations across all other regions. Adding to this, the

two-wheeler segment in the Post COVID scenario will become one of the fastest growing segments and we see ourselves participating in this increased demand by enabling connected vehicles.

Where do you see the future of the iot industry going? What is the effect of this pandemic on this industry?

IoT and the relevance of it in the current world is beating all earlier estimates. Global health, climate control and green emissions will be prioritised like never before in the post-COVID world and IoT will play a pivotal role in this transformation. Future for the modern enterprise will be fashioned by remotely connected employees, automated systems, intelligent data inputs being generated by AI engines and machine learning. With a world where everything will be connected to everything and data is the new oil wheeling the engines

SOLUTION SHOWCASE

Amalgamation of IoT, AI and 5g will Drive connected Vehicles

Sameer Mahapatra, Country Manager and VP Sales in India & SAARC, Aeris

Communications elaborates on the future of IoT and EV both from the company and

industry perspectives.

SaMEEr MahaPatra, Country Manager & VP Sales, India & SAARC, Aeris Communications

27SEPTEMBER 2020

CHANNEL NEWS

India’s education system has changed its shape and size with COVID-19 pandemic. India is moving towards a knowledge-driven economy, The usage of technology will help in creating an environment for learner-centric education and highlight creative thinking. To revolutionize education the integration of technology in teaching has become the need of the hour.

Ekin a Ed-tech provider of collaboration solutions like smart class, virtual class ,videoconference ,studio set ups , recording and streaming solutions unveil first of its kind experience center in Salt Lake Kolkata. The Centre promote “ Ekin” world class solutions designed for education segment targeting K12, Higher Education and Preparatory institutes

Speaking on the occasion Minal Bhagat, Director, Ensonic Computech Pvt. Ltd. stated, “Technology is turning education from teacher-centric education to both teacher and student-centric education. Virtual classrooms and various online tools today allow us to make the engagement between the teacher and students as close to a real, in-classroom like experience, as possible. Technology-based education makes the education

system more transparent and equal. COVID-19 has accelerated the adoption of technology to make quality education accessible to everyone Our Ekin experience center is well-equipped for the demonstration of solutions for SMART class, Virtual Class, Video conference, and Thin Client solution.

Ekin unveils first Experience centre in

kolkata

MiNal BhaGat, Director, Ensonic Computech Pvt. Ltd.

of Industry 4.0, where IoT will lead the way into the future. Pandemic will accelerate the growth and adoption of IoT as remote working, innovative healthcare solutions, predictive analytics, data driven insights and forecasts will become critical for economic survival and growth.

how are technologies like 5G and ai playing an important role in defining iot in a better manner?

The amalgamation of IoT, AI and 5G technologies have just started to change the world and has powered billions of additional devices to connect to the web. These technologies are taking over all industry verticals like education, healthcare, automobile, smart cities, BFSI, etc. The powerful combination of core artificial intelligence and IoT and connectivity loop completed by 5G will definitely power the acceleration of IoT into a broader spectrum. With 5G, the world will see a further surge in connected devices, generating 100x higher mobile data volumes, coupled with 5x lower latency than now and newer applications, especially in connected healthcare and remote management solutions.

Many iot deployments fail because there is no proper marriage between it and Ot. While we are quite advanced on the it side, we are often found lacking on the Ot side. What is your take on this?

There has been great deal of work which has happened now on IT/OT integration. Successful implementation of Industrial IoT projects is heavily dependent on a robust convergence of IT and OT systems of the companies. AI and IoT concepts are now seen working closely with Industrial OT systems like conveyor belts, oil refinery cracking towers, alerts on power grids etc leading to a more efficient output and input management rigour.

What are the security challenges involved in employee and vehicle tracking?

Enterprises and individuals alike

have been apprehensive on telematics due to security reasons. Top 3 concerns facing the industry today are a) Security of data on the cloud b) Data privacy issues and C) Misuse of data points. Companies like Aeris have gone ahead of these issues by implementing defence grade security solutions ensuring cloud security and device encryption protocols ensuring complete customer data protection. Therefore, while we say the challenges are real, there are also active solutions present in the ecosystem to manage these.

What would be india’s standpoint in terms of EV by 2025?

This is a moving target, especially with the pandemic now. There are multiple reports and data points basis last years’ projections Pre-Covid times on adoption of EV by 2025 in India and worldwide, which will altogether change now. However, global health, climate control and green emissions will be prioritised like never beforein the Post-Covid era. And IoT will definitely play a pivotal role in this transformation.

Electric vehicles will see a boost in all formats starting with two and three wheels. It can be predicted that by 2025, 2/3 wheels will be concentrated majorly on EV’s adoption, but 4 wheelers and above will have a slower adoption due to multiple factors, including charging infrastructure.

What were the changes witnessed in society at large after the partnership between aeris and E-blu?

We believe that the E-Blu model is a unique business format enabling the lowest strata of the society to start a livelihood. The model runs on the backbone of technology and its growth and sustenance is heavily riding on our solution accurately supporting the business model. As a result, bothbefore and during the pandemic, we have seen Aeris connected technology solutions helping hundreds of E-rickshaw owners respectfully earn and make a secure living using our IoT solutions &services. This makes us proud on being associated with E-Blu on their essential servies provider and covid warrior role.

2728 SEPTEMBER 2020

ENTERPRISE NEWS

citrix Among Top collaboration platforms

Collaboration has never been more important – or challenging. As employees around the world continue to work remote, they must find ways to connect with the people and information they need to get things done, wherever they happen to be. And according to Constellation Research, Citrix® Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CTXS) is among the top platforms they can use to do it in an intelligent, secure and reliable manner. The company today announced that it has been named to the 2020 Constellation ShortList™ for Enterprise File Sharing andCloud Content Management, an evaluation designed to help companies select the right technologies to share and manage content and move their business forward.

“With the lines blurring between traditional content management and file sharing, collaboration platforms are no longer just for cloud storage but are vital to better support the millions of workers who have gone remote this year,” said Dion Hinchcliffe, Vice President and Principal Analyst, Constellation Research. “The best collaboration platforms proactively enable context-centric business processes that deliver

game-changing results for the organizations that wield them.”

And according to the 2020 Constellation ShortList, Citrix is among them. The annual measure evaluated 40solutions across 18 criteria, including:• Administrative control• Analytics• Automation/workflow• Business partner ecosystem• Client access options• Collaborative features• Compliance• Deployment options• Licensing options

• Intelligent document features• Integration with other tools

and business platform• Search and discovery

capabilities• Security

And Citrix was identified as one of “8 Solutions to Know.” Citrix Workspace™is a secure, intelligent, and high-performing digital workspace platform designed to help improve the employee experience. It organizes, guides and automates everyday tasks, boosting productivity and generating the sense of accomplishment that helps foster engagement and innovative work. In short, the Citrix Workspace replaces a user experience filled with distractions, context switches, and complexity with a simpler way to work. One that unlocks innovation, engages employees, and drives better business results.It also gives IT more visibility and control for simplified management, security, and compliance.

“At Citrix, we believe technology should empower organizations to deliver a better employee

experience, where people have the tools they need to work the way they want, and where personal progress and purposeful work are the priority, because that’s what drives business success,” said Vishal Ganeriwala, Vice President, Product Marketing, Citrix. “We are pleased to be recognized by Constellation as a solution companies can use to remove the noise and complexity from work and give employees the space they need to create, think, explore and succeed.”

Company named to Constellation ShortList of solutionsfueling new models for work through secure file sharing and content management

DiON hiNChCliffE Vice President and Principal Analyst, Constellation Research

ViShal GaNEriWala Vice President, Product Marketing, Citrix

29SEPTEMBER 2020

With the Growing business Comes the Challenge of Managing Multiple Vendor RelationshipsSolution Provider Constantly alter their business

Model to adopt Client Demand and Changing IT Landscape therefore it is important to select the right Vendor who can support you in this process or entire transformation Journey . There are three keys to a great vendor relationship:

Trust between the vendor and partner is the foundation of any relationships;

Honesty is required on both sides so tough questions receive the right answers

Responsiveness to each other’s issues and concerns is critical.

Here are 7 ways many of our best channel partners are building stronger working relationships with their best vendor partners and turning some of the common, everyday challenges into real growth opportunities,

1) Seek first to understand, then be understood – Vendors expect Agility ,Pace & Velocity for the growth .

2) Never Impose or Assume – Do your homework ,get to know the lay of the lands and then engage and offer your insights

3) Always began with Win Win Approach - Partnerships go both ways, and if you ask “What more can I do to make this successful for both