FY2008-09 has been a challenging year for Indian software product industry. In this report we capture India based software products growth challenges, factors that distinguish between gazelles (fast growth companies) and laggards and policy recommendations
Stratgic imitation-Road to business growthBrowne & Mohan
Strategic imitation is a low cost, low risk strategy many companies adopt to challenge pioneers and often succeed in gaining higher market share and growth than pioneers. In this paper we describe elements that strategic imitators must pursue to succeed in legitimate copy, learn and improve program.
The pervasiveness of digital technologies is reshaping aftermarket. e-tailing is gnawing away the market for spare parts as more people are buying online, social media is influencing the consumption of aftermarket services and customers are demanding deeper 24*7 experiences. In this article Browne & Mohan consultants showcase the drivers of digital transformation and adoption for aftermarket.
Top 10 strategic technology trends for 2018Abhishek Sood
In their Trend Insight Report, “Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends for 2018” Gartner identifies trends and potential disruptions and relates them to 3 key topic areas:
Trends impacting the intelligent element
Trends impacting the digital element
Trends impacting the mesh element of the platform
In this white paper, review and discuss how these technology trends can specifically impact a company deploying a Unified Workgroup Communications strategy.
Then, learn how companies are leveraging Unified Workgroup Communications without boundaries to boost safety, productivity and efficiency of your front-line workers.
Stratgic imitation-Road to business growthBrowne & Mohan
Strategic imitation is a low cost, low risk strategy many companies adopt to challenge pioneers and often succeed in gaining higher market share and growth than pioneers. In this paper we describe elements that strategic imitators must pursue to succeed in legitimate copy, learn and improve program.
The pervasiveness of digital technologies is reshaping aftermarket. e-tailing is gnawing away the market for spare parts as more people are buying online, social media is influencing the consumption of aftermarket services and customers are demanding deeper 24*7 experiences. In this article Browne & Mohan consultants showcase the drivers of digital transformation and adoption for aftermarket.
Top 10 strategic technology trends for 2018Abhishek Sood
In their Trend Insight Report, “Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends for 2018” Gartner identifies trends and potential disruptions and relates them to 3 key topic areas:
Trends impacting the intelligent element
Trends impacting the digital element
Trends impacting the mesh element of the platform
In this white paper, review and discuss how these technology trends can specifically impact a company deploying a Unified Workgroup Communications strategy.
Then, learn how companies are leveraging Unified Workgroup Communications without boundaries to boost safety, productivity and efficiency of your front-line workers.
Crafting the Modern Manufacturing Enterprise in the Post-COVID-19 WorldCognizant
To get ahead in the industrial space amid the prolonged pandemic, manufacturers must embrace holistic agility and resilience, and democratize access to applications and data. This will eliminate operational silos at last and free data to more effectively inform everything: just-in-time build and logistics decisions, operational execution, customer experience product engineering decisions and everything in between, driving innovative product launches and much-needed cost reductions.
Study initiated and realized together with IBM . Goal was to share the value , the decisions criterias, the KPI used and the success factors of an ERP implementation at 8 SME companies
What marketers say about working online: Mckinsey Quarterly Global surveyAdam Lewis
Great stats about what marketers think about the challenges and the opportunities of digital marketing. Covering social media, social insight, mobile. Great stats.
Microsoft Mobile Oy Story: IT Operations Fit for the 3rd PlatformHCL Technologies
This case study looks at how Microsoft Mobile Oy engaged with HCL to transform and manage its IT infrastructure operations. It examines the journey the two companies made to modernize the IT operations of this global high-tech manufacturing firm
Family business transformation is complex and messy affair. Family businesses must not only untangle the tightly intertwined family from business, but also bring business focus into the family. Successful family business transformation requires thorough planning and diligent execution. In this paper, Browne & Mohan consultants share the steps a family business must pursue to remain competitive, sustain their relevance and grow over coming generations.
Companies realize without emotional commitment, even the most brilliant strategies will fail. To attain any change, people must not only accept and agree with the strategy, they must buy into it. In this paper, Browne & Mohan consultant share a six stage empirical model of commitment buy-in.
Indian government has announced several measures to promote on-grid solar and thermal PV projects. This study presents the financial attractiveness of solar and thermal projects considering the central & state incentives and tax regime.
Crafting the Modern Manufacturing Enterprise in the Post-COVID-19 WorldCognizant
To get ahead in the industrial space amid the prolonged pandemic, manufacturers must embrace holistic agility and resilience, and democratize access to applications and data. This will eliminate operational silos at last and free data to more effectively inform everything: just-in-time build and logistics decisions, operational execution, customer experience product engineering decisions and everything in between, driving innovative product launches and much-needed cost reductions.
Study initiated and realized together with IBM . Goal was to share the value , the decisions criterias, the KPI used and the success factors of an ERP implementation at 8 SME companies
What marketers say about working online: Mckinsey Quarterly Global surveyAdam Lewis
Great stats about what marketers think about the challenges and the opportunities of digital marketing. Covering social media, social insight, mobile. Great stats.
Microsoft Mobile Oy Story: IT Operations Fit for the 3rd PlatformHCL Technologies
This case study looks at how Microsoft Mobile Oy engaged with HCL to transform and manage its IT infrastructure operations. It examines the journey the two companies made to modernize the IT operations of this global high-tech manufacturing firm
Family business transformation is complex and messy affair. Family businesses must not only untangle the tightly intertwined family from business, but also bring business focus into the family. Successful family business transformation requires thorough planning and diligent execution. In this paper, Browne & Mohan consultants share the steps a family business must pursue to remain competitive, sustain their relevance and grow over coming generations.
Companies realize without emotional commitment, even the most brilliant strategies will fail. To attain any change, people must not only accept and agree with the strategy, they must buy into it. In this paper, Browne & Mohan consultant share a six stage empirical model of commitment buy-in.
Indian government has announced several measures to promote on-grid solar and thermal PV projects. This study presents the financial attractiveness of solar and thermal projects considering the central & state incentives and tax regime.
13 lessons for sme business transformationBrowne & Mohan
Browne & Mohan has had the privilege to work with Small and medium companies that pursued business transformation to improve their market relevance and financial sustainability. In this paper, we share 13 lessons gained from successful SME business transformation.
Is your company reaping ecosystem advantages??Browne & Mohan
Companies are increasing realizing there is a limit to which internal investments and resources can contribute to their sustainable competitive advantage and innovation. Companies need to build capabilities, systems and process not only to generate ideas and paths from internal sources, they also need approaches to identify, integrate and exploit their ecosystem partners. In this paper, Browne & Mohan consultants share what values can each of the player in the ecosystem bring to the company and how they can be systematically harnessed.
Indian government promulgated a scheme (brain child of Dr Abdul Kalam, then President Government of India) to bring urban infrastructure to rural areas under a scheme titled Provision of Urban amenities for Rural areas (PURA). This paper presents the financial assessment of PURA scheme based on data from two states in south India.
Social media compared to other known forms of media primarily differs on the interactivity and engagement process. This paper presents the process of building a successful social brand.A detailed understanding about what are the steps to be followed from the vision statement to the review has been provided.A list of recommendations has also been enlisted.
360 Degree Marketing: How to benefit from online and offline marketing commun...Browne & Mohan
With advent of online and mobile platforms, marketing managers now have both offline and online marketing assets to increase their brand reach and customer engagement. However, many companies do not plan and execute a marketing strategy that meshes assets available on different media. Moreover, companies do not use an extensive embellished strategy to keep in continuous touch with customers. In this white paper, Browne & Mohan consultants show how to integrate offline and online marketing assets systematically and build a strong extensive content strategy to develop from low cost low information intensive assets to costly high information intensive assets.
Common Objectives Performance Management System for Not-for-profit and Public...Browne & Mohan
Designing Performance management system for government, public sector and not-for-profit organization is a daunting task. Many of these organizations pursue long-term programs and projects. Alignment of various groups, departments and individuals within each department is the need of the hour. However, many of these organizations suffer from functional silos and focus on financial measures only. Managing for results by directing right staff behaviour and initiative taking is not facilitated. In this paper Browne & Mohan consultants present a common objective approach that could be used to fix accountability, ownership and outcome based behaviour in public sector and non-profit organizations.
Credit Guarantee Scheme for SME: An assessmentBrowne & Mohan
Government of India set up a collateral free credit scheme for Small and medium business termed CGSTME. This paper evaluates the financial and economic additionality of the scheme in terms of availability of funds, and business impact
Manufacturing is a major contributor to GDP and employment provider in many countries. Both large and MSME are facing effects of global downturn which has made survival a test for many. With customer gains becoming far and few many companies worried about growth and profitability. Browne & Mohan consultants in this paper present the approach manufacturing companies should use to turn around profitability and survival.
Governance mechanisms for unlisted family businessesBrowne & Mohan
Family business need to adopt effective governance practices such as family office and on board independent directors. In this article, Browne & Mohan consultants describe what, when and how to go about implementing these in family businesses
23 principles of successful product companiesBrowne & Mohan
In this paper, we present 23 principles of successful software product companies. These principles cover product development, organizational design, sales and other process that propel product companies to grow and excel in their domain both in domestic and international markets
Scaling up a business is not easy. Many start-ups, family business or professional run firms fail to scale to next level of operations. In this white paper, Browne & Mohan consultants share a framework that is successfully employed by companies to guide their scaling up process.
Hanging the shoes in style!!: Planning & Preparing SME family business for p...Browne & Mohan
Family run businesses are a significant segment of any nation’s industrial structure. Exit for family led small and medium businesses happen predominantly through three channels: M&A, IPO or natural death. Unfortunately, many SME family businesses are ill prepared for the ownership transition. Most companies change hands in emergency situations such as illness or death of an owner or partner. Consequently, many SME family businesses (or their heirs) are forced to accept a transaction that is less desirable. Preparing a business for ownership change may bring in many an upside benefits even if the business is not finally sold. The inadvertent benefits that emerge because of planned changes may unbundle the hidden value of the company. In this paper, Browne & Mohan consultants share the approach that could be used by SME family business owners to profit from planned exit.
Common traits of successful family business: why some thrive, while other fal...Browne & Mohan
How families build structures and process for managing the business and the family matters in the continuation of their family business. In this paper, Browne & Mohan consultants share common traits that associated with families that have survived multiple generations.
India prison reforms 2020 & State Industry Jail Board Browne & Mohan
Reformation and rehabilitation of jail inmates is a principle laid down in the UN Standard Minimum Rules, 1955, and is the corner-stone of the correctional policy of the Government of India. Most Jails in India offer skill development, work, entrepreneurship and empowerment programmes to the inmates. Most of these initiatives are targeted at creating small manufacturing or agri-based programs with majority of produce for self consumption. In this paper we analyse current programs and suggest setting up of a state level industry Board. The paper desrcibes the structural arrangements and how scale and sustainability can be achieved.
Companies of all sizes (SMB to large ones) are finding the current economic environment challenging. Business growth is slow or almost stagnated, new customer gains are far and few, customer spend has become very unpredictable and hence managing capacities is posing a big challenges. Browne & Mohan consultants based on their experience of guiding companies have compiled strategies that can be adopted to successfully maneuver the low tides. We suggest product or service offering changes, organizational changes, employee engagement changes, partner and ecosystem changes, sales and marketing structure changes that are appropriate to most companies.
Trading companies add value by bringing suppliers and buyers together. To build a successful and growing trading company, there is much to be learnt by bench marking with successful ones, and working on some drivers that will enable the company to unleash growth. This paper discusses some of the drivers for improvement.
#Insurers are discovering cost savings and increased functionality from Voice over Internet Protocol #VoIP service.
As VoIP matures from both a technology and #insurance industry perspective, business benefits will mature.
Rewiring HR for WFH, Hybrid work & Future of workBrowne & Mohan
Humans working in tandem with automated robots on shopfloors is increasing. Covid 19 induced WFH is here to stay as an economic and resource strategy for many companies. Human resource (HR) departments must therefore rewire themselves to balance work between digital and human associates. HR systems will be driven by intelligence, own change management and design systems for boundary-spanning workflows, collegial support.
Studies indicate that 9 out of 10 businesses have shut down within 5 years after the death of the founder and only about 3 out of 10 survive in second generation. Most family business are designed to fail as they do not address successor planning and training, have poor risk management practices and suffer from interdependencies between the family, the business and ownership. In this paper, Browne and Mohan consultants share how successful family businesses have built resilience to stay relevant and stay resilient in challenging times.
Internal controls maturity and SME corporate governananceBrowne & Mohan
Good Corporate governance is a key factor in ensuring sound financial reporting and deterring misappropriations of capital and resources. Internal control and corporate governance go hand in hand. Many SME
have an ambitious goal of reaching a
reliable, continuous and integrated internal
control state. However, many SME’s are
still grappling to build a comprehensive
control process. In this paper, we present an
internal maturity framework that SME can use to benchmark and know how they can discourage frauds, improve compliance and adoption of standards.
How to transform a family business: insights from the trenches Browne & Mohan
Working with many family businesses across industries, we realize they face a high rate of failure because of their inability to distinguish between family and business issues and build structures and process that protect value across generations. In this paper, we share governance process and systems that are a must for family businesses to preserve and sustain economic and social values across multiple generations.
AI solutions are the most important component of the digital transformation of many companies. AI Startups are racing ahead to address the needs of industries. In this paper, we present the broad strategies AI startups can employ to be successful.
Government of India’s ambitious Skill India program created National Skill development council (NSDC) to create a powerful network of training ecosystem to address employment skills and support gainful entrepreneurship. Despite the best efforts of the government, partners and other agencies involved in the outcomes of Skill India program have fallen short of objectives. The problem of skilling India can’t be solved by increasing expenditure and bringing in more training partners alone. We present here the reasons for the shortfall and approaches to overcome each pain area.
In recent years, many companies are turning their back on “brand investment” and aggressively pursuing what is known as "no branding principles". In this paper, Browne and Mohan consultants recommend approaches to use "no branding" principles for their products and services
Heroes give people a character to aspire, root for and relate to in a campaign story line. Brands have realized ordinary people as hero's can be effective to promote many products/services.
Common man hero may not possess any heroic abilities or strengths but their stories as underdogs winning against many odds, and acting selflessly with a strong moral company inspires and connects with consumers across many segments. In this paper Browne and Mohan consultants share the principles underlying successful common hero branding campaigns.
Many CEO complain they do not see the value in marketing efforts. For them we suggest to use a simple and practical framework, PCCDIO, that has worked wonders for our clients,
Is lack of SEDEX/ WRAP/SA 8000 certification hurting your business?Browne & Mohan
As global trade has expanded, companies have realized a need to implement systems to eradicate human exploitation including bonded labor, safer working conditions and right wages. Several standards have been created to support institutionaization of safer, healthy and inclusive work environment. Standards like SMETA (by SEDEX-Supplier Ethical Data Exchange), SA8000 (by Social Accountability International), WRAP (by Worldwide Responsible Accredited Production), FLA Accreditation (by Fair labour Association), etc have been pushed by the demand side of various industries. In this paper, Browne & Mohan consultants present the advantages of social compliance, how companies must prepare themselves for these standards and how they must sustain their efforts.
Happy Juice principles: How to create a marketing organization that informs a...Browne & Mohan
Many companies spend lot of marketing without realizing the expected benefits. This happens because they simply lack a coherent approach. In this white paper, Browne & Mohan consultants share a proven empirical approach that makes sure your marketing efforts do perform.
Sales operations centre (SOC) is the heart of sales operations. Many companies do not realize the benefits of sales transformation because they under invest in SOC or do not plan & roll it out like a project. The result inconsistent sales reviews, inefficient controls and unrealized outcomes. In this white paper, Browne & Mohan consultants share the best practice approach to build a strong sales operations centre
Many companies attempt internal branding in an ad hoc and unstructured way. Most believe some great quotes, bright decors and greens thrown in makes for internal branding. In this white paper, Browne & Mohan consultants share an approach that can be used to roll out impact making internal branding exercise.
Rewiring marketing: a practice based approachBrowne & Mohan
Many marketing managers are not aware if they are leveraging marketing efforts correctly or getting the returns that they anticipated. Often people believe transforming marketing is all about creating some digital assets. Marketing transformation is not piece meal improvement. The primary purpose of a marketing transformation is to increase the ROI of marketing your company. In this white paper, Browne & Mohan consultants share a practice based approach to marketing transformation.
Influence marketing: dynamics of influencer-brand engagement Browne & Mohan
Influencer marketing is emerging as a strategic approach to inform and influence online consumers. In this paper, Browne & Mohan consultants share the life-stages evolution of influencer and brand engagement. Right from identification to nurturing and reinforcing their relationships, brands need to invest time and efforts to realize the returns from influencer marketing
Rewiring sales organization for growth and scaleBrowne & Mohan
With markets becoming volatile and uncertain, shortening of products and commoditization, sales function is facing huge challenges. Companies need to rewire their sales organization to provide it with enough flexibility, visibility, actionable intelligence and ownership for employees. In this Whitepaper, Browne & Mohan consultants share how to rewire sales organization to set the company for revenue growth and scaling up.
Aftermarket audit to Gain Competitive leadership Browne & Mohan
Industry experts opine that OEM’s and their dealers may be losing $9-15 Billion unqualified sales annually to competitors. Return after repair is a grouse which happens with the iconic brands at dealer level and OEM’s do not have complete visibility. OEM’s and dealers can bill billions of dollars more only if they knew how to constantly manage revenue leakages and manage cost of operations. In this paper, Browne & Mohan management consultants share aftermarket audit framework that can be used to assess current costs of service and operations and identify areas of improvement.
Aftermarket is an important source of revenue for many companies. However, many OEM's face not just revenue leakages, but also ineffective customer and dealer experiences. In this paper, Browne & Mohan consultants share an approach to conduct an aftermarket audit.
Sales casualty analysis: why sales numbers do not happen and what to do to ge...Browne & Mohan
Despite significant investment in resource and infrastructure, many companies suffer from long sales cycles, lack of funnel, targets missed by miles and very low closure rate. Reasons for poor sales numbers are common across industries. In this white paper, Browne & Mohan consultants detail the inhibitors of sales growth and how to address the same.
Governance mechanisms that work in a family businessBrowne & Mohan
Adoption of good corporate governance practices and professionalization help business continuity of family business. This paper presents both formal and informal mechanisms that Indian family businesses of various sizes deploy to improve corporate governance. Formal mechanisms include family assembly, family office, board of directors for each business and independent directors. Informal mechanisms include shareholders assembly, and family outings etc..
LF Energy Webinar: Electrical Grid Modelling and Simulation Through PowSyBl -...DanBrown980551
Do you want to learn how to model and simulate an electrical network from scratch in under an hour?
Then welcome to this PowSyBl workshop, hosted by Rte, the French Transmission System Operator (TSO)!
During the webinar, you will discover the PowSyBl ecosystem as well as handle and study an electrical network through an interactive Python notebook.
PowSyBl is an open source project hosted by LF Energy, which offers a comprehensive set of features for electrical grid modelling and simulation. Among other advanced features, PowSyBl provides:
- A fully editable and extendable library for grid component modelling;
- Visualization tools to display your network;
- Grid simulation tools, such as power flows, security analyses (with or without remedial actions) and sensitivity analyses;
The framework is mostly written in Java, with a Python binding so that Python developers can access PowSyBl functionalities as well.
What you will learn during the webinar:
- For beginners: discover PowSyBl's functionalities through a quick general presentation and the notebook, without needing any expert coding skills;
- For advanced developers: master the skills to efficiently apply PowSyBl functionalities to your real-world scenarios.
UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series, part 4DianaGray10
Welcome to UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series part 4. In this session, we will cover Test Manager overview along with SAP heatmap.
The UiPath Test Manager overview with SAP heatmap webinar offers a concise yet comprehensive exploration of the role of a Test Manager within SAP environments, coupled with the utilization of heatmaps for effective testing strategies.
Participants will gain insights into the responsibilities, challenges, and best practices associated with test management in SAP projects. Additionally, the webinar delves into the significance of heatmaps as a visual aid for identifying testing priorities, areas of risk, and resource allocation within SAP landscapes. Through this session, attendees can expect to enhance their understanding of test management principles while learning practical approaches to optimize testing processes in SAP environments using heatmap visualization techniques
What will you get from this session?
1. Insights into SAP testing best practices
2. Heatmap utilization for testing
3. Optimization of testing processes
4. Demo
Topics covered:
Execution from the test manager
Orchestrator execution result
Defect reporting
SAP heatmap example with demo
Speaker:
Deepak Rai, Automation Practice Lead, Boundaryless Group and UiPath MVP
Slack (or Teams) Automation for Bonterra Impact Management (fka Social Soluti...Jeffrey Haguewood
Sidekick Solutions uses Bonterra Impact Management (fka Social Solutions Apricot) and automation solutions to integrate data for business workflows.
We believe integration and automation are essential to user experience and the promise of efficient work through technology. Automation is the critical ingredient to realizing that full vision. We develop integration products and services for Bonterra Case Management software to support the deployment of automations for a variety of use cases.
This video focuses on the notifications, alerts, and approval requests using Slack for Bonterra Impact Management. The solutions covered in this webinar can also be deployed for Microsoft Teams.
Interested in deploying notification automations for Bonterra Impact Management? Contact us at sales@sidekicksolutionsllc.com to discuss next steps.
DevOps and Testing slides at DASA ConnectKari Kakkonen
My and Rik Marselis slides at 30.5.2024 DASA Connect conference. We discuss about what is testing, then what is agile testing and finally what is Testing in DevOps. Finally we had lovely workshop with the participants trying to find out different ways to think about quality and testing in different parts of the DevOps infinity loop.
Neuro-symbolic is not enough, we need neuro-*semantic*Frank van Harmelen
Neuro-symbolic (NeSy) AI is on the rise. However, simply machine learning on just any symbolic structure is not sufficient to really harvest the gains of NeSy. These will only be gained when the symbolic structures have an actual semantics. I give an operational definition of semantics as “predictable inference”.
All of this illustrated with link prediction over knowledge graphs, but the argument is general.
Kubernetes & AI - Beauty and the Beast !?! @KCD Istanbul 2024Tobias Schneck
As AI technology is pushing into IT I was wondering myself, as an “infrastructure container kubernetes guy”, how get this fancy AI technology get managed from an infrastructure operational view? Is it possible to apply our lovely cloud native principals as well? What benefit’s both technologies could bring to each other?
Let me take this questions and provide you a short journey through existing deployment models and use cases for AI software. On practical examples, we discuss what cloud/on-premise strategy we may need for applying it to our own infrastructure to get it to work from an enterprise perspective. I want to give an overview about infrastructure requirements and technologies, what could be beneficial or limiting your AI use cases in an enterprise environment. An interactive Demo will give you some insides, what approaches I got already working for real.
Builder.ai Founder Sachin Dev Duggal's Strategic Approach to Create an Innova...Ramesh Iyer
In today's fast-changing business world, Companies that adapt and embrace new ideas often need help to keep up with the competition. However, fostering a culture of innovation takes much work. It takes vision, leadership and willingness to take risks in the right proportion. Sachin Dev Duggal, co-founder of Builder.ai, has perfected the art of this balance, creating a company culture where creativity and growth are nurtured at each stage.
JMeter webinar - integration with InfluxDB and GrafanaRTTS
Watch this recorded webinar about real-time monitoring of application performance. See how to integrate Apache JMeter, the open-source leader in performance testing, with InfluxDB, the open-source time-series database, and Grafana, the open-source analytics and visualization application.
In this webinar, we will review the benefits of leveraging InfluxDB and Grafana when executing load tests and demonstrate how these tools are used to visualize performance metrics.
Length: 30 minutes
Session Overview
-------------------------------------------
During this webinar, we will cover the following topics while demonstrating the integrations of JMeter, InfluxDB and Grafana:
- What out-of-the-box solutions are available for real-time monitoring JMeter tests?
- What are the benefits of integrating InfluxDB and Grafana into the load testing stack?
- Which features are provided by Grafana?
- Demonstration of InfluxDB and Grafana using a practice web application
To view the webinar recording, go to:
https://www.rttsweb.com/jmeter-integration-webinar
Dev Dives: Train smarter, not harder – active learning and UiPath LLMs for do...UiPathCommunity
💥 Speed, accuracy, and scaling – discover the superpowers of GenAI in action with UiPath Document Understanding and Communications Mining™:
See how to accelerate model training and optimize model performance with active learning
Learn about the latest enhancements to out-of-the-box document processing – with little to no training required
Get an exclusive demo of the new family of UiPath LLMs – GenAI models specialized for processing different types of documents and messages
This is a hands-on session specifically designed for automation developers and AI enthusiasts seeking to enhance their knowledge in leveraging the latest intelligent document processing capabilities offered by UiPath.
Speakers:
👨🏫 Andras Palfi, Senior Product Manager, UiPath
👩🏫 Lenka Dulovicova, Product Program Manager, UiPath
2. Introduction
Indian Product Software Industry
Indian software products industry growth has been
impressive. From self-doubt and bureaucratic apathy,
they have grown in revenues, stature and acquiring
companies in India and abroad. However, FY2009-10
was a watershed year for Indian software product
companies. Many saw for the first time a negative
growth in new licenses revenues and what sustained
them was services and AMC (if any). Overall revenues
in FY09-10 were $ 1.64 Billion, about 13% lesser than
revenues FY2008-09. Roll outs were postponed,
renegotiations were on, closures never happened, any
year most CEO’s would prefer to forget and move on.
Source: Browne & Mohan, IDC
$
FY09-10 also witnessed high exits of software product
firm or firms’ completely abandoning product and
embracing services. Mobile products and Life Science
software product companies were the highest hit
primarily as telecom service providers postponed
investments. Bangalore and Pune were the two
regions that had the highest impact in terms of
closures.
Source: Browne & Mohan, Mergernetwork, Businessplace
Microfinance was one vertical where major action was
in FY2009-10. Incumbent players added more features
and offered improved integration in FY2009-10.
Vendors such as Gradatim, Atyati, Force Ten, Cranes
and Sathguru, Safal, Jayam improved their offerings
and some moved to hosted model. CAD/CAM/PLM
companies invested in integrating architecture and
engineering support features and customise the
product to Saudi Arabia and North African Markets.
Product vendors such as Polaris, Subex, and Nucleus
despite seeing a dip in their overall income of product
and services found the EBITA’s from products
improving in FY2009-10 due to cost measures.
Source: Browne & Mohan
However, contributions from product revenues dropped for domestic VAR’s like SONATA and others, and pure-play
product companies’ revenue reported 8% drop compared to FY08-09. Many companies mitigated revenues losses in
license by cost cutting measures and marginally increasing services and AMC revenues.
3. Compared to FY2008-10, revenue contributions from
geographies such as North America, Europe and APAC
dropped significantly, while Middle East revenues grew
in FY2009-10. Egypt, Qatar, Oman and Saudi Arabia
became hot destination for product companies.
Polaris, Nucleus, Newgen, continued to benefit from
multi-country approach.
Source: Browne & Mohan
Domestic Open source revenues grew from $ 0.9 Million in 1. Increasing clout of Global vendors in domestic market
2006 to 4.6 Million in 2009-10. Companies such as Adiance,
Increased thrust of global vendors such as IBM, EMC, into
DimDim, Webyog, Vtiger and Vmukti witness about 11%
domestic market is a major challenge for enterprise
growth in product related revenue, significantly increasing
software product companies. Huge discounts offered to
their bases amongst SMB and also government. Cynapse,
gain clients and bundling of software with their
Zudha Information Technology, Netcore, Daffodil,
infrastructure products is creating new challenges for
Betterlabs, Sanisoft, etc continued to benefit from product
domestic software product companies. Another major
enhancement and community engagement.
challenge is the anti-competitive behaviour MNC vendors
Challenges: FY2010-11 and beyond play when they are the total outsourced partner.
While analysts talk about cloud and its imminent impact on
software product revenues, Indian software product 2. Increasing entry barriers in e-governance and defence
companies are recognizing given the manageability issues verticals
of governance, integration and licensing, cloud is going to
E-governance and defence verticals were expected to
happen over 6-7 years. They continue to face challenges on
generate about $1.2 billion of software sales and Indian
marketing front, retaining employees, new customer
software firms were expecting to get a sizeable slice.
acquisition and managing the product innovation. Our
With majority of mission mode projects being BOOT or
discussions with CEO’s indicate the fundamental challenges
BOT model based and others setting higher qualification
facing software product companies are as follows:
criteria in terms of turnover or number of deployments,
many first time software product vendors are recognizing
the entry is difficult and sales cycles are longer than they
expected.
4. 3. Increasing cost of global sales b) Power of Ecosystem: Companies that built their revenues
around the product ecosystem of Vendors, partners, and
Companies are recognizing that global markets are still consultants grew faster and robust than firms that had
wobbly, and cost of engagement is increasing in much gone solo. Companies recognize the limitation of low-cost
geography. Direct market presence is proving to be internet based and telesales business model designed for
costly and ineffective in culturally predisposed markets. US fail to succeed with Indian SME. Unlike US
counterparts, Indian SME prefer one-on-one meeting
1. Drying Pipe lines even for small deal sizes and post-sales support. That is
where partners and resellers step in, a win-win formula
Most Indian software product companies are at best 1-2 that ensures better reach, delivery and sustainable
pillar product companies. The product extension margins. Srishtisoftware successfully used domestic
strategies often used to is build around competitor resellers to sell its “Paras” line of HIS products to SMB
platforms or related verticals. Many companies also do clients. aurinPro and KLG Systel benefitted by tightly
not have a road map for product obsolescence and risk integrating their products to vendors such as IBM, and
mitigation approaches. SAP, and vendor sales efforts. Companies that invested
in marketing and vendor management resources,
processes including training and certification realised
What differentiated “Leaders and Laggards”?
better results.
To understand why some companies were growing while
c) Power of Governance: Alignments of product and delivery
others not, we did an analysis of 34 successful product
teams, QA and the board was well defined and integrated
companies and 21 unsuccessful companies. The
in successful companies. Weekly, monthly and quarterly
objectives here is not an academic statistical exercise, but
reviews were religiously followed, intermittent
unearth some key insights that would be more useful to
corrections were made and reporting structures evolved
senior management of the software product companies.
continuously. They defined few measures across the
Polaris, Tejas Networks, Newgen, Nucleus, Ramco,
functions, but ensured continuous measurement. Sales
aurinPro, R Systems, Srishti software, Infrasoft, Subex, 3i
function focused on “order closed invoice billed” and
Infotech, KLG Systel, Comvivia, Kale Consultants, Four
“market reach” measures only, while delivery teams
Soft, Sage, Automated Workflow, Nextstep , Vembu
pursued delivery cost and customer satisfaction. Board
Technologies, were classified as successful companies.
pursued predictable, profitable and de-risked revenue
We did not include Infosys, Wipro, TCS and Mahindra
and adherence to processes only. Ability to say no for
Satyam as majority of their revenues comes from SI and
deep discount or just too many strategic customers
other services. Six major elements differentiated
differentiated successful ones from not so successful
successful ones from not so successful.
ones. Majority of the successful companies did exhibit an
interesting insight. The founders had created a team of
a) Product as a Product: Companies that grew struck to
competent professionals and let go their emotional
basic formulae, sell the product as a product and not as a
connect with product and marketing.
solution. Companies that ended up customizing the so-
called product across clients did not enjoy the economics d) Marketing led Sales: Successful software product
of scale in design, bug removal, improvement and companies investing in marketing activities that
delivery. Many successful ones also limited the product supported and facilitated sales. Improved branding,
availability on maximum two platforms, thus ensuring no community connects, PR (including brought awards), was
development/delivery creep happens. Companies that useful in creating the mindshare and sales appointments
followed the dictum “one-size fits-all”, often ended up in both domestic and international markets.
with growth plateaus. Companies that pursued a
segmentation-based pricing model fared better. Ramco,
Sage and others also pursued versioning and hosted
model in tandem to reach out to customers.