Spotlight on Ashish Kumar

Ashish runs a successful software development company offering bespoke software at affordable prices for small business owners. Here he shares his business journey and what makes him tick!

You came over to this country a few years back. I think you’ve told this story before, but I’m quite interested for you to share it for people. So things didn’t quite go according to plan did they, when you first arrived in England?

Yes. I’m from India. I came here, not from India, but from East Africa - a country called Tanzania. I was working there for around three and a half years. From there, we came here on September 2007. One of my friend’s friend was supposed to come and pick us up and he didn’t turn up. We were not sure where to go, so that was a scary feeling.

We went to a Travel Lodge and from there, they said, “You have to go to estate agent.” At the estate agent, they asked me about utility bills and references. I said, “I don’t know anybody in this country.” I had money, so I gave them six months rent in advance and that’s how everything started. It was a rocky start because I had no driving license, no car, and had to travel by bus. Everything was new and, on top of that, an 11-months old child!

Was it always the plan to start a software business or how did that come about?

Well, I don’t know whether it is a blessing in disguise or something, but I always worked in a small company. Always in software companies. Not in very big multi-national businesses where you don't know what’s happening with other departments. I always worked with around 25 to 45 people in a company - so quite a reasonable size. Because of that, I tended to know how the clients are being introduced to the business, what their requirements were, how the software development cycle goes along and how we could provide them with the available support and everything.

So, in other words, right from the beginning to the end, I was always involved with everything. That gave me confidence - because that’s what you need if you run your own business. You need to know how to bring people in the doors and what to do with them to make them a satisfied customer and maintain them. So that drove me and my wife in the direction of starting something of our own.

So you’ve got quite an interesting model. What’s your approach and how do you overcome anybody that hesitant with using offshore services?

When I used to work for other companies in Birmingham and Northampton, it was always a dream for every software company in the UK to use a reliable offshore partner. But there is one reason why 90% of the time it didn’t work or it works at the start; maybe a year or so, but then gradually it starts to fade out. That reason is, even if I know the language, I know the people, I know the culture- it will not be a success, because I will not have much control over the process of that company.

They got me as a client, now they want to grow. Then they will shift their focus from me to the next client. That's things started to go downhill. For me it is working because, in India, I have got my own office and my brother as a manager, who manages eight guys. They come in the morning, they go in the evening and they work directly for us. You need someone who you can trust offshore so that you have greater control. Then it will work. You’ve got the local project management, so people have got that interface and then it’s family in India. So you know you’re going to be looked after from that point of view.

It’s a good model, I think. It’s worked very, very well for you, hasn’t it?

Yes. We treat the people over there as if they are a partner in our business. It's not only just take the maximum out of them and not give enough back. We have an overtime scheme there, which most of the Indian companies don't offer at all. If I want my staff to be working half an hour more, I pay them for that half an hour extra. Once a year we take them somewhere on holiday - an all-inclusive thing. They should also feel like they are part of a ship. That’s when it will sail for longer.

What is your “why”? What is it that gets you out of bed? What is your driving force, your emotional connection to your business?

After doing a course with Asentiv, I realised that your emotional connection to your business is inbuilt from childhood. My father was working remotely all the time and I was left alone for certain years. When I was doing my GCSEs, I was not very academic as a child. I was second class - not a star kind of a student! Because of that experience, I like to help people as I have seen some vulnerability in myself. When I worked for other software companies, there were occasions when customers were not being treated well. You could see the emotion in their eyes and the feeling that they could do nothing about it. So the ethos of my businesses is to treat everyone fairly.

You can still earn your money, but it should be done ethically. If something happens with the software or it needs updating, and your business is dependent on it to some extent - if I say it will take £5,000 to do, then it won’t leave many options for you.

What we believe is - if you believe in relationships, then money follows.

One more thing that I just would like to mention, bespoke work in this country is very, very expensive. It can cost you an arm and a leg! I’m just filling the gap between off the shelf and bespoke. SME’s are in the middle - they don’t have any option but to select spreadsheets or any cheap off-the-shelf solution - but now they can put their hand on bespoke software for their business. I’m quite happy to work with owner-managed businesses. I don’t want to work with enterprises and multi-million pound businesses where I’m the supplier. My thing is when I see the glitter in my client's eye that: “whatever you have done has taken my business to another level.” That’s what drives us. So that is my “why” in business - to give.

You’ve touched on it a little bit, but what would you say makes you different from your competitors? Do you have many competitors in this domain, would you say?

Yes, we do. We do have quite a number of other software companies who we are very good friends with. This might be because I believe there is enough work out there. You can’t steal my work, I can’t steal their work. That’s why we get along very well with all our competition. I would say why we are different is we are quite a client-centric company, as I mentioned earlier. We think about the client’s interest first, then our interest. If our client is happy, then we will be happy! In this software business, unfortunately, our industry does not have a good reputation. Sometimes people treat us as opportunists.

As I mentioned, if I have the access to all your software, then I can charge whatever I like for the service I am providing. In this industry, whoever is writing the code, the copyright is theirs. So, let’s say if you want to move away from me, then I can charge you20 grand, 30 grand, whatever, if you want your software again. This is not fair. You have paid me for the job and I have done the job, taken the money. Now that software ethically belongs to you.

When I used to work for other companies, they would also sell the software two times. Once, when we had an initial engagement. The second, when they depart from our company. Again, you have to pay30, 40, 50,000 pounds, depending upon the size of the software, which I believe is absolutely rubbish. It should not be the case. That’s why, what we do, which none of our competition do, is we tell them right in the proposal document that you will own the copyright. For any XYZ reason, if you're not happy with us, you can take your software and go to any other software company you like.

I think people don’t do it because they are afraid. If we do that, then we are opening a channel so that a client can slip off. However, what I believe, if somebody is not happy with you, there is no point in that bickering relationship. Nobody will be happy. Work with the people who you like to work with and who you get along with very well. I believe in that. I write in the proposal document, whatever software we build, you will be the owner of that. That’s how I believe we are different from our competition.

What would you say the biggest challenge is that you have found in your years in business?

The real challenge for me is sales and marketing, but that is now settling down. Still in my business career, I found that as my biggest challenge because I had to push my boundaries in order to overcome it. And I’m quite glad that I did.

Moving forward as well, I would like to do a bit more work in marketing. I have done multiple sessions on sales. I was 15 years working as a technical person. I knew nothing about sales and marketing, but now I’m much more confident.

If you were to have one top tip for any business owners out there, what would your top tip be?

I would say, be yourself. Don’t pretend to be someone else. Be ethical and do what you said you’re going to do. In any business you are in, you will drive and thrive, that’s it. Don’t cheat. Be genuine, be honest and there is no limit.