Vol. 10 Issue 03 2021
Editor’s Note WITH A VISION BEYOND THE HORIZON
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very entrepreneur wants their brainchild to be at the pinnacle of success in their respective domains. But not every company can establish itself as a brand. Staying ahead of the competition by being the market leader demands some extraordinary functioning styles and spearheading the company to success. Undeniably, marketing strategies play the most vital role in establishing the company’s product or service as a brand. Gauging the pulse of the market, the customer needs, and promoting the product so that the customer can identify with it and be loyal to it are the requisites to be on the top. Consistent marketing and putting customer service on top of the priority list are keys to success. The next important thing is the company’s management. A work culture with a positive mindset,
Sumita Sarkar Editor-in-Chief
sumita@insightssuccess.com
work-life balance, perks is critical for a company to be the most sought-after workplace besides being popular among its customers. Successful businesses keep their employees happy. The retention rate in such companies is also extremely high, which renders them an unparalleled reputation. A company’s work culture and commitment to its customers speak volumes about its success mantra. Reaching the top is difficult, but being on the top is more challenging. To retain the market position, innovation is inevitable. Big names in the business landscape think differently and ahead of their competitors. They are also sharp enough to anticipate challenges from their competitors. Navigating change of any kind is vital for a company’s growth. Successful companies keep setting goals and achieving them. This keeps the wheel of business moving. They have a vision and seize the opportunities that their counterparts fail to see. They become household names.
Xerox, Tupperware, Cola, Band-Aid, PowerPoint, and many others have become household names such that products of other companies are also recognised with these names. We selected a few companies that have stood the test of time and for whom success is a continuous journey. These companies have been in focus for all the right reasons and have inspired others to follow suit. Read our interesting edition of Insights Success 'Companies in Focus' to discover their success stories and what it takes to hog the limelight. Happy reading!
Cover Story
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Valley
Putting Ayurveda on the Global Map
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Soham ERP Solutions Private Limited
Robust Manufacturer of Pharmaceuticals
C O N T E N T S
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Paracosma Taking Virtual Reality to New Zeniths
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Leadership-Quest
Easy-Work-Style
How the right leadership enhances work culture in various organizations
7 Ways How Companies are Enhancing Work from Home Culture
A r t i c l e s
Editor-in-Chief Sumita Sarkar Deputy Editor Abhishaj Sajeev
sales@insightssuccess.com
Managing Editor Sayali Sangewar
DECEMBER, 2021
Assisting Editor Aditya Umale Contributing Writer Purushoutham M
Corporate Offices: Chief Designer Priyanka Rajage Designing Head Vishal Pawar Co-designer Rashmi Singh
Insights Success Media and Technology Pvt. Ltd. Off. No. 22 & 510, Rainbow Plaza, Shivar Chowk, Pimple Saudagar, Pune, Maharashtra 411017 Phone - India: +91 7410079881/ 82/ 83/ 84/ 85 Email: info@insightssuccess.in For Subscription: www.insightssuccess.in
Operations Head Megha Mishra Business Development Manager Ashwini Pahurkar Business Development Lead Asif Patel Business Development Executive Uttam Barun
Technical Head Aditya Kothare
Insights Success Media Tech LLC 555 Metro Place North, Suite 100, Dublin, OH 43017, United States Phone - (614)-602-1754 Email: info@insightssuccess.com For Subscription: www.insightssuccess.com
Technical Specialist Amar Sawant Digital Marketing Manager Amol Wadekar SME-SMO Executive Atul Dhoran Circulation Manager Tanaji
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Company Name
Featuring
Brief
Artevenue
Shekhar Tayade Managing Director
Artevenue's mission is to provide the best quality wall art and best in class online buying experience.
Indus Valley Ayurvedic Centre Pvt. Ltd. (IVAC)
Shibashis Chakraborty COO
Indus Valley follows an unwavering belief that each individual has the potential to realize the best in life, provided the right help comes along at the right time.
Paracosma Inc
Ken Ehrhar CEO and Co-Founder
Paracosma is a VR content, technology R&D, delivery platform, and services company.
Soham Erp Solutions Pvt. Ltd.
Mr. Suketu Shah Managing Director
Soham's innovation with speed and imagination is emphasized in whatever they do for their clients as well as employees.
Speciale Invest
Vishesh Rajaram Managing Partner
Speciale Invest is an early stage deeptech focused VC investing in Software product, Enterprise technologies, and Industrial hardware startups.
A Courier Boy to COO in just 17 years Shibashis Chakraborty, the COO/CEO on a cycle. He does it to encourage others to live a simple life with high thinking! •
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Former Deputy Director – Institute of Oriental Medicine, Moscow 2013-14 Ex. Wellbeing consultant of Talise wellness, Jumeirah group, Dubai 2009-13
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Was a speaker in Times of India event – Health Care pioneer of the EAST, 2015 His interview was featured in the Japanese health magazine DANDO, as well as Yoga Life DUBAI and Sori o swastho Kolkata He has been featured by Dubai ONE TV, Physique TV, Russian TV – Moya Planeta, Lebanon's MBC TV, and NEWS TIME TV – Kolkata
A Snapshot of Leadership •
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Eight years international exposure (Mauritius, Maldives, Dubai, Austria, Moscow, Portugal, USA) He has worked for some of the world's most prestigious brands, including Taj, Hyatt, Jumeirah, IVAC, and PFRU Professional learnings from Harvard Business School Boston, the Indian Institute of Management (IIMBx) in Bangalore, and Franklin Covey in the United States National Operation of 200+ team in Wellness, Healthcare and Hospitality Industry, and Global market
Brand builder, Leader producer His rewards and awards are as follows, •
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ASSOCHAM, India has given the National Award for LEADERSHIP EXCELLENCE 2020 in the AYUSH sector Was a keynote speaker in "European Nutrition Conference" in Dublin, Ireland (June 2018) His article was published in European conference journal, 2018 Was a keynote speaker in National Institute of Technology, Nagpur, 2017
Shibashis was brought up in a green city of Bengal called - Chittaranjan. Since high school, he got inclined to learn and read Swami Vivekananda,
which eventually became guideline for his rest part of the life. Since school level, he only wanted to be different and do different, that reflected in his career where he started journey as a courier boy (Hotline courier, BB Ganguly Street, Kolkata). He used to distribute letters door to door on the street of Salt Lake of Kolkata. His passion for human body, mind, emotion, and spiritual levels pushed him to enter the wellness industry. As soon he completed his physical therapy course, he got opportunity to work at Touch and Glow, Swabhumi.
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Business Management’s success = 85% People Management
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CORPORATE OFFICE Insights Success Media and Technology Pvt. Ltd. Off No. 22 & 510, Rainbow Plaza, Shivar Chowk, Pimple Saudagar, Pune, Maharashtra 411017. Phone - India: 020- 7410079881/ 82/ 83/ 84/ 85 USA: 302-319-9947 Email: info@insightssuccess.in For Subscription : www.insightssuccess.in
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How the right
leadership
enhances work culture in various
organizations
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Leadership-Quest
H
ow the right leadership enhances work culture in various organizations
Work culture in any organization is the sum-total of the industry, the local environment and culture of the place, people’s views, and most of all, the views and attributes of the management. While the first four remain volatile, and to an extent outside the purview of an organization when it comes to change, the last i.e., the views and attributes of the management is an attribute that remains ever changeable and entirely doable. The last remains an attribute that is completely in-house and ingrained, and when handled the right way can result only in profitability and extreme growth for the organization.
We tell you how leaderships by its views and attributes can enhance the work culture in organizations and bring about stupendous success at all times. Among others, the steps could include a mix of the following. 1. By assuring income and presence of employment in reasonable circumstances The recent Covid-19 pandemic and its ensuing mayhem in the form of mass layoffs, lockouts and industrial closures has completely broken the bond of trust between employer and employee. The culture of being there for each other today exists only in tatters. While still reeling under the unprecedented sledge-hammer attack dealt in parts by nature, and likely human-engineered greed, most corporate leaders realize the worth of working towards assuring steady incomes to every stake holder be it shareholders, employees, vendors and suppliers, and even the man on the road who may have no direct connect with the corporate
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entity. What it calls for is empathy towards an individual’s survival and growth, more so in trying and difficult times. It remains foremost in creating the right work culture in organizations. 2. By assuring employees that they can work from places they are most comfortable at Continuing from the above, given that the lockdown necessitated working from home and remote locations, the leadership of any organization can certainly enhance its culture by focussing on just that, the work, and give employees and those at the forefront and action-end the liberty to work from place they are familiar with and where they feel safe and secure. This should ideally continue not only as a stopgap measure but where needed for the longest of time. It would besides enhancing productivity, also result in cost cutting and speeding up the spread of industries and employability. They would also bring about an increase in overall development of places by engendering the spread of opportunities. 3. Training and enhancing the worth of employees to face newer situations With the speed at which technology is changing right before our eyes, one way to retain and enhance the right work culture in organizations is to introduce training and skillenhancement techniques be they to face newer situations in their present capacities or in completely altered career choices. With machines grabbing every activity that’s got repetition galore, employees worldwide feel extremely unsure and unsecure about their future. In such situations, bringing about the right abilities be it to switch careers or enhance existing ones is the call of the times. In these, training plays a very important role. 4. Involving employees in strategic decision-making to make them an integral part of every important initiative. The employer-employee relation has undergone humongous changes in the recent past. Employees aren’t servants that they were considered to be till a while back. One of the reasons for the same is the fact that most employees remain highly educated and show every sign of becoming entrepreneurs and business leaders themselves if given an opportunity. Instead of letting them go and losing out on a valuable asset, the organization ought to change its attitude and let employees be part of every strategic decision as an
equal who can contribute to the growth of every stakeholder. Retaining talent as a culture is thus called for. 5. ESOPs and equities Continuing from the above, one of the best ways to engender the right work culture in any organization is by retaining promising individuals by making them shareholders by means of ESOPs and equities. Besides establishing their credentials, it would motivate them to remain in the organization, contribute to its positive work culture as also contribute to its growth and prosperity. 6. Sensitizing employees to make them aware of diversities in society in terms of people, sexes, cultures, and races Business organizations these days see people from diverse backgrounds, ideas and ideologies join their ranks and contribute to their growth. Such diversity is sure to challenge long-held ideas of sexuality, orientation, race, and cultures. That said, and with productivity having little to do with one’s skin colour, race, religion, and such differences, it’s incumbent on organizations to sensitize employees and every stakeholder on how to deal with people from other races, religions, regions, ideas, and ideologies. The least it would do is to reduce conflict within the organization while giving everyone the opportunity to prove their worth when it’s about productivity, profitability, and growth. 7. Sensitizing employees on their legal rights and duties Every living being, human or otherwise has rights to exist, live and grow the way they want while not disturbing others and the environment. For organizations to grow and be of use to everyone while purporting the right culture, it’s incumbent that managements sensitize every part of the organization, be they employees, vendors or suppliers of their legal rights and duties, and whom to approach for legal recourse. Work culture in an organization is a term of wide amplitude that’s made and affected by just as many factors. The above are points that have come about after carefully understanding the needs that exist in most organizations.
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- Purushoutham M
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Paracosma can offer a one-stop-shop for all things AR, VR, and 3D
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Ken Ehrhart Founder and CEO
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Companies in Focus
Taking Virtual Reality to New Zeniths
A Dynamic Leader The Founder and CEO of Paracosma is Ken Ehrhart. Mr Ehrhart is also a co-founder and a General Partner at the Venture Capital rm SunBridge Partners. SunBridge is well known for its expertise in Japan market entry and cofounded Salesforce.com Japan. At SunBridge, Mr. Ehrhart cofounded Concur Japan, Market Japan, Demandware Japan, and Kyriba Japan. He is also a cofounder and Director of TalentA, which distributes leading talent management solutions in Japan, such as HireVue and Monday.com.
T
he COVID-19 pandemic has been the gamechanger in every realm. What was once a technology for entertainment is now being adopted by businesses. Virtual Reality (VR) has come a long way from the days of science fiction films to real-world entertainment and now to businesses. As businesses switched over to remote working, they adopted VR and AR technologies to keep businesses moving and thriving amidst the crisis. This popular technology allows businesses to take risks and replicate actual presence in both real and virtual worlds. The developments in this immersive technology produce a computersimulated environment, and they provide cuttingedge solutions. Cutting-edge technology has broken down barriers, allowing several industrial verticals to adopt it in order to develop new marketing and communication strategies. Virtual Reality technology, of course, has revolutionised the game experience, but it is not confined to the gaming business. Virtual reality technology offers a new road to achievement in today's environment. And enhancing this technology, Paracosma is providing some robust solutions for the world. In an exclusive interview with Insights Success, Ken Ehrhart, Founder, and CEO of the company, shares his experience and insights
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about Paracoasma. Below are the highlights of the interview. Please brief us about Paracosma Inc. Paracosma Inc is an Augmented and Virtual Reality (AR/VR) Solutions Provider. We offer custom AR/VR application development and 3D content creation, including 3D modelling and 360-degree video production and distribution. We now have over one hundred employees in the US; we have our Japan technology, sales office, and Nepal development centre. What inspired you to enter the industry you are catering to? Having studied technology trends and investment for twenty years since 1996, it is evident that the commercial launch of the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive VR headsets in 2016 was a significant opportunity. According to the Yeti Survey Report: The State of Virtual Reality—2016, 88.5% of companies were planning or already developing VR projects, but VR development was new and expensive. Lack of development resources with appropriate skillset and development bandwidth was cited as the primary obstacle to developing VR technologies by 36.8 and 28.4% of respondents, while 40% cited lack of budget. Fully, 55.2% of respondents said they were likely (27.1%), very likely (14.6%), or extremely likely (13.5%) to outsource some or all of their VR product design and development. Paracosma was founded to address these issues by offering enterprise clients high-quality, low-cost VR development resources. Our demand has grown every year since then. What kind of services do you provide to your clients? We provide custom VR and AR development for virtual events and remote collaboration for onboarding and training, as well as travel and entertainment. Our artists have created over 7,000 photorealistic 3D models for studio photography replacement. We use this expertise to create large-
scale digital twins for industrial applications, synthetic image creation to train machine learning AI systems, and virtual film production. In addition to CGI solutions, we have a 360-degree video production team and a 360-degree video distribution platform. What challenges have you faced while entering industry you are catering to, and how did you transform these challenges into opportunities? VR has unlimited potential across all areas of human activity. VR can do anything that you can do in real life. The technology is also advancing quickly, with better hardware and new platforms arising continually. Paracosma has embraced the broad opportunities and quick change by investing heavily in bringing on, training, and equipping our engineers and artists to provide cutting-edge capabilities across numerous sectors. We have invested in our effort, so the clients get the best. How was Paracosma affected by the COVID19 pandemic? What measures did you take to shorten the damages while helping your clients and maintaining the safety of your employees? As a global organization with teams in three countries, we were immediately impacted by travel bans and the necessity of adapting to remote work. As a VR company, we were able to create a virtual company office in VR with both meeting and conference rooms, as well as an auditorium for company town hall meetings. We were also able to offer remote event and meeting services to existing and new clients. Because loyal clients recognize the value of Paracosma services, with low costs and high quality delivering fast ROI (return on investment), Paracosma’s business continued to increase throughout 2020 and 2021, with 90% of revenues coming from existing clients. According to a survey by Morning Consult in October 2021, fully 39% of business travellers say they will never take another business trip. The pandemic has forever changed the business travel,
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conference, and tradeshow industries. VR can enable a better future through virtual alternatives. What would you like to advise the young generation of entrepreneurs and enthusiasts who want to become a part of the industry you are catering to? Recognize that the transition from 2D to 3D technology is much broader than AR and VR. Self-driving cars, industrial 3D printing, global climate modelling, medical imaging, even deepfake videos, and virtual movie production are all being enabled by this transition.
opportunities are growing rapidly at a pace equal to or faster than broader industry trends. Hiring, onboarding, training, and deploying are now the critical focus of both Paracosma and its clients.
Paracosma’s replacement of studio photography with the virtual rendering of 3D models and the use of 3D game engines to create synthetic images to train AI systems are fast-growing businesses independent of the number of AR and VR users. Everyone entering the technology field will be impacted and stands to benefit from this 2D to 3D transition. Where do you see yourself in the future? Kindly tell us about your strategies for scaling your business. One of our fastest-growing services is the ‘Build a Team’ solution, in which we provide managed teams of expert AR/VR developers and 3D artists on an ongoing long-term basis. While Paracosma hires, trains, equips, supports, and oversees the employees, the end client directly manages their projects and tasks, with constant daily interaction as if the developers and artists are direct members of the client’s in-house teams. This provides clients with long-term dedicated resources to scale capacity and rapidly grow their business while providing Paracosma with growing monthly recurring revenue. What is the current scenario of your industry? As 2022 begins, all signs point to a record year of growth and adoption of AR/VR and 3D services. There is sustained interest and investment in the sector. There is significant adoption and scaling of commercially-ready products and platforms. Our
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7Ways How
Companies
are Enhancing
Work
Home from
Culture
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Easy-Work-Style
W
ith the pandemic and its fears slowly ebbing, it would seem a logical step to get back to work in the office, as was the case before. In fact, employers worldwide have gone to the extent of rolling back the red carpet and showing employees the cold grey floor they were so used to just a couple of years back. But far from being a norm, the going back to office mission is still far from the norm given the presence of everdeveloping newer strains of the virus that is causing strains in fits and starts, and more so in the office space. But with productivity being needed every bit and more so today, with industries practically at the end of their tether, workplaces have found newer ways of doing the same old thing. Office work. And doing so efficiently while staying away from offices. Among the newer trends that are visible today, the following remain noteworthy: 1.Mixing work from office and work from
home Instead of a completely WFH experience with its share of drawbacks, employers are today experimenting with various models of hybrid working. It could either include coming for a few hours to the office or on designated days while continuing to work from home the rest of the time. Doing so apparently has many advantages. It keeps employees feeling connected to a team, to a project, and to a system. With the excitement of moving out of home, schedules form that may lead employees to feel positive about things happening. Meeting teammates in person is said to have a very calming effect on employees besides making them feel wanted and acknowledged. 2.Taking office halfway up the office route Industrial areas that invariably housed offices were at one time the bane of industrialization due to their infrastructure getting overloaded with cars and vehicles. Reaching the office was a nightmare due to the constant traffic snarls. And then came the pandemic and resultant
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lockdown that practically emptied these areas of its residents and turned them overnight into ghost towns. In order to get work done from home or places nearest to them while avoiding over-crowding at industrial centers, most employers and companies have found a middle path. Of that of accessing shared facilities. This is proving a boon for everyone, be it employer-employee or the facility owners. Employers can have a distinct office with their own Logo and style of working which enhances corporate recall among employees without the need to access the facility halfway across the world. As for the shared facility owners, they get much-in-need tenancy to run the facility. 3.Offering better systems including broadband connections, better machines, anti-virus and cloud support Work from home is effective only when it turns productive. With distractions galore, it remains entirely up to the employers to provide much-in-need facilities that would put the employees on the path of performance instead of firefighting over a practically non-existent though potentially threatening situation. For the same, companies ought to provide “WFH employees” everything from office furniture to machines, printers and stable and super-fast net connections. Put together, these would cause the employees to spend less of their time on putting things in order and more on the job. 4.Offering special help in times of need When operating from remote locations, including one’s homes, there’s always the issue of distractions, genuine or otherwise, that employees face, and which invariably reduces their productivity. While it’s impossible to do away with distractions entirely, every effort are made by employers to reduce them with genuine help where possible. Someone’s falling sick in the family, children’s educational needs, special domestic help, etc., are some of the areas that are addressed the right way, leading to enhanced efficiency at work even while the same is being accomplished from home or remote locations. In addition, such initiatives also engender a feeling of loyalty and support for the employer.
managers of HR invariably come across is the feeling of working in a vacuum with low levels of motivation and direction that results in boredom and sometimes also of depression. In order to enhance the feeling of being a team while working from home or remote locations, the employer arranges for regular, and if possible, daily standup meets at a designated time of the day, mostly the morning (unless the office is spread all over the globe in which case it could be difficult) such that every part of the team gets to see the other. It gives a feeling of being wanted and belonging. 6.Show trust by the use of technology and not by demeaning employees In the absence of being face to face, the slightest of slips and delays can be attributed to something that’s far from the truth in reality. Innuendos, insinuations, and overtones invariably form which further muddle the situation. To lay them to rest right at the beginning, companies today invest in systems that keeps every member of the team in the loop, measure their productivity, and inform each other of the status of their work and where it figures in the overall scenarios. Trello board, Slack, Microsoft Teams, Cisco Jabber, Workplace by Facebook, and Quip are some of the latest means by which teams not only communicate but also know the status of a project and what needs to be done immediately. 7.Being clear and open in communication The best of technology can’t shake away the feeling of being targeted. The best that can thus be done by an employer is to pick up the phone or go online on zoom, google meet or the likes, and know first hand the status on the other end. Speaking one-to-one still has its advantage. It clears misunderstandings and helps set agendas after a fresh start. These then are some of the means by which companies these days are enhancing the culture of working from home. What remains central to all these is to bring about a feeling of being wanted among all the members of a team. If done the right way, irrespective of work location, growth could be a given!
5.Having regular online meet- even with the pandemic thinning out. One of the grouses of working from home that most
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- Purushoutham M
SOHAM ERP Solutions Private Limited Robust Manufacturer of Pharmaceuticals
A
s per Indian Economic Survey 2021, the domestic market is expected to grow three times in the next decade. India's domestic pharmaceutical market is estimated at US$ 42 billion in 2021 and is likely to reach US$ 65 billion by 2024. It further expands to reach ~US$ 120-130 billion by 2030. It is the largest provider of generic medicines globally, occupying a 20% share in global supply by volume, and supplies 62% of global demand for vaccines. India ranks third worldwide for production by volume and 14th by value. India has the highest number of US-FDA compliant Pharma plants outside of the USA. It is home to more than 3,000 pharma companies with a strong network of over 10,500 manufacturing facilities.
Mr. Suketu Shah Managing Director
The pharmaceutical industry in India offers 60,000 generic brands across 60 therapeutic categories. The API industry is the world's third largest, and it has 57% of APIs on the WHO. This big growing industry needs to be orchestrated in a symphonic manner, which is only possible with data support. One such company that empowers data as the key to minimizing cost and increasing efficiency is Soham ERP Solutions Private Limited.
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Companies in Focus
The genesis of Soham ERP Soham ERP Solutions Private Limited was launched in 1988 by Mr. Suketu A Shah as a sole proprietorship. It started with developing customized software for anyone and everyone on the disk operating system using foxbase and clipper. The vision behind initiation is to provide the best and economical software to the pharmaceutical industry. Soham grew to incorporate a team of ten members belonging to the pharmaceutical background. With thirty years of experience in the pharma software industry, Soham ERP Solutions is now an ISO 9001:2008 and D&B registered company catering to small, medium, and large firms. In 2012, the business was converted into Private Limited. Moreover, today the firm has a team of 55+ people developing a range of Pharma software for API Manufacturers, Formulators, Contract manufacturers, Exporters, C&F, C&A, and Wholesale Distributors. The latest technology of Oracle, Apex, Angular TS, Forms and Reports, Java, Android, Flutter, and Native Script is incorporated. Soham helps the client to provide ease for management and simplify the processes without compromising with quality. Innovative Leader In his early stage of college, Mr. Suketu Shah, Managing Director, was attracted to technology and specifically computers. Besides college, he started attending extra computer courses at Rollwala Computer Centre – Gujarat University, a renowned computer center. Along with the college studies and additional
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The combination of experience, innovation, and hard work steers the firm ahead of the curve.
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Due to colossal labor turnover in the industry, people have now started adopting 'system driven humans' strategy instead of human-driven systems.' Soham ERP Solutions Private Limited helps and guides this industry to grow in the coming journey of Industry 5.0. Both sectors are growing together hand in hand.
computer studies, he began serving as a faculty at multiple computer centers of Ahmedabad. On the day of his graduation, he had around three years of computer training and software developing experience. He launched two companies in 1988, the Institute of Computer Education (Training Institute) and Soham Software (Software development) companies with two branches in Ahmedabad. Eventually, he focused more on software development and assigned the training institute to another partner. Soham Software's journey changed from a partnership firm to Soham Computers proprietorship company with a vision to develop the only pharma-specific software. He completed his master's degree in marketing and eventually set up as director of Soham ERP Solutions Private Limited with a rich experience of 24 years. During this period, he was on the advisory committee of Computer Education at Tapovan Sanskarpith, Gandhinagar. Today with the experience of 33 years, he is heading a team of 55+ comprising Developers, Testers, Trainers, Customer Support, and other supporting staff. Technology has been changing every five years, and he is adopting newer and newer technology so that his customer always gets the best, state-of-the-art product. To add a feather in his crown, his secondgeneration Mr.Binoy Shah, Director Operations, has completed his graduation from Ahmedabad and got
training at Mumbai regarding pharmaceutical manufacturing, repacking, and logistics. Mr. Suketu Shah is also an executive committee member of the Indian Drug Manufacturers Association, Gujarat Chapter, and Life member of Gujarat Pharmaceutical Association. He has conducted quite a few seminars regarding the Track and Trace rules as per the guidelines of DGFT in the association of MSME. He is the founder and convenor of Alert Vyapar Organization, a Jain Alert Group of India initiative, and a Jain International Trade Organization life member. Aspiring Thought Process To develop something that does not exist has been Suketu's hobby from childhood. To be creative is his passion. That is the chief inspiration to enter into the computer software industry. In his starting years as he was catering his software services to multiple industries like Cotton Yarn, Coal Logistics, Textile, Chemical Manufacturing and Trading, Branded showrooms, Engineering, packing material production, Jewellery, Road and Building construction, Automobile spare parts traders, Cement Manufacturing and Trading, Petrol Pump and Service station, Medicine manufacturing and distribution and lot more. This multi-industry development nurtured his passion for being creative every day. He came across a new demand from a new customer with a new industry-specific requirement. So, this IT industry has become a fascinating life for him, more as a hobby than a business. Crème de la Crème Services The services are all about helping the healthcare organization create, manage, and implement the system. The products and services are as follows: • PharmaCloud: SaaS and IaaS based Pharmaceutical Manufacturing ERP, a first in India • e-Doc: Software to maintain BMR and BPR electronically and make
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• •
• •
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documentation paperless, giving complete control over pre-defined processes BarGen: Track and Trace software developed as per guidelines of GS1 and DGFT for pharmaceutical produce exports MonitorEx: Specialized software for pharmaceutical contract manufacturers and exporters MonitorPlus: Specialized software for pharmaceutical contract manufacturers, loan licenses domestic, and C&F/C&A Radar: Mobile application and web-based software to monitor and manage sales force and marketing activities PdisPlus: Software for Pharmaceutical Distributors and Wholesalers DrugPlus: Software for Pharmaceutical bulk drug traders
Hurdles in the Journey As Suketu was in the first decade of the software development business, the team was catering to more than 15+ categories. Going forward, it was challenging for the production and support team members to keep updated about each industry's related changes. So, later on, the team focused only on one sector, i.e., the pharmaceutical industry, and discontinued software of all other sectors one by one. The company helped its customers to shift on other software smoothly during its stopping services for their industry. It was a difficult job as the company was reducing its customers, and at the same time, it was not getting the same amount of business from the pharmaceutical industry. However, the team sticked to its decision and provided optimum solutions for the pharmaceutical industry. Opinion that Matters "The pharmaceutical industry is regulated, and everyday industry has to face one or the other challenges due to amendments in Drug rules, Govt. policy changes; challenges in export, which change from country to country.
Young entrepreneurs can focus on any one of the challenges to start with, work on that challenge and provide the IT solution to make the life of the industry easier. This way, they can become part of this industry," says Suketu. Future Know-how The future of Soham ERP Solutions Private Limited is very bright for multiple reasons. It is the most experienced pharma IT industry in India (30+ years). It is associated with thousands of customers who guide the company with newer requirements and ideas through which it consistently upgrades its product (2000+). The company wants to focus only on the pharmaceutical industry; hence, it understands their requirements and speaks their language. The company is associated with many pharmaceutical associations where it discusses the future of the pharmaceutical industry and their expectation from IT to achieve their future goal or to deal with the upcoming challenges. Starting from Gujarat in 1988, today, it has covered 14 states of India. Its strategy is to expand its installations globally. It has already covered ten plus countries and is marketing in more countries and trying to grow in the countries where it has already sold to few customers. For this, the company has associated with oracle and launched its PharmaCloud on Oracle Cloud. It can implement its ERP as Software as a Service (SaaS) model or Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) model, which gives it an economical benefit to the customers. It is the first in India to provide Pharma ERP on Oracle Cloud. Calculative Steps Talking about the COVID-19 pandemic, which was an exceptional lesson all humans went through, the company's primary aim throughout the pandemic was to micro-manage every department and give the best services to its clients. Collectively, they decided
to take service one step ahead of usual by making it 24 x 7 available without compromising the quality. The calculated steps the company took to overcome the crisis included: • It contacted all its clients individually via email, SMS, Whatsapp to assign each of its clients a single point of contact for their immediate needs. • Routed all the landline support phone numbers to support heads' mobiles. Equipped each employee with a laptop and phone for an internet connection. • It took control and tried to keep all the office servers, machines, and air-conditioning on 24x7 during the lockdown. • It made sure it used its selfdeveloped support software named 'Task Manager,' which keeps the entire support team in the loop and tracks the service call from its receipt to the satisfactory resolution at the customer's end. • VPN set up for each staff member. • Conducted daily online meetings sharp at 10 am, which started with a prayer, followed by a discussion of the pending or challenging issues of the previous day. • Online training sessions played a vital role and helped the team to enhance its critical thinking. Industry Now The Pharma is food, and Tech is the air. Suketu running a Pharma focused tech industry, will give opinions for both sectors altogether. The primary reason for this growth is as follows: 1. Expiry of patent drugs across the globe 2. Increasing support of regulatory 3. Developing an inhouse API farm and reducing the dependence on China 4. Increase of the Private Investment as people got the idea after Covid that the only industry that won't be affected due to any crisis is the Pharma.
34 | DECEMBER 2021 | www.insightssuccess.in