Irrespective of the size of a business, organizations are embracing technology with open hands, especially in an economy like India where the tech-based talent pool has always been bigger and financially better in compared to other developed countries. Government’s initiative to boost the startup culture has furthered the scope of tech organizations in the country.
Entrepreneur India caught up with a few entrepreneurs on the opportunities explosion of technology has opened for emerging organizations in India. Here’s what they said:
Tech – The Key Driver
Technology is the key to increase the productivity of not just the employees but the overall organization and adds the needed value of its products too. Agreeing that the utilization of technology is certainly the only way that a business can thrive in the long run, Vikram Chari, the Founder and CEO of SmartOwner Services India shared, “It is critical both from the perspective of cost management and revenue maximization.”
Answering to how the inclusion of technology could help a nation’s economic development, he responded, “The industrial revolution has largely been the story of the better application of technology and business practices and we expect this trend to continue to accelerate in the years to come.” To cater to the evolving set of audience, companies need to embrace technology exponentially.
With a lot of power shifting to millennials today, instant gratification and smarter lives is the only way forward, believes Manoj Meena, CEO and Co-Founder of Atomberg Technologies. “Technology has to be at the core of the business. Even support functions like sales/product development/marketing can become a lot more efficient if the right technology is deployed,” he added.
Non-core Factor?
It is hard to resist technology even when you’re a small or non-tech start-up, especially when it’s increasing the bottom-line. While technology has become an important aspect of growth for all organizations, it doesn’t necessarily need to be the core enabler. Multiple companies with traditional and non-tech DNA have adopted tech to serve the users better.
Giving some examples, Mrinal Kashyap, the Co-founder of Habitro provided, “Online learning courses are making education cheaper and accessible even in the remote areas. Walmart is testing automation to handle tasks that are repeatable, predictable and manual, like scanning shelves for out-of-stock items, incorrect prices and wrong or missing labels.”
More so, Logistic companies are using technology for route optimization and capacity planning. “The amount of data we’ve produced in the last 50 years is much more than what we’ve generated in the entire human history and through such amount of data, the possibilities are endless. In today’s world, it’s getting virtually impossible to build a sustainable business without using technology irrespective if you’re a tech company or a non-tech one,” he concluded.
Possible Avenues
Technology has given birth to endless opportunities. The influence of emerging tech like IoT, AI, Blockchain has grown so prominent in all sectors that all avenues seem feasible to start a business in. The explosion of smartphones and cheaper data has empowered the entrepreneurial ecosystem to start successful startups in the country.
Advising on how a budding entrepreneur can start a tech business, Meena shared, “Firstly the market size or the problem at hand should be big enough to solve for. There needs to be well-focused research done to have a clear market strategy in place once the product is ready. In terms of technology, it needs to be unique and differentiated so that the brand has an edge over other players in the segment.”
The potential is huge with government and investors playing a crucial role in driving this hockey stick graph. Technology is getting more affordable day-by-day now, it’s up to companies how to use these in their favour for becoming the next unicorn, Kashyap furthered the discussion.
[“source=entrepreneur”]