“With our Intelligent BPMS solution, and Mobile and Cloud offerings, we are well poised to enter our next phase of growth towards attaining a better position in the global software market”
Fired with a zeal to build a world-class Product Development Company ever since his graduation, Mr. Diwakar Nigam, realized his dream after Newgen Software Technologies was founded in 1992. Under Mr. Nigam’s dynamic leadership, Newgen flowered into a frontline provider of Business Process Management (BPM), Enterprise Content management (ECM) and Customer Communication Management ( CCM) , with a global footprint of 900 installations in over 50 countries with large, mission-critical solutions deployed at the world’s leading Banks, Insurance firms, BPO’s, Healthcare Organizations, Government, Telecom Companies & Shared Service Centers.
As the Managing Director of Newgen, Mr Nigam is deeply involved in the development of Enterprise Content Management and Business Process Management Software, which has helped Newgen to make an impact at the international level. Today, Newgen’s client list consists of some of India’s and the world’s largest Banks, Insurance Companies, BPOs, MNCs and big corporate houses.
A Masters in Computers Science from IIT Madras, Mr Nigam had incorporated Softek Limited, a product development company specializing in Compilers, Operating System, Office Productivity tools, etc., before forming Newgen.
Quite active in the national software industry, he is a founding member of NASSCOM. Mr Nigam is also a member of the Anti Piracy Task Group formed by NASSCOM.
In an exclusive interview to Mouseworld Now, Mr Nigam bares open his vision, on-site challenges, strengths and roadmap into the future for Newgen. Edited excerpts…
Q. As a leading provider of Business Process Management (BPM), Enterprise Content Management (EPM), Customer Communication Management (CCM) what are the major challenges faced by Newgen Technologies in the global as well as Indian market?
Ans. Industry paradigms are being redefined constantly and the demand for smart technologies, which can help enterprises realign their core operations with the changing market dynamics, has been increasing. While this has created greater opportunities for organizations like ours, it has also led to several challenges.
The competition has grown manifolds and the market is now witnessing unprecedented consolidation. Smaller niche technology providers are fast being acquired by larger enterprises as they rush to add functional capabilities. In such as scenario Newgen has been steadfastly trying to deliver a unified transformational technology platform for its clients.
The recent volatility in the global financial markets has also created some distinct challenges in terms of expanding into newer markets and operating in developed markets such as the USA and Europe.
In terms of the Indian market, we have enjoyed a fairly good run and are the leader in the BPM, ECM and CCM sphere. I think the market scenario has improved extensively over the last decade. However, a little more effort on creating a level playing field and a stronger IPR protection regime will go a long way to ensure success of Indian software product firms.
Q. As a provider of Business Process Management (BPM), what are your main areas of operation? Any plan to foray into newer verticals?
Ans. Through our BPM platform we provide enterprises with a holistic approach for adaptability, and enable continuous process improvement by eliminating any redundancy in operations, while increasing the efficiency and quality of products and services. We also offer vertical specific solution accelerators for Banking, Insurance, Government, Shared Services, and Healthcare industries among others, built on our proven BPM platform. Newgen has recently launched its Intelligent Business Process Management Suite (iBPS) which incorporates astute dimensions of Social, Mobile, Analytics, and Cloud.
Process heavy industry verticals have traditionally relied on our BPM technology to gain market competitiveness. Organizations in the manufacturing, BFSI, education, BPOs, legal sectors have achieved significant process efficiency and profitability by implementing our BPM framework across critical processes.
In the US government agencies and healthcare industries have responded well to our BPM technology to manage regulatory compliances and enhance end-customer experience. In the Middle East and Europe we enjoy phenomenal success in industries such as banking, insurance and government.
We are actively looking to ramp up our Mobility offering, enabling businesses to run on the fly. Our mobility offerings will include BPM, ECM and CCM on Mobile.
Q. Given the fact that Indian market is highly price-sensitive, how do you plan to further penetrate the highly competitive market in India?
Ans. One of the primary reasons why Newgen has been successful in the Indian market is because our offerings have been highest quality and innovative, and at the same time highly cost effective. Driven by a team of dedicated and passionate leaders, innovation is a mainstay for us. Going forward our focus will continue to be around building futuristic products and solutions. With our Intelligent BPMS solution, and Mobile and Cloud offerings, we are perfectly poised to enter our next phase of growth towards attaining a better position in the global software market, while maintaining our leadership position in the Indian market.
Considering the fact that Indian market is highly price-sensitive following are some of the key factors that will help us penetrate the highly competitive market in India:-
• Deep Domain knowledge of Banking, Financial Services, Insurance, BPO, Shared Service Centers, Telecom, Government & Healthcare.
• Focus on Innovation: Innovation is at the centre of our corporate strategy. Roughly 12-15 percent of our revenues are spent in R&D on year on year basis.
• ’A la carte’ Implementation: Flexible licensing polices allow customers to opt for ‘partial solutions’, which greatly lower the cost of solution acquisition. As ROI is established we then seamlessly ‘upgrade’ our customers to full solutions.
• PROagile Implementation Methodology: It is a new methodology that shortens the implementation cycle, captures customer requirements more effectively, reduces redundancies and makes for a faster, more streamlined delivery process.
• Lower Total Cost of Ownership (TCO): We offer cost-effective solutions to our customers that deliver high value for money with sustainable business benefits.
Q. As a fast-growing player in this space, where would you like to be in the next 5 years or so?
Ans. There are several milestones which we have set for ourselves for the next 5 years.
On the technology front, we will continue to create innovative products and solutions and strengthen and add capabilities to our existing products. Focus on SMAC (Social, Mobile, Analytics, and Cloud) will begin resonating across most of our product lines. We envision a 6-8% growth in our cloud based offerings in the next one year.
In terms of market expansion, we have initiated plans to create greater traction in the US and Europe. We are also deepening engagements in the Middle East, Africa and APAC regions.
Q. What are the major trends in the Indian market in the space in which you operate?
Ans. Today’s highly competitive and demanding business environment has created significant performance pressures on Indian organizations. They are increasingly looking for reliable and cost-effective technology partners who can provide them with flexible and scalable IT frameworks. Organizations, today, prefer end-to-end solutions over silos of business applications running independently, to create operational efficiency and process standardization. The current conventional operations lack situational awareness; decisions are based on inflexible and hardcoded rules and policies and the processes are manual and rigid. The growing phenomena of social, mobile, cloud, and analytics are further fueling the dynamic environment.
Following are the key trends that are redefining enterprise IT management:
Mobility: With the rise in penetration of mobile devices, adopting mobility has become inevitable for any business. Enterprises will look to adopt mobility in their business process management strategy to get closer to their customers and also enable key stakeholders to collaborate on processes 24×7
Social Media: The pervasiveness of social media has made it an indispensable component of business strategy. Smart IT frameworks will facilitate collaborative work environment by leveraging social media platform to engage with the customers and other external stakeholders.
Analytics: Expanding the scope of process analytics to encompass predictive analytics tools along with real-time Business Activity Monitoring (BAM) within the IT framework will result in enhanced operational intelligence, improved visibility and business responsiveness.
Cloud: Collaboration amongst key stakeholders, business leaders, analysts, process owners, and business users will be the key to continuous process improvement. Cloud platform will enable this real-time collaboration amongst users to create operational excellence.
Q. What constitutes your key market strategy in India? Do you plan any significant market expansion in near future?
Ans: To support our growth plans and strategy in India, we have concocted several levels of strategy to ensure we continue to maintain our leadership position. We have a core team of 200 people in Sales and Marketing who work directly for the growth and brand building of the organization. We have increased our marketing budget significantly and are enhancing our visibility & mindshare by participating in all major trade events and through focused social media marketing.
We have put some muscle behind creating an effective channels partner program to expand our indirect sales funnel. Campaign based approaches have been adopted for promotion and evangelization of our products and solutions in different verticals such as Banking and Financial Services, SSCs, Government and Insurance.
We have created some major traction in expanding our partner network and moving to a model where most implementations will move to the partner level.
Q. What kind of Channel engagement happens at Newgen?
Ans. We have three types of channel partners in India.
Global System Integrators(GSI): Tech Mahindra, Infosys, TCS, Cognizant etc.
Regional SI: Targus, Span Infotech, Espire Infolab, Nevae, Xenolith etc.
Premium Partners: Fore Solutions, Trigma, TSG Global, HBS System etc.
ISV Partners: Microsoft, Oracle, RedHat, HP etc
These partners spread across the globe are trained in Newgen products and solutions on the basis of their vertical focus. Our partners receive support from us in setting up a Newgen product lab for better hands on experience and dedicated technical support. We have recruited these partners on the basis of regional & vertical strength. Newgen also provides certification facility to their partners, where partners can certify their sales/technical resources. Newgen also organize extensive online training and class room training on sales/presales/technical aspect every quarter at their office.
Currently Newgen operates in 58 countries with 200+ partners. So far approximately 150 sales resources and 160+ technical partner resources have been certified on Newgen products and solutions, along with approx 100+ Newgen lab are running at partners premises.
Currently some territories are only serviced by our partners and are termed as business partner operating territory (BPOT). For BPOT countries we provide sales and technical support, ready presentations, customized demos, localized product brochures and product to support our partners. We also help our partners on marketing activities like lead generation, marketing content etc. Depending upon the vertical focus of the partner and Newgen, we provide extensive training on Newgen products and solutions. We also sponsor customer events organized by partners for awareness. We also understand the IT maturity of the market and design Newgen offering for the BPOT countries along with our partners. All these countries are being supported by dedicated Channel Sales/Pre Sales/Technical Support/Training managers etc.
Q. Please shed some light on your client base and global operations?
Ans. With sales offices in Dubai, Singapore, US, Canada, and India and a customer base in over 57 countries, Newgen has helped businesses across different verticals achieve results and drive profits. The company is credited with 1100+ installations including many large, mission-critical deployments at the world’s leading banks, insurance firms, BPOs, healthcare organizations, government agencies, telecom companies, and shared service centers. Some of our prestigious include are Citi Bank, Coca-Cola, Metlife, Astra Zeneca, Johnson & Johnson, East West Bank, Galaxy Backbone Plc., Nigeria, ICICI Bank, Strides Arcolab, Max Bupa Life Insurance, Liberty Insurance, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, ECO Bank, Bank Muscat, United Arab Bank, Bank Dhofar, Diamond Bank and Arab National Bank.