"Technology is not a Differentiator in Market"
By Priyanka Akhouri
Mumbai, Nov 20, 2007

What do you think about the Indian IT market?

I see the Indian IT market as maturing and moving to the product space slowly. There is a need to create more intellectual property than what it has at present. That's where the competitive advantage is. That's where the future lies.

Five to ten years down the line it's going to be difficult just to compete on low cost and a large workforce.

What role does technology plays in Synage business process?

With the latest Web 2.0 tools, Synage is completely a technology driven company. We are using DeskAway to manage our business online. With the ability to manage internal and client projects, office contacts, teams, documents, blogs, and calendars, we've achieved high efficiency and productivity from our team members.

How does technology help you to stay ahead in the competitive market?

Technology being inexpensive and ubiquitous is not a differentiator in the market anymore. What counts is how we leverage technology to our advantage. Can we connect with our customers faster than the others? Can we reduce our cost and work with people via the Internet? Can we deliver on time and efficiently? These are the questions we ask and then use technology to aid us. With technology changing so fast it's important for our organization to keep its eyes and ears open.

What are the major applications the company works with?

We use a variety of Software as a Service (SaaS) applications to run our company. The major ones are Google Apps & DeskAway. Other applications handle our email, firewall, eMarketing, etc.

Why did you zero in on these applications?

You can try SaaS applications and see if it fits your organization. If it doesn't, get rid of it. That's the beauty of these new breed of enterprise 2.0 apps -- simple, inexpensive, and easy to use. It helps a small company become real agile.

What are the major business and technology benefits?

Since we try to use Web applications for everything that we do, it helps us speed up things and stay connected to our work from anywhere in the world. Moreover, there is no expensive installation, deployment, or training. That's an old school now.

What are the parameters that the company has set for technology selection?

Our technology selection parameters include one that fits well into our organization and is inexpensive and easy to use.

What is your marketing strategy?

Marketing is going to be completely online -- search engine marketing, viral/social media, email marketing, affiliate marketing, content syndication, etc. We are going to position ourselves where our customers are going to be online.

What are your expansion plans for India?

With our business model, we don't need a large team and grow inorganically. Hence, our presence will be only in Mumbai. However, we will be expanding our reach to many more prospects online.

What is your roadmap for 2007-2008?

We are going to concentrate on marketing DeskAway. Also, we are planning to bring out a couple of more Web 2.0 applications online.