Icertis to invest $10 million in R&D

MUMBAI, INDIA: US-based Icertis, an enterprise solutions provider, has announced its key business plans to ramp up investment for cloud-based product developments and increase headcount for the next couple of years.

“We will invest around $10 million in research and development (R&D) over the next two years and will launch one cloud product every six month,” Icertis' co-founder and CEO Samir Bodas told reporters here on the sideline its Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) product launch here on Thursday.

“The investment would largely be utilized in the area of cloud-based product development capability that will help in building cloud products around ERP. Also, the funds will be invested in pre-fabricated frameworks and pre-owned IPs to develop new applications and services. We will also increase our headcount to 300 by the end of next year,” Bodas said.

A large number of the total 150 staffers operate at the company's research facility in Pune.

Besides, the company will expand its geographic presence by setting up offices in London and New Jersey during this quarter, and will set up offices in Mumbai and Delhi in the next quarter.

Icertis' CLM tool is claimed to be world's first CLM product on Windows Azure platform. According to Bodas, the company is focusing on three verticals, including BFSI, telecom and manufacturing to drive business in India.

“Besides our cloud-based products business, we offer cloud consulting services to customers, and help them migrate to cloud and build applications and services,” Bodas added.

Globally, the CLM market is estimated around $3.5 million and is growing at 20 per cent yearly. India is worth around 10-20 per cent of the global CLM market.

At present, the company has 15 customers across its product line based in India and US region. ICICI Bank and Microsoft are two of its customers for the CLM product.

“We are very upbeat about the clout computing market in India, which is one of the fastest growing in the world. The launch of ICLM is a major step in the execution of our cloud-native ERP surround product strategy,” Bodas said.

“The boom in the CLM space is due to the spotlight on risk and compliance, which is driving the vendors like us in the market. We are the No.1 provider of enterprise solutions in the Microsoft cloud,” Bodas concluded.