When an engine-maker runs for cars

ERP is surely enticing enough of a gold pot to make one tread a treacherous rainbow till the end of it. May be more that made an OEM maker decide to venture into selling the sedans himself. “Enough of selling the dough, what the heck, I will sell the cakes now” he might have whistled to himself.

Because he knew, what nuts and bolts the Porsches lack? Because he knows where to add that extra horsepower? Because he does not know that there is not much ground clearance left, thanks to the big boys on the road already? Because he hoped, there’s a road hungry for better, finer wheels? Or because he is seeing a set of drivers the BMWs have ignored. Why not ask the real ‘because’ from him?

A man who has guts and vision enough to say ‘Greed is good’ is always a man to watch out for. Founder CEO Suchin Gupta of Mindmill on how easy, how tough, and ultimately how worthwhile is it to dive in a market like ERP, where there are no short-cuts and no flyovers.

Why the ERP market? A cliché question as it may sound, but why choose a market where the likes of SAP, Oracle etc operate?

We have been well-entrenched in be-spoke software development and now gunning for ERP in the financial sector. The big names are there for sure. But they can’t be used for some sectors yet, for example- Financial sector. Specially in India. Because it’s about specific requirements, the industry DNA that has to be entrenched in the product. There are so many such areas like EMI-based products or Gold Loans. We have been catering to such segments. In addition to retail, corporate banking; we also cater to treasury banking etc. In all honesty, I don’t know of anyone else who does it. It’s proper strong software with banking features integrated together in the ERP product.

But it surely isn’t easy to crack the dykes for a new player?

The marketing part (if that’s what you are talking about) has been interesting. You have to salute the client and work as per what he really needs. People have taken to our software very well. It’s about a good product at the end of the day.

What was the change like from delivering software to being a product maker?

The main challenge was to find people both in the domain and in the technology sense. That has been the biggest challenge. We have been lucky to create a group within the company with very senior consultants and combine them with other experts like database specialists.

Was recession a time helpful enough for a new small player?

As the world is moving on, price of software is falling. So vendors can not put huge amounts of money in R&D. People don’t have to buy mainframes of 20th century. People don’t want an ancient Rolex. But a faster product with complete functionality. Can the big guys afford it? Back-of-the-envelope calculations will tell you that not many, and not much. Our solution is a lot more palatable, and cheaper. No need to throw away money or get tied down to huge AMCs.

Is it easy to easy to circumvent the dreaded AMC angle and still maintain good service and support strengths?

We offer an ASP-based solution, for one, which negates the AMC angle. Second, we try to figure out how a client can save money. We encourage remote-run solutions. We don’t want to make money by charging travel expenses but by selling good software.

Scale? What about the good old argument that small players perennially get attacked with?

Unless an organization floats a tender of a certain revenue, I honestly don’t think why I should be afraid of a biggie. End of the day, the right product and the right set of people that a client can trust, is what matters. Today, clients are more interested in real people. My challenge is not how to beat the biggie. I have to make sure I am there. It has to change from ‘Who are you’ to ‘How are you’ whenever a client needs to talk.

Why is the small vs. big split always rivalry driven? Why can’t it be complimentary?

New vendors will keep coming which is good news. They offer solutions which perhaps can be on that line. But it takes a lot to do that. Then, there is ambition that makes a man go far. Greed is good, as they say. Everybody is entitled to run.

How good has the progress been so far?

Mindmill was established in 1993, and now has clients in over 16 different countries covering all the five continents around the world. Our focus is on products in the banking and financial domain and bespoke software development services. We were selected by NAFCUB (The National Federation of Urban Cooperative Banks and Credit Societies Ltd,) as the premier ASP (CBS) Solution provider for All Urban Cooperative Banks in India. Mindmill is the ASP provider and will provide the CBS software license, data centre, servers, and equipment required for connectivity to branches (also called WAN). No server, no application software is required in any branch or HO of the bank. No headache for Bank for maintenance of HO level hardware, software and Connectivity, Data Migration, Technical Documentation, Audit Tools, Training. Now, PSUs, Oil and Gas are the new excitement areas. We also have an ability to do research and come up with unified specifications.