A profound division of SMS Country, Telebu is India’s first UCaaS company. The firm offers software solutions as a service to businesses through a bouquet of products on a subscription model with no strings attached. Being a hub of seven major enterprise communication products including Grptalk, TelebuJoin, TelebuPing, TelebuHub, TelebuPop, Telebu Blocks, and SMS; Telebu’s key objective is to offer easy to use and reliable communication solutions to Startups, SME’s, Enterprise & Government Organizations.
Pioneer in the UCaaS industry, Telebu has offices in Hyderabad, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, Bengaluru, Kolkata, and Delhi NCR. It also has offices in Gulf Coast Countries including Dubai, Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman, and Kuwait. Telebu employs more than 200 people and serves more than 100,000 customers and more than 1,000 enterprises along with almost ten renowned political parties. Read Satya Yerramsetti, Founder & CEO, Telebu outline the success story of the company.
The Customer
India has emerged as one of the world’s most promising internet markets, with the second-largest internet user base globally which has been further accelerated by the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. The pandemic accelerated the digital transformation by many years.
Video & Audio conferencing industry has been in the process of recording a steady Y-o-Y growth even before the pandemic hit us. A large set of enterprises was already hands-on with the traditional technologies such as the audio conferencing apps. Amidst this, the global pandemic and consequential lockdown have just accelerated the rate at which businesses across the country are adopting virtual communication platforms. Undoubtedly, the number of inquiries in this segment has significantly increased by 100% W-o-W from March 2020 to July 2020; demonstrating a tremendous growth opportunity for the telecommunications companies in India, including us at Telebu.
We witnessed a subsequent increase in demand for our products including TelebuJoin, TelebuHub & TelebuPing. This paved a way for us to expand our customer base and add a host of new clientele to our kitty. Our customer base used to predominantly comprise of startups, SME’s and Government organizations. It now also includes clients from different parts of the world (Singapore, USA) from a vast array of industries including educational, agricultural, construction, and consumer goods. Not only from the metros but we received a welcoming response from tier-II and tier-III cities as well. About 35% of our business was driven by startups, SMEs & MSMEs belonging to Tier-II or Tier-III cities and 70% of the businesses hailing from Tier - II & Tier III cities chose Audio Conferencing & Contact Center Softwares as their preferred tools for remote communication.
Notable client
The list of our notable clients now ranges from the Government of India, Centurion Corporation Limited Singapore, Godrej, Motilal Oswal, to Dr. Reddy’s, Josh talks, Zydus and Paragon. Telebu’s products evolved over the years based on customer feedback and requirements. No one communication tool could fit all needs. So that is where Telebu came into the foreplay. As a company, Telebu offered clients multiple communication tools and allowed them to pick the one best suited for their needs. With time, new technologies were integrated, products were improved and features were added. Technologies such as Video calling & conferencing APIs and chatbots became an integral part of our product offerings.
The Challenge
Challenges are a part and parcel of every business and we have been no exception. Right from infrastructural challenges to funds and from policy changes to the audience’s acceptance of a new service; challenges are many. Some of the prominent for us at Telebu include the Resistance to change. While the pandemic may have accelerated digital transformation, many traditional-oriented companies are still reluctant to change and adapt to the newer technologies and upgrade their services.
Some other challenges are recurring in nature which can be navigated with time which directly or indirectly impacts the business operations. Challenges such as the lack of skilled resources and sufficient understanding of SaaS services and customization and personalization continue to pose some challenges for us.
The Solution
Oftentimes, the solution to a big quandary is very simple. In our case, offering a trial of the product to clients to help them understand how it could enhance their business operations was the first step. We also started conducting webinars to inform industry leaders on how they could leverage our technology to increase their operational efficiency. Another challenge that came our way was the client’s demands for customized features. Many clients requested features that were unique to their needs and scenarios so we decided to start offering APIs tailored to the clients’ needs.
The Team
At Telebu, we are currently a team of 200 people who work day in and day out to improve our services and offerings and thus meet the demands of our customers. Even during the pandemic which spared no industry, we were able to stride through the uncertainties with our heads held high all because of the resilience, adaptability, and commitment of the team.
Having gone through sudden change ourselves, we were able to help customers by empathizing with their situation. We understood their problem and offered them solutions that would enable them to resume business activities to a large extent. Also, we faced adversity with an optimistic mindset and developed products to help the world communicate better and thereby helped the companies stay connected and united even during the Covid battle.
We introduced some notable products including TelebuJoin (audio conferencing solution), TelebuPing (real-time unified communication solution), and TelebuHub (complete contact center software) to streamline and smoothen the communication process for our stakeholders, even during difficult times like these.
The Implementation
Similar to the rest of the world, COVID-19 caught us off guard. Our offices closed overnight, forcing us to adapt to the new remote work model. While we had all the technology to initiate remote work instantly, coordination did take time. But everyone in the team stepped up in more ways than imaginable.
Moreover, employee relationships have always been at the heart of Telebu. For years now, we have tried to create a culture where we lead with trust and empathy instead of fear and intimidation. We always prioritized listening to employees' needs, but the stress of navigating a pandemic called for something more profound. The management decided to reach out to employees individually to ask them how they dealt with the uncertainties. We didn't expect too many responses, but to our pleasant surprise, many of them poured their hearts out and talked about their fears & worries. Talking with each other has brought all of us closer, knowing that we are in this together.
While they were all facing their own set of personal challenges, they still took the initiative to work harder & build a stronger brand.
Results
Everyone now has an easier and more effective way to communicate. So there is no going back from here. There was a huge resistance to technological adaptation amongst companies till now but since last year even traditional industries are looking to leverage technology to improve operational efficiencies. This sudden change has given us a huge opportunity to share our technology and help several industries navigate the pandemic better.
Additionally, from a larger perspective; various large venture capital firms such as sequoia capital and Accel are all looking to invest in SaaS companies because they are going to dictate the future of the business world. Regardless of a global pandemic, companies will continue to communicate and strengthen the future of SaaS companies and their products.