Ashish Navinchandra Bavishi, the General Manager for International Business of Netcore Solutions Pvt Ltd was in Nepal recently for service expansion in partnership with Digitainment Pvt Ltd. Netcore is an Indian company that provides digital communication solutions for products specialising in email and mobile phones. The biggest names in banking and financial institutions along with various other companies endorse Netcore solutions. Bavishi looks after international business in Africa, South East Asia and South Asia Region. In an interview with New Business Age, he shared ideas about his company’s potential in the Nepali market. Excerpts:
 

Could you tell us in brief about your company?

Netcore was started in 1998 with Linux based email servers. Over time, we started cloud services which hosts anti spam antivirus solutions. We entered into SMS solutions in 2003-04 and later on, we came up with enterprise solution and started different ways of using SMS. Netcore is probably the first Indian company to use SMS as an advertising platform. We helped corporate houses reach their clients through mobile phones because it is more personalised and penetrative than any other medium. Now we have medical services on SMS as well as M-coupons and M-connector which are business intelligence suites. We also provide email and SMS marketing services, voice based services. Around 20 million visitors log on to our web portal www.oneindia.in every month. Currently, we are trying to offer services like email, SMS, infotainment content etc in Nepal through telecom operators. The three different areas where we are working are enterprise solutions, data solutions and digital marketing.
 

How well are you doing in India and other countries?

In India, we are the leaders in Linux based solutions. All our services are doing excellently in India. We are a team of 300 people; half of them are in technology. We are the market leaders in India for email servers, hosting anti spam integrated solution and digital marketing. After the telecom operators, we are the largest SMS sender in India with 10 to 15 million outgoing SMS daily. Netcore has pioneered most of the things that we currently do. We are also expanding our mobility and messaging solutions in other countries. We already have a presence in more than 17 countries. The entire IT fraternity is embracing cloud based solution rather than in-house solution. This is where Netcore’s expertise along with Linux based solution is so vital. We have a very capable leadership which encourages us to reach new heights. Being a customer oriented company, we believe in providing the best services for our clientele so that helps us maintain our top position.

 

What brings you to Nepal this time?

We are working in association with Digitainment here in Nepal for enterprise solution and solution for the telecom operators. We understand that the majority of people cannot afford smart phones. However, they are looking for VAS (Value Added Services) and infotainment solutions etc on their mobile phones which are not being catered well. We are trying to reach and cater to the lowest category of the society with our solutions. My brief experience tells me that this is a great market. People have started understanding the power of technology due to the advent and popularity of Internet, mobile phone and television etc. The people here learn to use new technology very fast. Contrary to my earlier belief, Nepal is not a tourist destination only. I find this market very promising as there are a good number of corporate houses here. And we are looking at them as our prospective clientele. We plan to replicate our image as a customer oriented company in Nepal. Hopefully, that will help us become the market leader here.

 

Tell us about the products and services you plan to establish here?

We want to bring all types of solutions: digital marketing, enterprise solution and data products. The primary intention is to engage customers with the brand and cater to the corporate clientele with ‘no price tag for the solution’. People are paying a lot of money for legacy solution as they don’t have any alternative. Once they have an alternative which is better than what they are paying for, they would certainly opt for that. We will make efforts to educate the market and introduce all the products that we have in India.

 

A large population in Nepal does not have access to Internet. Is that a challenge for you?

The solutions that we provide are not Internet based only. We will be coming with a bouquet of solutions via telecom operators to reach around 5 million people. We understand that SMS is the best option for penetration as it reaches everyone and it is easier, personal and cheaper. We focus primarily on SMS but at the same time, we also look at email and enterprise solutions.
 

How would the customers benefit from your services?

Let me give you an example of email servers here. Linux based operating solution costs one third of the total price of legacy solution so that will create value addition for our customers. They stand to get better quality at a lower price. When we started out in India five years ago, the outgoing SMS charge was around 50 paisa. Today, it has come down to as less as five paisa per SMS. I think that can be replicated here in Nepal in the next two to three years. We will create benefit for our users by reaching more subscribers. We will give them more information for their mobile because mobile is the next big thing. All around the world, everything is making a shift from other technologies to mobile. SMS is the easiest medium for 70 per cent of the mobile subscribers. So, we are targeting mobile users and trying to cater to them. We are trying to cater to the entire market using SMS services as they promise to be the star performers among all value added services. All I can promise you is that this market will certainly get benefits from us. Within a year’s time, you will see the changes and results coming out.

 

Technology is changing faster than ever. How challenging is it to operate in such an environment?

We have a sizeable technology team in India which is highly efficient. We share our knowledge on technology with our partners in different countries regularly. We want to extend our services keeping in mind the technology available to us here. We have been tackling with technology since our inception. We lead the market because we have pioneered on all fronts. I think we can cope with the change in technology given our competent team stationed in India. If required, we can always hire more knowledgeable employees to deal with new situations. Netcore is particularly interested in creating infrastructure for effective functioning. It has three data centres, one in India and two in the US which work in tandem with each other. If a particular centre is not working properly, another one takes over automatically. Our main focus being a technology company is to create technology and impart ensuing services to the customers.

 

What is your plan on working with the local companies in order to get established here?

We are very proud that we have tied up with Digitainment as our partner here. It will be responsible for liaison with the local companies. It’s an established fact that people trust their own people more. I am confident that Digitainment will help Netcore cater to the market here in an efficient manner. It’s our policy to work with local partners in any country that we start our operations in. We have already talked to many companies so in a way, we have started work here. It’s only a matter of time before our operations run in a full-fledged manner here.