In an interview with Insights Success, Sanjeev Agrawal, the Founder & Director at Deflytics Software has shared some insightful answers highlighting the influences made by his firm, service offerings, winning honors, current, and future perceptions. The firm is aiming to empower the companies to better understand their data, helping them become more nimble, efficient and competitive in their respective marketplace.
- Enlighten us with the foundation story of the company and also the brief details of the company’s initial days.
Deflytics Software was founded in Nov 2012 and started commercial operations in mid-2013. We named the company “Deflytics” as the sum of 2 parts – [DEF]Y and ANA[LYTICS] – with the core belief that companies need to Defy their existing business processes and use Analytics to bring change within their organizations for better decision making. With this aim, we set about seeking partnership with global product companies in the analytics space. We knew even then that Software as a Service [cloud-based technologies] would be the next big wave and so we aligned our partnerships with leaders in the analytics space with a cloud-focused product offering.
In the initial few quarters of 2013, we faced resistance from market to adopt cloud-based solutions due to challenges inter alia on data security, scalability, network, and bandwidth. Further, we faced stiff competition from the strong presence of on-premise vendors like SAP, Oracle, and IBM. Over the course of next 2-3 years though, we had a good run with our Mobile BI and EPM offerings landing projects with some of the biggest and most prestigious enterprises in India. We eventually had to pivot our business a couple of times before we decided to focus exclusively on Enterprise Performance Management marketplace.
- Brief us about the Founder/CEO of the company and the major contribution of him/her towards the company.
Sanjeev Agrawal is the Founder & Director of Deflytics Software. He has 22+ years of experience in Sales, Presales & Consulting. He started Deflytics in 2012 and has been associated with the company since then. He is responsible for overall strategy, operations, and execution of the company. Under his leadership and guidance, Deflytics has worked with over 35+ clients across India and overseas across a range of EPM/BI projects. Deflytics has built expertise in IT/ITes, Pharmaceutical, Manufacturing, Media & Entertainment, Retail and Professional Services industries. He has built a team grounds up to cater to the challenging needs of planning marketplace, and believes in open, inclusive work culture, likes to empower the team to deliver professional work with honesty, transparency, and integrity. He is pretty hands-on and is actively involved in implementation projects lending his expertise to clients.
- Please share with us the initial struggle that strengthens the current success of the brand.
Deflytics was incorporated in late 2012 with 3 key areas of focus – Analytics [including Data warehouse and BI], Mobile BI and EPM. It won its first EPM client very early in its journey. Over the years, Deflytics has worked with clients who are leaders in their respective industries helping them put together processes and framework for Analytics and Planning. Over the last few years, it has pivoted its business to focus exclusively on the Enterprise Performance Management [EPM] market and has gained significant traction. Deflytics is a team of the young, energetic and vibrant workforce with industry knowledge and experience along with professional educational background like CA, MBA[Finance] or MBA[Operations]. They connect with business team speaking the language clients understand and co-relate with. Deflytics ensures adherence to the highest standards of delivery at an attractive total cost of ownership. They deliver projects using the Agile Methodology that allows the milestones to be monitored, managed and course corrected without time and cost overruns.
- Tell us about the services you provide through your venture.
We are an Enterprise Performance Management [EPM] service provider. We work with clients to help them PLAN and MANAGE their business BETTER. The keywords here are PLAN, MANAGE and BETTER. Our services are focused on bringing people, processes and technologies together in a way that enables companies to create a forward-looking plan [be it in Finance, Supply Chain, HR or Sales] using levers or drivers that impact their business. People collaborate in making this plan keeping the strategic goals and objectives of the company in mind. Actual performance against the plan provides insights and information that can help businesses drive their tactical decisions to ensure velocity in their execution towards their overall plan. The only thing constant in Planning is Change. Businesses need to evolve based on market dynamics, economic and political changes, and competitive situations. This drives continuous change to the plan through the re-forecasting process. This enables companies to get BETTER in the way they make decisions through the dissemination of analysis and insights to the people when they need it.
- What have been big developments for the company in India over the last six months?
We have completed some really interesting planning projects including demand planning & forecasting in Media & Entertainment sector, complex Bill of Material costing, Financial Planning in Pharmaceutical sector, Financial planning for Software as a Service company and also worked with Financial Services Company outside India helping them with their financial planning needs. Our delivery structures, methodologies, and governance have improved dramatically over the last few quarters. We have been ramping up our team strength to ensure scalability for our future engagements. Our customers expect the best from us and we are constantly aiming to meet and beat these expectations.
- Please share some success stories, awards, and accolades that the company has received.
Our aim is to ensure that all our clients are successful. And our success is tied to how we can help them get BETTER. Many of our clients have realized quantifiable gains over their erstwhile planning processes resulting in significant productivity, qualitative and quantitative benefits. Some client teams also had softer benefits for example – having the team leave from work on time and have more time with family and friends ensuring a positive impact on their work-life balance.
Since we get involved in our clients’ future outlook and plans, most clients insist on NDAs that prohibit us from naming them and their success.
- How will you describe your company in one word?
“Passionate Planners”
- What is the current industry scenario from your perspective?
Today’s dynamic macro-economic and market situation is forcing companies to take decisions that are fact-based, realistic, timely and most important decisions that have an impact across the enterprise. Multi-dimensional analysis, collaborative planning, scenario analysis, and hypothesis validation are key business demands. And this cuts across the enterprise – be it Finance, Supply Chain, Sales, HR, Marketing and IT. Companies are expecting technology to keep a rapid pace with the changing business conditions. Able to plan based on multi scenarios – worst case, best case, an ideal case and keeping a various variable that can interplay in the planning process makes these companies ready to face most eventualities. And when a particular business situation arises, they are not caught off-guard but prepared to handle the circumstance. This enables them to take decisions faster, be nimble and continue to lead in their marketplace. We also see rapid cloud-based solution adoption across industries.
I personally think that “companies need to be of specific size and scale” before they can look at technology intervention is a myth. Enterprises of all sizes (ranging from a few employees and large enterprises with multi-country operations with large workforce) need the capability to PLAN their future BETTER.
- Advice for the budding entrepreneurs who are trying to embark in the same field.
Competition in the marketplace is intense. Focus on your strengths and differentiate your product and service offerings. Ensure quality work for your customers.
- Brief us about the future of the company or the goal it has set to mark its exceptionality in the future.
We are taking efforts to reposition our business to bring more and more process expertise to our clients. Our consultants’ domain and industry experience coupled with our Partner solution expertise put us in a unique position of strength. Our vision is to help companies PLAN and MANAGE their business BETTER. And, we are moving in the right direction with our team, our delivery processes, and our solution partners.
