Technology encompasses the entire spectrum of human civilization. Yet, most customers – unaware of the power of technology – remain unconnected with the whole gamut of new-age digital products and services.
Dr Rishi Mohan Bhatnagar intuitively observed and keenly grasped this immense digital divide. Dr Rishi recollects, “At my previous organisation, Tech Mahindra, I was the Global Head for Digital Enterprise Services, responsible for selling digital services across the globe. I realised that while India had great potential with digital dividend and tech-savvy and engineering resources, the country was lacking in both implementations and expertise in the new and advanced technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) etc.”
This gap needed to be filled. And this became Dr Rishi’s inspiration to venture in for building a complete environment and ecosystem for creating awareness and adoption of advanced technologies so that he can prove that IoT business can also become a profitable business in India.
Dr Rishi states, “It is my mission to create value-based IoT solutions and services in India, at the cost price Indians can afford, and accelerate the scale India can achieve today and in future. Making India as a base, and then taking our IoT solutions and services portfolio of offerings to the emerging markets was my vision which I have been able to achieve.”
Today, under his Presidentship, it is Aeris India’s mission to provide an end-to-end modular technology platform that enables customers to make the pivotal change from unconnected products to connected services.
And this mission is what the company carried to India when Aeris Indian operations were set up in 2016. Dr Rishi shares, “We realised that business opportunities are going to be enormous as the government of India had announced plans to create a $15 billion IoT market over the next five years, which will account for 5-6% of the global IoT market.”
The Flowering of Aeris Communications Inc
Aeris is a two-and-a-half decades-old technology company specialized in the Internet of Things. The growth of Aeris mirrors the development and growth of M2M communications and the Internet of Things (IoT). Aeris has operational reach in 190 plus countries and has offices in the Americas (Chicago and San Jose), Europe (UK), and India (Delhi NCR).
Dr Rishi adds, “We announced our joint venture with Softbank in Japan in 2016 known as Aeris Japan K.K., to provide IoT and telematics services globally using the Aeris® IoT solutions platform.”
Aeris is also a part of Ventic LLC, a joint venture that is the result of a long-term commitment between Volkswagen and Aeris in the development and operations of connected vehicle platform technologies.
Aeris’s Global Graph
Writing An Indian Chapter
Aeris Communications India Pvt Ltd (Aeris, India) is a 100% subsidiary of Aeris Communications Inc, headquartered in the Silicon Valley, San Jose.
Aeris India was established in 2016 and worked closely with telecom operators and enterprises, helping them use IoT to increase revenue, bring operational efficiency, and delight customers. Aeris in India cracked the IoT Monetization puzzle in 2017.
Even today, specialized start-ups and foreign-based companies in the field of IoT are offering piece-meal solutions rather than end-to-end offerings that are best suited to Indian customer needs. Dr Rishi feels, “We know that India has unique challenges which need to be addressed with more and more home-grown solutions which are based on global best practices but are rightly priced, need to be made very affordable, and those that can be scaled up to meet present and future requirements.”
Bridging the Digital Divide
Aeris, India took the opportunity to learn the market’s shortcomings and could identify that India didn’t have a true end-to-end IoT solution for enterprises. Dr Rishi reveals, “We planned to fill this gap so that enterprises could start IoT deployment faster with minimal investment. We have a consultative-led sales model and offer end-to-end services that can fit the bill for most companies and also help them take the use-cases forward or customise them.
It gives me great pleasure to share that the first registration certificate for M2M Service Provider issued by DoT, New Delhi LSA has been to Aeris Communications India Private Limited (Aeris, India). We vehemently support the ‘light-touch regulatory approach’ of the Government in the IoT sector. We are committed to helping DoT in its endeavours in the M2M ecosystem. We have been actively participating at various levels with the government, policymakers, think tanks in India and abroad as well as academia in shaping the present and future of M2M technology in our part of the world. Our vision of creating IoT solutions and services in India and taking the ‘Made In India’ technology offshore has turned into reality with the successful implementation of our IoT solutions portfolio in the SAARC, APAC, Middle East and the African regions!”
Aeris, India- Growing Business Abroad
Dr Rishi says, “I am also happy to share that we have successfully replicated our success model outside India. We are now exporting technology created in India to multiple countries in the SAARC, South East Asia, Middle East and Africa. We have a multilingual helpdesk that supports our clients spread across pan India, SAARC, APAC and MEA regions. Our work has been recognized on distinguished platforms, motivating us to excel and champion the Indian, APAC and MEA markets with customer-centric solutions.”
Turning the Resistance into ROI
Speaking about the initial challenges Dr Rishi shared that his team surmounted so many challenges before Aeris could reach the business success it has achieved today. Dr Rishi says that when you start with anything new that demands a change from existing practices, there is a huge reluctance to adopt and invest, especially in the field of new technologies.
The boards and investors ask for the return on investment. However, in the case of new technology where there is no precedence of data, creating a return of investment plan is one of the challenges, the other being the proof that the technology would work and provide the value it is designed for.
“Our Board of Directors trusted us. Within a year of our inception, we cracked the IoT monetization code in India and started onboarding clients while building a strong business pipeline. This helped us gain continuous support and investments from our Board. Today we are a profitable organisation,” expresses Dr Rishi.
Creating Value for the Technology enabled Economy
Further talking about professional values and qualities valued by the customer in Aeris, India, Dr Rishi quips, “Our integrity, trust with an honest communication are the top three values that our clients appreciate in Brand Aeris.”
Similarly, about the brand Aeris’s USPs, Dr Rishi believes that Aeris, India has been Creating Value for the Technology enabled Economy since its inception.
Aeris, India: Core Values
Today, Aeris India is the leader in providing connected vehicle solutions in the electric vehicle market, including 2/3 wheelers and the e-Rickshaw segment. “We are working on battery charging and swapping solutions with answers related to battery management and battery tracks. We have expanded our operations beyond India, creating our presence and jobs in SAARC, APAC, the Middle East and the APAC region,” says Dr Rishi.
A Sagely Wisdom
As an experienced professional Leader, Dr Rishi’s advice to the budding aspirants willing to enter the business world is on the mark. He counsels that every business aspirant must answer two key questions before venturing into the world of business:
- Who will pay?
- Why will they pay?
If they have answers to these two questions, then they will be able to sell their products and services and grow their business.
A Legendary Innovator
Aeris is a pioneer in the Internet of Things (IoT) space and is among the few global providers of innovative end-to-end IoT solutions and services.
Dr Rishi says, “At Aeris, we have always worked towards expanding the spectrum of IoT adopters.”
Today, Aeris has 14 million devices managed on its IoT Platform worldwide, and more than 50,000 connected devices from India are managed on the Aeris IoT platform. It also has 70 plus patents. Further, it has partnered with device makers and telecom service providers to launch the full stack of services.
Dr Rishi states, “Our portfolio includes two categories – solutions and connectivity services.” Within the solutions brackets, the company offers Aeris Mobility Platform, telematics, healthcare, manufacturing, finance and insurance, utilities, agriculture and automotive services. Under connectivity services, it provides a platform that can offer connectivity management, application enabling, analytics, service enabling, and an IoT marketplace for connectivity along with end-to-end IoT solutions and service offerings.
Revolutionizing the Present and the Future
Aeris has successfully established itself as an end-to-end IoT solutions and services provider in India, serving multiple verticals, including Banking and Finance, Fleets, Manufacturing, Automotive OEMs, Agriculture and the Social sectors. Dr Rishi shares, “Today, we are serving more than 100 clients in India – some of them are the leading brands from automotive, finance and insurance, manufacturing, retail, agriculture, utilities and even the social sector here in India.”
Aeris has regional sales and deployment teams as well as customer-facing program management teams. It has signed MoUs with multiple universities, including IIT BHU, Sharda University, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Birla Institute of Management, Noida and Manesar, for technology knowledge exchange, river rejuvenation projects by the Art of Living and water conservation projects by Tarun Bharat Sangh and Parmath NGOs founded by Shri Rajendra Singh, the Jalpurush of India.
Aeris, India- Spearheading IoT Development, Adoption and Monetization in the Industry
Dr Rishi conveys, “We have been actively collaborating and working with industry neutral platforms to build a strong IoT collaboration and knowledge-sharing platform in different verticals.”
Aeris leadership team in India is at the centre stage of such initiatives. Aeris India President Dr Rishi Bhatnagar is personally championing efforts to promote IoT across the country. As chairperson of the IET-IoT Panel and an active leader of many industry associations, including those that are part of NASSCOM, CII, FICCI, Broadband India Forum and other prestigious bodies, Dr Rishi has been an ambassador for IoT across India and the Asia Pacific through numerous speaker engagements and media interactions.
Finally, Dr Rishi concludes, “We are also working closely with the media and government agencies to give adequate visibility to our client and partner engagements and flagship projects.”
