Software Specialist
Navin Kapur, Managing Director, Iris Unified Technologies has transformed his company into a leading software infrastructure provider
By Sharmee Roy
 A qualified chartered accountant, Navin Kapur of Delhi-based Iris Unified Technology began his dream venture in 2001. “I always had the entrepreneurial bug in me, and then one day I thought ‘why not do something for myself?’”
Over the last two years, his company has been growing at a CAGR of 40 percent, and has emerged as one of the leading solutions providers in the country. Iris registered a growth of over 50 percent in FY07-08, with a Rs 24 crore turnover over the previous year’s Rs 16 crore. Of this, about 90 percent came from software licensing and software solutions, the rest was contributed by services. The year also saw Iris add some new customers as well as new vendors. Among the latter are Websense, Ironport, Business Objects and IBM.
Early days
A graduate in commerce, Kapur got his first job as a management trainee in a manufacturing company in 1990. After his internship, he joined the commercial department of the company. “I purposely joined this department because it was the area where I wanted to get an understanding of how a business is run,” he explains.
It was while working with Multiple Zones India as a CFO that his entrepreneurship career began—he was instrumental in the sale of the company during the e-commerce boom. As a reward for his good work, the company helped him raise the money to start his own venture.
Iris started with a seed capital of Rs 5 lakh, and entered the market as an e-learning solutions company with a focus on corporate training. These trainings were customized according to the needs of the customer. “The training could be as simple as just Excel,” he says.
So why did he then opt to get into IT? Kapur replies that for him it was the obvious choice since there were huge opportunities in the Indian market, especially in the SMB segment. “SMBs wanted a cost-effective solution at an affordable price-point, and they usually didn’t have a separate IT department. That’s where we came into the picture. We wanted to position ourselves as the trusted IT consultant for such companies.”
However, like in any new venture, Kapur had his initial share of hiccups. He recalls, “Even though I knew people in the IT industry, it was difficult for me to get established because they all knew me as a CFO and not as a CEO. They wanted to wait and watch how I would perform as a CEO. In the midst of all this it never crossed my mind to quit as I had my own expectations. I had jumped into it to get what I wanted.”
Turning point
The year 2003 saw Iris overhaul its business model. “Wherever we went for training, customers would ask us why we were not getting into the implementation business as well,” recalls Kapur.
This prompted him to re-think his entire business model. He also realized that the learning space would not be enough to survive in the market. The business overhaul that followed took 18 months before it started reaping benefits. “We went back to the drawing board. We knew we had the potential to do something more, and hence we added a wider range of services to our portfolio.”
The change in business model helped Iris to provide end-to-end solutions from the consultancy stage to implementation and training.
Business mix
About 85 percent of Iris’ current business comes from the mid-market, and the solutions provider today boasts of being able to offer complete solutions at the gateway as well as at the data center level. “The gateway is the heart of any company, so our gateway solution includes ERP and CRM, and also handles the bandwith issue,” he says.
Present across all verticals, Iris also does some overseas business, primarily in Africa. Nevertheless, the solutions provider is extremely bullish about the domestic market, and will in future be looking at the infrastructure, power and government segments.
Ongoing innovation
To stay ahead of the competition, Iris has had to constantly bring innovation to its systems. As part of this, the company deployed enterprise project management (EPM) for the management of its projects in 2003-04. “With EPM, we share the progress of a particular project with our customers,” he explains.
Iris also deployed Microsoft Dynamics CRM in 2006. It helped the company to understand its customers and the buying pattern followed by them. “We are now in a position to understand customer growth as well as the entire cycle of adoption of new technologies. Also, we can go back to the customer and suggest what technology they can use for the benefit of their business. As a result of this, we have been able to do more depth selling,” Kapur informs.
What next?
Having a stronghold in the north, Iris has now set its eyes on becoming one of the top five in the country within the next five years. To this end, the company is working on a business plan. The focus will continue to be on the mid-market, and it is looking to further develop its expertise in gateway solutions.
Retail is another area the company would look at. “We are thinking of starting online retail markets or online retail stores. However, this would happen only over the next 24 months because right now we are in the consolidation phase.”
Iris also intends to get into software and remote maintenance for the overseas market, and has set itself a target turnover in the range of Rs 35 crore for FY08-09.
Personal bytes
Behind Kapur’s strong business persona lies a simple family man who loves to spend time at home. A perfect weekend for him would mean relaxing with his family or watching a light movie with them.
Doing up his house is yet another activity that he enjoys. “Whenever I get time I go out shopping, but not for me. I like to pick up articles or things that would help nurture my creative instincts,” he says with a smile.
Besides this, he likes to watch cricket. Reminiscing, he says, “I used to be part of the cricket team back in school and college, but now my involvement is restricted to watching the sport.”
A self-confessed foodie, Kapur loves to dig into Thai and Chinese cuisine. His favorite book? “I don’t have a favorite book, but I love reading all management books.”
His inspiration comes from Narayana Murthy of Infosys for having achieved what he has till date, and yet remaining a down-to-earth person. |