Enterprise software firm Ramco Systems Ltd, part of diversified conglomerate Ramco Group, posted a global consolidated income of ₹149.24 crore for the third quarter ended December, down from ₹151.4 crore in the previous quarter. This year, the company will be focusing on driving digital transformation for large companies by leveraging emerging technologies. In a telephonic interview, CEO Virender Aggarwal talked on the key technology focus areas, the demand environment and hiring strategy. Edited excerpts:
What are the key technology areas Ramco Systems will be focusing on in 2020?
2019 was the year of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) becoming mainstream in enterprise technology. With this, Ramco focused on utilizing AI and ML-based algorithms to help organisations match the needs of changing business landscape. Our focus was on moving from Passive ERP (enterprise resource planning) to an Active ERP era, where systems could alert users on anomalies in data; reduce data entry by defaulting values or even pre-populating fields based on historical data through Smart Fill phrases, and so on. We have been leveraging behavioural analysis and prediction to reduce data entry and train the model to arrive at quick predictions. 2020 will be the year of delivering digital transformation to businesses leveraging AI/ML, bots, user-based personalisation, image recognition, etc. Also, with voice and chatbots becoming mainstream for customer/ employee engagement, UIs (user interfaces) have become passé, as we are witnessing users carry out transactions by chatting with the bot. The business implication of transforming the core operations will result in EBIDTA improvement and better customer experience.
What is the demand for AI-based ERP solutions in India? Which verticals are the quick adopters?
AI-based solutions are benefiting a lot of industries with umpteen business use cases built especially in consumer facing sectors like banks and financial institutions or retail, where user experience is key. Another area that is witnessing demand for AI-based technology is natural language processing (NLP), where AI infused enterprise applications are able to communicate with the users in multiple languages. While mature markets are widely adopting AI based applications, the end-user adoption of AI/ML in India is relatively slow. However, it is exciting to see India becoming a hotbed of innovation with umpteen high-tech firms getting massive investment and global clientele. For Ramco, In India especially, we are seeing a good traction from large business conglomerates trying to consolidate their core operations and move towards optimisation and digital transformation. This will be a sweet spot for us as we are not just talking technology adoption but are able to show process improvements and cost benefits that are proving to be game changers in getting the boardroom commitment.
What is the impact of the recent five-year contract Ramco bagged from a Middle East-based multinational company to implement its logistics solution?
Middle East, especially Saudi Arabia and UAE are key markets for logistics as a lot of road transport is prevalent in these markets. The five-year order that we have bagged from one of the largest independent family-owned multinationals in the Middle East, to implement Ramco Logistics ERP, will help the group effectively manage capacity exceeding 40,000 sq. metres of storage space. The group will implement Ramco Warehouse Management System, part of Ramco Logistics Software, for its logistics division offering global freight forwarding and end-to-end multimodal supply chain solutions.
What is your hiring strategy for this year?
Our focused talent acquisition strategy has resulted in greater diversity of gender, geographic locations and academic discipline. Our global workforce from 15 different nationalities includes Americans, Filipinos, Indonesians, Singaporeans, Chinese, Australians and others. We believe in equal employment opportunities that is clearly reflected from the 38% women employees, which is an increase from 30% from last year. In addition, we have placed equal efforts and focus in upskilling our employees with 1500+ employees getting trained across 207 programs in 36 locations. This year, we intend to hire 200-300 employees, especially in our growth and focus markets like China and the US, among others.
How are the investments in new geographies in Asia paying off?
Our geographical revenue spread continues to be a healthy mix, with 80% coming from markets outside India. Asia Pacific contributes about 41% to the total revenue followed by 22% from Americas, 15% from Middle East & Africa, and the remaining from Europe. Asia has been registering stellar performance on both booking and revenue. We have also made significant gains in the Greater China market where we recently won two large aviation deals.
