“Our solutions are based on a pay-per-transaction model which allows customers to pay for only those services that they use”
Mobile Value Added Services (VAS) or Mobile VAS has been gaining a lot of momentum in the country. One97 Communications is one such VAS solutions provider which provides an array of voice, SMS, WAP and video based services to an equally varied customer base. Talking about its unique solution offerings and Intel’s recent investment in the company is Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Managing Director, One97 Communications in an interview with Harshal Kallyanpur. More from this author
 What are the possible challenges that organizations face when deploying traditional VAS solutions? How does your solution resolve these issues?
Most organizations do not have a clear understanding of the requirements when it comes to deploying VAS solutions and they end up paying for a host of services that are not utilized to their full potential. With an IVR based communication system it involves a capital expenditure of buying and deploying a box and paying a definite price irrespective of the amount of use.
Instead of following a CAPEX model, our solutions are based on a hosted model. In case of an IVR infrastructure we deploy the infrastructure at the customer’s premises and push the content from our side. Calls made from and to the IVR infrastructure are routed directly to the customer facility. In case of SMS based services we push the customer’s content to its subscriber base from our remote NOCs.
Our solutions are based on a pay-per-transaction model which allows customers to pay for only those services that they use. The benefit of such a solution is that with us deploying and managing the customer’s telephony infrastructure based on a managed services model, it does not require any CAPEX investment from the customer. Also the customer pays on a pay per use model. Hence the total cost of operation is lower and the Return on Investment (RoI) is realized immediately.
What is your go-to-market strategy and what kind of market acceptance have your solutions seen till now?
Evangelizing has been our primary strategy. Since most organizations do not have their mobile VAS requirements clearly defined we provide them with consulting to help them arrive at a solution which is right for them. Our secondary mode of selling is through our channel of resellers and partners. With the kind of solutions that we offer we see no peer company offering a solution similar to ours. We have seen a year-on-year growth of 200% with a growth of 300-400% in the last year.
You have recently received a $15 Million investment from Intel and the Silicon Valley Bank (SVB). Can you tell us more about this investment in your company?
With 3G coming in, the higher bandwidth presents an opportunity to provide video enabled services. Also with the smart phone era, applications are being developed to use device capabilities which were not looked into before. A major part of the investment will go in our research and development activities. We have set up a 3G research lab in Noida, to develop specific applications on the 3G platform. The facility currently has around 5 product managers and around 12 engineers. Also the funding will help us grow both organically and inorganically. We are aggressive on acquisitions and are also hiring talent. We are targeting an employee base of close to 1,000 by the end of this year.
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