Interviewer: Can you tell us about yourself, What’s your experience and background and about your expertise?
Mr. Sandeep Sudhir: I have been in this Industry for more than 25 + years, it has been a great professional journey with certainly lots of learnings so far in technology world. As my educational background, I did my B.Tech Computer Science from India and MBA from SIUC - Illinois US, I ventured into networks and Infrastructure services business in Dubai (UAE) and Muscat markets. Post that, after moving to Singapore I had an opportunity to work with top tier consulting companies such as Robert Walters PLC and Solutions Net where I was majorly involved with Software services business catering to Singapore and APAC markets. My product journey started when I came back to India being Country Head to WFM CRM company Teleopti AB, this was followed with HCL BPO Services where I was managing US and European markets followed by managing Product applications business for NICE systems and finally with Oracle India where I was handling commercial business for Oracle India for North on Cloud CRM Business (Sales, Marketing, Social). Hence, in nutshell different International markets and varied technology landscape and across various Industries such as BFSI, Manufacturing, Real-estate, Commerce, Education.
I always wanted to do something on my own and believed that having worked with in different technology landscape all these years it was natural transition to translate the same for our own start-up business.
Interviewer: What advice would you give to the up and coming entrepreneurs and small business corporations in order to help them grow?
Mr.Sandeep Sudhir: We all are aware that “Start-ups “are and have been the buzz word since past few years but unfortunately the glitz of the same in some cases is always short lived. Despite having an excellent Product idea or Business plan any new up and coming entrepreneurs has to struggle during setting up its business base which is a harsh reality and has to go on investing capital through its various means, could be having investors under its belt, or pledging the assets it is easy to get a capital at times as that is seen but in reality the actual execution and spending each penny wisely holds the crux. Once we get in to business we are convinced on our business plans. Ideally, one should and has to have passion to grow and be profitable – which is why they are in business but having said that a sound mind set, perseverance and focused approach holds the key for any business of grow. Most of the times we have observed a great business plan on paper viz a viz its execution on ground are two different things and yet is extremely critical. Hence, orderly spending with smart cash flow management is extremely important. It is also seen post funding we try to look for immediate expansion towards hiring people in bulk and spending our cash flow towards resources I wouldn’t say it is not needed it is important but one should work wisely towards funds allocation on business operations. Secondly, to get a competitive advantage and futuristic sustainability going slow yet firm towards net new logos and new client acquisition coupled with excellent customer service holds the key to success, customer retention is important. Celebrate your success but be humble with laser sharp focus towards growth and expansion.
Interviewer: How did you get the idea for 18.h? What was the process behind the creation of this company?
Mr. Sandeep Sudhir: Today, 18.h Consulting is run by industry veterans having more than 25+ years of Industry experience. Our formulation is more like a traditional entrepreneurial mind set organization. If we look at any organizational business ecosystem today there are few areas which gets mandated to get addressed, we have Sales, Service, Marketing, Operations, Finance, HR and IT as core pillars for any organizations and the key is to get an insight from each function/s and look towards transformation for optimal results, be it getting Data from various BU’s and providing meaningful insights against the desired KPI’s , Automation across various multiple systems using CRM ( Process Automation or Business Process Reengineering) , Targeting Sales growth engine and securing top line for any organization using online mediums / channels ( App, Websites) or Off line medium with a mantra of customer experience and engagement. We have been fortunate to provide the services and partner with Innovative and exciting product organizations (Example: Plumb5) to achieve the same. We also observed the gaps within Corporates and Educational Institutes which demands continuous learning and self-development. Today, we have observed most of the larger Corporates and Consulting companies are thinking and executing policies around lateral assessment, helping towards employee growth and most of forward looking Education institutes wants to bridge the gap from its standard curriculum and skills desired for students to get placed via adopting the futuristic technology which at times happens to be core requirements during placements. Hence, 18.h was formulated using various lines of businesses for Analytics, CRM, Marketing Automation (MarTech) and Trainings.
Interviewer: What steps do you take in order to make your company stand out in this vastly competitive field?
Mr.Sandeep Sudhir: 18.h Consulting is into various areas of businesses. Hence, across our businesses its vital for us to keep the basics of business correct. First and foremost, area is of customer service post sales. Post sales handholding defines the state and genuinely of any vendor in today’s market and let us not forget customers are equally mindful of this fact and they equate their experience with brands. We try to partner with our customers and work together with them to address their business problems sometimes going far out of our way, we also own and accept our mistakes if the situation happens because of us and develop stronger relationship with our customers, this provides utmost confidence to our customers for repetitive business. We are honest in our business discussions on the areas which we can deliver or which we cannot deliver. Our experience has been keeping the above stated credentials intact and so customer stickiness develops even more stronger.
Interviewer: You provide various services like analytics, marketing automation and so on. How do you make sure that you manage to deliver top notch performances in all that your company offers?
Mr.Sandeep Sudhir: 18.h Consulting is in to various areas of businesses such as Analytics, CRM, Marketing Automation (MarTech) and Trainings across Enterprise corporates and Education Institutes. Hence, the fundamental for us is to understand each segment well as then positon product / services accordingly to each segments. As each decision makers and stake holders are different in terms of its business problem statements. So, understanding the pain areas more with a consultative perspective and just addressing that bit as a start point is a good start for us, this also needs to be supported by proactive customer hand holding and post-sales support and service. As we are majorly into service business, customer satisfaction holds the prime importance for us. This has certainly helped us creating our own brand and also in client acquisition. Today, we have presence in India and Singapore and have secured top marquee customers across various verticals such as Consulting, Banking, Education Institutes and Manufacturing.