Deep is the founder and CEO of SoftSolvers, a leading provider of IT services based in Malaysia. His company is focused on delivering strategic technological solutions that address the business needs of its clients. One of their core products is Second CRM, an innovative cloud-based customer relations management tool for small & medium sized enterprises. Second CRM has been met with international repute and many accolades notably including Asia’s Top 50 Apps by E27, the Finalist of Echelon 2011, Best CRM Implementation Silver Award 2010 by CCAM and the Semifinalist in CRMIdol 2012. To date, Second CRM has managed to work with over 80 businesses across Malaysia and Singapore, including some big businesses like McDonald’s, WWF Malaysia, ASTRO Malaysia, MYOB South Asia, Cyberview and Technology Park Malaysia.
With more than 15 years of industry experience and numerous accolades, Deep is here today to talk to us about Second CRM and his experiences in the industry.
Tell us a little about yourself Deep.
I am the founding CEO of SoftSolvers. I have more than 15 years of experience in the industry and spent the past 10 years as a passionate entrepreneur. In my endeavors and experiences, I have worked extensively with small & medium sized enterprises in India, Malaysia and Singapore.
How did you realize your idea?
It was very simple really. Less talking and more action and then working and improving on it.
Have you made any mistakes in pursuit of realizing Second CRM?
This is already our third take, as first for many years we have been in the service business with a lot of work but very little returns. After many years, we built our experience. Then we tried to incorporate that experience in a niche product but that niche was just not right. So with all the learning and retrials, we finally launched Second CRM. As its product based, it saves you from doing every project from scratch. The project execution is much faster and at the end of the day, everyone is happy. By its nature it is not really the niche, so we could sell it to everybody and anybody. So far everything has been good, ultimately we will have to see if this model is a big success in the long run or not.
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So what exactly is Second CRM?
Second CRM is the core product we offer. It is essentially a cloud-based customer relationship management solution or ‘CRM Solution’ in short. This is a solution and tool for many small and medium-sized businesses, it is very much something like Salesforce.com or Zoho.com that some of you may be familiar with.
So when did you start working on Second CRM?
We started working on Second CRM in late 2009 in our existing company, SoftSolvers but it really spun off into a thing of its own in 2011. In the last 3 years of Second CRM’s existence, I have been working to build credible partnerships in the region. We’ve managed to do so with SingTel(Singapore), Telekom(Malaysia) and MAXIS(Malaysia). Soon our partnerships will extend out of the region to include PCCW(Hong Kong) and InfoStreet(US).
How did you come up with Second CRM?
As SoftSolvers, we’ve worked with many small and medium-sized enterprises over a period of time. Through our experiences of working with them, we realized that the key reason why many enterprises don’t employ I.T. Systems is because of their fear of I.T. It is fear and misunderstanding that consists an apprehension towards buying and maintaining Servers and Software, hiring I.T. people and the associated problems that may come with these things like version upgrades, backups, system crashes and data losses, to name a few. So we decided to do something about it and that led to Second CRM.
So where does the main revenue come from?
As the product is cloud-based, the main revenue derives from user subscriptions but as we also offer some professional services along with it, so that is where additional revenue is made.
What is the major priority for Second CRM now?
It would be our personal mission. Our mission of enabling small and medium-sized enterprises across the entire Asian region to have access to our world class yet affordable CRM Solution.
How did you realize your idea?
It was very simple really. Less talking and more action and then working and improving on it.
Have you made any mistakes in pursuit of realizing Second CRM?
This is already our third take, as first for many years we have been in the service business with a lot of work but very little returns. After many years, we built our experience. Then we tried to incorporate that experience in a niche product but that niche was just not right. So with all the learning and retrials, we finally launched Second CRM. As its product based, it saves you from doing every project from scratch. The project execution is much faster and at the end of the day, everyone is happy. By its nature it is not really the niche, so we could sell it to everybody and anybody. So far everything has been good, ultimately we will have to see if this model is a big success in the long run or not.
What is one advice you would give to other entrepreneurs?
Do something meaningful. Real problems require real solutions. Don’t try and invent another dating or food app with the hopes of somebody buying you out. Don’t waste your caliber and resources on doing something which is not worth doing. Try to make a difference in the world.
What advice would you give to our readers on challenges?
There’s no single challenge, life and especially much so for entrepreneurs is full of challenges. What you need to do is prepare yourself for this, its the way of life. Not just one-off challenges and keep walking on.
Connect
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/secondcrm
Linkedin: http://my.linkedin.com/in/mdsahni/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/secondcrm
Website: http://www.secondcrm.com/
Email: [email protected]
