INTERVIEW

“The market for software components will grow”

Monte Rosen, vice-president of the American division of GrapeCity discusses the company’s operations with Shipra Arora and looks at the component-based software development scenario in India

* GrapeCity has been one of the first firms to bring component-based software development to India. How do you see the market moving?

Though we don’t know the exact market size, it is estimated that there are roughly a thousand companies in India that use software components. It is only to be expected that as India becomes the hub for software development, the market for software components will also grow.

* Can you elaborate on your components business in India?

PowerTools is the brand for software components from GrapeCity. We have a range of over 250 Microsoft, Java and Unix software components from around 12 component vendors worldwide. Some of the vendors that we sell for are ComponentOne, Dart, Deasware, Pinnacle and Web Performance. There are expansion plans underway, and we intend to add another 70-80 components into the PowerTools portfolio. These new tools will include some C++ tools.

The software components business forms a critical part of the business for GrapeCity India (GCI), which markets and supports PowerTools over here. It brings in almost 50 percent of the company’s domestic revenues. We are projecting around 25 percent growth in the software components business. GCI takes care of pre-sales support, which involves conducting needs assessment for prospective clients, suggesting the best-fit components, making product presentations and demos. The company also takes care of post-sales support, which includes doorstep delivery, replacement of corrupt media, and resolution of telephonic and e-mail-based queries.

* How do you think the market will shape up between Java and Microsoft tools? Is GrapeCity more inclined towards Microsoft tools?

When you look at the relationship between the Microsoft world and the Java world, it is very difficult to have an opinion that everyone will agree with. We plan to support both sides of the market. Almost 50 percent of the components business is Java, hence Java tools are as important for us as Microsoft tools. Also, Java tools tend to be more expensive, so even if you sell fewer tools they make up a higher percentage of revenues.

However, from the perspective of GrapeCity’s custom application development business, most of our expertise and knowledge lies on the Microsoft side. From the development point of view, almost 80-90 percent of our revenues are Microsoft-based. Most projects are done using Microsoft platforms. But as pointed out, tools and development are two different businesses altogether.

* Where does India stand in the group’s overall scheme of things?

India is a big focus area for the group. In the next one year we estimate revenue growth between 25-50 percent for the Indian subsidiary (both domestic revenues and revenues coming from the US). It is really the growth engine for the business that we are marketing in the US—development services and high-end technical support. It is, partly, the typical outsourcing model.

On the technical support side, GCI provides high-end support for third-party software products and solutions to developers and IT managers. The support centre, which is based in Delhi, presently provides technical support for ComponentOne, a small software company called Mabry, and Microsoft India for their developer-related products. The US operations are geared towards bringing more projects from large North American software development houses to India. This requires a lot of expertise and not just an ordinary call centre. Apart from being the technical support hub, India is also the hub for the group’s eCRM practice. On this front, our Indian operation provides implementation of customised eCRM solutions for enterprises using Pivotal’s eCRM products. In fact India is the hub for GrapeCity’s CRM practice globally. The CRM business is actually marketed from India, and the services are provided from here. The Indian company sells to customers in the US, Japan, Australia, Europe, Middle East, Indonesia and elsewhere. Though we do have a small CRM practice in China, as a company most of our CRM activity is located in India—and our strategy will be to continue strengthening our CRM practice in India alone.