Riding on Adrenalin

By concentrating on a niche segment, Empower Works has made its mark in the domestic HR software market, says Srikanth R P

Human resource management is a complex issue for any company. Empower Works, a Polaris group company, has a software product named Adrenalin that attempts to address the needs of enterprises. The company has bagged 72 Indian clients in one year, including Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, BPL Mobile, Euro RSCG, Hero Honda Motors, Hindustan Lever, Kuoni Travel Group, Royal Sundaram Alliance Insurance and Samtel India.

As India transforms into a services economy, industry has started looking at practices to increase employee productivity. Indian corporates are looking to build competitive advantage through HR by creating policies that promise better productivity, retention and motivation, in addition to complying with regulations. The size of the domestic HR software market is estimated to be $100 million.

Learning begins at home

Polaris hit on the idea of tapping this opportunity while handling its own staff. With the huge numbers being added to its workforce every year, managing employees across 22 global locations was challenging. As the company grew, its HR department faced pressure even when addressing routine issues such as leave and travel. Polaris’ internal team developed an HR application which initially was a simple Web-based system that could handle leave, attendance and travel functions. With growing demands, the company realised that other Indian companies were facing similar problems. As most companies derived revenues from providing services, there was scope for a huge volume play if a product was conceived that could successfully address the needs of HR departments. Towards this end, Polaris created a subsidiary named Empower Works.

While the opportunity has always been there for the taking, the Indian market till date has been relatively untapped, with large players such as PeopleSoft at one end and unbranded software players at the other. Most Indian companies preferred to develop HR software, as existing commercial products had features that were of limited use to them. Polaris found that most Indian companies did not realise the need for HR management software because this category was not marketed aggressively by existing players. Believing that there was a sweet spot between these two extremes, Empower Works conceived Adrenalin as a product for mid-market companies with appropriate HR functions and the flexibility and affordability that such a solution needed.

Start with mapping

More than half of India’s BPO companies still have paper-based HR processes Roshini Bakshi Group Vice-president Empower Works	Most customers wanting an HR system prefer interacting with the vendor from whom they bought the ERP system Alok Shende Manager, Technology Practice Frost & Sullivan

Empower Works started by approaching end-users and mapping their requirements. Based on this exercise, modules were added to its initial design. Firms such as Forrester and Ernst & Young were consulted to understand what features should be added to the HR product. Finally, Frog Design (a company providing design services and which had worked on brands such as Windows XP and Apple Macintosh) was approached for working on the brand image of Adrenalin. The final enhanced product had modules such as recruitment, performance and talent management, project and resource planning, and training and development. The branding of Adrenalin along with its flexibility and cost has helped the company gain customers in an untapped market.

Flexibility is the main reason for its success, as it allows companies to buy individual modules instead of the whole package. TNS India, a large research group, chose only the performance management module. Lanxess India selected only modules such as personal information management and leave management. Samtel India bought a set of modules in the first phase and then decided to acquire more modules in the second phase. The standard edition costs Rs 8 lakh for a 500-user licence. The pricing may vary depending on user requirements and the modules selected.

Says Roshini Bakshi, Group Vice-president, Empower Works, “Mapping user requirements has been the key reason for our success.” The strategy of focussing only on the minimum features that customers need, instead of competing on features with established players, has enabled Polaris make inroads in the Indian market. The company’s customers in the small and medium business category include Infogain, Nevis Networks and Infospectrum.

As the product promises seamless integration with existing ERP systems such as SAP and Oracle, the company is positioning it as a cost-effective solution that sits on top of these systems. Bakshi says that some clients have chosen ERP players that are in the market for all their processes except HR. Overall, its clientele finds Adrenalin to be competitively priced.

Comments Sudhir Mittal, GM-IT of the Samtel Group, “We went in for Adrenalin because it mapped all our needs and cost us 15 percent less than the other HR products available.” Samtel has taken modules which handle requirements such as personnel evaluation and travel for addressing its 6,000 employees across six locations.

While the company has gained considerably in the Indian market, analysts opine that more needs to be done before it can be dubbed a success story. Opines Alok Shende, Manager, Technology Practice, Frost & Sullivan, “The biggest challenge for Polaris comes from the fact that most customers wanting an HR system prefer interacting with the vendor from whom they bought the ERP system. At the other extreme, there are too many unbranded players fighting for a share of the HR software market.”

Polaris has an established competitor in the form of PeopleSoft (now part of Oracle). Oracle itself is taking a series of initiatives aimed at the Indian HR software market. According to Subhomoy Sengupta, General Manager, Applications Sales, Oracle India, “The India localisation team at our development centre is working on customising the product to meet the needs of the Indian market. For example, Payroll is localised for India by this team.” He says that the company has got a good response with clients such as Bharti, EXL Service, HDFC Bank, IDBI Bank, Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation, Lakshmi Machine Works and Tata Consultancy Services. Oracle’s HR product suite is also compliant with Indian regulatory requirements in areas such as income tax, provident fund, professional tax and arrears. The company is evaluating alliances with Indian human capital management consultants as it believes this will help customise the product to meet user demands in India.

Huge market untapped

Bakshi estimates that more than 80 percent of the Indian market is yet to adopt HR software. Adrenalin has been strong in manufacturing with 30 percent of its clients coming from this sector. The company also has hopes for the BPO sector. “More than half of the Indian BPO companies still have paper-based processes,” reveals Bakshi.

While Empower Works has been focussing on the domestic market, Bakshi estimates the global HR software market to be worth $2 billion. To tap markets abroad, the company has set up subsidiaries in the US and Britain. In the United States, the company is also looking at marketing a pay-per-employee model, which it has not so far tried in India.

The success of Empower Works is one more example of the opportunities Indian product companies can exploit in the domestic market if they focus on a niche untapped segment.

srikanth@expresscomputeronline.com