Kumaran Pillai found himself unemployed when the Internet bubble burst in 2000. The company he painstakingly founded joined the ranks of many others that were forced to close during those difficult times.
Picking himself up, he saw an opportunity for himself in the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and mobile application space. In 2002, Pillai founded Protege Software.
Pillai's first job after graduation was with Hewlett-Packard, where he focused on the financial services sector. This gave him the background and understanding of the unique requirements of banks and other financial institutions in Singapore.
"I spoke to some Financial Services Companies and they told me that they needed Contact Management and CRM solutions for their businesses. However, they weren't willing to pay much for it," said Pillai. "To compound the problem, there were many CRM vendors who were offering free CRM solutions. The competition was extremely intense."
When Protege first started, there were a number of challenges. Protege overcame this by slowly moving out of the CRM space and making it part of their suite of financial solutions. They also kept a close eye on costs and worked hard to keep overheads low.
Pillai laughed when recounting the founding years of Protege. "Everybody said I was mad! At the time, the tech sector was still suffering and unlike a few years before, there was a lack of available capital." He added, "CRM was also seen as a lot of hype with no real delivery promise. It was crucial for us to constantly innovate so as to move up the value chain."
Pillai recognised the opportunity to do just that when a client approached him to develop a portfolio management system. "At that time, the client was using Excel and it takes them up to half a day just to balance a client's portfolio. We were able to develop a solution that made this process more efficient and up to five times faster," Pillai explained.
Pillai added, "We adopted a customer centric approach and worked hard to meet the needs and requirements. Dealing with financial data is extremely sensitive, as such, we had to ensure that any problems were resolved quickly, even if it meant that we had to work 24/7. Fortunately, our clients judged us favourably on our speed of delivery and results. Once we delivered on these, success came knocking."
Pillai could not deny that being part of the Local Infocomm Upgrading Programme (iLIUP), by the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore, played a crucial part in his success.
"Strategic partnerships are very important to small companies." said Pillai. "Working with an established and globally renowned MNC, like Microsoft, can help shorten the product development time and give us access to technology and development tools and expertise that we lack."
According to Pillai, the close relationship Protege has cultivated with technology partners, like Microsoft, has helped speed up the development and deployment of their solutions. Protege was also able to benefit from Microsoft's extensive sales and marketing channels throughout the entire region.
"Having an established MNC partner open the doors for you will give you the much needed credibility when first approaching a potential client," he added. "With the iLIUP program, small companies have an avenue to reach out to bigger companies to showcase their potential. Bigger companies also have access to products and solutions that might have slipped under their radar."