YourStory in conversation with Manoj Saxena, founder and CEO ofNetEdge

Tell us about NetEdge.

NetEdge believes in working as a partner with its customer to provide the value for money solutions to meet customer business needs. We take pride in working on the leading edge of the technologies. We believe in innovation and it is reflected in our motto “Orchestrating success through innovation”.

How is NetEdge Computing different from other IT solution providers?

NetEdge believes in working with its customers in partnership Mode. We do not consider our customers as just customers but we treat them as our partners. Our business philosophy is to add value to our customer business in all activities we do.

How did the idea for NetEdge Computing come about? How much capital was required to implement the idea?

When I was working for CMC, I realized that I am spending too much in convincing my superiors as to what is good for our customers and what we should be doing. I thought it may be more productive if I start my own enterprise to serve the customers directly. That way we can add more value to customer business. Since we started by providing consulting services, the money required was not much.

Tell us about your background.

I am Gold Medalist in Electrical Engineering from Delhi College of Engineering with a Masters in Computer Science from Indian Institute of Science (Bangalore) and a Ph.D. in Computer Science in the area of Distributed Artificial Intelligence from IIT (Delhi). Before starting the company I worked in HCL and CMC Ltd.

Let us know about the tie-ups that you have (if any). Is there acceptance for your concept? Can you give us some incidents to illustrate the same?

We have a strategic alliance with Microsoft for providing solution son Azure Cloud Platform. We have a Joint venture with ULA srl. of Italy to provide Natural Language Interface to applications. There are many instances where our concept has been accepted. Cloud computing is being adopted by SMEs in large number.

Where do you see the IT solutions space and NetEdge Computing five years from now?Five years from now, Cloud Computing will be the leading technology to provide solutions to the customer needs. The Smart Phones / Notepads would have replaced the desktop and laptops as the leading device to access the computing power. We believe NetEdge will be one of the leading provider of solutions based on these technologies.

What is NetEdge Computing’s revenue model? Have you been funded? If yes, can you throw some light on how the funding came about and from whom?

NetEdge Revenue Model is from the consulting services and selling of product and solutions to our customers in India, UK and USA. We are not funded, it is a privately held organization.

As an entrepreneur, what are your joys? What are the challenges?

As an entrepreneur we enjoy being a partner to our customers. If our product/service is accepted by our customer and they acknowledge that NetEdge has added value to their business. The biggest challenge for an IT company is getting the right resources and to retain them with the organization.

How big is the NetEdge Computing team? Give us some info on team composition. Are you looking at hiring?

NetEdge team is around 120 people now and we are growing. Majority of the people are experienced with 2 – 8 years experience. We hire only Engineers and MCA from reputed college and then provide them on the job training before they are put on the job. We are constantly looking to hire people to meet our growth targets.

Let us know about your expansion plans.

NetEdge is always looking for opportunities to expand the business horizon. As company philosophy we are inclined towards the latest technology which is our driving force. We have identified Cloud Computing and related services as the driving force for our growth. We have a strategic alliance with Microsoft on Azure platform. We have already built a focused group to work on Cloud Computing. In next five years we see NetEdge being one of the leading service provider on Cloud Platform.

Anything else that you want to tell us.

NetEdge has been marketing the products for last few years. Our most popular product has been Resource Data mine which is for Recruitment Automation. We have sold multiple licenses for the same both in India and UK. The largest client has been using the application with 100 user license. In recent past the SaaS version of the product has become popular with the users subscribing for the same. Recently we got an order for schedule management application from London Ambassadors for scheduling around 16,000 volunteers for London Olympics.

We at YourStory wish NetEdge good luck as they scale. We will keep you posted about all the latest happenings at their end.