Chiranjib Bhandary, Co-Founder, Zinnia Systems

“Automation Upgrade”

Most Communication Service Providers today have automated their service delivery, control and charging functions making for faster turnaround time and responses. For those who came in late and have yet to figure out how to come to terms with the new millennium, Chiranjib Bhandary is the seer of technology they should be consulting. The entrepreneur described what they do at Zinnia Systems saying “We provide an integrated suite of Customer Management, Revenue Management, Service Fulfillment and Business Analytic products designed specifically to provide an end-to-end and easy-to-use solution for quickly launching Converged Services and WiMAX Services in growth markets.”

Chiranjib has a strategic alliance with Sun Startup Essentials which has been beneficial to both parties. He commented and explained the nature of their relationship saying “Our experience in working with Sun Startup Essentials has been really good and I sincerely acknowledge the assistance received from SSE beginning with porting and benchmarking of our product suite, Zarada, using high performance and robust Sun Enterprise servers and massively scalable Sun storage systems to technical guidance, server sizing for our proposals and co-marketing.”

The melding of their two ventures has given Zinnia Systems a sizeable advantage over others. “The combination of Zarada Revenue Management on Sun hardware provides excellent price-performance, throughput and near-linear scalability and enables Communication Service Providers to launch new services quickly and plan for usage and subscriber growth in a simple and cost-effective way. Our endeavour to create a futuristic Revenue Management Platform is strengthened by our relationship with SSE.”

Business Idea- Chiranjib says “We empower Communication Service Providers (CSPs) to focus on building long-term profitable relationships with customers by automating majority of their business processes and by progressively transforming their customer and revenue management infrastructure into a high-performance, scalable and robust platform.” This in common man talk means that they bring your work from the Stone Age to the computer stage giving you access to a bigger wider market.

He believes in leaving no loose ends so his customers can breathe a sigh of relief. Chiranjib will cover everything, and he attests to this statement saying “Our integrated product suite, Zarada, is designed specifically to provide an end-to-end and easy-to-use solution for quickly launching Converged Services and WiMAX Services in growth markets. With flexible automation of customer interactions, real-time analytics on customer behavior and high-performance charging system, Zarada enables Communication Service Providers to drive profitable growth through operational excellence in customer facing processes as well as core revenue management functions.”

He explained how the rewards flow in through their work saying “We reach customers, mainly Communication Service Providers, usually through partners. Business acquisition and delivery are typically joint activities with us supplying the products and partners performing consulting, installation, integration and support activities. We enable partners with technology and skill and, in turn, they take our products to market.”

Target Market- You might be wondering what kind of company would benefit from his services or why you should spend money on an upgrade. Chiranjib answers “Our solutions enable Communication Service Providers to deliver superior and consistent customer experience to drive customer satisfaction, enhance perception of their brand and ensure profitable growth.”

What sets Zinnia apart – Chiranjib crisply defined where they differ and what they do different from the crowd. Their edge over their rivals is in their -

Technologically superior product with very high usefulness

Strong focus on creating good customer experience

One-stop Business Support System (BSS) solution enabling CSPs to deal with single vendor which has following advantages:

Saving in integration cost

Reduction in vendor management cost

Reduced timeline of implementation

Reduced cost on maintenance and enhancement

Future Plans- For a company that transforms others, their own metamorphosis is also on the cards. “Our plan is to working through our partners. We put utmost importance on building partnerships to deliver leading-edge capability driven solutions and to ensure lower total cost of ownership. Combination of our product suite and specialized knowledge and experience of partners on niche functional segments or geographies creates a strong delivery option that focuses on value creation, responsiveness and risk management” says Chiranjib.

His goals alongwith his dynamic partner Akhilesh Singh for the coming years are “To attain growth and to see that our innovative products are routinely used by Communication Service Providers to simplify their operations and to create differentiated customer experience.”

His Entrepreneurial Story - Chiranjib believes that entrepreneurship is an instinct for him. He says “It’s an urge which convinced me that combination of domain expertise, software skill and passion for execution and working with people can result into innovative and useful products which people may like to have.”

Since his success hinges on upgrading his clients, the race to be first on the spot with a new development has been just one of the challenges. He shares his trials saying “Coming to market with a fairly large set of innovative products in a span of one year – In our quest for novelty, we have always looked for newer and simpler ways of providing product functionalities and created a number of ingenious foundation components, reuse of which has shortened development time as well as made products uniquely flexible.”

“Making our offering known to the market place - With our focused endeavor to work with partners, we jointly assure business development, smooth delivery, project goal realization, and harmonious relationship with our customers. With complementary skills, better knowledge about local culture and easy access to customer location, partners act as valuable enabler for your business success.

At present Zinnia Systems has 10 employees in Bangalore and 25 in Windhoek, Namibia through a JV which bodes well for Chiranjib.

Recognition Gained- He may not be basking in the sunshine of his admirers yet but the laurel wreath is not far from his grasp. His company has already made the big jump by “Getting ready with our integrated product suite and establishing System Integration (SI) partnerships” says Chiranjib.

He explains why the entrepreneurial challenges has not dampened his spirit attributing it to “The belief that we have put in our best efforts and conscious judgments to create outstanding value for our customers through our products.”

Entrepreneurial lesson- Chiranjib is a specialist at enhancing the business process of his clients, and he has tasted success with his venture. He believes it is because he has found the niche segment where he cannot be beaten, and advises “Do what you do best better than anyone else.

Yourstory is certain that Chiranjib and Zinnia Systems will continue on their path to success with their specialized skills and offerings to those who need enhancement. We wish them luck and good fortune in all their efforts.

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The Sun Startup Essentials program is designed for startups that dream big. With funding assistance, deep discounts on power efficient servers and storage products, massively scalable Web hosting services, plus free training, technical advice, and co-marketing opportunities, Sun Startup Essentials can help you shine. Join Sun Startup Essentials today at in.sun.com/startup