Forget software installations for webinars/ training, uniRow makes them possible through the internet
We have written about quite a few collaboration tools on our site. Some for big corporate, some for SMBs, Myfriday was the latest one we wrote about. Our new installment in the same space is Nimit Kumar, founded uniRow. uniRow is an integrated product that allows users to hold web meetings, organize webinars and live stream events. While there have been various collaborative tools, Nimit says the possibility of using uniRow from any internet browser makes it less cumbersome and more inclusive of users.
uniRow works on Firefox, Chrome, latest version of IE and Safari. The startup also have their Android and iOS version of product. We met Nimit on the eve of the Android app launch, which you can also download here. First let us tell you a little about the product.
uniRow Agile
This new launch is specifically targeted for enterprises and trainers who wish to deliver collaborative training to distributed teams, who maybe located in different geographies. Nimit says the uniRow experience is much richer compared to the other tools available in the market. “We go beyond traditional meeting softwares, because specialized training requires a much deeper and interactive experience. There are many small nuances you will find in our product, which makes the user experience much richer,” he says.
We experienced a first-hand demo of the product and we admit the product was impressive. From allowing chat, Q&A, group chat, recording, screen sharing, white board – uniRow and uniRow Agile(which is the mobile version of the same product) made us feel we were present in an actual meeting room/classroom – whichever area you belong to.
uniRow allows multiple users to talk to each other, exchange notes, chat, share screen, have a discussion all at the user’s own convenience. Whenever one launches uniRow, the first thing the product would do is to test your bandwidth capability, so as to adjust the internal tools according to your browsing speeds. This is done on a continual basis, while your uniRow session is in progress, to ensure the user does not experience any hiccups.
uniRow can be subscribed to by one user, who can inturn can call his colleagues/friends to join him for an online session for any purpose. The only person who pays for this is the subscriber who is inviting everyone, for others who have been invited to join the discussion there are no costs involved.
Predictably therefore, uniRow is targeting colleges who conduct virtual training, corporates who conduct multi city training, webinars and any one who would need to conduct multiple city, multi person, multi location interactions. Nimit thinks their USP lies in the fact that there is no need for installing any software and a user can simply access his account from any place that has internet connectivity.
About the startup
Nimit is the founder & CEO of uniRow, which was started in December 2010. He is based in Mumbai and has a team of 14 people working with him. There are three software engineers and six people in the sales team and the rest of the team are involved in operations and channel relations.
Nimit is an IIT Kanpur alumnus and had worked with IBM Research and another startup in the past, before venturing out on his own. Nimit likes to call himself a passionate product person and as a result he does almost 60% of their product coding himself. The same passion also makes him seek partners who understand the product well and can see the difference it brings to the table. When he is not coding, he does sales and meets people to tell them about uniRow.
Nimit says, there is a lot of scope for uniRow to be used in educational institutions which use some or the other form of learning management system(LMS) on campus. “Even in our own school there was no real use of the LMS product we had. Because the college had to use it in someway, they would force the students to submit their assignments through it,” recollects Nimit. He says they have gone to many B-schools in Mumbai & Pune – and many of them have shown interest in the product.
uniRow currently has 15 active customers, the largest and oldest of them being SRL Diagnostics – one of Asia’s largest diagnostic chain; iProf, an online coaching platform and Datamatics. uniRow currently has offices in Mumbai, Pune, Delhi and Dubai, and Nimit says there are plans to expand into Africa, Brazil and US.
Talking about the challenges he faces, Nimit says it is still tough to convince corporate about the platform. “A lot of corporate still rely on audio conferencing for their business needs, web tools is still not big in India. So many big corporate are still not sure they need our product,” he says.
