In business, there are mainly two factors that set one's goals: the 'mission' and the 'vision'. Some believe in short-term goals and strive hard to achieve them without taking into account the implications of the market and his self. They make their policies in accordance to the market needs and perform for a short duration. Decisions like this may get uncontrolled and may upset the whole business process in the long run. This set of people enter the rat-race unknowingly. Another set of people first decides on their goal, analyze their competency and then structures themselves. These people gradually create a space of their own and are the toughest survivors in the market. What really sets the two types of people apart - 'mission' and 'vision'.

Hemant Chabria is a person falling under the second category-a true visionary and a leader in the real sense.

The initial steps
A BE degree holder from Bangalore, Chabria always had a passion for exploring and innovating in the software space in the most challenging region of India-the Eastern region which plagued by counterfeit software. In 1993, Chabria entered the market with just two employees including him. The company was christened as Chabria Infotech. “The then market was stagnant with no players at all in the eastern region and vendors were looking for legroom. Players there were selling software at high rates and customers were looking for an alternative. I thought of changing the situation once and for all,” recalled Chabria.

Based in one of the emerging IT regions in the country, also known as the den for software piracy, Chabria took on the challenge to put an end to counterfeit software by providing original products.

Tricks of the trade
According to Chabria, before one considers entering into a specialized segment, and that too in the field of computers, they should have thorough knowledge about the product. He recollected that while initially it was tough for him to understand the market, being more of a technical person rather than a businessman, he found it much easier afterwards as he could understand the efficacy of software because of his technical background and hence provide a complete solution.

Customer satis­faction has always been the focus of Chabria Infotech. His company deals in all kinds of software and offers it's customers a complete pac­kage. Chabria comments that this whole pro­cess of dealing in software does not only include selling of a particular software for the time being, but selling a whole concept to the customers and help them ease their computer handling and operating system to improve work efficiency.

Turning point
Compared to the present market situation nationally, the software market was in its nascent stage in the early 90s. Microsoft, in a bid to boost its sales and have a tight grip on the eastern region, appointed Chabria Infotech as its distributor. This has been indeed a boon for the company as till date, Microsoft accounts for over 40 percent of the company's total earnings. “Since then there has been no looking back. Soon, we partnered with major brands like Adobe, Symantec, etc. Gradually, the market matured and people began to understand the legal as well as the technical hassles associated with pirated software,” Chabria shared.

As the company grew from a two-man show to a set of 35 personnel, new challenges soon poured in. The primary challenge came from the gray market and with the introduction of preinstalled soft­ware. Countering the challenge now became the primary mission of the company. Chabria has bagged several government projects and has in place a whole new vision to counter the piracy challenge. “I aspire to see an industry free of software piracy. Use of the counterfeits makes computer more vulnerable to virus attacks, and installs spyware and other malicious items without the user's knowledge. Thus, unknowingly, the user falls into the trap of system malfunction which ultimately results in loss of vital data or data leakages,” said Chabria.

Future aspirations
Moving ahead, the company plan to revise its customer base and create a whole new dedicated team for customer engagement through customer feedback and satisfaction. In this process, Chabria Infotech will soon be having a dedicated marketing and sales team to look after particular segments. “Despite the rumors about the stagnation in the IT market, I am sure that this business will grow big time, given the right kind of boost,” said an optimistic Chabria. “It is my belief in myself that motivates me to work. If I work just for money, I will never be successful; it is the passion for business which drives me and I believe that in this world, everybody has a role to play, and I am just playing my role dedicatedly,” he added.

With gross revenue of Rs 1.2 lakh in 1994, the company now earns average gross revenue of Rs 24 crore. “This all has been possible because of the grace of God and my team which works dedicatedly. When we started, customers were unaware of the legal hassles of using counterfeits so pirated software was thriving. During those days, we would celebrate even when a single software pack was sold,” reminisced Chabria. “It has indeed been a tough challenge for me. In a city where most of the software is pirated, selling original software requires a lot of patience and hard work. We have always been consistent and kept our cool when we were undergoing a stiff challenge from the gray market,” he added.

The visionary
Despite the fact that surviving in such a market has been tough, Chabria feels it is his dedication that has always kept him going. With his vision to see his enterprise on top of the market, he is always on the move to analyze the future trends in the market. This has kept him a step ahead of other entrepreneurs. Success surely depends on the efforts, vision and risks one is willing to take undertake, and it is here that the true spirit of Chabria lies.

The age-old Latin dictum-'Fortune favors the bold' is indeed applicable as in this illustrative case of Hemant Chabria.

AVISHEK RAKSHIT
avishekr@cybermedia.co.in

Page(s)   1