I
N
D
I
A
START-UPS AND PANDEMIC Challenges Start-ups are Facing Amidst the Pandemic
SOCIAL MEDIA MIX Essence of Social Media in Modern Marketing
2021's CONSULTING
Startups
Editor's Note CONSULTING START-UPS: TAKING BUSINESSES TO THE NEXT LEVEL onsulting start-ups provide tremendous support to companies and assist them across various fields such as business strategy, manufacturing and supply chain, sales and marketing, human resources, and so on. These companies have to tackle many challenges, since they cater to a variety of fields.
C
Another challenge that consulting start-ups face is of earning healthy profits. Clients have a variety of choice of services at their disposal. Hence, they can demand for greater value of service at cheaper rates. Moreover, if any new consulting start-up enters the market, it creates further competition.
A consulting start-up offers its clients a wide variety of services. These start-ups help their clients to formulate business models, reduce costs, predict risks, and innovate products. This, in turn, helps companies to strengthen their processes for managing talent, staying compliant, and recruiting staff.
Many new independent consultants are emerging quickly with the assistance of various freelance portals. This leads to more competition, while narrowing down the window of profitability.
The prime focus of consulting start-ups is to ensure that their clients stay ahead of the competition and adopt digital technologies or adapt to rapidly transforming geopolitical situations. These consulting start-ups solve every problem of their clients and provide them with the best solution. These consultancies are in a growing stage; accordingly, they face tremendous challenges. They come across many clients who demand more services at lesser costs; some push back against billable hours and required fees; many others also ask for greater transparency on costs. In today's age, any organization has to be innovative and swift so that they can survive in this competitive business environment. Nowadays, clients demand more value and better-quality services at a faster pace and comparatively cheaper rates. Additionally, they also want these consulting start-ups to be transparent and accountable for the services they provide. Many consulting start-ups are gradually emerging in the horizon. As a result, there is no longer any monopoly on specialized knowledge. Every company has a huge amount of information at their disposal owing to the internet. There are many firms available in the market which provide excellent services at reasonable rates.
It is very important for consulting start-ups to remain wary of the growing complexity of project environments. To make sure that they survive in this complex macro ecosystem, they need to provide their best advice. Additionally, since the industry is global in nature, it compels these start-ups to deliver more projects overseas. Hence, they have to join hands with subcontractors, partner companies, and/ or independent service providers. These consulting start-ups must make sure that the project is completed quickly, on tighter budgets, while fulfilling the customers' requirements. These start-ups have to take the responsibility of carefully dealing with numerous confidential information of the clients, some of which may include strategic information, commercial and personal data. These crucial data, if fallen into wrong hands, may cause serious threat to companies. Accordingly, these consulting start-ups also must ensure protection from hackers and data breaches. There are many prominent start-up consultants, who are changing the game of the consultancy business with their dedicated efforts and their innovative manoeuvres. They focus on providing the best services to the clients. They also pay top priority to client security and convenience. To know more about the leading consultant start-ups, flip through the pages and enjoy. Happy reading!
Company Name
Featuring
Brief
Evolution Strategy Advisors LLP
Vineet Trakroo CEO
Evolution specializes in offering solutions in the areas of strategy, marketing sales, international alliances, and diagnostics
FirstMan Corporate Services
Siva Subramanian Director
Karminn Consultancy Network Pvt. Ltd
Krishnakumar N R CEO & Domain Director
Petrokens Engineering and Services Pvt Ltd
G Murali CEO and Jeyaraj S CTO
Petrokens Engineering and Services Pvt Ltd is an ISO 9001:2015 certified best-in-class integrated engineering consultancy solutions provider
Reyan Consultancy Services
Sarjeet Singh Founder
Reyan Consultancy Services is an expert in FrontInvest (eFront Application) implementation services
FirstMan focuses on providing complete 360 Solutions to clients when it comes to their business needs
Karminn offers a range of management system solutions using powerful cloud-based software - the EzyPro™ suite
TENTS
CONT 08
18
26
Evolution Strategy Advisors
Karminn EzyPro QHSE SaaS
Petrokens Engineering and Services Pvt. Ltd
Enabling Business Growth Dynamically
An emerging leader in SaaS-Software as a service
Delivering Value-Added Engineering Solutions to Client Assets
ENTS
CONT A r t i c l e s
14
Start-ups and Pandemic
Challenges Start-ups are Facing Amidst the Pandemic
Social Media Mix Essence of Social Media in Modern Marketing
22
I
N
D
I
A
Sumita Sarkar Editor-in-Chief CONTENT
FOLLOW US ON
www.twitter.com/ciolookindia
Managing Editor Darshan Parmar
www.facebook.com/ciolookindia/ WE ARE ALSO AVAILABLE ON
Contributing Writers Sayali Sangewar DESIGN
Visualizer
CONTACT US ON
Email sales@ciolookindia.com For Subscription SALES
Operations Head Megha Mishra
Business Development Executive Dhanashri K. TECHNICAL
Technical Head Aditya K.
www.ciolookindia.com Copyright © 2021 CIOLOOK India, All rights reserved. The content and images used in this magazine should not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission from CIOLOOK India. Reprint rights remain solely with CIOLOOK India.
SME-SMO
Research Analyst Amol Wadekar
sales@ciolookindia.com
July, 2021
Vineet Trakroo
JULY 2021 | 8 | www.ciolookindia.com
Enabling Business Growth Dynamically
To make these valuable plans, the companies and business experts take help from different consulting organizations to grow faster. These organizations not only advice, but also shows a roadmap to follow their strategies. While searching for such best consulting companies, which provides efficient solutions to business enthusiasts, we came across Evolution Strategy Advisors. The company is helping businesses to grow by making the best use of technology. In the following interview, the team of Evolution Strategy Advisors shares the journey of the company and how their values like being sincere and factual, practical, domain resourcefulness, and quick results make them stand ahead of the competition. Here are the highlights of the interview:
What are the distinguished services offered by your company? Please elaborate on how it has helped in staying ahead of your competition. We partner with large and midsized B2C organisations to grow through our proprietary technique of business health analysis, which is a business diagnostic technique in sales, marketing, and strategy
“
“
I
n recent times, we live in a world of constant change, entrepreneurship, and innovation. This transformation makes it important for us to always be up to date in the industry and have plans and strategies to take benefit from technological advancements.
We work on growing businesses for our clients using a combination of consulting, research, and analytical techniques and then mentoring the executive team for execution of these changes. Executional excellence in strategy, sales, and marketing is leading to growth of business. The core areas being operational sales and distribution, system improvement,
JULY 2021 | 9 | www.ciolookindia.com
product portfolio management, demand generation, and digitization of business. Operational strategy by changing processes, digitization of processes, and improving efficiencies and productivity. Other areas, where we offer services are: Business Alliances: Connecting different business by sharing infrastructure in the areas of production, technology, and distribution. International brand licensing. We represent LMCA in India, a world leader in brand licensing that represents brands like HP, Compaq, Ingersoll Rand, Cummins, Westinghouse, etc. for licensing. What were the challenges you came across when you started a business in the consulting services sector? Our clients have unique challenges, and no two challenges are same. This forces us to look for an out of the box solution. We work across categories and industries i.e., automobiles, pharma, FMCG, durables and building materials and each business is different. Finding
opportunities to grow across sectors is a challenge, which excites us. It’s like solving a math problem. The service we offered was unprecedented to some of the sector players and this is an area believed to be catered to by the large, Big 5 consulting companies. Companies in the past have tried to solve their operational and strategic issues on their own. With limited resources and changing globalization and competitiveness, organizations have now started looking out for solutions from experts. How the adaptation of new technology in the consulting services space has helped transforming your company’s operations and what more could be expected in the future? We have been using cloud-based solutions and data analytic solutions since last eight years or since inception. The technology has also improved, and new available software have made our job easier. We use the latest techniques to analyze data quicker and improve our turn around time to generate insights from data. The technology and process we use are our competitive advantage. How has the ongoing pandemic affected the operations of your company? How are you driving your firm to sustain its operations and ensuring safety of your employees at the same time? The pandemic has affected our business in the last few months but after about the end of 2020, we found more and more companies
showing acceptance to change and transformation. This need has increased, and companies have realised the risk of being complacent in a changing environment. What would be your strategic approach to scale your business in 2021 and beyond? We see our self in providing business transformation and business analytics to more and more industries and partner their success. We look forward to bringing our expertise to a large number of organisations in the B2B and B2C space. What would be your advice to budding entrepreneurs who aspire to venture into the consulting services sector? Having a tech-based solution has become necessary as businesses have digitised. Creating a good product is principle and that takes
JULY 2021 | 10 | www.ciolookindia.com
patience and consumer understanding. Product is the core and that’s what entrepreneurs should focus on. Where do you envision your company to be in the long run and what are your future goals? We look at being a provider of solution for growth. We shall continue to drive our models on data analytics and customer insights supported with execution. We shall be a leader in offering business transformation services. What is the current industrial scenario of the Indian consulting services space? The Big 5, as they were called earlier will rule the business, but the consulting business has already been using the services of the Gig economy i.e., free lancers. We also see the consulting business growing many folds as the Indian companies professionalize and the need for expertise rises.
Subscribe to CIOLOOKINDIA Get CIOLOOKINDIA Magazine in print, and digital on www.ciolookindia.com JANUARY 2021
5
I
N
D
I
A
THE BEST OF
I
N
D
I
A
RECOMMENDED
Digital
Marketing
COMPANIES
Tarun Gurwara Founder
VIRTUAL PEBBLES The Trendsetters in Digital Marketing
MARKETING INSIGHTS DIGITAL MARKETING VS TRADITIONAL MARKETING – WHICH ONE IS THE WINNER?
MARKETING DYNAMICS DYNAMICS OF INDIAN DIGITAL MARKETING SPACE
Sta t-ups and Pandemic
JULY 2021 | 14 | www.ciolookindia.com
Chaenges Start-ups are
Facing Amidst the
T
alking about the effects of Covid-19 on start-ups, many have written conditions, problems, economic growth, and several other things. Speaking of Covid-19, people usually think about the negative impact the disease has brought into everyone's life. Covid-19 has been the most challenging phase of all times.
JULY 2021 | 15 | www.ciolookindia.com
Business giants, entrepreneurs, and start-ups were in a huge trauma because of the challenges imposed by the pandemic. Businesses eventually figured out several ways and solutions to the ongoing disaster. Start-ups needed to focus on the challenges of the pandemic and also succeed in the cut-throat competition of the business world. In this article, let us see what challenges were faced by start-ups amidst the pandemic. Financial Loss It is no surprise that most businesses need loans or financing partners to achieve desired goals. During the fall of any business, it is likely for the investors to back out. Start-ups faced more loss because they are more fragile than any big business, which already exists. Comparatively, start-ups tend to have more risk than other businesses. The start-ups are mainly based on small funding teams and the pandemic made it more difficult to keep a hand on expense. Entrepreneurs, who established their start-ups enthusiastically were disappointed and faced a huge financial drop after the complete lockdown. The dream of kickstarting the innovations through the business somehow paused for a brief amount of time. Finding New Customers Finding new customers was one of the major problems during the pandemic. The virus scared people to an extent where they were aghast to buy anything. Start-ups were in disarray because of slow customer growth. It was a threat for the businesses.
Big industries had the name and the fame, which worked for them one way or the other. Small businesses faced a hard time in creating a solid customer base. Availability of Resources The world noticed an emergence in the field of technology as soon as the lockdown was imposed. The work from home trend started booming with companies going online completely. Start-ups faced difficulty because the availability of material needed for them to work from home was not available at hand. The laptops, desktops, and Wi-Fi setups were not available on a plate and hence small businesses faced a setback during this time. Fear and Doubt The basic human tendency is selfdoubt and fear. It is obvious for a leader to self-blame when a business experiences a downfall. Along with this, there are few more things, which makes small business leaders fear and doubt their skills. The fear of lagging behind the competitors, losing clients, and failing because of the online portals, which they utilize is enormously strong. The start-ups faced huge risks and fear because of the sudden lockdown. The brick-mortar businesses faced self-doubt because of the availability of things online. There are numerous sites that allowed people to order almost everything sitting at their homes. Even when the government took off the restriction from lockdown, it was noticed that people did not buy
JULY 2021 | 16 | www.ciolookindia.com
things going at shops. Instead, they ordered everything online, which proved to be a huge fear for the start-ups including other problems. Funds to Grow Business It is utterly disturbing to see what people faced while collecting funds to grow the business. In times of a deadly disease killing millions of people, it was challenging to gain funds to start a business at the start. It was difficult than usual to collect further funds to grow the business. Not having capital in the most impactful phase of economic loss is understandable, but the loss it caused for start-ups is unimaginable. Trying hard to grow and not getting any outcome out of it is disheartening for all. The entrepreneur felt immense pressure because of it. Never Giving Up Though Covid-19 stood as an immortal evil with intentions of destroying the world, the unity in the world tried to defeat it will full power. Humans always find a way out of the glitch so did we, again. All the businesses were shifted from office to home. There were few bumps here and there but somehow businesses endured. Online portals helped people to carry all activities required for business without interrupting them entirely. Work from home became a huge thing and having said that, it surely will be of use in future. - Sayali Sangewar
Karminn EzyPro
QHSE SaaS
I
n an increasingly competitive global market, Quality and Compliance management is a key differentiator for customers. Karminn Consultancy Network Pvt. Ltd. is a NextGen consultancy leveraging the technology and skills available today for empowering customers to consistently improve their business results through innovative, management systems and assessment solutions. Karminn can do that with its differentiated platform EzyPro. EzyPro has four product variants that can be applied across healthcare and other industries. EzyPro's innovative multi-tenancy cloud application design is powered with a checklist generator, quality indicator engine and now integrated with a QR codebased asset maintenance management feature and powerful dashboards. Apart from improving cost and operational efficiency, EzyPro also facilitates process simplification, adoption of best practices, and continuous improvement. EzyPro's cross-platform mobile App EzyProLite extends usability across many compliance frameworks/features. The organization has a good mix of domain experts, tech capability, and gender diversity. EzyPro has validated its product since 2018, has over 3600 users, among their enterprise customers including marquee accounts. The company's mission is to provide enterprise customers a highly trusted information technologybased platform combined with a consulting service in Quality, Health, Environmental, and Safety (QHSE) management. EzyPro's vision is to deliver impactful experiences to customers and deliver management systems solutions aligned with the latest international best practices. Its service enables clients to leverage technology and data
to make the most of the consultancy expertise it offers, in the domains it specializes in. Team Behind Karmin Krishnakumar N R, CEO and Domain Director of Karminn embarked on this venture post a long career in this domain. A former Director and Global Leadership Team member of Det Norske Veritas, a leading global certification body, he has extensive exposure to Management Systems and standards over several decades in many industries. It was intending to disrupt the largely paper-based system and use of disparate excel sheets that the digital transformation idea in this area was conceived. By tapping the cloud, mobile, and data technologies the value of consultancy and advisory services gets multiplied. Recognizing that many enterprises would need to comply with QHSE and sustainability standards in the future, this cloud service is built to cater to a global clientele. EzyPro consists of 11 members in the founding team with four women, comprising of Domain, IT tech, customer support, and sales. They have among US domain expertise, software professionals, and have worked as a team for more than 36 months, before the pandemic period. EzyPro's SaaS product which is in the market has gained initial market traction and is ready to scale up. Challenges Faced The team at EzyPro realized at the beginning itself that pure-play consultancy services cannot be scaled, and many become less relevant with the advent of the digital era. Initially, EzyPro introduced a digital auditing platform so that customers and consultants in its network could deliver superior services. However,
JULY 2021 | 18 | www.ciolookindia.com
2021's Best Consulting Startups
selling. EzyPro is hopeful of greater traction post-pandemic, including from overseas locations. Dynamics of Karminn and EzyPro
prospective customers told the team that they would rather have a platform that can perform unrestricted management system activities for self-use. This was how they pivoted to being a SaaS provider in addition. In Healthcare, new norms were being introduced and the ISO standards were under revision, so they focused to meet the needs of Healthcare quality and operational compliance management. The most important challenge EzyPro faced was to secure the product-market fit, focusing on solving specific customer priorities, the ability to craft technology solutions, and practically fulfill customer expectations are key to success. Since their startup chose a bootstrapped frugal path, this stretched the timelines but gave them options to experiment working along with customers. Scaling-up in the market requires funding support, EzyPro is at that point now. However, the economic slowdown, pandemic, and delays in getting an effective sales and marketing team in place did impact customer acquisition. B2B models based on consultancy and software as a service does take time to convert, however, the average revenue per customer is higher and so is the possibility of sustained customer retention, loyalty, and cross-
JULY 2021 | 19 | www.ciolookindia.com
“ “
Krishnakumar N R
EzyPro sees three-four distinct trends post-pandemic, which are “embracing the digital”, “digital asset management”, “critical process automation”, “enhanced monitoring and supervision.” Their service addresses these very well powered with technology. Any sustainable consultancy service in the future must deliver digital tools to enable the implementation of best practices at scale. In the future, new technologies like IoT, the application of AI/ML, and advanced data analytics will boost the scope of the offering. The team at EzyPro believes that the robust foundation that they have built will give them a competitive advantage.
Effects of the Pandemic
Current Scenario of the Indian Consulting Services
As a cloud-powered consultancy service, EzyPro was able to quickly move to WFH operations and continue maintaining the service to its customers. EzyPro adapted digital marketing and selling over zoom. From September 2020 itself, EzyPro has concluded new sales and even completed implementation, all remotely. However, there are postponements to buying decisions and implementation timelines do get shifted impacting cash flow significantly. “Hence to sustain, we need an infusion of funds from external sources or government schemes”.
It is fragmented with many players, outsourcing models, as also individual experts on specific assignments. Most sectors will embrace digital solutions, thus IT consultancy for digital transformation will also be in demand.
Karminn's Future Goals “While we will continue to build and enhance the footprint of EzyPro's digital solutions for QHSE/ESG, the concept of continuous improvements in this area will open new opportunities in all the geographies we will target,” the company said. Further, areas of sustainability, like energy, waste, water-saving initiatives will open new opportunities. The company will further strengthen its KPI and quality indicator data dashboards for superior management decisionmaking and enhance the value of its service.
The concept of People, Planet, Prosperity, and principles of Governance envisioned in SDG and the World Economic Forum will open many opportunities to consultancies who can offer expertise and provide solutions in these domains. Thus, to sum up, the consultancy sector will have to embrace innovation, deliver relevant quality, enhancing consulting skills and create long-term value to customers. Advice for Budding Entrepreneurs For budding entrepreneurs, Krishnakumar advises: They must possess domain knowledge and experience in the team. They need to find customers continuously to fine-tuning the offering with minimum viable products and adapt to reach the product-market fit. For consultancy services, integrating digital solutions will differentiate. If entrepreneurs cannot build digital offerings, they must partner with providers. Consultancy services have very wide footprints hence focus is also important.
JULY 2021 | 20 | www.ciolookindia.com
Social Media Mix
Essence of
Social Media in
Modern Marketing S
ocial media has become a great virtual influential platform where the platform is not only utilized for social marketing but also is a great way to promote several brands and products. Social media platform is one of the best platforms to promote or advertise any business, niche, and talent. As much easy as it looks, it requires deep knowledge and persistence to create an impact virtually on this platform. Social media is just not about influencers and actors showing their talent, it is way ahead than that. The algorithms that work beneath the whole procedure of a social media app makes the critical work look
JULY 2021 | 22 | www.ciolookindia.com
JULY 2021 | 23 | www.ciolookindia.com
effortless. The online market is evolving with the skyrocketing speed and this change is acknowledged worldwide. With the advent of technology, social media has emerged as the strongest base for every industry to grow. With industries working online, social media is not less than a milestone. Virtual education, business, shopping, and marketing has made it easy for the giant and small businesses to shine. The advancement in the digital marketing space has opened doors for new opportunities and innovations in the virtual world of social media. In the article ahead, we are going to look at some of the points that make social media an integral part of marketing. Cost Effective Social media marketing is one of the most cost-effective ways of marketing. As troublesome as it looks, it is the least expensive thing for marketing. With different tools available on these social media platforms, one can make the most of it and costeffectively advertise a brand or a product. A business or brand can create a social media page and update fruitful and catchy content related to the respective business, which will lead to creating a decent number of followings of the page. It will help in growing a
customer base as well as promoting a business. Customer Engagement Business professionals need to create a vigilant on social media so that it leaves a mark on the customer. The content should be extremely relevant for the customers so that they can picture your brand as soon as they imagine particular or related product of your brand. For a target audience for becoming a potential client, it is necessary to create that impact on the mind of people. Regularly posting and connecting with these social media platforms will give you extra customer engagement. Brand Loyalty Improvement Having an active social media existence makes it easier for your clients to find your business or brand and connect with you. This helps in expanding customer retention and customer loyalty. Since growing a loyal customer base is one of the major goals of any business, social media should be one of the key strategies. Generally, customer satisfaction and brand loyalty go hand in hand. Social media is not bound to just introducing your product; it can also be utilized for promotional operations. Customers consider these to be as service channels where they can directly interact with the business. Brand Awareness To attract a larger customer
JULY 2021 | 24 | www.ciolookindia.com
base, it is important to create awareness about the brand. It can be done by posting crisp and on point content that will catch the attention of the potential client, making them aware of your brand. Yet, that is not all what is needed to create brand awareness. You will have to remind your targeted client base that you exist again and again. This can be done with proper content marketing and social media marketing strategies that will mark your brand name on customers using any of the social media networks you choose to use. Once you have made people well aware of the brand and created a good insight of your brand, you will notice your targeted clients involving to your brand, or the content you create more often. Therefore, not only enhancing engagement on your social media profiles but also establishing more opportunities of potential customers becoming purchasers. Social media is a powerful platform for advertising a brand or business. If used correctly by entrepreneurs, businesses, and niche industries, it can be a great uplifting process of the respective firm. Creating an influential social media presence will bring persuasive content that would connect you to potential clients. - Sayali Sangewar
“ G. Murali
T
he leading consulting startups have both the expertise and the experience to guide its clients towards executing their plans into action, which helps them in saving, money, time, and aggravation. They review the clients’ business plans, compare it with their goals, and suggest ways to improve their chances for success. One such renowned consultant startup which is delivering lasting customer experiences is none other than Petrokens Engineering and Services Pvt Ltd. It is a Chennai based oil and gas engineering consultancy. It offers a full range of engineering services from end-toend complete solutions in engineering design, project management consultancy, specialized technical services, risk management, and technical staffing in oil & gas sectors. Petrokens’ values reflect the blueprint for the company to operate successfully and are consistently applied across all its operations. Safety, integrity, and cost effectiveness are the core
values of Petrokens. Petrokens’ vision is to be the preferred partner of companies and corporations worldwide in successfully delivering solutions with value additions, ensuring technical integrity, quality, and safety.
“
S. Jeyaraj
The company’s mission is to deliver sustainable and quality projects at optimum costs for its stakeholders.
for their project. Combining flexibility with innovation and complete solutions, the experience for the client is curated with excellence and showcases uncompromised quality. The team is dedicated to delivering solutions to the client’s requirements across every phase of the project. It may vary from the concept, development to simulation, detailed design to validation, and optimization tasks.
A Frontrunner in Delivering Excellent Services
The Leading Personalities of Petrokens Engineering
Petrokens provides multidisciplinary design engineering and consulting services in concept, feasibility, and detail engineering. The company’s capabilities comprise of process, piping, civil, structural, mechanical, electrical, instrumentation, and HSE. It offers complete cost-effective solutions from concept to commissioning, establishing the difference between Petrokens and its competitors.
The person responsible for driving the business excellence journey globally is Murali G – the CEO of the company. He has completed his master’s in design engineering and has close to two decades of extensive experience in operation, maintenance, engineering, technical services, and project management. Mr. Murali was associated with mostly o shore, oil and gas refinery along with petrochemical plants.
The unique in-house design engineering services gives customizable options to the clients
Another gem in the firm is Jeyaraj S – the CTO of Petrokens. He has been instrumental in strategic
JULY 2021 | 26 | www.ciolookindia.com
Petrokens
Engineering and Services Pvt. Ltd planning and technical execution. Mr. Jeyaraj has done his bachelor's in chemical engineering. Also, he is a member in Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) and an Associate Member in IChemE, UK. Their combined experience has been quintessential in exploring the opportunities and executing the tasks timely with quality and integrity. Tackling Challenges with a Game Face Team Petrokens believes that the challenges in engineering come from uncertain conditions prevailing to change in oil prices and an industrywide sta shortage. The requirement for skilled engineers has been realized as an unending necessity in the industry since technology is developing rapidly. “We have to align ourselves to meet the end users’ requirements. It’s at the hands of the engineering sector to sustain many crucial aspects of our day-to-day lives,” claims Mr. Murali while shedding some light on the dynamics of challenges faced by the company. Facing the Pandemic Bravely Hit by the Covid-19 slump followed by social distancing and a nationwide lockdown, businesses are experiencing major impacts no matter how established they are. Now, they have to re-look at how they manage and operate their
business including re-visitation of their business plan. It has become challenging for most businesses to keep their financial wheels turning during the lockdown period due to less revenue churn and the general uncertainty in the global financial environment. The management states, “We are all in this together, so the ideal way is to stay transparent with our clients about what our business is going through. Customers can empathize with companies facing a crisis, as long as the communication is transparent”. Moreover, the company is maintaining healthy relationship with all stakeholders. Petrokens believes that it is very important to maintain high spirits within the team and understand the general mood within the remote workforce. Advice for the Budding Entrepreneurs Adressing the emerging entrepreneurs, team Petrokens states, “Don't give yourself excuses and let yourself procrastinate. Test your idea as soon as possible. Start talking to your future clients to get feedback on your idea and see what they are willing to pay for it”. The company encourages these young entrepreneurs to refine their assumptions and to start providing solutions instead of conventional services.
JULY 2021 | 27 | www.ciolookindia.com
The Future Roadmap Petrokens has tied up with global oil companies and EPC companies. In the future, the company plans to concentrate on the African continent. Understanding its position in the market, Petrokens derives the scale needed to cut costs and remain competitive. The company believes that the oil and gas sector is likely to be dynamic over the next few years. Hence, the ability to assess and accurately value potential targets faster than the competition will be critical. In this sector, prices are said to be on the recovering stage. The management further states, “Still, most oil giants are cautious about new initiatives with major capital expenditures. Many MNCs are still figuring out the essence of the cost issue. Likewise, this has proven difficult for the firm to distinguish real threats from – new competition, challenging bidding procedures and risk-sharing arrangements”. Team Petrokens realizes that the industry has dramatically changed and is looking for cost-effective solutions. Hence, it believes that it is better equipped to compete.