Telecom Lead India: Chennai-based Rage
Communications is a full service web services and consulting firm. It
focuses on harnessing the Internet to help clients meet their business
objectives. It is expanding globally. The company will open its office
Singapore shortly. This will be second overseas office after Sydney.
The company has worked on over 1000 web projects for a
diverse range of clients ranging from Fortune 100 companies to small and medium
businesses in all parts of the world. Karthik Kumar, director, Rage
Communications speaks about the future and trends of the mobile applications in
India.
What will be the future of mobile applications in India?
As India is one of the world’s largest markets for mobile
telecommunications, it follows that the market for applications would also be
equally large. However, key challenges will be in developing content that is
relevant and operatable in the user’s territory. So, applications developed
typically in western markets may not find much traction in India. Examples are
an air travel scheduler or a western-oriented-game.
What are the latest trends in the industry?
Quite obviously 4G, Near Field Communication (NFC) and
mobile payment solutions are the flavor of the season. However, realizing the
potential of new trends are not as easy as the 3G experiment specifically and
the evolution of the mobile industry itself show. To be able to create deep and
wide adoption of technologies the troika of content, device and pricing has to
reach a common point of relevance and affordability. Hitting this magic spot is
the biggest challenge for all players in the mobile business.
What are your investment plans?
We are continuing to invest in developing technology
bench strength across mobile platforms and have recently launched apps in the
evolving Microsoft mobile platforms – Numeroknow and AnimalSafari.
Apart from this we are expanding in other geographies and
will be opening an office in Singapore shortly. This will be our second
overseas office, in addition to the one we have in Sydney.
What are your marketing strategies?
Our business is based on relationships and we leverage
these relationships to grow our business organically.
What are your strengths?
In its 15 years Rage has developed streams of competence
that are uniquely tailored to enabling businesses successfully using the
Internet for a wide range of purposes, ranging from a business channel to
improving business productivity. These streams of competencies are:
*
Advisory: Business analysis and recommending a robust and appropriate solution
across outcomes expectations, design, technology and management.
* User
Experience: Combining elements of information architecture, graphic design and
content so that the browsing experience is seamless to visitors.
*
Technology: Platform agnostic solutions in developing, maintaining and managing
across the full range of web technologies and devices
*
Management Support: Search marketing, site analytics, asset optimization,
performance metrics and other quantitative analytics
What will be your focus area in future?
Our experience suggests that our unique value proposition
of remote service delivery is a compelling one. We expect to be able to use
this to drive our presence across major geographies and seek to establish our
leadership in this space.
How was the year 2011?
Our gross revenues were over Rs 150 million and a 40
percent growth over the last year. We consolidated our presence in the
Australian market and laid the foundations for growth with new client
acquisitions.
Who are your clients?
Our key clients are Citibank and Jones Lang LaSalle. We
work with them in throughout the Asia-Pacific region and are beginning to work
with in the EMEA and North American markets.
Our key Indian clients are Sterling Holidays,
Cholamandalam Insurance, Mahindra World Space, Pfizer among others.
What is your current employee strength?
163, as on March 31, 2012.
Danish Khan
