Jampot Takes on Titans with Tailor-Made Products

Sameer M Gokhale 2
Sameer_M_Gokhale
Sameer M Gokhale,
Co-founder & CEO, Jampot Technologies Pvt Ltd

Over the years, Jampot has carved a niche for itself in the Trading Floor Telephony segment; and it took lots of effort and expertise to replace some of the top global players occupying the space, recounts Sameer M Gokhale, Co-founder & CEO, Jampot Technologies Pvt Ltd, in an interview with Poulami Chakraborty of Elets News Network (ENN)

Please tell us about Jampot’s presence in the Indian market.

We incorporated Jampot Technologies in 2010 with the intention to bring in niche Telecommunication Products and Solutions developed by relatively smaller companies from Europe, Develop expertise in the related technologies and provide world-class services to customers in India.

Jampot is promoting niche solutions coming from smaller European companies and opening up the market for them in India. These solutions are not off-the-shelf solutions, as they need to be customised as per the Indian infrastructure, market and customers, and which needs good Telecom and Networking knowledge. They get integrated on the back-end with the IP Telephony backbone, provided by standard telephony providers like Avaya, Alcatel and Cisco. We have also added specialised Trading Floor Telephony solutions aimed at serving treasuries of banks and financial institutions.

vipOver the last five years, Jampot has carved out a niche for itself in the Trading Floor Telephony segment. With market already occupied by a few incumbent players, every customer won was replacement of the existing solution with Jampot’s. We has developed a pool of skilled members and have gone up the value chain significantly by becoming master solution providers, running a 24X5 technical assistance center from Mumbai to serve our OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) customers worldwide in the last two years or so.

Since we’ve developed this core expertise with team in India, Jampot engineers are preferred by our partners and are travelling worldwide for providing installation, deployment and specialised training. Since last year, we have been serving the customers in the US, Israel, Singapore, Hongkong , Australia, etc.

So it’s been like a real value addition, where our OEM sitting in Europe is giving preference to our team members over their US counterparts or counterparts in APAC.

What kind of solutions you provide to the Indian BFSI sector?

We have specialised ourselves in providing the enterprise telephony solutions using latest technology called Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). In the voice over IP telephony solutions there are many players. Jampot has created niche for itself in the Trading Floor Telephony solutions and associated services, mainly used by banks and the financial institutions in treasury department. Treasury is the department with highly skilled and highly paid subject matter experts operate and invest money in equities, bonds, funds, comodities, Forex, etc., dealing with other banks, HNIs or with the FIIs. So, it is very business critical and sensitive segment we cater to.

In institutional trading, since every trade is worth crores, it doesn’t allow scope for any glitches during the trading hours. Decisions are made in a split seconds with just few words spoken, signs and gestures, and the deal is closed over phone. And, all the calls and conversations needs to be recorded, preserved in tamper-proof mechanism for 3 -7 years. So, a combination of Robust backend IP Telephony, state-of-the-art IP Dealerboards and tamper-proof IP recording makes the Trading floor Telephony Solution.

After eight years of existence in the market, how would you evaluate your company’s presence?

When we started, there were already established players from Europe and the US in the market for 30-35 years with their legacy products and unwilling to use latest technologies. However, with confidence on the latest technology and people behind the European startup companies, we took challenge to introduce new product line in the Indian market. For us, every win in the Indian market was replacement of one of our competitors.

So, it was always fun to prove our capabilities in terms of product features and exude confidence as a new company that we would support such critical operations.

JampotSome prominent users of our solutions and services are India Infoline , Religare and Reliance Equity, on the private broker side; public sector banks like Union Bank of India and Canara Bank; and private banks like Kotak Bank, HDFC Bank and IDFC Bank. We also have Bank of Abu Dhabi, Jammu & Kashmir Bank, Govindram Forex, etc. In last two to four years, out of the number of new deals closed, Jampot has won over 75 per cent of them. I would say, we have been successful and are on the right track to keep it consistent.

Any roadblocks that Jampot came across while operating in the Indian market?

Yes, quite a few! We started Jampot with loads of international technology and business experience, but doing business in India involves a whole lot of learning. Indian customers expect best services at least prices, as services are taken for granted! While Europeans pay premium for niche technology and service, Indians would pay lavishly for gadgets and gizmos for personal use and are unwilling spend on technology for employees. However, this trend is changing gradually.

As a technology service provider in banking, how do you see rise in technology adoption in the banking industry?

I will give you an example: we use touch screen technology in our devices. Five years back, even before we could talk about technology and features of our solutions, we had to convince customers saying, “Don’t worry, touch screen works. It’s same as using buttons”. Thanks to growing familiarity of people with technologies, now I don’t have to convince them. We can see the people in banks and financial institutions adapting to new technologies very fast. When we talk to IT teams in banks, they know what they want. It helps us as well as new technology providers to actually be in line with where the world is heading.

Jampot is promoting niche solutions coming from smaller European companies and opening up the market for them in India. These solutions are customised as per local requirements

Would you share upcoming innovations of Jampot?

We have been working on the niche technology solutions as company’s vision. It’s working for us, and therefore, we would continue. We are adapting to cloud technologies. Our extended offering from VoIP Telephony to RoIP (Radio over IP) would cater to Security, Command and Control segment. We are looking at Over-the-Top services and solutions for reliable internet for enterprises. We have also ventured into a cutting-edge technology called Photonics that harnesses light particles (photons). This could be a technology for the coming decade. We would strive to become first of its kind Photonics Design house in India. When you look around and see what are pain areas for businesses, opportunities are abundant. One needs right solution, priced rightly, targeted for right enterprises and give them confidence that are being served by right people!

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