Catering innovative Enterprise Software solutions across various industry verticals, ThoughtBit is a one-stop shop for compliance and business analytics requirements. Established in 2017, by Siddharthan Panneerselvam – CEO, Rajeshwaran Venugopal – CTO, and Sai Santhosh – CCO, its mission is to provide cutting-edge data-driven solutions by nurturing ingenuity and fortifying customer relationships. To get more details about the services and uniqueness the company offers, we bring you an exclusive interview.
Kindly brief us about the company.
ThoughtBit Technologies was founded in 2017 with focus on Enterprise Software. Founders of the organization bring in more than thirty-five years of industry expertise. They have worked with many Fortune 500 clients on mission-critical assignments.
ThoughtBit focuses on Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) offerings for the Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) segment. It delivers technology solutions to empower SMEs and ameliorate their growth on a rapid trajectory. The organization’s vision is to be a Data-Driven SME Accelerator serving 10000 businesses by 2022.
Please tell us something about the Core Team and their contribution towards the company.
Siddharthan Panneerselvam, the Mastermind, is a veteran in Information Technology with two decades of industry expertise. He oversees Operations, Finance and Business Development at ThoughtBit. Sid was part of Global Leadership Cadre in his previous organisation, an elite task-force comprising leaders of the future. He was driving strategy and growth for Latin America, with special focus on Banking and Financial Services. He has headed large-scale strategic programs including Core Banking Transformation, Internet Banking Modernisation, Financial Services Centre of Excellence and Payments Innovation Lab. He was runner-up of Economic Times Young Leaders 2011. Sid is a Post-Graduate from Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad.
Rajeshwaran Venugopal, the Technocrat, has participated in a wide array of technology challenges in a career spanning 16 years and came out successful in every instance. Rajesh heads Technology and Innovation at ThoughtBit, infusing the culture of solving customer problems with a pioneering spirit. In his previous avatar, Rajesh was Product Head at a successful media-tech startup, and led end-to-end development of multiple solutions including monitoring and control systems, mobile applications and productivity enhancement tools. Rajesh holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Mathematics from University of Madras.
Sai Santhosh, the Polymath, is the Go-To person for a variety of things, be it adopting new technology or preparing marketing content or running a focused campaign. Santhosh handles Customer Engagement at ThoughtBit, and ensures every customer is attended to with utmost care and attention. He is the key to each customer becoming a flag-bearer of ThoughtBit. He has single-handedly developed and deployed mobile applications using modern tech-stack. Santhosh holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science Engineering from Anna University.
Your perspective about the Startup world.
The Indian Startup Ecosystem is undeniably a growth story in the making. There is a spurt of activities in recent years with increasing technology adoption, strong government support, availability of abundant talent and higher infusion of funds. Many startups deal with the latest technology trends where the full potential may not be realized today, but will turn out to be game-changers in the near future. Startups, investors, customers and all stakeholders are bound to reap rich rewards. India will soon become a world leader in skilled work through startups, going beyond traditional IT outsourcing.
Please describe the journey of your organization so far.
ThoughtBit started in early 2017 to enable Small and Medium Enteprises to move in the right direction at a fast clip. With the advent of Goods and Services Tax (GST), SMEs were having problems in understanding the nuances and staying compliant. ThoughtBit team gathered exhaustive intelligence by meeting a large number of businesses and understanding the exact nature of challenges. There was a clear gap in the solutions offered by existing products in the market. Armed with this knowledge, ThoughtGST was built grounds-up and launched with minimal fanfare on 15th August 2018. This compliance platform is now used by a number of SMEs, especially those who handle a large volume of invoices routinely. The platform also helps GST Practitioners to ensure complete compliance for all their clients.
The next suite of products will continue to focus on a complete overhaul of the technology landscape for SMEs and put them on a super-fast growth track.
Kindly describe in detail about your distinct services and products.
How do you reshape and transform a new tax system that is less than 2 years old? Step in ThoughtGST!
ThoughtGST is a one-stop-shop for all GST compliance needs. Core mantra is 100% Compliance, 100% On Time, 100% Savings. The focus is on creating the best experience for users to prepare and file timely returns within minutes while ensuring zero anomalies. For instance, reporting sales volume accurately and claiming Input Tax Credit (ITC) correctly are two critical parts of the return filing, as these directly dictate the amount of tax to be paid. ThoughtGST seamlessly enables these activities.
ThoughtAI, an Artificial Intelligence powered data engine, forms the core of ThoughtGST and addresses numerous challenges with minimal human intervention.
Some of the salient features include:
Seamless GST returns filing at the click of a few buttons
GST data retrieval from ERP systems in one click
Configurable Smart Reconciliation with built-in ThoughtAI acumen
Automatic calculation of Input Tax Credit (ITC)
Multi-User Multi-Company model
Secure access to data anytime, anywhere on any device
What has been your game of plan to tackle the challenges in terms of changing trends, market players and innovations happening in the Startup industry?
In today’s high-tech era, change is inevitable. GST rules and regulations are a good example. There is a need to identify the impact of change and adapt quickly, in order to sustain and move ahead. The market always offers multiple solutions to similar problems. It has become an unfortunate trend to first pick up the latest fashionable technologies and then go looking for problems to solve and customers to serve. ThoughtBit’s motto has always been to identify core problems of customers first and solve those in unique and intuitive ways with the aid of technology.
Enlighten us about any new advancements and technologies that have had a huge impact on the Startup industry.
Cloud Computing has enabled startups to reduce the timeframe between ideation and production. It has also increased cost-efficiency, thereby leveling the field for startups to compete on par with large enterprises.
Social media is becoming an absolute necessity. Startups with a clear game-plan have a significant advantage.
Technologies like AI, ML, IoT and VR will cause disruptions. Startups understand this, but could still be unprepared. Awareness combined with agility will open up new avenues.
Describe the unique solutions/products that make your company stand out amongst the rest.
The devil is in the data! ThoughtBit has ingrained methodologies of Data-Driven Intelligence into its core. ThoughtGST’s Smart Reconciliation is an example. It analyses huge volume of invoice data in seconds and identifies problems related to payments, tax credits and compliance.
ThoughtBit’s clients are a critical part of the differentiation and growth cycle. ThoughtGST is enhanced regularly based on user inputs. This inclusive approach has created opportunities to design unique customer-oriented solutions.
Technology adoption is relatively low with Indian SMEs, but the trend is changing with second and third generation entrepreneurs. Business owners are realizing the positive impact of technology. Yet challenges are abundant when guiding them through a transformative journey. It involves empowering them and their teams to assess more data than ever easily and gain meaningful insights. ThoughtBit is at the forefront of dealing with this tough landscape and delivering success through its SME Accelerator.
What is your advice to the young entrepreneurs in the Startup Industry?
Do what you love! Start as early as possible, but probably not right after college – unless you have a validated idea and a great team in place. It would be better if young aspirants gain some expertise in their field of interest before starting up. If they work in a startup environment, that’s even better.
How do you portray the future of your company? Tell us something about your upcoming solutions.
We will achieve our vision to serve 10000 SMEs in 3 phases in close collaboration with our customers:
Phase 1: Complete Compliance – accounting, taxation and legal needs.
Phase 2: Operations Optimizer – web presence, brand building and business expansion.
Phase 3: Factory Floor Enhancer – efficiency improvement and modernization of workplace.
In each phase, our focus will be on acquiring data and efficiently using it to:
Automate processes to improve efficiency and enhance accuracy
Adopt measures like hybrid cloud and IoT to improve Machine-to-Machine communication, enhance control and optimise costs
Derive meaningful business insights using Analytics, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning.
Future is Bright! Future is ThoughtBit!
Website: ThoughtBit Technologies pvt ltd
ThoughtBit: A Young Technology Firm Decoding Business Problems
