The Power Of Analytics :

Originally Posted: Smartceo

The founders of Polestar Solutions, Amit Kumar, Ajay Goenka and Chetan Alsisaria, come with years of experience in working with large clients in their professional journey. It was during this period that they understood the importance of harvesting data. “While ERP boomed in the last few decades, the next decade is all about data,” says Amit Kumar, co-founder and director, Polestar. Hence, the trio decided to set up the company in 2012 with a focus on helping businesses recognize the power of analytics and solve problems through business analytics and data warehousing. The company has been bootstrapped since founding, with the founders having used internal accruals to fuel its growth. “We are now at a stage where we are planning to expand to multiple geographies and we may look for external funding,” adds Amit Kumar.

The co-founder admits that getting the first few clients during their early days was critical because they had nothing to show. “You may be brilliant as an individual but getting your organisation to deliver the same brilliance is a different game altogether,” says he. Today, it serves 50+ clients, delivering top-notch data analytics and business intelligence solutions.

As far as the team goes, it has almost 180 people currently. “We continue to grow more than 100 per cent year-on-year,” says Amit Kumar. Last year, Polestar participated in the Deloitte program and was ranked No. 1 fastest growing technology company on the Deloitte Technology Fast50 India 2017.

We are cost effective than large players and have strong quality and technology. We also have a much better pricing mechanism.

Positioning right

The company has positioned itself as a premium player. The co-founder is quick to add, “We are more cost effective than large players and have strong quality and technology. We also have a much better pricing mechanism.” The company prides itself of being able to help its clients grow and also bring their costs down. Amit Kumar says, “Any organisation has large amount of data which gets converted into intelligent data by the in-house team. However, if you dig deeper, there is a lot of effort that goes into bringing that information. When we do this for clients, they don’t need a large team to run analytics. They can be re-deployed for other tasks.” Apart from this, the company offers accurate insights from data, which is available at the click of a button.

Sector and size agnostic

Polestar works with large enterprises and SMBs in sectors like manufacturing, e-commerce, retail, hospitality, automotive, consumer durables, banking, insurance and Government. Quoting an example, Amit Kumar narrates, “A client from the healthcare sector has many facilities in different geographies with a certain target audience. We are helping them to churn data (like disease and age) and find out where to set up their next facility, which was their business problem.” The company analyses data like demography, past sales, competitors and so on and recommends what their revenue per room will be if they set up a facility in a particular area.

Talking about their customer acquisition strategy, Amit Kumar says that it is largely through word of mouth and references.

Growth triggers

There is a lot of emphasis on data within an organisation. But, companies understand that data, as it is, is not an asset unless you do something with it. This apart, Polestar has created a mechanism where it has taken into consideration the three facets of the organisation – sales, operations and delivery – and has set up internal processes with the help of different tools so that it grows and scales faster.

However, with every opportunity comes its own set of challenges. Amit Kumar states geographical expansion as one, not just with respect to funds but also in finding the right leaders in a new country.

However, with a clear goal, Polestar is taking long strides with its plans for the future. Over the near term, the company aims to set up offices in the U.S., Middle East and Europe. It also plans to tap the capital markets in the future. “Entering new markets, looking for strategic investors, creating go-to-market strategies for new products and solutions, and new technologies will be our way forward, “ he says, on a concluding note.