FlamencoTech is a Smart Building & Smart Retail solution provider based on the Internet of Things (IoT). The company has first created an IoT platform and then built several solution packs that address common problems and needs.
In an interaction with BWDisrupt’team, Sudhir Sarma, CEO and founder of FlamencoTech, shared details about the company.
Brief us about your business model like how did the idea came to start and how does it work?The idea evolved when we realized that all infrastructure in the digital world is likely to converge to an easy to manage, user contextual framework. Then the concept of IoT became popular as well as we merged both the concepts with a user facing use case.
Essentially, our IoT platform, the Digital Blanket enables data collection from a variety of sources, protocols and technologies. We sense, measure, monitor, detect presence, location etc. from machines, people and things. We then correlate this information with other existing sources of data to create context. We then use this contextual data to interact, engage or control as the case may be. All these lead to analytics, dashboards and reports for continuous improvements.
What are the unique key points of your company?FlamencoTech is unique because we solve real world problems with our own platform and solutions. We have abstracted our dependence on specific hardware and hence we are able to continuously improve our solutions with the best of breed hardware and also integrate with existing customer hardware. We have several successful deployments in Smart Building and Retail. Our IoT platform, the Digital Blanket is built for very high scalability, reliability, and growth.
How are you different from the existing competitors?Competitors are mostly Silod’ companies offering one or two modules in the segments we are offering. Also, many of them are tied to specific hardware and hence struggle with third party integrations. Their understanding of the domains in Smart Buildings and Retail is significantly lower. Our ability to provide use case based solutions, driven by data integration, sensor integration with domain and context is unique and differentiated.
What is the funding status and monetization model?The company is self-funded. We monetize all our solutions based on modules deployed. We have a SaaS offering and in addition we also consult with Architects to help create smarter infrastructures.
What challenges are you facing in running your business?While we have exceedingly good success rates, such concepts involve longer lead-time as customers seek clarity on outcomes and ROI. The industry is still caught up with outdated modes of silo infrastructures, which do not create smartness or value for any user. Our sales are consultancy led and hence we also have challenges in being in front of many customers as possible.
How has been the people`s response so far?Our clients are all enterprise. We have had very good traction and successes and some of our clients are replicating their success here to their international offices. In 2015, FlamencoTech was global finalist in Control Trend Awards in two categories, BUILDING ANALYTICS SOFTWARE OF THE YEAR & ENERGY SAVINGS SOLUTION PRODUCT OF THE YEAR
What are the traction details?We have completed over 15 successful engagements and we now have over 25 engagements in India and the US.
How do you look at expansion? Our expansion will be based on two fronts;
1. Sales & Marketing, geographically through partnerships and
2. Segment expansion – into IoT
We have signed marketing partnerships in USA, Singapore, Malaysia and the Middle East. We are discussing partnership in Australia as well.
What are your marketing plans?We are participating in several marketing events in India and the US. In the US we recently launched our offering at two Retail events, NextPoint and NACS. We participated in several FMA events to market our value and offering.
What has been the biggest learning’s so far?Customer validation is the greatest learning for us. The impact of our solutions in terms of customer experience, cost reduction and revenue increase have been great learning. We have realized that our value is much improved with our consultation and analytical dashboards that provide context and relevance.
What is the market size and opportunity?The opportunity to create Smarter Buildings and Retail is significant and global. While there is market data talking of billions of connected devices in the near future, this is not enough for us to construct a market size and this is an industry that is just starting to grow. But our market size can be measured by the number of retail stores across formats (Convenience, Food & Beverage, Malls, Retail Chains, Electronic Chains etc.) and number of new commercial buildings that being launched, globally.
