Indus
Software has developed a new product, eSpanWorld, an issue-based collaboration
Internet portal for senior managers posted across the globe. The product is aimed
at reducing telephone, meeting and conferencing time for senior managers.
Briefing the press about the product, Vivek Mannige, managing director, Indus
Software, says it would help managers communicate and keep abreast of multiple
projects and issues without requiring to attend meetings or making phone calls.
"A manager, on an average, spends 16 hours per week on meetings and
more on calls. The eSpanWorld will save at least 50 per cent of this time through
the exchange of information in advance," says Mannige.
The product
is to be officially launched in the Indian market in March, and in the global
market in April this year. It serves as an organiser cum bulletin board cum discussion
forum cum e-mailer, all rolled into one. It operates as a single repository for
all feedback, follow-up and version control.
The unique feature of the
product is its use of 'stickies' that function like post-it stickers, and provide
the space for user interface, linking up with action lists, reminder facilities,
and action tracking. The stickies can carry attachments that are text, voice or
video. The product is built on pure Java, aimed to give rapid operating speed
to the process. "It's an exciting medium for managers to reduce wastage of
time," says Mannige.
Available in two component versions, Client
and Server, the Client version will retail around $100 apiece, while the Server
version will cost $25,000. Indus Software hopes to add $2 million over a twelve-month
period to its revenues through sales of this product alone.
The company,
which closed March 1999 with a sales of Rs 8.9 crore and a profit of Rs 2 crore,
expects to clock in a 25 per cent growth, both top and bottomline. Indus Software,
a decade-old company is a 100 per cent EOU, and has specialised in financial and
banking software. Headquartered in Pune, India, the company has a development
centre and laboratory for new products in Pune, and a wholly owned US subsidiary,
Indus Software Inc, located at New Jersey. The company has equity investment from
GE Capital and Intel. Its products include Lending Solutions from Indus, (LSI),
Loan Appraisal System for the Internet (LASI), Finance Against Securities System
(FASS) and Indus Stress Testing Tool (ISTT) for engineering applications of software.
"Our thrust now will be on internet-based products," says Mannige.
The company, which has a manpower strength of 175, expects to close calendar 2000
with 300 people. It also proposes to add two more development sites in three years.
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