The last 15 years went by pretty quickly! In early 2000, we were in discussion with a few friends about the software industry, its strengths vs. weaknesses, then most prevalent “body shopping” model, the future potential and challenges. We knew right then “body shopping” won’t work; needed a model that would be both cost-effective and logistically viable. On the other hand, we wanted to start something from the city we are so intimate with – Kolkata. It supplied, and still does, a lot of technical talent across the world, but wasn’t a recognized spot on the IT map, not even within India. We felt it was possible to tap the raw talent from the area and build a team that can deliver quality software to two markets – USA (where some of us are located) and India (where the core team is) – to start with. To be very honest, the whole decision was based on more emotion and gut feelings than serious business analysis. Still, SARANGSoft Corporation and SARANGSoft India Pvt Ltd or SIPL (then called SARANG Infotech and Software Solutions) were started in 2000. The first set of people came on board and we started with a modest setup.
In early 2001, we got a big break to work with a major medical insurance provider, who was migrating a massive legacy system (IBM mainframe-based) to Unix & RDBMS environment. Our team started working on-site, offsite, and offshore – at its peak involving total 10 engineers. It went on for about two years, during which we moved to better offices and added more to the team. In 2003, we took a different turn – after the legacy system migration project ended, we moved away from that area and focused more on Windows and Linux. Around the same time, we started working as a direct vendor of Microsoft. That brought a number of interesting projects in the Windows Operating System and multimedia in particular. The team expanded even more, new offices were setup, and also came a lot of excitement and learning in the process. There were several ups and downs too. At times it felt like end of the road, while at other times we could barely keep up with customers’ requirements. We worked with several small and mid-size companies too, and each was different in significant ways.
The downturn of 2008-2009 had a serious effect on our business as it did for most organizations. All the customers clammed up in uncertainty, new projects stopped, existing projects stalled / shrunk, some customers couldn’t / didn’t pay as agreed upon. We went through a couple of horrible years. Some of our long-time clients continued to work with us, and some new clients did start during this time. We are happy that most of those relationships are stronger today. As the market sentiment improved over the last couple of years, we have expanded our business and feel much better now.
During the downtime, we started focusing more on our own software products, and released a number of those starting in 2009. We offer Data Backup – for Windows PC (filexpertez) to entire Windows network (WinBackup Business), Document Digitization and Management (digipaper), IT Configuration Management (SysExpertez), Cloud Data Browsing & Transfer (CloudScape), Developer Tools (Logastic and Testology), and more. We didn’t actively market those; actually we are not good in marketing ourselves. Still, some people have noticed the products, tried out a few those, liked what they saw, and purchased. Based on customer feedback, we have been making improvements to our products, and newer versions are being released frequently.
Over the past 7-8 years, we have concentrated on some specific areas. Windows platform remains our core strength as before. We can do almost anything on Windows – at OS level or with apps, components, tools, system services. Our other area of strength is the web platform – .NET and Open Source. We design and develop websites, web apps, web services, and anything in between. For the past 4 years we have also been working with Cloud technologies, especially AWS and Azure. We are increasingly moving apps and services to appropriate cloud platforms. We are also working on mobile apps, but not the typical native apps for each of the two dominant platforms. We prefer to build a common cloud backend for the app core and a lightweight frontend for each mobile platform.
Today we are at an important point in our journey. After a long stormy night, we are at the break of a new dawn. Our team of about thirty people is motivated and dedicated. Our product and service offerings are rich. We are strong on skills, experience, and innovation. And we are as committed as we have always been to deliver the best to our customers and partners.
visit: www.theappsolutions.com and see more