CIO & LEADER-Issue-01-April 2018 (1)
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
Cover Story<br />
Collaborating with a start-up, if the business can<br />
show the value of INR 5 crore, it can get a budget<br />
allocation of INR 1 crore<br />
Niki.ai is not the bank’s first<br />
engagement with a start-up. The<br />
bank started recruiting start-ups<br />
three years ago and has a clear<br />
selection framework in place that<br />
makes it easier to weed out solutions<br />
that don’t fit the bill.<br />
“We regularly reach out to new<br />
and innovative start-ups via referrals,<br />
technology forums, incubators and<br />
summits. Every year, we invite over 50<br />
start-ups to a technology theme-based<br />
Innovation Summit. Niki.ai along<br />
with 10 other start-ups, was chosen<br />
through a multi-layered selection<br />
process,” said Nitin Chugh, headdigital<br />
banking at HDFC Bank.<br />
“We have implemented another<br />
chatbot for employees, on our website,<br />
and these chabots have offered us<br />
great customer insights and learning<br />
experiences. With OnChat, we thought<br />
if customers are spending more time<br />
on Facebook messenger, can the bank<br />
be there?” added Chugh.<br />
The chatbot implementation with<br />
Niki.ai isn’t a one-time engagement.<br />
The start-up will continue to relevant<br />
insurance, banking, and stock broker<br />
use cases to strengthen its natural<br />
language processing capabilities<br />
that will help in cross-selling and<br />
up-selling to their customers.<br />
Last year, Niki.ai released a<br />
Software Development Kit (SDK) for<br />
businesses to enable conversational<br />
commerce on their mobile and web<br />
apps. Since then, the start-up has<br />
garnered a lot of interest from<br />
multiple enterprises.<br />
According to Sachin Jaiswal,<br />
Co-founder and CEO, Niki.ai, “HDFC<br />
is a progressive organization. Any<br />
kind of validation that a client gives<br />
to its service provider is a big deal<br />
because it builds credibility and<br />
builds our business."<br />
Especially, if the service provider is<br />
a start-up.<br />
It is true that enterprises aren’t<br />
comfortable with sharing names of<br />
the start-ups that they work with<br />
– until after the implementation.<br />
Understandably, most organizations<br />
would rather share a success story<br />
Working with<br />
large enterprises<br />
requires start-ups to<br />
have a better cash<br />
flow and ensure that<br />
their product quality<br />
is great, especially<br />
when you are trying<br />
to scale<br />
Sachin Jaiswal<br />
Co-founder and CEO, Niki.ai<br />
rather than a failed implementation.<br />
In 2<strong>01</strong>7, the start-up mortality rate was<br />
20% to 25%., with a majority of them<br />
closing down within 1.6 to 1.9 years<br />
of inception.<br />
The last three years have taught<br />
Jaiswal a few lessons too.<br />
He said, "before you interact with<br />
the client, a start-up must ensure:<br />
Whether you understand the market<br />
Whether there is a need for the<br />
product<br />
Timeline, effort, cost estimate, mark<br />
up client is willing to pay."<br />
“Most start-up players go with an<br />
open mind. However, it helps to be<br />
confident about the maturity of their<br />
product before you approach a large<br />
scale organization. There will be<br />
companies willing to experiment with<br />
a less than mature start-up, but the<br />
probability will be lesser,” he added.<br />
“Working with large enterprises<br />
requires start-ups to have a better<br />
cash flow management process and<br />
ensure that their product quality is<br />
impeccable if, as a start-up, you are<br />
trying to scale. That fundamental<br />
hasn't changed. You have to realize<br />
that what is the market that you are<br />
after and you have to cater to that<br />
market,” said Jaiswal.<br />
Additionally, Jaiswal said that<br />
start-ups you must have a clear cut<br />
understanding of what their business<br />
model is. “If you are a client servicing<br />
business, you will latch on to every<br />
opportunity that will add to your<br />
top-line but if you are a technology<br />
provider, then you must know when to<br />
exit the conversation.”<br />
The truth is, it is the people<br />
18 <strong>CIO</strong>&<strong>LEADER</strong> | <strong>April</strong> 2<strong>01</strong>8