LFY_InfoAxon Profile.pdf

1. Players | Case Study _________________________________________________________________________________________________
‘Platforming’: A Unique Formula
for Lasting Business Partnerships
Delhi headquartered InfoAxon Technologies erases all doubts around the profitability of an open source
business. It uses the ‘platforming’ approach to cement long lasting relationships with its customers.
I
nfoAxon Technologies began business flexibility and innovation.
focusing on proprietary technology back in Thus, they soon hit a dead
2001. But it soon took the plunge into the end on the business road. For
open source world within a year. companies like ours, which
InfoAxon has grown steadily from Rs 20 million in 2003 saw open source technology
to Rs 50 million in 2009, and is expected to clock revenues of as a development model and
Rs 100 million this fiscal. Along the way, it has grown from participated in and augmented
a four-member team to an 80-strong army, comprising open the collaborative work of
source architects, platform designers, open source evangelists the community, the business
and open source developers. Armed with open source, it has model automatically happened
won over customers in the UK, South Africa and India. Shubham Nagar, chief executive alongside,” says Shubham
The story of InfoAxon Technologies speaks volumes officer, InfoAxon Technologies. Nagar, chief executive officer,
for the profitability of an open source business. “It is true InfoAxon Technologies.
that initially most businesses jumping onto the open source
bandwagon didn’t have a profitable business model. However, The open road
that was not because you couldn’t have one, but because Four friends, with a mix of technical, financial and marketing
most of those selling open source and benefiting from it got skills, set up InfoAxon Technologies in 2001. Post the
fixated to the ‘free’ aspect of open source. They discounted dot com bust, they saw tremendous scope in the ‘offshore
the crucial values of open source technology like choice, outsourcing model’ to help global companies reduce time
28 | October 2010 | LINUX For You | www.LinuxForU.com

2. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ Case Study | Players
to market and address the skill gap in developing software early on, leading to quick engagements,” adds Dahiya.
solutions. They also founded InfoAxon Technologies UK (a
100 per cent subsidiary of InfoAxon Technologies), and began Charting out a new route to success
software development using .NET technology for clients like The strategy of selling a ‘complete solution’ rather than
Virgin Media. open source, per se; of looking at every customer as a stream
Within a year, things began to work well for InfoAxon, which of opportunities/ revenue; and using existing customers as
was looking at creating a niche for itself within the software doors to reach out to new clients, helped InfoAxon win new
development market. “We had existing customers inviting us business over the years. “We realised very early on that we
to a huge opportunity emerging in the UK public sector. One would be taking a great risk if we focused on customising
of our initial customers – the London borough of Camden – open source rather than on what the technology can do. Thus,
was involved in a project funded by the Office of the Deputy we focused on selling a ‘complete solution’, which were our
Prime Minister (ODPM), which was working towards making ‘platforms’ to the customer. Alongside, we used our existing
all government services available online through a series of assignments like the APLAWS project to reach out to new
projects named the ‘Pathfinder’ projects. To make that happen, customers like the European arm of UNDP, etc. In a nutshell,
local authorities in UK needed a content management (CMS) our platforming focus soon fell in sync with our business
and knowledge management solution (KMS). No proprietary model and value proposition,” says Nagar.
solution fitting the exact need for ODPM projects was available Dahiya adds: “After the APLAW experience, we realised
to the public sector back then. They had two options – to the opportunity in the public sector and the international
either customise a proprietary solution or go for open source development arena, and decided to focus on these sectors. We
technology. Realising that the former carried the risk of vendor also kept preaching to the already convinced, like those in the
lock-in, the deputy PM’s office decided to support the open banking and finance sector, who were on the constant lookout
source project, APLAWS (Accessible Personalised Local for newer technologies and were already bowled over by the
Authority Web Sites - http://www.aplaws.org.uk). The London open source idea.”
borough of Camden, Red Hat and InfoAxon were involved in
the project from the start. This marked the beginning of our Platforming – the trump card for InfoAxon
open source voyage,” says Nagar. ‘Solution platforms’, also called platforming, wherein
InfoAxon focused on the core architecture of the APLAWS various open source tools/platforms were integrated into one
platform and some of its key contributions included the form solution, was the USP and key differentiator for InfoAxon.
builder; the ability to go to the main CMS and create dynamic “Our experience has taught us that most organisations, which
forms; plug-ins for HTML, news feeds and RSS feeds; a design have realised the value of open source or are in the process
of the front end CMS layer, etc, which were all path breaking at of realising it, don’t want to implement select open source
that time. This is also when InfoAxon, as a company, became tools as a quick fix solution, or if they do, they realise quickly
entirely convinced about the open source business model. that they are on the wrong track. They want to integrate a
whole lot of open source technologies and create a unique
The early setbacks platform for their needs within their own domain. We provide
However, despite an easy start, selling open source at a time them such platforms around knowledge management (KM),
when awareness levels were low wasn’t easy. InfoAxon had to business intelligence (BI) and content management systems
battle mindset issues at a time when proprietary software was (CMS) with a vision to provide so much more in the future
the de facto choice. “The initial sales cycles were very long. and to do so in diverse domains,” says Nagar.
We had to dedicate substantial time to presentations to explain Since these platforms could be extended to develop
what open source was, as most customers didn’t understand the solutions for different domains/ markets, they hold the
model. Thereafter, a lot of information exchange needed to be promise of reducing the overall time to market for customers.
done to ensure the client remained convinced. Thus, we spent a One of the firm’s noteworthy platforms is AxonShare, which
lot of time and energy in pre-sales legwork. Despite that, many is a collaborative content management platform that can be
a time, it wouldn’t convert into engagements,” recalls Vineet used to create content-centric collaboration solutions that help
Dahiya, co-founder and director, InfoAxon Technologies. organisations address the challenge of knowledge sharing. It
“However, this is changing rapidly now, as there are proven combines collaboration and social capabilities with back-end
open source success stories in almost every field of IT and the enterprise content management capabilities to provide end-
industry verticals. Now, there is less open source evangelism to-end content and collaboration functionality. FusionKM is
required during our discussions with customers. Instead, they another workflow enabled social network-based knowledge
straight away engage us in understanding the value we provide management platform that provides infrastructure and a
to them using open source as a model for innovation. This suits robust design by which new services could be built into the
us completely, as we have a wealth of open source expertise solution. InfoAxon is also involved in developing large scale
and experience and are able to demonstrate our value quite knowledge management platforms with integrated business
www.LinuxForU.com | LINUX For You | October 2010 | 29

3. Players | Case Study _______________________________________________________________________________________________________
Understanding the opportunities in the So was the case of the South African government whose
open source world association with InfoAxon began with a social networking
platform for aid management and thereafter, it chose InfoAxon
Open source is the way to go for any budding entrepreneur, feels again to transform the same solution into an aid effectiveness
Nagar. “Apart from reducing your costs, the flexibility proposition and grant management platform.
and its ability to create a wholesome platform is eye catching
InfoAxon’s Indian experience was equally successful.
for any budding entrepreneur,” says Nagar. While e-commerce
and CMS are segments worth considering, sectors like financial
HDFC Bank was one of its first customers in India. InfoAxon
institutions, the public sector and retail hold huge opportunities helped it move 350-400 non-core banking applications running
for entrepreneurs into open source technology. However, here is a on various technologies onto a single platform, created using
word of caution! “Take time to understand open source for what it Red Hat, JBoss, etc. Other Indian clients soon followed–Yes
is. If you are working on only open source, don’t promote the free Bank, the Indian Air Force, UNDP India, Castrol, Filex India,
argument alone. Look at what open source is, as a whole. Always etc. Such long-standing relationships arising out of platforming
focus on the flexibility, choice and innovation argument of open gave InfoAxon a commercially viable business model.
source to sell and win over customers. Lastly, be a part of the
open source ecosystem and contribute back to the community,”
advises Nagar.
Support and maintenance
The platforming model also gave rise to revenue opportunities
from maintenance and support. InfoAxon has an OSS support/
intelligence for the international development sector. business continuity support centre that contributes 15 per cent of
its business. “We provide support services for our core platforms
Is ‘platforming’ a viable business model? and also are support partners for Red Hat, Enterprise DB,
With platforming currently contributing nearly 70 per cent Pentaho, etc. About 80 per cent of our support services revenue
to InfoAxon’s revenue stream, there is no doubt about its comes from supporting our own platforms,” says Nagar.
profitability. “The business model around platforming is a unique
one. As open source began maturing, the cost proposition took Custom development
a back seat and the flexibility and innovation edge it provides While platforming is a reliable revenue generator for InfoAxon,
came to the forefront. In such a situation, the customer wanted it’s the company’s custom development expertise that won over
someone who could cement many open source tools together people into those long lasting platforming partnerships. This
for them to avail the wholesome benefits of open source. This amply demonstrates where a simple open source customisation
is where we came in with our ‘platforming packages’, which can lead to. “We also provide custom development services but
was the first revenue stream for us. Thereafter, we worked use it more as a tactic to lead the client to the larger platforming
on enhancements for the platforms, adding satellite modules/ package. And, we have won numerous clients with this strategy.
applications. This triggered an additional revenue stream for us For instance, we recently provided a customised e-learning
in the long run. We also provided maintenance and support of solution for one of our UK customers. Now we are in talks
the whole platform, which soon became a significant revenue with them to provide a knowledge repository attracting them
offshoot from our platforming solutions. Thus, our platforming to our platforming solution,” says Dahiya. Today, the revenue
approach resulted in long lasting relationships with customers, generated from custom development is 15 per cent.
with many remaining with us for nearly five to six, and more,”
explains Nagar. Scouting around for new opportunities
Today, InfoAxon has seven customers of their platforming Looking ahead, sector-specific platforms and training are
solutions who have been with them for over five years. new pastures InfoAxon wishes to explore. “Based on our
Home Connections, which is a service provider of Choice experience, we see a dearth of skilled resources. Most
Based Letting (CBL) services (in the social housing domain) companies like us rely on home-grown talent. We are
to local authority partners and housing associations in the considering creating a training arm within our business to
UK, is one of them. Starting with providing a CBL platform induct and train talent on our platforming solutions. Alongside,
powered by open source technologies, InfoAxon soon found we are looking at knowledge intensive sectors like retail,
yet another opportunity to add modules like housing registers, pharma, media, advertising and manufacturing. We might
implement an interface with digital TV where people could buy work on more sector-specific platforms to address the rising
affordable housing using their interactive TV interfaces, etc. knowledge and content concerns of these sectors,” says Nagar.
Another instance of platforming leading to new opportunities
for InfoAxon was with the United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP), for whom the firm had developed a KMS By: Vanisha Joseph
platform. The relationship continued to grow, when UNDP The author loves to experiment, and writing for LINUX For You is
her latest experiment—so beware! Just a minute, she also happens
approached InfoAxon to add features like allowing the other
to be a journalist during the day.
initiatives to search content within UNDP using this platform.
30 | October 2010 | LINUX For You | www.LinuxForU.com