Ramco Systems plans to cash in on smart watches

Software product firm Ramco Systems is working to put its trademark business software on wearable technology such as smart-watches which, according to CEO Virender Aggarwal, will help serve as a differentiator in a market crowded with “Goliath” competitors.

The Chennai-based company, which has had a track-record of poor marketing resulting in a string of quarterly losses, also hopes it will be able to turn a profit for the current financial year.

Ramco Smart

The company, says Mr. Aggarwal, has worked with the Pebble smart-watch. “We have put out an application called Ramco Smart that allows companies to track their manpower status, project orders, recent wins and so on,” Mr. Aggarwal told this correspondent on Friday.

While it may not be a proper product right now, as the corporate workforce is yet to take wearables, the Ramco chief believes it serves as a sort of marketing differentiator for the company.

“There’s been [good] interest… and we plan on equipping our [sales] team with these watches when they go on sales calls,” he added.

Look and feel

Mr. Aggarwal, who joined the company two years ago, had embarked on ruthless rejig that saw consolidation of product lines, a greater marketing focus and a general look-and-feel overhaul. Some parts of the company’s office here, for instance, are now being renovated to look like the corporate campus of several Silicon Valley-based multinational companies.

“We made a small profit last quarter, and we believe this could become a [secular] trend. We hope we will be able to make a profit for this year… though of course one quarter [here and there] may not [turn profit],” said Mr. Aggarwal, who has so far been reluctant to provide any forecast with regard to company profitability.