Episode 85

full
Published on:

26th Nov 2024

Enterprise Software

In this week's talk, Amit and Rinat dive deep into the world of Enterprise Software, exploring how it powers businesses by streamlining operations, improving efficiency, and driving scalability. From ERP systems that integrate core business processes to BPM tools that optimize workflows, we unpack the distinctions and complementary roles of these technologies. We also highlight examples across HRM, CRM, SCM, and more, providing insights into their advantages, challenges, and relevance in today’s digital landscape. Tune in to discover why enterprise software is essential for organizational success!

Transcript
Speaker:

Yeah.

Rinat:

Hi everyone, welcome back to Tech Talk, a podcast where Amit

Rinat:

and I talk about all things tech.

Rinat:

We don't just talk about tech, we also talk about how the tech

Rinat:

impacts our society, our lives and everything in between.

Rinat:

Today we've chosen to talk about Enterprise software.

Rinat:

We all know about software and there are different types of software, you

Rinat:

can categorize them in different ways.

Rinat:

Enterprise software is just another way of categorizing a particular set of

Rinat:

software which we feel would be really beneficial for our audience to know.

Rinat:

Let's talk about enterprise software.

Rinat:

And for my benefit more than anyone else, What is enterprise software?

Amit:

Yeah.

Amit:

Thanks for that introduction.

Amit:

I think, yeah, you're right.

Amit:

Cause software can be categorized into multiple things.

Amit:

There are software specifically for individual usage.

Amit:

There are softwares that are specifically for business usage.

Amit:

There are software for scientific purposes and there are different software

Amit:

for different types of industries.

Amit:

So when we talk about enterprise software, we are talking

Amit:

software targeted for businesses.

Amit:

Businesses have a lot of complex operations and they have to manage

Amit:

everything through a centralized system.

Amit:

So they need to manage that through software.

Amit:

Earlier, businesses used to manage everything to paperwork.

Amit:

Now they moved to software.

Amit:

So how do you manage Everything including your operations, your staff, your

Amit:

resources, your logistics, your supply chain, through an enterprise software.

Amit:

So these softwares are specifically targeted for businesses.

Amit:

Now, the reason I selected this topic is because, I think a lot of people

Amit:

when they start in their career, they're used to software that they use.

Amit:

You're used to things like Microsoft Office.

Amit:

You are used to things like Windows These are enterprise software as well.

Amit:

But as part of When you join a company, Say you study engineering and you join

Amit:

a company now and then suddenly you have to start working for a business.

Amit:

Now there you will encounter some different types of software, which you

Amit:

will never find for your personal use And that's why I think it's important to

Amit:

talk about it so that people have more knowledge about what kind of software they

Amit:

can expect when they join a new company.

Rinat:

Yeah, absolutely.

Rinat:

Thank you very much, Amit, for that insight.

Rinat:

, let's step back a little bit and reimagine the situation before internet

Rinat:

and how did the enterprise manage all of these tasks at that time.

Rinat:

As far as I remember, before, computing was commonplace

Rinat:

there was, pen and paper.

Rinat:

As, As companies started to adopt more and more off computing and then

Rinat:

eventually internet the need for software to manage all of these grew even more

Rinat:

because with changing times, even the requirements changed compliance and

Rinat:

regulatory requirements, required companies to keep data in a certain

Rinat:

way, provide data security for their clients and also to maintain cyber

Rinat:

security so they can protect their assets.

Rinat:

So there are many things in play when companies have to decide what

Rinat:

exactly should be their solution.

Rinat:

So obviously, as you mentioned earlier a company started

Rinat:

with microsoft Office Suite.

Rinat:

That was revolutionary when it came out.

Rinat:

Computing Excel, Word, made everything so much easier.

Rinat:

That was a massive shift from typewriting.

Rinat:

That is something easy to imagine how all the benefits were there and how everyone

Rinat:

kind of installed Office individually in their laptops or computers and

Rinat:

then, got the benefits straight away.

Rinat:

And as the companies adopted more and more technologies, not a tech company,

Rinat:

but just Any company, for example, a bank or a manufacturing company, they

Rinat:

had to adopt more and more of technology, computing and eventually Internet as well.

Rinat:

So they had to shift all of their data, managed, in cloud, for example, and as

Rinat:

they started doing this, they started facing the challenges of security,

Rinat:

regulatory requirements and all of that.

Rinat:

And that's how all of these enterprise softwares on top of basic softwares

Rinat:

like Office, came about to fill a need that wasn't fulfilled at the time.

Amit:

Yeah, so I think you're heading in the right direction.

Amit:

But let's take even a step back.

Amit:

Let's say for example, you want to manufacture a car, or you are in a telecom

Amit:

company from where you buy your SIM card.

Amit:

They are two different industries.

Amit:

So these two different industries will have two different set of

Amit:

processes, but there are some things which will be common.

Amit:

There will be people in these companies.

Amit:

So someone will have to manage who is joining and who is leaving the company.

Amit:

Then there has to be a payroll system where you can say People can send

Amit:

invoices if there are contractors and if there are permanent employees, you

Amit:

need to pay them salaries, then you need to manage your taxes, then you

Amit:

need to have an accounting system.

Amit:

So these are common things even though there are different industries and then

Amit:

you will have to manage their documents say you want to manage contracts, so

Amit:

you want to store those contracts which have been signed by people in a certain

Amit:

location so that you can retrieve them, what was agreed, what was not agreed.

Amit:

Say you sign a contract with a car company, you're purchasing a car from

Amit:

them, or you sign a contract with a SIM card company saying you will

Amit:

keep the SIM card and use it for, it could be a pay as you go or a contract

Amit:

SIM card for say 18 month period.

Amit:

So you have all these things, right?

Amit:

So these few systems are common.

Amit:

With a say car manufacturing company, they will have things,

Amit:

which a SIM card may not have.

Amit:

It could be, okay, , what is our inventory management system?

Amit:

How do we manage the inventory?

Amit:

We are a manufacturing company.

Amit:

We manufacture cars.

Amit:

I need to know what's there in the factory on the factory floor.

Amit:

What do I need?

Amit:

When do I need it?

Amit:

Then I need to plan.

Amit:

So I'll have different maybe cars in production.

Amit:

So how do I plan the a production of different cars.

Amit:

So there is like project planning involved.

Amit:

What do I need to manufacture it?

Amit:

How much money do I need?

Amit:

How many people do I need?

Amit:

When they will be available, when they will be not available, et cetera.

Amit:

So then you'll have to manage the supply chain.

Amit:

Who's going to give me the parts?

Amit:

I'm not maybe manufacturing the parts.

Amit:

I'm just manufacturing the car.

Amit:

So there might be a third party supplier I have to deal with.

Amit:

So they will have their own system.

Amit:

So I'll have to deal with that.

Amit:

Okay.

Amit:

Then I need to have a email system to deal with communication across the enterprise.

Amit:

I might have a chat system.

Amit:

I need to know what are the when did a person join?

Amit:

Have they completed two years?

Amit:

Have they completed the probation?

Amit:

So there are many such things.

Amit:

Then on top of that, you mentioned about GDPR, but you forgot about analytics.

Amit:

So you have all this data coming in.

Amit:

You have to, of course, make it secure.

Amit:

But now you have all this data so you can do some analysis on it and see what

Amit:

is it that people are actually buying.

Amit:

So can you sell them products tailored to what they're actually buying?

Amit:

So a lot of times you would see some models continue, some models

Amit:

are taken out of production.

Amit:

Companies think if a car, if a model is not doing well, there's

Amit:

no point of manufacturing it.

Amit:

Same with a SIM card plan.

Amit:

So some plans work really well, some plans don't.

Amit:

So every year you get some new offers, new data.

Amit:

minutes, roaming plans, etc.

Amit:

So all these things have to be managed through software.

Amit:

Previously, there used to be computers, like mainframe systems,

Amit:

IBM mainframe systems, right?

Amit:

And we're talking about World War time, where there were definitely

Amit:

computers, but majority of it was still being done by pen and paper.

Amit:

You will have to do accounting by paper, you'll have to get

Amit:

contract signed on paper, et cetera.

Amit:

And then computing came, but it was mostly for research purposes

Amit:

for more complex calculation.

Amit:

And then large enterprises started adopting it to manage certain

Amit:

things like banking systems.

Amit:

How do you store different type of transactions?

Amit:

So this gives you like a small overview of, Why we need enterprise software

Amit:

and two different industries to explain what are the different requirements.

Rinat:

Good to know the breadth of how wide the reach of enterprise software is.

Rinat:

When you think about enterprise software, you just think about software that's

Rinat:

usually used in an enterprise, the type of software that big organizations

Rinat:

need to keep things running.

Rinat:

But you don't think about all the different areas for example a car company

Rinat:

Not just will have their manufacturing but from accounting to cyber security

Rinat:

They have to maintain all of that and they need different kinds of software.

Rinat:

Let's come back to the definition of enterprise software a little bit more

Rinat:

because I want to ask you a little bit more of that But before that one of

Rinat:

the things I want to share that i'm usually annoyed by as i've worked in

Rinat:

many enterprises and I wonder why they do it , I have my own theories, but

Rinat:

also do let me know what you think so the use of IMs, instant messaging

Rinat:

and other communication softwares That are used in large organizations.

Rinat:

I've worked in many global organizations.

Rinat:

And what I've ended up seeing is that All of them have multiple

Rinat:

messaging services from Zoom to Teams to Jabber to it's endless.

Rinat:

There was one or two companies where I've seen that they have a coherent system of

Rinat:

this is the one software solution which we're going to use for video conferencing,

Rinat:

messaging to all kinds of communications.

Rinat:

And I feel like that's a really good thing to have because there was also

Rinat:

in my previous companies I've worked with, they had four to five different

Rinat:

IMs and video conferencing solutions, and based on the region, one of

Rinat:

them was popular than the other.

Rinat:

All of them were available to everyone, a company of 200, 000 people.

Rinat:

It's really complicated and you can't get hold of someone in a particular

Rinat:

software in a particular platform and then you try all five platforms Which

Rinat:

is I feel a hindrance of productivity But at the same time, I also see that

Rinat:

it might also foster more communication.

Rinat:

So I don't know what you feel about that and whether you've experienced that,

Rinat:

but it's a it's something that I, that have annoyed me and made me think a lot

Rinat:

about what might be a positive of that.

Rinat:

Why do companies do that?

Rinat:

Is it intentional or is it just, happened this way and they're

Rinat:

just, went with it or what is it?

Amit:

I have experienced it myself as well.

Amit:

And sometimes I also get frustrated why there are different

Amit:

channels of communication.

Amit:

But I think you have to understand there are two types of communication.

Amit:

One is internal communication within the organization.

Amit:

Say a CEO wants to address its employees.

Amit:

You don't want anyone outside the business to know about what the

Amit:

CEO is telling their employees.

Amit:

So that's one part.

Amit:

The other part is sales and marketing.

Amit:

Now they have to talk to external people.

Amit:

So their requirements might be different.

Amit:

Because a salesperson cannot say that, Oh, I have zoom.

Amit:

Can you come on zoom?

Amit:

The other company might say, Oh, I can't use zoom because

Amit:

of my so and so IT requirement.

Amit:

I can only come on teams.

Amit:

So one or the other have to compromise.

Amit:

So that's why there is some kind of fragmentation.

Amit:

But you have to understand that where it is coming from and

Amit:

which department it's affecting.

Amit:

Say if you are within an IT department or the engineering department as they now

Amit:

call it, then you would normally have one single channel for to discuss everything.

Amit:

Even across different departments, say product, DevOps, support

Amit:

your engineering team, et cetera.

Amit:

So that's one software.

Amit:

So that explains right internal and external.

Amit:

So that's one communication.

Amit:

The other is what are we communicating about?

Amit:

So before instant messengers came about, you used to work in offices.

Amit:

So you could actually go to someone's desk and ask them a question.

Amit:

Or you send them an email.

Amit:

Now normally emails were used to send out communication that can be tracked, you

Amit:

want to document something of importance because you don't want to use instant

Amit:

messenger for it and you want to tell it to your senior stakeholders about certain

Amit:

progress, certain contracts, et cetera.

Amit:

So use email communication.

Amit:

Instant messengers came to replace those desk conversations or

Amit:

those water cooler conversations.

Amit:

You go to get some water.

Amit:

You talk to someone.

Amit:

Now, instead of doing that, you just ping them.

Amit:

You message them and then you ask them for certain information.

Amit:

Can you come to my desk or can you just tell me what the password is for that?

Amit:

Or can you tell me how to do this, et cetera, et cetera.

Amit:

So there are different ways to do it.

Amit:

Now why companies sometimes have So many softwares.

Amit:

One reason is that they might be a mixture of multiple companies.

Amit:

So sometimes what happens is you acquire multiple organizations

Amit:

through acquisitions.

Amit:

So as part, as a result of that, there are different organizations who are using

Amit:

different software for the same things.

Amit:

So for instant messaging, they are using different softwares

Amit:

for internal email communication.

Amit:

Some might be, someone might be using Microsoft, someone

Amit:

might be using Google suite.

Amit:

So it's just different software.

Amit:

Okay.

Amit:

And they are different companies, but now they've merged together.

Amit:

So now there are two different IT systems in one single company and

Amit:

the IT team has to then decide whether it's worth keeping it.

Amit:

Does it have a cost impact or we change, we unify the whole expense and

Amit:

we make, we just do with one software.

Amit:

Now, of course, one would feel alienated because they're like,

Amit:

okay, I was using that software and now suddenly I have to shift.

Amit:

But, If you tell them that it just makes business sense because everyone

Amit:

can then communicate holistically, then yes, I think people will understand.

Amit:

And I have gone through that cycle as well.

Amit:

My company has got acquired, we had different systems, the company that

Amit:

acquired us had different systems and over a period of time we transitioned.

Amit:

So yeah.

Rinat:

No, that's actually a really good point that yeah I mean merging

Rinat:

and acquisition happens all the time in large organization and

Rinat:

that's one of the like the what do you say like a indicative factors?

Rinat:

I mean if you're an enterprise it's very likely that there has been many smaller

Rinat:

companies that accumulated over time.

Rinat:

And yeah, that, that could be a very plausible reason why

Amit:

And another reason is sometimes the senior management, right?

Amit:

So senior management comes and they change, they say that, okay, no, I think

Amit:

we should use this software and they're

Rinat:

Yes, this is what I thought the other reason is.

Rinat:

And that's where I I would like to challenge that.

Rinat:

That's the worst way for a senior management to decide indecisively,

Rinat:

. I've also had good fortune of working at companies where

Rinat:

there was just single platform.

Rinat:

And eventually what happens is, you don't receive or send much emails anymore.

Rinat:

It's now less about, watching your back or, what is being

Rinat:

tracked or what is being recorded.

Rinat:

It's about, genuine conversation.

Rinat:

You want to take your project further, genuine questions you ask.

Rinat:

And I feel like that is really good for any organizations enterprise or

Rinat:

otherwise, but especially enterprise, because there is a lot of emotions

Rinat:

that are at play, by individuals, that everyone may not feel as important

Rinat:

because it's a large company and, there could be many things at play and there

Rinat:

is office politics and all of that.

Rinat:

Yeah.

Rinat:

Yeah.

Rinat:

All of these things are a little bit simplified.

Rinat:

If it's just one communication method, that's what I feel.

Rinat:

But again, that's not just, let's just say a small part of enterprise software.

Rinat:

Let's talk about all different kinds of enterprise software out there.

Rinat:

How would you sub categorize different kind of enterprise

Amit:

Businesses have two stakeholders.

Amit:

One are internal stakeholders and one are external stakeholders.

Amit:

External stakeholders could be your third party contractors or your customers

Amit:

and then internal stakeholders are the people who are actually working for you.

Amit:

And you need different types of software to manage them.

Amit:

CRM is customer relationship management.

Amit:

Say you work in a telecom company and you want to acquire a new customer.

Amit:

So when the customer joins you, you ask for certain information.

Amit:

Where do you live?

Amit:

What's your name?

Amit:

What's your date of birth?

Amit:

What's your contract?

Amit:

What SIM card or what SIM plan would you like to buy?

Amit:

Etc.

Amit:

So these are all the customer details.

Amit:

You give them an account number so that you can, instead of their name, you

Amit:

can search them with an account number.

Amit:

You ask for their number or a mobile number.

Amit:

And the customer can have multiple mobile numbers.

Amit:

So you'll have one single customer with multiple contracts, one SIM card

Amit:

contract, one mobile phone contract, one say roaming contract, etc.

Amit:

So you'll have different contracts.

Amit:

So that's one customer and you want to manage the relationship.

Amit:

The way it manages is you send out, okay what bills has the customer received?

Amit:

What is their billing cycle?

Amit:

What is their plan?

Amit:

What when did they contact support, et cetera.

Amit:

Anything to do with the customer, you manage it through a customer relationship

Amit:

management software called a CRM software.

Amit:

Now, for the internal people, you'll have some, an HR tool.

Amit:

So the HR tool will have a place where you'll have all the policies.

Amit:

So what are the different HR policies within the organization?

Amit:

Where can I find them?

Amit:

Then how do I book my holidays?

Amit:

So there is one place where you can book the holidays.

Amit:

Then what about my payroll?

Amit:

I want to figure out how much salary I'm getting, what is the benefit I

Amit:

will receive, those sort of things.

Amit:

And then what about appraisal cycles?

Amit:

So how do I get assessed?

Amit:

How do I get promoted?

Amit:

What is my current grade?

Amit:

How do I move to the next grade?

Amit:

Who's my line manager?

Amit:

Whom do I report to?

Amit:

So all that has to be captured within a system and that comes under the HR system.

Amit:

management system.

Amit:

Then you have, say, a business intelligence or a data warehouse platform.

Amit:

A data warehouse platform is where all the information is coming in.

Amit:

You are getting information about all the different types of sales you're

Amit:

making, all the different types of money that you are getting in from customers

Amit:

buying different types of contracts all the different types of marketing

Amit:

information which marketing methodology is giving you the maximum result.

Amit:

Are you getting better return on investment of marketing

Amit:

on an online platform through advertising, through billboards?

Amit:

So then you have a different solution for that.

Amit:

Then you have business intelligence.

Amit:

So you have all the data stored.

Amit:

Now you want to look at, okay what predictions can I make?

Amit:

What behaviors or patterns I can see?

Amit:

So you'll have a business intelligence system.

Amit:

Then you have financial systems.

Amit:

So as I mentioned, accounting softwares how do you manage the different accounts?

Amit:

So HR is Managing these salaries, like who will receive what, but

Amit:

it has to come from a finance team and the finance team will control.

Amit:

Okay.

Amit:

How much money is coming in to the company?

Amit:

How much money is going out from the company.

Amit:

How much money is going to each department and how much spending they're doing

Amit:

and how much budget they're spending.

Amit:

Do they have and who's responsible for that, et cetera.

Amit:

how many contracts do we have?

Amit:

How many suppliers do we have?

Amit:

How many invoices do we raise on a monthly basis?

Amit:

Who do we have to pay for?

Amit:

So that comes under the finance system.

Amit:

Then you can think of a content management system.

Amit:

So suppose I'm a a website.

Amit:

So I'll have different types of assets.

Amit:

I'll have designs.

Amit:

I'll have icons.

Amit:

I'll have media files.

Amit:

So I have to store it somewhere and then I have to present it.

Amit:

I'll have a database, all those things.

Amit:

So a content management system which will manage all the content I have.

Amit:

Then I might have big databases, big servers, etc.

Amit:

Then there are project management softwares.

Amit:

So suppose I have multiple projects going on in my company.

Amit:

I need to manage the different projects.

Amit:

How do you track who's working on what?

Amit:

So you need to track somehow that as well.

Amit:

So project management software.

Amit:

And then communication.

Amit:

You mentioned about instant messaging.

Amit:

Email is still required because sometimes you have to send email.

Amit:

You can't instant message a contractor or a customer.

Amit:

You have to send out an email, right?

Amit:

Then you have to send out promotions, newsletters.

Amit:

So you have to manage all that.

Amit:

Then someone is signing the documents or the contracts.

Amit:

You want to store it somewhere.

Amit:

As I mentioned, a document management system.

Amit:

So these are all the different types of software.

Amit:

There's just whole, Plethora of things.

Amit:

Then I have not mentioned about supply chain management.

Amit:

So in a manufacturing company, you'll have to manage When is the supply coming

Amit:

for a particular bolt or a nut or a screwdriver or whatever that you need.

Amit:

I have placed this order.

Amit:

When is it going to be delivered?

Amit:

I need it by this date Is it going to reach us by this date, et cetera.

Amit:

So basically different types of operations will have different software.

Amit:

Then you have a back office.

Amit:

So suppose a customer rings you, they have a CRM system, but how does

Amit:

the customer actually reach you?

Amit:

They call you, they raise a ticket they submit online form.

Amit:

So that has to come to a system.

Amit:

Then you have to track the status of that.

Amit:

So should I escalate it?

Amit:

Should I not escalate it?

Amit:

What is the SLA on this?

Amit:

The other thing is asset management.

Amit:

What about your computers?

Amit:

Your IT guy is managing all the hardware.

Amit:

So suppose you're working remotely, they'll send you a company laptop, that

Amit:

laptop has to be tagged into a system.

Amit:

That system has to manage which employee has got what laptop.

Amit:

Do they have all the security updates?

Amit:

We recently were talking about CrowdStrike.

Amit:

So something like that.

Amit:

How do you manage that?

Amit:

Do you do they have the antivirus updated?

Amit:

Do they have all the things?

Amit:

Are they behind a firewall?

Amit:

Are they using VPN?

Amit:

And if their laptop breaks down, can I remotely access it and

Amit:

do some work on it, et cetera.

Rinat:

Absolutely.

Rinat:

Absolutely.

Rinat:

And then there are other things.

Rinat:

You've covered anything I can think of.

Rinat:

I'm nearly speechless.

Rinat:

But then again, there's CAD management software.

Rinat:

And also, if you think about all of these online platforms, aside from Amazon, there

Rinat:

are some other popular clothing brands.

Rinat:

If you go to the, the traditional brands like H& M, even they have thousands

Rinat:

and thousands of different designs of clothing and how are all of these managed.

Amit:

Someone has to take a picture.

Amit:

So there are different departments.

Amit:

So they have to manage that.

Amit:

Then they have to list the product.

Amit:

So that's where the content management system comes or inventory management.

Amit:

Then they have to look at how much sale they're making through the online channel,

Amit:

how much sale they're making on the shop.

Amit:

Then they have to do refund.

Rinat:

And then managing the promotion and marketing of it, whether, some products

Rinat:

are going to have a few percentage off for some occasion that's coming up for

Rinat:

Christmas, Easter, et cetera, et cetera.

Rinat:

So it's just endless level of complexity and how do the enterprise companies manage

Rinat:

and still keep everything organized and they have to because of the size

Rinat:

of the business they are they will have to be by the by nature the level of

Rinat:

diversity has to be high It has to still remain scalable and Manage all of these

Rinat:

things and that's where the enterprise software is Here to rescue all of these

Rinat:

gaps and problems that businesses face.

Amit:

You have to think about customization.

Amit:

A lot of these softwares, they have all the features, but they

Amit:

are not designed for one industry.

Amit:

They're designed for everything.

Amit:

Suppose you buy, say, a Salesforce solution or a Microsoft

Amit:

Dynamics or SAP solution.

Amit:

When you do that, you have to now customize it based

Amit:

on the business process.

Amit:

What is actually business doing?

Amit:

So how do I customize this software so that it works for them.

Amit:

So that when they do something , it starts a workflow, it captures this information,

Amit:

it sends out an email, et cetera.

Amit:

So these softwares have to be customized for that particular business.

Amit:

And that's why you have these consultants.

Amit:

Then we forgot about recruitment and hiring.

Amit:

So HR will have a different system for recruitment and hiring as well.

Amit:

So there are all these things that you need.

Amit:

And you have to think from a, say, a startup perspective.

Amit:

If you're an entrepreneur, you start your company, what are

Amit:

the tools that you would need?

Amit:

And if you think about the industry you are in, you would

Amit:

slowly start figuring out.

Amit:

And now what has happened is, With Google Google Cloud, Azure, AWS What

Amit:

is happening is there is consolidation.

Amit:

So suppose you want to start a a website, right?

Amit:

A e-Commerce store on the internet.

Amit:

So all you can do is you can go with say Azure, and then you will get Outlook.

Amit:

You'll get Windows license.

Amit:

You will get your project management software.

Amit:

You will get Microsoft Dynamics.

Amit:

You'll get SharePoint and you will get your instant messenger

Amit:

teams, video recording, everything.

Amit:

So with one vendor, you can get all the products.

Amit:

Then you will have the asset management and et cetera, everything.

Amit:

You will get your databases, servers.

Amit:

You will have automation softwares.

Amit:

You will have.

Amit:

HR systems, et cetera.

Amit:

So now with one single vendor, you can get all the software.

Amit:

So that's how this becomes now a game changer.

Amit:

Earlier you used to go for one specific software to one specific vendor, but

Amit:

now you can go to the same vendor.

Amit:

Of course you won't stick with Microsoft because you are, say, an

Amit:

entrepreneur, you don't want to pay a lot, but it might be easy for you

Amit:

because you can scale up very quickly.

Rinat:

Yeah, that's always the finding the balance between scaling up and also

Rinat:

the associated cost as a startup, but then again, if you have the hopes and

Rinat:

dreams of becoming an enterprise one day or being merged with one, then

Rinat:

you might want to think about long term and see what are the scalable

Rinat:

Solutions available in the market.

Rinat:

It's just mind boggling that so many different enterprise softwares

Rinat:

there are, and even to manage a mid level or small companies, you need

Rinat:

multiple enterprise softwares to manage all of the different things.

Rinat:

If you go with Microsoft, then they have a well rounded software.

Rinat:

They have Teams, they have Microsoft Dynamics.

Rinat:

They have the whole suite you can get from Microsoft as one package, which,

Rinat:

you would rarely need anything else.

Rinat:

And that's why they're big tech.

Rinat:

And you've got to think about, Your future and your convenience as well at

Rinat:

the same time I also want to root for the underdogs not big tech you can't deny

Rinat:

the benefits that comes with big tech.

Amit:

It comes with customization.

Amit:

I recently assembled a PC.

Amit:

I can buy a laptop or I can buy a pre assembled PC, right?

Amit:

I can just buy a PC off the shelf with this is already assembled with

Amit:

parts, but sometimes you want to customize so that you get the optimum

Amit:

performance for your particular needs.

Amit:

So sometimes you can go with one vendor because you want convenience.

Amit:

You don't want to do it, deal with multiple vendors, but

Amit:

sometimes you want to customize.

Amit:

You don't want to pay a lot.

Amit:

You think that for the short term, I need this, so I maybe I can go

Amit:

with this company in the long term.

Amit:

Maybe I'll go with some other company.

Amit:

So you want to shop around.

Amit:

And that's why I think there is a marketplace for multiple products.

Amit:

It's not like you just go with one vendor and they are the biggest in the market.

Amit:

So you can't go with anyone else.

Amit:

No, there is zoom, there is teams.

Amit:

There is Google meet.

Amit:

So you have multiple products.

Amit:

Then for text messaging, you have Slack, you have teams, then you have Google chat.

Amit:

So there are other platforms on which you can do a chat, then

Amit:

email communication, Outlook.

Amit:

And then you have Google suite, Gmail, you have proton mail.

Amit:

Then there are VPN software.

Amit:

There's so many solutions, right?

Rinat:

Yeah, absolutely.

Rinat:

It makes me think all of these things are an ecosystem of different

Rinat:

softwares, which all work together to bring us the convenient life

Rinat:

that we enjoy as consumers.

Rinat:

And often we don't think about all of the works that are going behind it.

Rinat:

It's not just the people who are using the software to get you that end

Rinat:

product, but it also is the developers and the IT companies who built those

Rinat:

softwares and then the salespeople who sold them to the right enterprises

Rinat:

and all of these things are going on.

Rinat:

And it just a lot of the times I think about all of the things that are

Rinat:

happening in the world to, for us to have this video conference that we're

Rinat:

having right now, so many things have happened before to make this possible.

Rinat:

And it's truly amazing to think about all of these things that are that

Rinat:

humans together are are making possible.

Amit:

It's like a Lego block, right?

Amit:

You can you start with a small block, one block, and then you

Amit:

can build a, like a backup.

Amit:

Batmobile or or or a international space station, right?

Amit:

With a simple Lego block.

Amit:

So just about that.

Amit:

So you first start with what is your requirement and what you need to do that.

Amit:

Always bear in mind, there will be multiple tools available in the market,

Amit:

but what is your requirement, right?

Amit:

Tools enable you to solve a problem, but humans have to decide what

Amit:

problems do we solve and what tool do we use to solve that problem.

Amit:

So humans are always involved in the discussion.

Amit:

Sometimes you go after a fancy tool.

Amit:

Oh, there is a new tool in the market.

Amit:

Just let's try that.

Amit:

But it may not work for your business.

Amit:

So think carefully what you want to try.

Amit:

And sometimes you can recommend to your business that see

Amit:

I've worked in your company.

Amit:

I think this software is not suiting our requirement.

Amit:

Because this is what we do and these are the challenges with the current software.

Amit:

But with this software, which I've done some research, I think it'll

Amit:

give us this much benefit and plus it's saving us this much money.

Amit:

So I think you should invest in that.

Amit:

So that's a business case.

Amit:

You present it to the business.

Amit:

Business will say, Oh, firstly all my problems are solved and I also save money.

Amit:

So let's use that tool.

Amit:

So never go after a fancy tool.

Amit:

Always think about the problem that you want to solve.

Rinat:

Yeah.

Rinat:

Yeah.

Rinat:

Finding the right balance.

Rinat:

That's that's the most important, especially if you're an entrepreneur.

Rinat:

Now we've talked a lot about different kinds of enterprise

Rinat:

softwares that are there.

Rinat:

So we basically covered everything that sits within enterprise software.

Rinat:

But now let's Let's look outward a little bit.

Rinat:

Where does enterprise software sit in the horizon of all

Rinat:

different kinds of software?

Rinat:

So, how many different types are there?

Amit:

So there are some softwares that you can straight away buy, like

Amit:

Adobe Photoshop, and now you, if you go and look at some of the solutions,

Amit:

like you can buy a Microsoft office for an enterprise, for a family, for

Amit:

a business, or for a professional.

Amit:

So it depends like what scale you are at.

Amit:

And you can buy a different license because when you are a big enterprise,

Amit:

they will customize the pricing for you.

Amit:

Because you might want to negotiate.

Amit:

You will say, I need a hundred licenses of windows.

Amit:

So give me a good deal.

Amit:

So they'll say, okay, so those deal, those prices are not listed.

Amit:

Then you say that you're a startup.

Amit:

In a startup, you'll have maybe 50 employees.

Amit:

So you need 50 licenses.

Amit:

So they'll have a start like a small business cost.

Amit:

Then you say you are a professional, you are a freelancer.

Amit:

So you don't need a lot of the fancy stuff.

Amit:

So you need a freelancer license.

Amit:

So you go for that.

Amit:

And then there is a individual license.

Amit:

So you say that, okay, I'm an individual, I just want to use it for my home

Amit:

or you want to buy a family license.

Amit:

You want to buy it for you and your wife.

Amit:

So you buy a family license or maybe for your parents and you buy a family license.

Amit:

So there are different licenses even for the for the consumer software,

Amit:

which can be used by enterprises, but say on a day to day basis,

Amit:

I don't need HR system, right?

Amit:

I personally don't need HR system.

Amit:

I don't have any employees under me, so I don't need it.

Amit:

I don't need a financial management system because I'm not paying any invoices.

Amit:

I get salary from my company.

Amit:

That's it.

Amit:

They pay the taxes.

Amit:

I don't need a supply chain management.

Amit:

I don't need a data intelligence platform.

Amit:

Sorry, business intelligence platform.

Amit:

I don't need a data warehouse platform.

Rinat:

Nowadays the way we are gathering data, I would say it's becoming an

Rinat:

individual needs to analyze data.

Amit:

But how will you collect the data?

Amit:

Say you go to Google, you go to Microsoft, you go to Slack, you go to YouTube, and

Amit:

you're going to all these platforms.

Amit:

How do you collect the data, what they are collecting, and then analyze it?

Amit:

It's too much for work for you, right?

Rinat:

yeah, but you can download data, all the data Google has on you.

Amit:

Yeah, but imagine how much time and effort you'll have to put.

Amit:

So think about this.

Amit:

Sometimes it makes sense to download if you have something very sensitive,

Amit:

but how much sensitive information do you actually have that you have

Amit:

to download the whole amount of data, analyze it, spend that much time.

Amit:

Do you have that much time?

Rinat:

Well, actually, with the advancement of technology, this is a

Rinat:

good topic, actually, because I've been thinking about it for a few weeks now.

Rinat:

Google Maps has all of the record of my five or ten or however many

Rinat:

years of everywhere I've been.

Amit:

The location history off.

Amit:

I've done that.

Rinat:

But no, I'm thinking why though, I can download the whole history

Rinat:

and now with advancement of AI, I could upload it to Claude or chat

Rinat:

GPT and say that, look, analyze this.

Rinat:

And this also includes all the time I maybe went for a run or for

Rinat:

a walk or exercise or whatever.

Rinat:

So how often did I exercise?

Rinat:

Is there a correlation between the weather temperature and

Rinat:

how often I went for a run?

Rinat:

Or is there a particular time of the year where when I'm more health

Rinat:

conscious and how can I replicate The reasons for that particular time of the

Rinat:

year throughout the rest of my year.

Rinat:

So , I've been thinking about this like by analyzing my past behavior, which

Rinat:

are already collected by enterprises like Google, Alexa, et cetera, and

Rinat:

they are ready for me to download.

Rinat:

And what I was missing until recently was an AI system which will

Rinat:

analyze all of these data, raw data, and now those are also available.

Rinat:

Paid versions are usually better than the free ones.

Rinat:

But however it is available in your fingertip as a consumer.

Rinat:

No, you don't have to be an enterprise for that.

Rinat:

And you can find trends which can really, give you an insight into your life and how

Rinat:

you could potentially improve yourself.

Rinat:

For example, there are times when I've I went for runs quite regularly for a

Rinat:

few months and then there was a break.

Rinat:

Why was there a break?

Rinat:

What is there every year for last five years?

Rinat:

If I, would I find a pattern and can I then do something about that pattern?

Amit:

There are fitness tracking softwares, right?

Amit:

Like Strava, Garmin Fitness, apple Watch.

Amit:

So there are fitness tracking software, there are weight management softwares.

Amit:

You have a weighing scale, you can see a trend in the weight.

Amit:

You don't have to reinvent the wheel because I think that

Amit:

problem has already been solved.

Amit:

What you're talking about the use case.

Amit:

It, it is, I think it's a good thing, but how many people.

Amit:

Think in that direction.

Amit:

So maybe you'll have to just create something for yourself.

Amit:

There may not be a solution outright for you because how many people

Amit:

are looking for that solution.

Rinat:

absolutely.

Rinat:

No, I totally agree.

Rinat:

They're obviously data collected even by my Scale which is a smart

Rinat:

one and there is a cloud account etc and Strava and samsung health, but

Rinat:

what if I could, combine that with other data that might be correlative.

Rinat:

For example, weather data, the temperature.

Rinat:

I feel like now that right now it's summer, it's really hot.

Rinat:

I'm, I, even though I know I should go for a run, it's been a long time, but I

Rinat:

don't want to go for a run in this heat.

Rinat:

It would be good to know to find patterns.

Rinat:

Is it always the heat or is it that also I don't go for a run in December?

Rinat:

Because in December I could do something about it.

Rinat:

I could make myself keep warm and still go for a run.

Rinat:

So it's interesting to find out.

Rinat:

And it's not about just health.

Rinat:

It's about, for someone else who might not be very much into running but they

Rinat:

might be into different kind of eating habit, they might find out that they have

Rinat:

okay, so we're deviating from enterprise software for a bit but the point i'm

Rinat:

trying to make is sometimes looking at what enterprise software has solved could

Rinat:

be beneficial for a consumer, they've probably solved a problem which wasn't

Rinat:

applicable to an individual before.

Rinat:

But now, with the advent of technology, it might actually be beneficial.

Rinat:

Even as a consumer or an individual, you might want to think about all

Rinat:

the enterprise software that you're already familiar with

Rinat:

from through work or whatever, or through our podcast potentially.

Rinat:

And you might think, Hey, Yeah, I have no reason needing the same level of

Rinat:

logistical solution as Shein does.

Rinat:

But by the way, if the same software had a free version, I could potentially

Rinat:

catalog all of my clothings that i've been saving for 10 years different brands

Rinat:

and everything, then I could catalog which ones i've worn Five years ago and

Rinat:

never one since and you know Maybe that fashion has come back in style or maybe

Rinat:

everyone All of my friends have changed within the last five years so I can wear

Rinat:

that again and that might be a cost saving solution that might be a Cost effective

Rinat:

outfit creation solution for a consumer.

Rinat:

That's something that enterprise softwares have solved already

Rinat:

for big scale problems.

Amit:

but here I want to say that, that what are we looking at?

Amit:

Cost versus time.

Amit:

How much are you paying for it and how much time you're spending on it?

Amit:

And is the return on investment worth it?

Amit:

That's the calculation you need to do because businesses

Amit:

do that calculation, right?

Amit:

So suppose I invest in this software, is it going to give me a better result?

Amit:

If it is not going to give me a better result, why am I spending that money?

Amit:

And how much time am I going to spend on it?

Amit:

If i'm going to spend a lot of time, that's time wasted on not earning money.

Amit:

Because as a business, I need to earn money.

Amit:

So same way, if you spend a lot of time in managing all that, how much time

Amit:

have you actually spent on solving the problem that you initially intended

Amit:

to ? So I think there is a, there might be a business idea, like how do you

Amit:

manage your life in an enterprise way?

Amit:

You have to look at how much time you are willing to invest on that

Amit:

because sometimes, yes, you can do all that when you don't have a

Amit:

child, but say someone has a child.

Amit:

So then that means that they can't devote that much time, right?

Amit:

Because this will require a lot of time initially for setting up.

Amit:

One of the biggest con of enterprise software is the initial setup.

Amit:

Because you pay for something and you can't immediately start using it.

Amit:

That sucks.

Amit:

It's like buying a car, but not being able to drive.

Amit:

You customize it you onboard it, you onboard all your

Amit:

staff, you set up everything.

Amit:

Then you do a trial thing with a limited set to see if everything is working.

Amit:

Then you roll it out to the wider group, et cetera.

Amit:

So enterprise solutions work at that level.

Rinat:

Yeah, absolutely that is the main difference between a consumer

Rinat:

software and an enterprise software And I totally see acknowledge and

Rinat:

agree with that but i'm still gonna challenge a little bit of that is the

Rinat:

fact that There are two or three things that you mentioned one is the cost but

Rinat:

You On a consumer level, a lot of the enterprise software providers give free.

Rinat:

And then in terms of setting up, if it's just on an individual level or on a family

Rinat:

level, it might be like, you might just be looking at a very specific outcome.

Rinat:

So you don't have to have the full fledged, all features

Rinat:

and bells and whistles set up.

Rinat:

You might just get benefit from this, one particular area.

Rinat:

I'm not saying it's a business idea.

Rinat:

I'm just saying that for a tech savvy individual, it's something to

Amit:

I think it's a business idea because I think like that because

Amit:

see I have my Strava data where I drag all my activities, then have

Amit:

my scale data where I track my muscle mass, fat mass and everything.

Amit:

Then you have the weather data, which I can't track.

Amit:

And then these weight data and the activity data are not connected.

Amit:

So I want to connect that as well.

Amit:

If I do a lot of activity, is my weight going up, my muscle going

Amit:

up, do I have down, et cetera.

Amit:

And then you mentioned about your closet.

Amit:

I think, yeah, it's a good problem to have because a lot of times we have a

Amit:

lot of clothes, but firstly, we don't know what clothes we have, what size

Amit:

they are and they are hidden somewhere.

Amit:

So when we always end up buying more, so I think this is a good way to solve that.

Amit:

So I definitely see a value.

Rinat:

There are so many ways you could integrate data.

Rinat:

For example, you, it just came to me right now that Alexa has

Rinat:

all of my past commands recorded.

Rinat:

You can go to Amazon account and, See, like last five years of

Rinat:

all the things that you told it.

Rinat:

So based on obviously now with the advent of AI with analyzing voices

Rinat:

and everything, and that might be a future topic for us as well,

Rinat:

AI voices and synthetic voice, et cetera, but let's come back to it.

Rinat:

But analyzing voices AI could now tell what my mood was

Rinat:

or what my health level was.

Rinat:

And that could be correlated with your exercise pattern or, with your

Rinat:

running pattern or with weather data and all of these things can

Rinat:

be combined and then find, we don't always have to find the causation as

Rinat:

long as we can find a correlation.

Amit:

It is important.

Amit:

And I think you can only improve if you measure something,

Amit:

even in enterprise solutions.

Amit:

And with my own team, I say, if you want to improve something,

Amit:

we have to first measure it.

Amit:

If you can't measure it, how do we improve it?

Amit:

Because we don't know what the baseline is.

Amit:

So suppose so this is the baseline and either you want to go up or down.

Amit:

You need to first know what the baseline is and for that you need measuring tools.

Rinat:

Yeah.

Rinat:

And combine that with other things that we haven't thought about, like your bank

Rinat:

statement and like so many other things the healthier amongst us, like yourselves,

Rinat:

you sometimes measure your heart data.

Rinat:

We spoke earlier, you have a, like a device which measures your, heart rate

Rinat:

and all of that for a long period of time.

Rinat:

So all of that data combined, I feel like, of course, one of the things you

Rinat:

mentioned is the time that you have to put in as an individual to, to find that.

Rinat:

And I feel like this is the time when we could potentially consider it with

Rinat:

the advent of AI, because you might need to put in less time where, and you

Rinat:

can just put all of this together and just dump it all on a paid AI software,

Rinat:

which will identify what's what and then analyze and find correlation.

Rinat:

I feel exciting times are ahead of us as we all individually become a business.

Amit:

Yeah, and I think it's all about brand building and brand

Amit:

awareness So we are our own brands the other day I was thinking a

Amit:

lot of people buy t shirts right?

Amit:

And now they buy customized t shirts So basically they are advertising what

Amit:

they believe in say I'm a vegan runner.

Amit:

So I'll have a vegan runner t shirt.

Amit:

So I'm advertising that I'm vegan and I'm a runner and I can

Amit:

advertise that through a t shirt.

Amit:

Now there is a company that sells bracelets.

Amit:

So you can buy a bracelet.

Amit:

You can customize it.

Amit:

You can customize it for your achievements, your personal achievements.

Amit:

Say you have run a marathon.

Amit:

So you want to say that I've completed a marathon or you've done an Ironman.

Amit:

So you want to highlight that.

Amit:

So there is a branding of course involved because people want to tell their stories.

Amit:

And they want to be proud of the achievements they have made and there

Amit:

are companies now to fulfill that.

Amit:

And in this competitive world it is good to stand out.

Amit:

I think it's always good to stand out.

Rinat:

And everyone's unique in their own way.

Rinat:

We all have many similarities, but also there are things that

Rinat:

stands us out among the others.

Rinat:

So yeah, absolutely . This was actually a very nice conversation

Rinat:

and as usual, very much enjoyed this.

Rinat:

And it opened up a lot of, thinking streams and a lot of new ideas.

Rinat:

I'm actually quite satisfied with the conversation we had today.

Rinat:

Hopefully our audience enjoyed the same.

Rinat:

And please do let us know , if you want us to talk about any particular topic and

Rinat:

reach out with any feedback that you have.

Rinat:

We really appreciate all the people who reached out in the past and

Rinat:

any feedback that we ever get.

Rinat:

Yeah.

Rinat:

With that I feel like we had a really good conversation, insightful,

Rinat:

informative, and would very much like, to hear you guys, what you think.

Amit:

Thanks.

Amit:

Thanks a lot.

Amit:

Everyone for tuning in.

Amit:

Thanks.

Rinat:

Thank you.

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About the Podcast

Tech Talk with Amit & Rinat
Talks about technical topics for non-technical people
The world of technology is fascinating! But it's not accessible to a lot of people.

In this podcast, Amit Sarkar & Rinat Malik talk about the various technologies, their features, practical applications and a lot more.

Please follow us to hear about a popular or upcoming technology every week.

#Tech #Technology #Podcast

Find us at
Amit Sarkar - https://linktr.ee/amit.sarkar007
Rinat Malik - https://linktr.ee/rinat.malik

Contact us at - https://forms.gle/AauF6eic2CQv2Lvn9

Review us at - https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/tech-talk-with-amit-rinat-1556283

About your hosts

Amit Sarkar

Profile picture for Amit Sarkar
Amit Sarkar is an experienced software professional with over 15 years of industry experience in technology and consulting across telecom, security, transportation, executive search, digital media, customs, government, and retail sectors. He loves open-source
technologies and is a keen user.

Passionate about systems thinking and helping others in learning technology. He believes in learning concepts over tools and collaborating with people over managing them.

In his free time, he co-hosts this podcast on technology, writes a weekly newsletter and learns about various aspects of software testing.

Rinat Malik

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Rinat Malik has been in the automation and digital transformation industry for most of his career.

Starting as a mechanical engineer, he quickly found his true passion in automation and implementation of most advanced technologies into places where they can be utilized the most. He started with automating engineering design processes and moved onto Robotic Process Automation and Artificial Intelligence.

He has implemented digital transformation through robotics in various global organisations. His experience is built by working at some of the demanding industries – starting with Finance industry and moving onto Human Resources, Legal sector, Government sector, Energy sector and Automotive sector. He is a seasoned professional in Robotic Process Automation along with a vested interest in Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and use of Big Data.

He is also an author of a published book titled “Guide to Building a Scalable RPA CoE”