Expert Interview with Vineet Bansal, Founder of ExpandERP

Team SoftwareSuggest

Senior Writer

expandERP founder interview

ExpandERP is the leading ERP software developing company for manufacturers and exporters. They have their presence in all major cities of India.  A highly reputed ERP software company in India, ExpandERP has made a mark in the industry by uplifting businesses from traditional operations to cloud-based ERP solutions. Efficiency, Cost-Reduction and Operational Stability are some of our core objectives of building robust solutions.

In Conversation with Vineet Bansal, Founder of ExpandERP

Give us a snapshot of your professional journey till now.  How did you start?

I started learning computers way back in 1992 on BBC Microcomputer followed with my first desktop Intel 386 in 1994. I had interest in 3D animation and performed animation at several school fests of Kolkata as a hobby. My interest in programming started when I created the first application on FoxPro for my dad’s logistics business.

After working for a few years in a UK based company, I quit UK job to pursue my interest in business as I always wanted to create my own software product for businesses. My company was the first to introduce ERP on the web and today, I am offering ERP on Cloud to small and medium businesses across India.

What was the major inspiration that laid the foundation of ExpandERP?

In (2005) those times, when the internet was not this powerful, we managed to make our mark in the industry by overcoming challenges by lease lines, WAN and providing useful web-based solutions to the Oil and Gas, Leather and Chemical sectors. Our ERP offering was rechristened as ExpandERP and was launched in 2008. It faced stiff competition from the other similar companies providing offline solutions and access to the internet was limited. But, we stayed strong and today,

ExpandERPpioneered the concept of web-based online ERP and one of the renowned software in the small and medium industrial sector for Cloud-based ERP Solution.

Tell us how is ExpandERP different from other HRMS software in the market?

Ans. HRMS software is designed to primarily manage HR functions and payroll of an organization. ExpandERP is a complete suite of functionality to manage business end-to-end. Expand captures the complete lifecycle of the business. It starts with Lead management, Order management, Invoicing, Logistics and finally analytics. Expand has a unique set of integrations like Magneto, Amazon, Paytm, Bluedart to give business a powerful single platform to manage all sales channels from one dashboard. A highly configurable POS with Schemes and offers gives an edge to businesses into chain stores. Last but not the least Customer, Dealer portal gives business a professional outlook in the competitive environment. Expand definitely makes businesses technologically stand out in competition.

Which are the software ExpandERP uses to streamline its business processes apart from their own?

ExpandERP is hosted on Microsoft Azure and offers powerful integrations with Amazon, Paytm, Bluedart, Google just to name a few. Everyday Expand is adding new integrations so that users don’t need to use multiple software to complete their process lifecycle. This will allow reducing workload and increasing efficiency. Users will make fewer mistakes as once an information is captured Expand intelligently updates in sections where it is required. Expand is a suite of simple to use modules tightly integrated with various 3rd party services like SMS, Email, Payment gateway to offer powerful automation.

With the 20 years of experience, If you have one piece of advice to someone just starting out into industry, what would it be?

The software is a vast area with endless possibilities. When I started the company and offered the product into the market, one big mistake I made was not defining the purpose, the target market. I was offering the software for all industry and trying to fit in all possible scenario. I even did things much before time like trying to offer web-based ERP in a time when the internet was with a select few. These two are my biggest takeaway in life that one should try to define the offering very clearly and definitely one should be ahead of time but also do proper tests before jumping into something new. Be focused and do not give up.

Something your company does better than its competitors- the secret ingredient behind the success of ExpandERP.

The customer is always looking at value for money. They want the problem to be solved and get proper support. No one likes surprised, neither in cost nor in software functionality. Mostly all big ERP vendors sell through the partner network. Mostly the partner is not as good as the OEM (Product Company). This increases the risk of failure of the project. We are customer-centric and strive to bring value to businesses. ExpandERP is highly flexible to customize and easy to use. It is designed around the Indian work environs. The best part is Expand is managed and delivered by us directly to the customer; hence we always deliver what we commit. We are always willing to customize and add good concepts for the benefit of all customers in common.

What was the defining point in your life that set you on the road to success?

Identifying our niche segment positioning ourselves and stay focused to improve every day in the same segment. In the earlier days of ExpandERP, we tried to cover every possible industry that came to us and functionality that user wanted. Today we only focus on Export and Manufacturing businesses. Expand team works to create automation, add valuable features that are centered around Exports, Manufacturing, Retail, and Trading. This has helped us to gain huge experience in one segment only and make the product more rich and deep in functionality related to the segment.

You have recently started with WowMio, tell us more about it.

I am blessed with a good social network. One fine day with a close friend of mine at the Gym on a topic of health and lifestyle we thought of offering information through App. The idea was to connect the unorganized segment of Spa and Saloon followed with other lifestyle information that is not very easy to find. WowMio was started. It is a lifestyle app providing information on health, fitness and nightlife.

Think of something you’ve done in the past; what would you have done differently?

I created the software without the expert advice of domain consultants. The software evolved with the feedback and input from customers from the industry. In a way it is good but for the product to evolve as a standard, we had to redo many things and bring best practices. It is always better to have an industry expert. We always focused on making the product better and serve the customer at hand. We never focused on building the brand and marketing. It should always be a parallel activity. Along with a good product one needs to be actively working towards creating brand awareness.

What are some things you do to keep you interested, updated and inspired?

I participate in most all possible events organized by various industry associations like CII, Nasscom, TiE. This allows me to interact with industry leaders, experts, and peers. The networking helps in information exchange and also the business. I try to attend various leadership sessions and speaker sessions from the personal and self-development domain as well to keep myself positive and motivated. Reading a book every day for about 30 minutes helps a lot in keeping myself fresh and charged up.

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