Over the last 10 years open-source products like the Linux, Ubuntu operating systems, browsers like Firefox, and the Apache server have seen an increase in adoption in organizations of all sizes – big and small. The innovation stems from the community making contributions to open-source development, new ideas and functional improvements are rolled out and available quicker. Hence Open Source Business Intelligence and proprietary BI tool convergence is becoming inevitable.

Shabbir Merchant, CEO, Pragmatic Techsoft believes that the convergence will lead to demand of niche skill set vendors that will further help in segmenting the Open Source Business Intelligence market for the next few years. Realizing the apparent need of coaching required for the efficient use of data comprehension and interpretations and the convergence that can lead to demand of niche skill set vendors, Pragmatic Techsoft was conceptualized.

Pragmatic has worked with several organizations that are building not only data led insights but using the data on dashboards to make business owners aware of their decisions and the impacts a decision has on business units. "Over the last six years, we have gotten more than 60 percent of our new deals through referrals, which sets us apart front the rest of the technology vendors in our market place," says Merchant.

This confidence which the company won over the customers is due to Merchant's philosophy and setting the processes coupled with next generation technology tools. The availability of new frameworks has led to a lot of new features as well as functionality which has augmented vendors like Pragmatic to deliver high end ETL based solutions to the clients. To meet the requirements of a large number of clients asking for fluency levels with HTML5, the organization has developed several interfaces using HTML5 to help reduce the burden on client IT departments along with developing capabilities around Magento as well as Hadoop.



Customer Satisfaction

There has always been a gap between expectation of the customer and the delivered product. A key element of making the client happy is to tailor the product to fit their needs. "Our implementation methodology has the propensity to put the client in a controlling position," says Merchant. Merchant and his team have deployed several innovative practices not only to meet but also to exceed client requirements which lead to high levels of 'client delight'. A thorough understanding of the client needs in terms of technology, the tools used in the solutions and a definitive hierarchy matrix followed by the team helps the team explicitly understand the deliverable as well as the timeframe. client satisfaction is taken care of by involvement of a senior management person in all the assignments that results in bridging black holes if necessary in all the engagements. To identify areas of improvement, a questionnaire is presented to the client at the end of every assignment and the answers are used to identify areas that require improvement.

Work Culture

The skill driven work culture has helped in developing a very innovation centric team that relies on tool fluency. Recognition and Rewards functions are held every month to identify and nurture talent. "The task tracker is used to measure the contribution levels which have also helped in devising a transparent appraisal system at Pragmatic. With very clear policies we have developed a culture that helps employees succeed based on their contributions and skill enhancements," says Merchant.

The company has aggressive growth plans on getting into BI for Big Data which includes tools like Talend Open studio for Big Data. Today Merchant is optimistic about double the turnover by the next financial year and opening up office in at least four countries across the globe.