Tekla working on solutions to transform customers’ business

“We aim to enhance 30 per cent customers’ productivity by providing right technology for their use,” emphasizes Nirmalya Chatterjee, COO and Director, Tekla India Pvt. Ltd.
Heralding new developments and technologies in rapidly expanding Indian infrastructure sector, Tekla, one of the major technology players, is positive about their growth in coming days. In an exclusive interview, Nirmalya Chatterjee shares about his future outlook and expansion plans for Tekla.
How do you view the growth prospects in the short term (3 years) and the long term (5-10 years)?With the growth projection of Indian construction industry near to 10 per cent y-o-y, short-term prospects are promising. Infrastructure sector will be the fastest growing sub-sector over the short term as well as the most profitable to bring big investments. Even though next year is a general election year in India, we believe any gift will have similar focus on building the infrastructure and more liberal policies for the construction industry. Tekla is one of the major technology players in building and construction industry, and we expect to be part of this industry’s growth in the coming days. We have strong technology, strong products and a strong sense of the customer. We just needed to jump in and be short term with our objectives.
In the longer term, residential and commercial construction spending is expected to gather momentum as increasing urbanisation continues to drive the demand in major cities of India. Proper housing and modern facilities around developed areas is considered to be the boost for the fastest growing construction sector in India until 2018. This creates significant market opportunity for all project players including technology provider. Apart from this, another major infrastructure development areas like modernised airport, railway and bridges will also engage many construction players in our country. Tight project schedule and complex level of constructions will be major challenges for those construction players, and right kind of high-end technology will be in demand. We are making our expansion keeping the long-term need in India. As a global leader, our goal is to deliver sustainable, strong, long-term earnings growth. Our global platform and technology leadership have been key to delivering this expansion, even during a period of severe economic uncertainty.
Which new developments are likely to fuel the growth in the immediate future?Due to time and material cost overrun, engineering and construction companies will be looking for better solutions to deal with their day-to-day challenges to achieve improved efficiency and enhanced productivity. Use of globally proven and easy-to-use technology will be the best solution for their need. The next generation growth of these technologies is to access information remotely. With mobile technology and collaborative tools, we strongly believe that the RFIs will be minimised on-site and eventually nullified.
For example, we want our customers to review the construction models and drawings on their smartphones or tablets at their construction site and able to connect their design office in collaborative mode for any possible end moment changes. Cloud based use will be another demanding area. Tekla, being part of Trimble Group will address all the possible need. We aim to enhance 30 per cent customers’ productivity by providing right technology for their use.
Any other important factor or factors which will impact the growth or performance of your segment/organisation in 2014?In 2014, we think the biggest challenge would be to manage the shifting focus of our customers. There are various reasons ranging from macro-economic crisis to micro-economic stability in the minds of our customers.
Traditionally, Tekla user base has been growing at a very healthy and stable rate. The next big thing for Tekla India would be to look at some major customers with whom we could build strategic alliances and a mutually beneficial relationship instead of working in isolation. We want to build a vertical chain alliance with some big customers. Tekla deal with their customers directly. We know our customers’ need and we address them more effectively.
We are expanding our product line as part of Trimble Buildings offering. We are now addressing the need of every constructions player, starting from architect to structural engineers, MEP, project planners, general contractors and project owners. We address them under our new DBO (Design Build Operate) offering. Tekla India is driving this for SAARC region, and we are very optimistic to contribute significantly.  Our Top management’s views are simple, “Instead of putting things in boxes, shipping them to customers and hoping the phone doesn’t ring, we made a commitment to intensely work with customers on solutions to transform their business.”

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