Samir Chopra, CEO and Founder of RNS Technology Services, shares insights into how the security-focused value-added reseller and system integration firm goes above and beyond to double its efforts around customer engagement, and discusses how traditional SI’s should evolve their businesses to ensure they are relevant in today’s era.
Established in 2015, RNS Technology Services provides customers with information and cybersecurity solutions through its team of technical experts and strategic consultants.
Over the last year, RNS has made major investments with four new offices in Abu Dhabi, Singapore, Malaysia, and a global delivery center in Pune. The firm has also invested heavily to meet the needs of the customer’s globally, thereby strengthening its workforce, technical teams, support teams, and providing the vendors and OEMs the comfort of the coverage and penetration RNS has in the market.
2019 was a turning point for RNS in the Middle East – The company established itself as one of the organisations with a strong emphasis on innovation, customer experience, and delivering sustainable and scalable solutions to its customers.
Samir Chopra, Founder and CEO of RNS Technology Services, says, “As an organisation, we want to focus on excellence. I believe there is a gap for a boutique niche player like us, and we are extremely passionate, enthusiastic and excited about the solutions and services we bring to the market.”
The SI also sees a large void in the market where there are only a few people who care about certain aspects of cybersecurity and safety from a macro perspective.
“There is a massive gap when you compare our region to some of the other more mature markets in the world, the advisory services, virtual CISOs, partners and trusted advisors. This is primarily because I see, with all due respect, that most organisations are sales-oriented rather than delivery-oriented,” says Chopra.
The CEO also highlights how the company prefers to go the extra mile to ensure that no customer is dissatisfied.
Chopra adds, “We focus on the basics, fortify and strengthen the key elements, relook right from the foundation level and then upwards.”
Choosing a system integrator (SI)
A key area where customers fail to understand is not the strength of the number of people in an organisation but the number of relevant subject matter experts within the organisation who are trained and certified to deliver the solution, explains Chopra.
He says, “For example, an organisation may have a 100 people, but these 100 people may do 50 other things and have no relevant subject matter expertise in cybersecurity solutions. Whereas, a company with 50 people who are focused on delivering those solutions, and have the relevant certified trained engineers on site and off-shore, could mean that an efficient organisation is far better suited to address the concerns and the success of the project.”
According to Chopra, one of the most common mistakes the customer makes that endangers the capacity of the project is, by choosing the cheapest over the best.
“I see a lot of organisations completely ignoring the capabilities that have had an impact on the success of the project. My advice to customers today is to develop a methodology and to mature the procurement system, whereby the commercial aspect of the project is given importance but, at the same time, the ability to execute the project should also have an equal weightage if not more,” he adds.
Moreover, Chopra opines that anyone who walks into the room and tells the customer that the project is going to be a hundred percent successful or error free or without any hiccups is just a lie.
“We align ourselves with the business objectives of our customers in order to ensure that those objectives are met. Our customers appreciate this kind of partnership, advisory, trustworthy and a reliable organisation. At RNS, everyone is first a customer success officer and the second role is whatever he/she is hired to do.”
RNS was a non-existing organisation a few years back and today, it has secured more than 200 enterprise organisations in the region including national critical infrastructures, public sector, banking and financial industries, ministries, healthcare, education sector etc.
He says that the company has gone around in a very systematic focused way and found a niche area to contribute in.
“Today, sell and walk away doesn’t work because the way people buy and interact has changed,” he says. “There are new innovative ways that are being introduced in the industries and there are disruptive ways and means of operations. A clear strategy on what your purpose is, and how you contribute to your customer success in the process, enabling them to achieve excellence and have a great experience is key.”
Chopra says that the company will aim to achieve its total annual revenue of a hundred million dirham in 2020.
“Our goal is to provide better advisory services to people who understand the blurred lines between technology and business objectives.”
Another area in which RNS will be focusing, this year is managed services offerings. The CEO believes that the region is still young and inexperienced in this area when compared to other mature regions around the globe.
These offerings have not been delivered with the same level of passion, excitement, sincerity and commitment so that’s something RNS is very keen on bringing to the market.
Chopra concludes by saying, “We believe in going deeper rather than going wider and this contributes to all of these factors making RNS very impactful and hugely successful in this region.”
