Progility Technologies is a multi-domain solution provider and IT and digital system integrator. The company sees immense potential in India’s fast-growing economy and dynamic business environment. The company announced Julian Wheatland as its new CEO, and has assigned him with the responsibility to propel the company’s growth and position it as a frontrunner in enterprise technology innovation. Julian Wheatland, CEO of Progility Technologies, recently spoke to Tech Achieve Media. Having relocated from London to Mumbai to lead the company’s growth initiatives in India, Wheatland brings over three decades of experience in technology, finance, and management, having previously served as the chairman of SCL Group and the COO/CFO of the Cambridge Analytica/SCL group of companies.
Wheatland’s strategic foresight and leadership prowess are expected to drive Progility’s diversification into new service offerings, including a shift towards managed services, as well as exploration of high-growth domains. He has emphasized the importance of matching technology to clear market needs, understanding the competition, and building the right team to deliver on the company’s strategy.
TAM: How has the company’s mission and strategic focus shifted over the years to adapt to the rapidly changing technology landscape in India?
Julian Wheatland: The enterprise in India initially focused entirely on voice systems. At that time, the company was 100% dedicated to voice systems. Today, when we look at our breakdown, we see that voice systems now constitute about 40% of our business, which is less than half. The rest of our business today is primarily focused on audio-visual systems. This includes audio-visual collaboration rooms, interactive rooms, and augmented reality. Additionally, we have expanded into data networks and surveillance systems, migrating our offerings to encompass a broader range of technology solutions for our enterprise customers.
TAM: As a multi-domain solution provider, how does Progility ensure the seamless integration and interoperability of its diverse range of solutions, such as unified communications, data network infrastructure, and smart AV solutions, for its clients?
Julian Wheatland: I think the value we add lies in our ability to integrate multiple products from various manufacturers or OEMs, enabling them to work seamlessly together. We are not just a box-shifting house; if someone simply needs another screen, we might not be the best choice.
However, if they require a fully integrated system, we are the go-to provider due to our extensive technological expertise. Our workforce includes 120 service engineers across the country, and our offices house strong technical and design teams. The challenge we tackle is making these systems work together. For example, in a collaboration room or boardroom, we consider factors like lighting and glass walls to avoid interference from external activities.
Acoustics are another critical aspect: ensuring that everyone can hear and be heard. Our expertise lies in knitting the equipment together so it functions seamlessly. This capability is why customers choose us and remain with us, as we excel in this area.
TAM: What are some of the key challenges you foresee in deploying and managing complex unified communications and rich media collaboration solutions across different verticals, and how is Progility equipped to overcome these challenges?
Julian Wheatland: So, if we think about vertical solutions, unified communication is really coming to the forefront now. I would say that adoption in India is probably a bit behind the US and Europe, but it’s certainly the technology of the moment. With multiple systems like Zoom meetings, telephones, emails, and WhatsApp messages, the challenge for our clients is the lack of a single repository for an interactive history. They are constantly switching from one device to another. This challenge is magnified by the fact that many people are now working in hybrid environments, so they are not even in one place with a single setup they can rely on.
Unified communications address this issue. We are in a great position because 40% of our business is voice and 60% is video and audio-visual work. We see the two halves of our business coming together, and there are some excellent products now available on the market. This gives us a great opportunity to sit down with our customers, discuss their business needs, and find the appropriate solution, rather than just talking about the technology they are already familiar with.
Different verticals face different issues. For example, predominantly blue-collar organizations now face challenges from hybrid working, where some people are in the office, some are in a meeting room, and others are on their laptops. One challenge is providing a high-quality meeting experience where a camera can zoom in on the active speaker, offering a face-on experience for those in a boardroom while also working well for someone on their laptop, perhaps in a hotel room, without them dominating the conversation. Technology has come a long way in addressing these types of situations.
In healthcare, unified communication provides a tremendous opportunity to keep doctors and nurses connected, ensuring they have access to patient notes and can see their schedules. This is crucial as there are often last-minute changes due to emergencies. Unified communications also support emerging remote consultations in healthcare, providing a backbone for these services.
We see different challenges in various types of organizations, but the fact that all of this is coming together and interoperability is available on both mobile and fixed devices across multiple communication channels allows us to provide a high-quality customer experience. More importantly, it increases productivity and enables organizations to operate more efficiently.
TAM: With the increasing emphasis on data security and privacy, especially in industries like BFSI and healthcare, and with DPDP Act coming into India, how do you address the security concerns related to IP surveillance and data center infrastructure solutions?
Julian Wheatland: So, I suppose there’s a technical answer to that question and a policy answer. From a technical point of view, all the equipment we use and all the manufacturers we work with have very strict security protocols and firewalls to protect their equipment.
BFSI is an interesting case in point, as you mentioned. They don’t allow anyone to access their system from the outside. This presents its own set of challenges for us because if we want to provide a remote monitoring solution for their equipment, we can’t do it from outside the banking halls. There are a lot of technical safeguards in place, but policy is also important.
Fortunately for us, the obligation rests with what’s described in the DPP as the data judiciary. This is the person responsible for processing and managing data. While this responsibility lies with them, it places an obligation on us to ensure that the systems we deliver and the systems as they operate are compliant and remain compliant. As a result, compliance is often a significant part of the solution design today, in a way that perhaps wasn’t as much in the past.
TAM: Can you elaborate on the role of the partner ecosystem in delivering integrated real-time solutions? How do these partnerships enhance the value proposition for your customers?
Julian Wheatland: Yes, we have a broad partner network that enables us to select the right equipment for each solution. For instance, we deal with Unify, now Mitel, primarily for our voice systems. This organization is a descendant of Siemens, so there’s a strong organizational link and heritage between us and them. The depth and strength of this relationship allow us to provide high-quality solutions and services to our customers. We work closely with them to address and solve technical issues, both at the design stage and as they arise later on.
We also work with HP, another strong partner of ours. They acquired Poly, and we’ve been collaborating with them since Poly’s inception, likely when it was still Polycom. Additionally, we work with multiple other partners, including Crestron, Extron, and Xtreme, depending on the situation and the required solution. The real strength in all these partnerships comes from the depth of our relationships and our ability to work collaboratively to provide excellent solutions for our customers.
TAM: Progility offers advanced contact center solutions with features like omnichannel routing and analytics. How do these solutions specifically cater to the evolving customer service needs in industries such as hospitality and IT/ITES?
Julian Wheatland: So, what it enables contact centers to do is to have a simplified, unified client for administration. Being omnichannel, it provides our clients with a comprehensive 360-degree view of their interactions with customers. Additionally, as we discussed AI earlier, it facilitates processing these interactions, allowing service agents to deliver more targeted services to customers.
Our customers have found that by enhancing engagement experiences, it leads to improved contact resolution rates, reduced call abandonments, higher service levels, decreased agent turnover, and increased overall customer satisfaction and performance. Integrating all communication channels and operating with this holistic view offers significant benefits from a customer service standpoint.
TAM: Looking ahead, what emerging technologies or trends do you foresee having the most significant impact on your service offerings, and how is the company preparing to integrate these advancements into its existing framework to better serve its clients?
Julian Wheatland: Everybody’s talking about AI, particularly generative AI. Before this, discussions centered on AI that was essentially advanced machine learning. Now, we’re at an inflection point in technology because AI is becoming embedded in nearly all the applications we use. For example, our partners mentioned that every new laptop, now and in the future, will feature its own embedded AI chip. This innovation aims to significantly reduce the latency between making a request and receiving a response, enhancing application responsiveness.
Beyond improving response times, there are substantial security implications. Processing data locally on laptops minimizes the need to send large quantities of data to the cloud for processing and back, addressing concerns about data security during transmission and cloud processing. This hardware evolution isn’t limited to one company; other laptop manufacturers are following suit, paving the way for radical advancements in AI applications.
Recently, at an event in the US, leaders from Google and Microsoft discussed how generative AI will revolutionize technology, akin to the impact of the laptop’s introduction. AI solutions will enable organizations to monitor and predict issues within their technology infrastructure preemptively, rather than reacting after problems arise. This predictive capability will provide invaluable insights and alerts across enterprise operations.
For us, AI’s impact means enhancing our ability to monitor network and equipment performance, predicting potential issues before they disrupt operations. This predictive capability is particularly crucial for managing numerous collaboration rooms used for customer training or large-scale technology deployments. Moving forward, we’re increasingly focused on offering managed services rather than just selling solutions. This shift not only appeals to customers by converting equipment costs from capital to operational expenses but also allows us to remotely monitor equipment, proactively identifying and resolving issues before they impact operations. This approach aims to elevate service levels and customer satisfaction significantly.
TAM: As far as unified communications is concerned, which vertical in India would you say has been the fastest adopter? And what do you foresee? Which other verticals are coming on board very rapidly in terms of adoption?
Julian Wheatland: Healthcare has been probably at the leading edge of adopting unified communications. It wasn’t an accident that I was able to give you an example of a doctor roaming around the hospital and being in contact. Government is going to be a bigger doctor of unified communications and things like police forces and utility services.
So, anyone with a mobile or distributed workforce is going to find a unified communications solution delivers a lot of benefit to them. And then the other area I think that we’re going to see significant adoption is within the financial services, within retail financial services, where, again, it’s all about being able to provide the highest possible customer experience with workers who don’t sit at their desk anymore.