Mr. Mann Kumar belongs to a business family from Assam. Born in 1960 in Kolkata. Since early 20th century (before World War I), they have been a supplier of hardware to tea gardens in both lower and upper Assam. Their company, Jaskaran & Company was extremely reputed and it was said that if any product (spare parts) is not available with them then one needs to go Kolkata for the same. The business (shop) was located on the ground floor with their residence on the first floor. They even had property in Kolkata.
Whenever, he would get time he would assist in the business. Instead of going for recreations and clubs after school, he preferred learning the business. On 18.11.1965 the company was incorporated as a private limited company – a rarity in those days. He did business in Assam till the nineties.
However, Assam got engulfed in terrorism at the beginning of the nineties and he was forced to move out of Assam. After spending a couple of months in Jorabagan, Kolkata, and facing different problems, he decided to move to the place where he belonged – Rajasthan.
Thus began his journey in business in Jaipur. He got his first opportunity as a C&F agent for Evereardy and started operating from a hotel in Jaipur.
He named his company after his son Sahil. ‘Sahil’ means kinara i.e bank. He thought that he has got a bank and hence named his business as Sahil. This was the late nineties. He started his business alone. He had brought in two staff from Assam who stayed with him. They have now started their own business. Mr. Mann had to take care of his businesses in Assam and Kolkata too.
Introduction to IT
At that point of time there were audio recorded cassettes (‘83/ ’84) from Mufatlal group. There were two software - Mumimji and Khajanji. These were being manufactured in Delhi. Munimji was for accounting purpose and khajanji was for inventory control. He implemented these softwares in his business in Assam. He also came to know that ‘Super computers’ are being built. This intrigued him into getting more and more into IT.
In ’86 – ’87, Lakhotia Computer Centre was started in Kolkata by Suresh Lakhotia. He happened to be good friend of Mr. Mann. Before this HCL had floated a tender for computers. Mr. Mann had a good relationship with the purchase manager and he was appointed to do all the liaison work for RRL.
Here he came to know about – CPU, screen, keyboard, dot matrix printers etc.
In 1986 he purchased his first computer – A HCL machine with a L & T printer. It cost him approximately 60k – 70k. The basic thought was that this computer would take care of all accounting needs. He installed Muniji & Khajangi and started using the computers – primarily through hit & try
In 1991, while travelling from Assam to Jaipur, Mr. Mann bought one computer with him. At that point of time the softwares that were available were MS Dos, Foxbase, Lotus 123 etc. He mainly used Lotus – all work was being done in excel sheets.
Now a days report is being maintained on a daily basis. If he could not understand anything, he would go to some institute for clarifications. Analysis in terms of target, time consumed etc. has become easy. Business and computer became intermingled. He could depend on these computers 24hrs.
He started with 1 computer and all inputs into the computer were being made by Mr. Mann. As time passed, more salesmen joined the business. Slowly he asked his employees to make the entries into the computer.
Currently Sahil distributors take care of supply to around 1500 shops. Everyday the sales force services around 300 shops. Currently there is no software to track the order status. So when a shopkepper asks about a order, they need to call up the warehouse to understand the status. It becomes a time consuming process. They are trying to make this real time. So they plan to have a server that they would connect to the warehouse. So the moment the bill number would be punched, the status of the order would be visible. They are further planning to take this forward with handheld bar code readers (requirement of around 80).
expanded like this. IT has given them tremendous control.
Previously everyone thought that the more time one spent on the ‘gaddi’ they more one cpould earn. However, that era is gone. Now it is more like the more you move, the more you see, the more exhibitions you visit, the more you try new products, the better business you do.
So he is able to control a) inventory b) sundry debtors very easily. So credit control has got implemented. However, manual overrides are possible.
This implementation of IT has helped him in cutting down on man power substantially.
Currently he has a Windows server. However, the main server is Zeron (HP) – dual to core. The operating systems are Windows.
If one wants to meet to discuss about IT requirements, what should be done and said so that he/ she gets interested.
If one has to grow, he/ she need to know about IT. He has to embrace IT to grow. You need to go to the correct people. One needs to create awareness. You need to go to people who are open to take the help of IT. Then no one will say no. Need to convince him/ her of the developments possible through IT.
You need to take the angle of help in the approach.
His experience on genuine software.
He had an experience of crash. Since his software was original, he could recover the data. A person buys the original software once he/ she understands how important the data base is for him and how massively it would affect his/ her business if it gets corrupted or crashed. Original software allows you to save lakhs of rupees in the long run.
If the software was not original, he could not have approached anyone to recover data.