inField Solutions – Transforming Lives
Science and technology are beautiful gifts for humanity. As we were moving from the Stone Age, science-filled us with the set of features of the present era. It simplifies our lives and inspires us to ponder the wonders of technology. Many modern technology inventions made our life easy and enjoyable and innovation is still in process across the globe. Technology has a very important contribution to our life.
While the world is on the cusp of the economic revolution, the pandemic hit a lot and businesses struggled to survive. In all this scenario, there was technology that came forward as a messiah for businesses to run their daily operations remotely.
In this context, today, if the business still relies on the traditional business processes it might be holding its growth back. To transmogrify the lives of people and businesses in inField Solutions provides technology that enables safe smart cities. inField Solutions has developed an integrated technology platform that is digitally transforming how people work and live.
In a conversation with Mr. Rakesh Tiku, president and CEO, he shared his journey throughout and what inField Solutions is all about.
What were the initial challenges you faced?
Our initial challenges included converting our client-based custom software, namely inField Clipboard into a commercially viable solution. Once we determined how to do this, we spun inField Clipboard out of our IT company, Virtace Inc. into its own company, now called inField Solutions.
How were the first few years of inField Solutions?
Amazing and full of learning. inField Solutions had to determine how to process what our clients, competition, and the marketplace were suggesting they wanted in terms of form, fit, and function and decide the direction that we ultimately need to go to develop a meaningful product.
Which was that point that triggered the growth of inField Solutions?
There have been many, but once we started getting developing our integrated IoT offering, we started to further differentiate from our competition and get in front of what our customers were looking for.
How have the inField Solutions graphs changed since the foundation? Can you share a few statistics?
inField Solutions have tripled in revenue since 2017. Introduced three new product categories since 2019 (two during the current pandemic). Project a furthering tripling in revenue between 2020 and 2022.
What is the reason behind inField Solutions’ long-standing success?
Our people, persistence, and ability to capitalize on the opportunity within chaos.
What influenced you to start inField Solutions ?
Our early success with the two customers for whom we built our first product, inField Clipboard. The business impact we had on these clients with their revenue growth and profitability, proved to us that we had built a meaningful product. It should be noted, that both of these customers are clients of ours nine years later.
What are the products/services the firm focuses on? How are your services different from those in the market?
- inField Clipboard is an easy to use and flexible Field Resource Management (FRM) software platform that enables clients to manage their field resources (people, assets, vehicles) from inquiry to invoice. One of the use cases is for charity collection bin collection, where we automate the scheduling, routing, and dispatching functions based on the actual fill state of the bins in the field.
- We have also created a related line of business, inField Building iQ that enables effective management of building amenities, minimizes the impact of COVID-19 and enables businesses to thrive once again. The entire inField Building iQ leverages the inField Clipboard platform to manage logic workflows and communication between users, suppliers, and end clients.
inField Building iQ platform enables property managers and landlords to remotely monitor and manage their residential and commercial building’s amenities (i.e. water leak detection and smart washrooms) while reducing the costs and headaches due to property damage and insurance claims (due to water, etc.).
- Water Leak Detection – A smart water leak detection platform that communicates issues to stakeholders, remotely shuts off water in problem areas, and dispatches to plumbers.
- Smart Bathrooms – Real-time monitoring of bathrooms for cleanliness, maintenance, and occupancy.
- Connected Cubbies – Smart parcel and food delivery management maximizing convenience, security, and safety-driven by a web app.
- Micro Markets – Maximizes employee engagement within offices, factories, hospital, and schools with a smart self-service micro market (prepared foods, snacks, and beverages) that personalize the retail experience using technology powered by an automated supply chain.
How do you decide to take the firm a step further in terms of your products/services?
We listen to our customers, competition, and the market in general and then evaluate our next course of action based on our ability to satisfy future requirements. Our ability to act includes our available resources time and skill set, field of finances, and market access (can we acquire clients who would need this capability or feature).
How do you think is the GPS tracking sector evolving?
Within inField Solutions, it has gone from being a simple dot on a map to view the location of a vehicle or fixed asset to a feature that is an integral part of a larger solution.
Can you please brief us about your professional experience?
I am a serial entrepreneur with 20+ years of experience focused on strategic business growth in the Environmental, Healthcare, Telecommunications, Software, Manufacturing, and Retail industry segments.
My Goal in Life — To learn from every experience and every encounter.
Specialty: I am a classic innovator. My strength is my ability to take something and make it more effective, whether it be people, objects, or ideas.
What are the key achievements of your entrepreneurial journey?
- Being able to create a balance between work and family, that has led to both being successful.
- Not letting my fears and critics’ bias stop me from pursuing my dreams.
- Working with many amazing people, whether they be business partners, colleagues, suppliers, or clients.
- Never stop learning whether I started a business, bought into a business, or sold a business.
How do you look after your employees? What makes your team unique?
We treat our employees, suppliers, and customers like they are human. We have a policy that our colleagues do not work unless first their health and then their family members are in order. To not do so often leads to lower productivity and less joy in one’s personal life.
Is there any special experience with your clients you would like to highlight?
We have had numerous clients who doubled their revenue within 12 months of using our inField Clipboard platform while realizing an ROI on their investment with inField Solutions within 5 months. These are examples of what motivates us to do what we do.
What are some of your largest inspirations?
My parents, children, and wife have taught me how to dream and accept the risk to pursue these dreams.
One person who you admire the most?
In business, I admire people like Elon Musk and Steve Jobs to pursue their goals and dream big regardless of their fears or the doubters around them. In life, I admire my wife for supporting me in my aspirations while pursuing her own.
Whose business story do you find the most inspiring?
Again, Elon Musk and Steve Jobs.
