From strategic planning to maintaining the company’s image, human resource management is a necessity for any organization. Among others one of the most important job an HR has to do is that of the compensation to the employees. HR department is the one that develops a realistic structure of compensation which then sets the standards of the company within other businesses in the same niche.
Featuring for The Enterprise World’s this issue of The Most Admired Companies To Watch 2022 is Runtime Software Private Limited, an online HR Management and Payroll Solution.
In this interview with Prashant Gupta, CEO, let us find out more about the journey of the Runtime Software.
1. Tell us about the Runtime Software.
Runtime Software started in 2016 as a software and web development company. We developed a lot of CRM / ERP / HRM solutions for different clients across industries. But these were customized solutions that addressed the needs of a single client. As more and more businesses were becoming digital, we realized that there could be a potential market for a Payroll/HRMS solution for small and medium sized businesses. In 2020, we launched Runtime HRMS as a fully cloud based HR/Payroll SaaS solution.
2. What were the initial challenges you faced?
Getting first 10 customers was the most challenging part. Runtime Software had no reviews, testimonials or references to begin with. However, with the experience from customized development for our past clients, we were able to pull that off.
3. Which was that point that triggered the growth of the company?
Within 1 year of launch, amidst COVID-19, we started getting traction. Many of Runtime Software’s customers stated that they have tried multiple solutions before, and Runtime software felt most user-friendly and feature rich to them. We started getting referral signups within the first year of launch, which added to our growth funnel.
4. What is the reason behind your company’s long-standing success?
We’ve focussed on customer feedback from day 1. Runtime Software constantly collected feedback from users and channelized it to build new features and improve existing ones. Runtime Software’s dev team is quite open and even ready to get into customer calls to understand customer perspective. Understanding the issues from the customer’s point of view and quicker response times have further helped us keeping our customers happy in the long-run.
5. What are the products/services the company focuses on? How are your services different from those in the market?
Runtime HRMS – Our HR and Payroll solution helps companies manage the entire workforce from onboarding to exit. Runtime Software take care of employee information management, attendance, leaves, payroll, statutory compliance, and even offer salary payment options with integrations with payment service providers.
There are many providers of HR and Payroll, but most solutions are built using decades old technology and are difficult to use for modern day user. We’ve designed Runtime HRMS using latest tech which makes it easy to navigate, find relevant information quickly. We’re also adding AI-based assistance gradually to all parts of the solution.
6. How do you decide to take the company a step further in terms of your products/services?
Runtime Software constantly innovating by introducing new features in our product based on customer feedback. We started with just Payroll solution and then included HR Software Management features.
7. Is there any new addition to the list of products/services? Anything exciting you would like to share?
We are soon going to offer Health Insurance for employees. Employers will be able to enrol for health insurance for all or selected employees in their organisation.
8. What do you think are the responsibilities of an entrepreneur?
Entrepreneurship should not be viewed as a business alone. In some sense, it should be considered as philanthropy, meaning it should solve problems that we see in our daily lives. Responsibility comes with change in mindset that drives daily business decisions. An entrepreneur should keep philanthropy and sustainability at core of his business values.
9. Can you please brief us about your professional experience?
I have 18+ years of experience in banking, finance & accounting and have worked with multinationals like GE, Genpact, Deutsche Bank and ICICI Bank. I am a Chartered Accountant (equivalent to CPA in US). In 2013, I quit my job and started my start-up journey.
10. What are the key achievements of your entrepreneurial journey?
I stared with building an e-commerce business in 2013. While things were hot in the domestic e-commerce, there were almost no players in the international market. I built a successful business along-with my wife, where we delivered Indian goods worldwide using our own platform. In 2016, I started Runtime Software and handed over the operations of the e-commerce business completely to my wife. She is still running it successfully.
11. What does your work culture look like? How do you keep your employees motivated and driven?
We have a very friendly and open work culture. Everybody is allowed to question the management decisions and people are open to debate on important topics. We also encourage managers to acknowledge and admire small acts of team members that align with company growth and policies.
12. Can you tell us which your favourite book is? And your favourite part of the book (if any)?
I like reading self-help books. My favourite is “Think and Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill.
13. Whose business story do you find the most inspiring?
I admire Bill Gates and Elon Musk. Bill Gates for his passion for technology and Elon Musk for his unwavering commitment to sustainability, that gets him to work for 80-100 hours per week.
14. Which is the most inspiring quote you have read?
“Purpose is the reason your journey, Passion is the fire that lights your path.”
15. What is your take on the competition in the market? How do you cope with it?
It is commonly said that “Competition is for losers”. While this may not be completely true, there is and will always be competition in the marketplace. Unless you are building something that did not exist earlier, you will have other companies and people, who may be as hard working as you are, but that should not stop you from going. Often, when your product or service is 10x better than existing alternates in market, you make the competition irrelevant. Moreover, to sustain in future, continuous innovation is required as competitors will not just sit back and see you grow.
16. Is competition a motivating factor? Does it help to bring out the best?
At multiple instances, I had customers telling me how horrible the earlier solution was, before they switched to ours. When a customer compares and find our solution much better than competition, that surely brings a huge motivation.
