Exclusive Interview with Biren Yadav, MD, Bluecom Infotech

In an exclusive interview with DQ Channels, Biren Yadav, MD, Bluecom Infotech talks about the future of Hybrid learning culture in the education sector, different opportunities for partners and how EdueBook.in and PartnerWins.in will help partners in this transformation journey. 

One prominent trend that is now emerging is EduTech and hybrid work culture. Especially in the education domain, now the work system has moved from work from home to a hybrid system. So, how do you view the growth of EduTech in the hybrid work culture and how do you plan to harness this opportunity?

Hybrid is the new buzz. Hybrid as a concept is a buzz across the education sector. We are a country with a 1.3 billion population. The opportunity which is there in the education segment is because it is directly proportional to the number of students who are there and it is an immense opportunity. When we talk about education, it cannot be completed online. It cannot be completely learnt at home. Yes, because of this pandemic, people are forced to learn from home. But in future when this situation improves, the schools are going to open and the students are going to attend schools. But this acceptance of digitisation which has happened is not going to stop.

Earlier, before this pandemic happened, the technology was kind of knocking at the door of the students, the teachers and the management, but the acceptance was not that great. People would not accept the technology with the speed which has happened now. People have been forced to accept technology because they did not have any other option. So EduTech i.e., technology in education, is growing at a high speed and there is a huge opportunity to actually go and grab and obviously, the Partners are at the centre of this opportunity. I clearly see a huge opportunity, which is there for us to actually go and grab it.

What are the unique features of Indian EduTech and how can the partners help it grow?

Technology acceptance was not that great in India to be very honest, until sometime back. But I have seen the acceptance of technology growing over time. And the present government has definitely promoted a lot of technology and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, I personally have observed that he is a very technology sensitive person. So he has used technology wherever and whenever possible. It is coming right from the top. And during the pandemic, you had that Arogya Setu and it was launched immediately launched. Initially, people did not realise the importance of this app. But now, you can see that Arogya Setu has made life easy for everybody. At the click of a mouse, you get those certificates etc. So, technology as a whole actually has penetrated in a large way. Because of this pandemic, the education system is forced to accept EduTech and since it is coming from the top, everybody is happily accepting and I think everything is getting made available as well.

Rather the government is promoting technology acceptance everywhere, a lot of government deals I have personally bagged. One very big deal from the government of Maharashtra that was worth 40 crores a single order that we have picked up. And there we have supplied a complete package. So it was not just those tablets, it had those contents software, it had those mobile device management systems. It had the remote software, remote management software, it had those services; a complete package. And this has gone to those underprivileged students. I have also seen during this pandemic, a lot of NGOs. They have actually bought those devices and they have actually distributed them. So, devices were the most preferred products The NGOs were giving it to the students So I think technology acceptance as a whole has been great here in India. I think it is actually going to grow. So, EduTech is going to go a long, long way and the Partner was fraternity has an immense opportunity here.

Microsoft has introduced partnerwins.in. And eduebook.in. So in your opinion, how is Microsoft enabling the partners/ ecosystem?

Yes, Microsoft, is actually coming up with a lot of innovative ideas, a lot of innovative approaches. I have seen Microsoft reaching out to the Partner fraternity; and helping them understand the opportunity, which is their specialisation in the education segment. So this partnerwins.in; and they have got this Windows 10 education devices, which have built-in antivirus and they are all easy to deploy, operate and manage remotely. extra measures to protect minors by having those single sign-on.

They are empowering students, by actually getting those budget-friendly devices built for classrooms, productivity, collaboration and personalised learning, office 365 Pro Plus for online and offline use, device lifecycle management that reduces infrastructure needs. So all of these approaches are being taken by Microsoft. Looking at the opportunity, which is there on the table, especially in the education on Eduebook, I think they have made an amazing attempt for a comprehensive solution to communicate, collaborate and create in real-time for the students and kids. And indeed, it is easy to use and an affordable technology that transforms classroom education for enhanced productivity. There is a device for every need and they have actually structured a package.

They have got those various brands, products and they have bundled with their own solution, their own software and they are offering it to everybody and it is ranging from 20k to approximately 50k. So for every kind of requirement, every band has different devices. I mean, on the pick-and-choose basis, according to your budget or according to the need that you have for those devices. I think they are doing amazing stuff. And they are bringing in a lot of opportunities for the proctor fraternity as well to actually go and explore.

What are the different opportunities for Partners in the Edu Tech sector?

I've seen large deals and then they have gone very aggressive. They've gone unusually low in terms of prices as well wherever it is needed, to actually help the education system. We had participated in a very, very large deal along with Lenovo, which was won by some other brands. But the prices that they offered for this operating system was unbelievably low. And that shows their intent to actually expand to go and explore this. This space in the education system is available and Microsoft would not throw those prices just like that. It is only since they are seeing those opportunities because of which they have gone absolutely low on prices, I don't want to mention the exact amount. But I could not believe the kind of prices that they offered on the operating system for that large deal. So they're, going absolutely all out to grab the opportunity. It is purely because of the opportunity, which is there in the market that you see.

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