Servers and Data Storage both are the Pillars

When did you start the organisation? How was the journey so far?

I've been in the industry for the past 30-plus years. And 10 years back, I started my journey with Apical Impex, where we started with enterprise-grade data storage.

Three years back, in India, we started manufacturing workstation servers. You can say that we are a workstation server and storage company. Generally, we say that server and storage go hand in hand. That's what we do server and storage business.

How has the performance been for the company for the last few years?

During the COVID period, we were only doing data storage. After a while, we decided to get into the workstation server business. Of course, the COVID period has been challenging for everyone. And that point in time, there was no infrastructure investment, which were done, because all the consumers were buying laptops, routers and because they all were working from home.

We have been able to do well since then. Because once the COVID was over, again, the investment started happening. The growth has been nice. However, it was inconsistent. For instance, two years back, we grew like by more than 50%. And then we grew by 20%. And last year, we grew by just 10%. But, there has been a growth and we are happy about that.

Top business verticals you are working with?

We have five different verticals, one being the government, where we work with the government, GeM ePortal, then we have surveillance is another vertical where, we are doing very well.

Media and entertainment is another vertical. Then, in IT, we work mainly for backup and archival. Lastly, we work with research institutes.

So these are the five verticals that you know we are working with very closely.

What are the challenges that you have faced so far? And what strategies do you have to overcome those challenges?

The biggest challenge has been related to the Make in India initiative. Sometimes, products offered under this initiative don't match global standards, which creates hesitation among clients. They often question whether a Make in India product will be of good quality.

Fortunately, we’ve been very blessed with an excellent clientele. We’ve worked with reputed institutions like various IITs, the Army, and the Navy. One of our key strategies has been leveraging client references. When engaging with new customers, we encourage them to speak with our existing clients to understand the quality of our products. This word-of-mouth validation has helped build trust and grow our business.

However, the perception challenge still exists. Due to subpar quality from some other vendors, there's often a question mark around choosing a Make in India brand versus going for an international one. Overcoming this perception continues to be a key focus area for us.

What's your suggestion to improve the quality of the Indian vendor?

That all depends on where they want to take their company. We are very clear, we don't want to be known only as a Make in India brand. We want to be known as a world-class brand originating from India.

And that's our endeavour, that people should remember us as a world-class brand, but originating from India, and once we want to do that is on us. The onus is on us to ensure that we give the best quality product that international brands have been giving it.

We have our own standards compared to the world-class brand, then no one can lower that because this is what we wanted. Forget about whether the client wants it or not. But as a brand, this is what we wanted.

And that's why we take the utmost care, and we put in a lot of time, energy, and effort in R&D. And the product that we want to produce has to be the best. We are, I would say, reached quite a good level.

But of course, there is always room for improvement. And we are constantly working towards it.

What are your plans for the next few years?

We plan to continue growing. These are infrastructure product lines, and such products typically take time to stabilise in the market. There's always a long gestation period for a brand to establish itself, especially in infrastructure, where businesses, government bodies, and institutions depend heavily on reliability. It's not like consumer products, where decisions are often driven by price alone.

We've already gone through this phase in the data storage segment, and now we’re experiencing the same process with our workstation and server lines. Clients have started recognising Apogean as a reliable brand that offers high-quality products, and that reputation is beginning to pay off.

Our previous installations are now helping us grow because people know the brand and trust its performance. In infrastructure, building a reputation takes time. Unlike consumer products, where a low price can drive sales regardless of quality or after-sales support, infrastructure demands long-term reliability and service. We’re now reaching the end of that brand-establishment curve, and we expect significant growth in the coming years.

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