BlastAsia – Future-Proofing Business Through Automation 

How Arup Maity of BlastAsia and his ream are delivering innovative solutions that transform business operations.

First of all, how are you and your family doing in these COVID-19 times? 

Arup Maity: Thank you for asking; we are glad to be healthy and productive right now. It has been a challenging 12 months, but now we are fully adjusted to “the new normal.”

Tell us about you, your career, how you founded BlastAsia.

Arup Maity: After finishing my MBA at the Asian Institute of Management, I co-founded BlastAsia in 2001. It is a global provider of outsourced software product engineering services. After 10 years in the business, we decided to start building our own startups, which has led to our flagship product, Steer. Over the years, we have seen that a lot of companies struggling to successfully implement their digital transformation strategies, and this is how we arrived at our solution.

How does BlastAsia innovate? 

Arup Maity: Through our no-code platform Steer, we help companies automate their ordering & fulfillment activities. While we have templates that companies can use to quickly build solutions, we also offer a pilot program that digs deep into their business challenges and areas for improvement in their processes, leading to a solution that digitizes, automates, and integrates their entire operations. In fact, as a company that is on full Work-From-Home mode for 12 months now, we are also using Steer as our tool to keep operations running smoothly.

How does the coronavirus pandemic affect your business finances?

Arup Maity: There was a shock among companies in the early part of the pandemic, which led to budget cuts. But now, more and more companies are looking to invest in automation because they acknowledge that it’s the only way to future-proof their business. Because of this trend, we are optimistic that business will pick up this year.

Did you have to make difficult choices regarding human resources, and what are the lessons learned?

Arup Maity: Despite seeing employee exits and some changes in policies to cut down costs, what we have learned is that everyone should be made aware of the situation and how it’s affecting the company. This has led to employees understanding the bigger picture and a much better-aligned vision for the company. 

How did your customer relationship management evolve? Do you use any specific tools to be efficient?

Arup Maity: As mentioned, we’ve been on a full Work-From-Home arrangement since mid-March of 2020 and have totally made all interactions online – from doing pitches to supporting our customers through various channels such as knowledgebase, online chat, and video-based self-learning.

Your final thoughts?

Arup Maity: Now is the best time for companies of any size and industry to look into their customer’s needs and provide solutions for them through technology. Whether it’s providing more efficient services via workflow automation or providing customers easy access to services and products online – you need to act now before your company gets disrupted – by this pandemic, by technology-centric startups, or simply by your customers bringing their business elsewhere.

Your website?

www.steerplatform.com