Re-inventing Fintech Logistics with Technology and Human Network

We talked to Prashant Kumar, founder of Docboyz, about fighting fraud with digital security systems and this is what he said about it.

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

Prashant Kumar: We have been infected by COVID, but fortunately we recovered well. Now, we are fully fit and doing good.

Tell us about you, your career, and how you founded Docboyz.

Prashant Kumar: I am an engineer with a post-graduate in Management. I grew up in a small town in India and later moved to Mumbai for my first job. I worked with MNCs mostly in the Middle East as a Business Head. I founded this company along with my close friend Ashok. The purpose of venturing into start-up was, to take away some pain area of Industry and contribute to society. Currently, I assume the responsibility of a CMO.

How does Docboyz innovate? 

Prashant Kumar: We have developed a Phygital platform for Banks and Fintechs to solve their problem of last-mile collection. These financial institutions are facing a big challenge in collecting documents and overdue payments. This segment is mainly dominated by smaller agencies, scattered across India. These agencies are very much technically challenged. The biggest challenge they face is on-time collection of documents and efficient debt recovery.

Our cloud-based platform offers a complete solution to collect documents, verify customers and recover debt with help of better analytics and AI. We were able to defragment the sector and offered a solution in Pan-India. We were able to help our clients in saving their operational costs by 15% and increase their business by 20%. We have 6000+ fintech correspondents on-boarded on our platform, working in the Uber model. This has democratized the whole sector and was able to help our client in expanding pan-India. 

How the coronavirus pandemic affects your business and how are you coping?

Prashant Kumar: Coronavirus was a double whammy for us. All the financial institutes were virtually closed, so very few new work and top of that movement restriction was by like death nail. However, we have best utilized this period in developing new products and reviewing strategy, and sharpening it. We have developed a product for customer verification and Debt recovery. Now our platform is capable to handle all collection needs of any financial institute. Due to COVID, our boot-strapping period got prolonged, but our all employees have cooperated. Due to the support of the team and client, now we are back on track and growing every month.

Did you have to make difficult choices and what are the lessons learned?

Prashant Kumar: Yes, COVID has forced us to make difficult choices. One of our Co-founder decided to part ways with us due to financial constraints. It was a very tough decision, but we have managed this and sailed through. Ashok has to move into his shoes and learn everything from scratch. In a rush to deliver fast, the documentation was not properly done, which has cost us time and money. Now, we are ensuring that all process is well documented and system become person independent.

What specific tools, software, and management skills are you using to navigate this crisis?

Prashant Kumar: We are using a common sharing platform, where everyone from the tech team is communicating through that. Also, we are de-risking key person responsibility as much as possible by taking cross-functional responsibility. This will keep the company safe from sudden shock if any key person wishes to part ways.

Who are your competitors? And how do you plan to stay in the game?

Prashant Kumar: Our sector is serviced by small agencies, whom we do not consider a competitor. We have started to onboard them. This will help us to grow and the Client will be getting single point service.

Your final thoughts?

Prashant Kumar: COVID has brought a lot of efficiency and new skills of survival with growth. We are on our path to bring change in Fintech logistics and emerge as a global key player.

Your website?

 www.docboyz.in