Chairperson and MD of Cache Technologies
Prarthana is the CMD of Cache and its group of companies. The first of its group companies, Cache Technologies was founded in 1991 that specialize in hardware solutions and support services and maintains exclusive partnership with most OEMs of the industry. Delhi-based Cache Technologies grew 25 percent from INR 68 crore in FY2012 to INR 85 crore in FY2013 and committed to continue this for years to come. Prarthana Gupta, attributed this growth to large server and storage deals, new solution areas, managed services and deep selling. Prarthana is perhaps the only woman entrepreneur in IT Solutions and services running at this level, she is renowned for long hours and hard work, maintains a high level of integrity, smiling but also a deadly serious (and seriously successful) businesswoman recognised by the industry as a trustworthy and very efficient business support making her recognised on national level year on year.
Company: Cache Technologies CMD: Prarthana Gupta Year of inception: 1991Number of branches: 8Employees: 450+Principals: HP, IBM, Lenovo, EMC, Oracle, VMware, Symantec, Red Hat
Awards and Recognitions:
2009 - IBM Service Excellence Award
2010 - Role Model, CRN, UBM India
2010 - IBM Service Excellence Award
2010 - Xcellence 100 Winner, CRN, UBM India
2011 - IBM Best Storage Partner
2011 - CRN Xcellence Award for Best VAR-North Zone
2012 - CRN Xcellence Award for Best Solution Provider Server and Storage
2012 - IDG Media Premier 100 Winner
2012 - Best Solution Provider- Server & Storage, CRN, UBM India
2013 - Channelworld IBM Service Excellence Award
2013 - IBM Best Storage Partner
2014 - CRN Excellence Award for Best Solution Provider Servers & Storage North
2014 - CRN Excellence Award for One of the Best Service Providers in India
Server and storage projects contributed about 44 percent to the total revenue. “For the last two years Cache worked on competencies around servers, storage networking and solutions including virtualization, back-up and security. This enabled us to win several large end-to-end deals from customers .
Cache, attributed this growth to large server and storage deals, new solution areas, managed services and deep selling. The company strengthened its ties with Symantec and executed about 15 backup and security projects worth a total of INR 4 crore. “In addition, we partnered with Oracle in Q42012 for their software applications and hardware business”.
Background Story:A small town girl with big city ambitions, Prarthana was convinced that the recipe for a good idea — some luck and dollops of hard work and persistence — would ultimately help her create a heady concoction where growth and success would be comfortable companions. But as she soon found out, being in the business of offering IT solutions, there was not a single moment where she could put her feet up and say, "I have worked so hard to be where I am, now let me rest awhile."
She had to be on her toes all the time, procuring a new set of clients, following up with them, getting them to sign on the dotted line, servicing them through the year and then working towards getting them to renew their annual contracts. Despite having a marketing team in place, she would still have to go out into the field, because somewhere her clients associated efficiency, sincerity and quality service with her.And that is Prarthana for you — a complete people's person, whose motto in life is to "Capture the heart of the client. Her approach is very much personalised — She builds rapport, strike an equation, address the person's concerns and evoke complete confidence and trust, besides being accessible at all times. This is why my clients rarely leave me. We create an ongoing process of interaction, learning and doing business." For her, relationship management is not something that can be taught at management schools. It is the human contact that invigorates and sustains her.
After finishing her computer engineering from Amravati University, she went back to Benaras to be with her parents, but found job options severely limited. She then decided to move to Delhi to try her luck over there.She started working in an IT organisation for 18 months before she started her own venture Cache Technologies in 1991. She looked after the marketing and customer relations, while ensuring the service and maintenance part of the business runs effectively.
But it was not easy to get clients. With hardly any financial capital and a needling wariness, since she came from a service background, which didn't fully understand the dynamics of a struggling business, it was a long and arduous journey. Prarthana says, "In the initial days, we did not even have a telephone connection and were dependent on a PP number. We used to travel by buses and be all-in-one handy men."The turning point came when Cache took up the HP, IBM partnerships in 1998, and was appointed system integrator for INTEL. Prarthana undertook an aggressive marketing campaign. Sales orders poured in and they were formally launched as IT solution providers, becoming an one-stop IT Solution Company. Now Cache is a well established, customer oriented organisation who is making fast but organic growth to register its name in the top organisatios in India.
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