Chandan Potukuchi: Technology Fusionist Designing SaaS Erp To Solve Complex Problems For Communities
Technology innovations in the Cloud ERP segment have taken the whole world by surprise as they continue to change business processes every day. Innovations in Cloud and ERP have taken a front seat in business operations and technology leaders are always trying to execute projects using the most advanced of innovations. Many technology leaders have emerged in the recent past and many have been a part of the ecosystem for years and are witness to the changes that the business ecosystem has gone through. The business ecosystem is currently in need of experienced technology leaders in the ERP domain. Chandan Potukuchi is an experienced technology leader who is currently serving as the CTO of leading Australian SaaS ERP provider TechnologyOne and is a technology fusionist who has been a part of this industry for more than two decades. The CEO Insights magazine engages in a conversation with him in order to know more about his career and the impact of TechnologyOne in the market.Could you give a brief account of your
professional background and experiences?
I started an architecture and product design firm in Bengaluru right after college, a small design firm. I launched it during the dotcom boom and following market downturn and after a while, a lot of invoices went unpaid, with the business eventually going bankrupt. It’s not something I shy away from, there are a lot of lessons learned in failure. I realized the importance of IP and protecting your ideas for example, and how crucial due diligence is in contracting, which are areas I invested in further my development as a result. I pivoted into software, became a software developer, and fell in love with software architecture. I think the foundation of designing buildings and designing software are quite similar, and it was where my strength lay.
I joined SAP in 2004 as a software engineer and realized I was able to design quite complex systems early on, which saw me quickly become a software architect. I was part of the team that was charged with building SAP’s first cloud ERP, a very confidential project at the time, and I then worked on building some of the critical capabilities of the platform and applications. By 2011, I was the COO for all the public cloud teams in India, managing small & medium business cloud ERP customers and the entire ecosystem. This was an opportunity to build highly scalable and performant global engineering teams to deliver a true cloud ERP experience to mission-critical
businesses and to operate it at scale.
In my role as COO, I was instrumental in driving highscale business transformations for the cloud ERP products for SAP. Large product teams of thousands of developers across multiple geographies were gradually replaced by just a few hundred highly efficient development teams who not only delivered high-quality, reliable cloud ERP for global markets but also delivered stellar margins for the product. That was my first grand experiment and experience of building high performance teams at fractional costs.
By 2014, I was tasked with a new project to integrate all of SAP’s cloud services offerings which were disparate because of multiple acquisitions, as well as delivering a pricing model as the global commercialization lead for cloud services. In 2015, I got an opportunity to build new business for SAP by helping global customers to adopt cloud and edge technologies to deliver value for their mission-critical business processes. This opportunity allowed me to build and drive an entire P/L which saw 5x growth year on year. This opportunity not only helped me to understand the challenges that businesses of all sizes face to adopt the latest technology but also helped me build blueprints of edge technology adoption to solve complex problems while ensuring business continuity. This was a really exciting role, working for a huge enterprise and bringing in a very agile mentality to product development we were the speedboat to SAP’s mothership. These custom cloud solutions were then rolled back into standard products of SAP to deliver value and new revenues. My career has seen me work across every single area of the business, from architecture to pre-sales, product engineering to commercialization, and customer experience.
What is the motivation that fuels your daily routines?
My biggest motivation is when teams love what they build and customers love what they get. In engineering, we can get lost in the nuts & bolts and some times forget the purpose of what we do I want end users to be delighted when using our products. If you build a perfect product that people love to use, every other measure of success (whether revenue, margin, or NPS) is impacted.
You possess over twenty-two years of experience. How has been your path to success and what is your success mantra?
In my role as COO, I was instrumental in driving highscale business transformations for the cloud ERP products for SAP. Large product teams of thousands of developers across multiple geographies were gradually replaced by just a few hundred highly efficient development teams who not only delivered high-quality, reliable cloud ERP for global markets but also delivered stellar margins for the product. That was my first grand experiment and experience of building high performance teams at fractional costs.
At the end of the day, customers are our true north, which is why we develop deep partner ships with our customers and we build software and solutions they can't live without
By 2014, I was tasked with a new project to integrate all of SAP’s cloud services offerings which were disparate because of multiple acquisitions, as well as delivering a pricing model as the global commercialization lead for cloud services. In 2015, I got an opportunity to build new business for SAP by helping global customers to adopt cloud and edge technologies to deliver value for their mission-critical business processes. This opportunity allowed me to build and drive an entire P/L which saw 5x growth year on year. This opportunity not only helped me to understand the challenges that businesses of all sizes face to adopt the latest technology but also helped me build blueprints of edge technology adoption to solve complex problems while ensuring business continuity. This was a really exciting role, working for a huge enterprise and bringing in a very agile mentality to product development we were the speedboat to SAP’s mothership. These custom cloud solutions were then rolled back into standard products of SAP to deliver value and new revenues. My career has seen me work across every single area of the business, from architecture to pre-sales, product engineering to commercialization, and customer experience.
What is the motivation that fuels your daily routines?
My biggest motivation is when teams love what they build and customers love what they get. In engineering, we can get lost in the nuts & bolts and some times forget the purpose of what we do I want end users to be delighted when using our products. If you build a perfect product that people love to use, every other measure of success (whether revenue, margin, or NPS) is impacted.
You possess over twenty-two years of experience. How has been your path to success and what is your success mantra?
I believe success is not a goal, but rather a state of mind. For every topic I work on, I have to define a clear, definitive objective, something to achieve and work towards, then I do many experiments til I get there. And the way to do this is to take the team along the journey. At Technology One, we truly believe people are our power. That’s my modus operandi.
How would you define TechnologyOne as an organization and its current position in the market?
In the market, TechnologyOne is not just a market leader but rather a market maker. The company has been evolving through the decades and has never shied away from solving complex business problems for customers. That’s hard work. As an organization, the company has learned and does not shy away from disrupting from within to become better. We make the impossible possible, we don't do easy. We have the bravery and perseverance to make difficult decisions and see them through.
What is your take on the dynamic technology trends in the sector and how would you describe its interventions in your organization?
As an enterprise software provider, we are always curious about new technologies that show promise in solving complex business problems. But we believe there is an onus on all companies to do some work to ensure they are used the right way.
What is the future destination you are heading towards?
Professionally, I want to delight enterprise users. At the end of the day, customers are our true north, which is why we develop deep partnerships with our customers and we build software and solutions they can't live without.
In light of your strong experience within the industry, what advice would you give to budding industry leaders?
Know your end user, stay close to them and listen. The customer should drive all your decisions.
Chandan Potukuchi, CTO, Technology one
Chandan joins global SaaS ERP powerhouse TechnologyOne with over two decades of experience with SaaS ERP and has worked extensively with enterprises of all sizes to help them realize their digital blueprints and deliver value to stake holders.
He has experience in product and customer development, software delivery services, process engineering, product pricing, pre-sales support, customer go-live projects, and partner enablement. A designer at heart, and a fusionist by style, Chandan has a passion for marrying technology to business and user delivery.
Prior to joining TechnologyOne, Chandan held many senior roles in the technology and engineering space, including Senior Vice President at SAP, leading their global engineering teams for small to medium business product portfolios.
How would you define TechnologyOne as an organization and its current position in the market?
In the market, TechnologyOne is not just a market leader but rather a market maker. The company has been evolving through the decades and has never shied away from solving complex business problems for customers. That’s hard work. As an organization, the company has learned and does not shy away from disrupting from within to become better. We make the impossible possible, we don't do easy. We have the bravery and perseverance to make difficult decisions and see them through.
What is your take on the dynamic technology trends in the sector and how would you describe its interventions in your organization?
As an enterprise software provider, we are always curious about new technologies that show promise in solving complex business problems. But we believe there is an onus on all companies to do some work to ensure they are used the right way.
What is the future destination you are heading towards?
Professionally, I want to delight enterprise users. At the end of the day, customers are our true north, which is why we develop deep partnerships with our customers and we build software and solutions they can't live without.
In light of your strong experience within the industry, what advice would you give to budding industry leaders?
Know your end user, stay close to them and listen. The customer should drive all your decisions.
Chandan Potukuchi, CTO, Technology one
Chandan joins global SaaS ERP powerhouse TechnologyOne with over two decades of experience with SaaS ERP and has worked extensively with enterprises of all sizes to help them realize their digital blueprints and deliver value to stake holders.
He has experience in product and customer development, software delivery services, process engineering, product pricing, pre-sales support, customer go-live projects, and partner enablement. A designer at heart, and a fusionist by style, Chandan has a passion for marrying technology to business and user delivery.
Prior to joining TechnologyOne, Chandan held many senior roles in the technology and engineering space, including Senior Vice President at SAP, leading their global engineering teams for small to medium business product portfolios.