The Adept Juggler

Sanjay Mody believes in doing only those things that will give him immense
pleasure and a sense of satisfaction. “Why would one want to strive hard, unless
the effort leaves him/her feeling happy and fulfilled?” he questioned.

This is precisely why, this commerce graduate, with no grounding in
technology, took over Realtime Systems, which is a manufacturer of networking
products, and is now running it successfully. What is striking here is that when
he took it over in 1999, it was in the red. He invested funds to revive it and
then decided to take it over entirely. Today, the company sells successfully to
companies like Reliance Infocom and government agencies like MTNL, Indian
Railways, BSNL, All India Radio, amongst others.

Not satisfied with playing the role of just a manufacturer, Mody got into
network integration by investing in Development Devices, another US-based
company and then brought it to India as well. In India, Development Devices is a
partner for brands like Netgear, Cisco, Oracle, Veritas, Citrix, StorageTek and
iPlanet. The company also offers strategy and technology consulting to SMB and
enterprise customers besides customized software solutions in collusion with
complete infras­tructure management. Recently, the company acquired
Germany-based Galaxis Technology, which provides digital television software and
set top boxes.

Sanjay Mody MD,Realtime Systems

Development Devices will play a pivotal role in pushing Realtime's products
to its customers. This underlines that Mody has planned his way to the market,
directly and through other mediums, well.

On being asked why he got into the networking space per se, Mody was quick to
point out that the heart of the IT infrastructure today is the network.
Similarly, routers are at the heart of the network and this is where Realtime is
focusing its skill sets at.

The Midas touch

Born in the remote town of Palanpur, Mody turned out to be the only person
in his entire village who started as a jeweler but ended up a technocrat. His
family had a trading business in loose diamonds and his two brothers are still
engaged in it. Mody too is involved in it, though not as much as he is in his
other business.

After completing his graduation and working for some time in the family
business, Mody moved to the US with his wife to set-up the American end of the
business. After a few years, the monotony of the jewelry trading got to him and
he wanted to try something different. He started brushing up his knowledge of
finance and joined investment-banking firm, Morgan Stanley.

Here he came across leads of small companies with good business plans but
little funds to realize this. As he learned the ropes of the business, he
started investing in these companies and then spinning them off or taking them
over. This is how he was led to Realtime Systems as well.

Bitten by the manufacturing bug

Realtime was established in 1979, making it one of the oldest Indian companies
in the area of networking. It was a victim of transition at the time when the
technology moved from copper to fiber. “Back then, the very nature of networking
technology was changing and Realtime became a victim of that transition,” Mody
recalled. Since the company was in deep financial troubles, he decided to pump
in money, believing it could yield good returns.

Being an indigenous brand, Realtime has one benefit vis a vis other
networking brands and that is being able to regulate prices more quickly.
“Pricing is a function of profit and cost. If you have your cost in control and
have the ability to control your intellectual property, then you can easily
create a differentiator between yourself and others,” claimed Mody.

Over time, he got involved in the operations of the company as well and has
managed to steer it onto the path of growth. He is now a supplier of networking
products to government agencies and other companies that floated a tender.

Selling to big clients in the government has given the product credibility.
This is because in the tendering process, the buying companies run rigorous
product tests and those, which do not meet their benchmarks, are immediately
rejected.

“Had our products not been robust, we would have been immediately
disqualified by the selection panel. But the fact that we have been winning
tenders for the past 20 years, shows that our products are the best,” reiterated
Mody. Recently, the company won a contract in Thailand, despite facing stiff
competition from other Taiwanese vendors, which has given Mody an added impetus
to push Realtime's products in the market.

He gives the credit of his success to his team. “I have people who take the
right decisions, even though sometimes I might do not agree with them, and
simply trust them. It is not a matter of whether I think it is right, but doing
what is ultimately right, that has made me successful,” he smiled.

Now, Mody is trying to make inroads into the SMB market, as he believes that
this is the best way to scale up the business. “We have around 70 partners in
the northern region and have been seeing good traction in the market,” he noted.

While he agreed that the conditions in India are not highly conducive for
indigenous manufacturing, he is clear that he would have a brand of his own than
being a trader for other companies. “As a manufacturer, there is a lot of
intellectual property customization that can be done for the local conditions,
which put you above the MNCs who have the vanilla version for all the countries.
These are the things that a trader can't incorporate in the brands he sells,” he
explained.

An Indian at heart

Though he has been out of India for over 25 years now, Mody is still an
Indian at heart. He contribute to religious trusts and also makes it a point to
enjoy homemade food with his relatives every time he is here. In fact, he got
his spacious Mumbai office as a gift from a religious group, to which he had
once contributed funds.

He is also an avid driver. He has offices in nine countries and is very
particular about driving himself in each of these countries. But he admits that
driving in India is a totally different ballgame, where one requires a lot of
mastery on the wheels and on the temper as well.

Mody's son has recently joined Morgan Stanley, along with his nephews. Does
this mean that the diamond business has lost its shine with the younger
generation? “Well, kids today have so many options and want to try so many
things. I want the youngsters in my family to decide for themselves where they
want to be in life, rather than forcing them into something because I believe in
it,” he said.

VINITA BHATIA

vinitavs@cybermedia.co.in