When Atul Tatke and Kris Subramanian, Co-Founders of Hummingbytes  attend the Speech Tek 2008 Conference in New York City next month they hope attendees will get an opportunity to experience a unique product – a single point delivery platform for voice and mobile solutions.

Last month, Hummingbytes was in full action at the TiECON East Conference in Boston, where for two days, attendees and panelists were aided by the company’s TEXTing method to take in questions during discussions. Attendees sent their questions to sessions’ moderator using TEXTing. The product worked well. Says Atul Tatke, CEO, “This solution really reinforced our vision of providing accelerated solutions using our product. The organizers liked ease of use. The moderators also liked it as they had more control on Q&A sessions with which they could give more value to audience”.

Kris Subramanian adds, “This was just one of the solutions that we offer, as we explained to some interested people who approached us during the conference. Hummingbytes IIG does more than that and that is why we are unique in this space.”

Atul Tatke, CEO provides the vision, strategic direction and execution for the company. He brings 14 years of business automation expertise from industries like Finance, Healthcare and Publishing. He has successfully led teams to provide solutions like CRM, Electronic Health Record systems, BPM, etc. Prior to Hummingbytes he co-founded Sognus Inc., a Massachusetts based software Services Company. Atul has a Masters degree in Computer Science from Boston University.

Kris Subramanian, CTO is responsible for Hummingbytes product strategy. He led the design and development effort of Interactive Information Gateway (IIG), company’s flagship product. His main focus has been to find innovative ways to enhance the product. Kris comes with extensive experience from the telecom sector, designing voice solutions, IVR systems and predictive dialers. Kris has a Master's degree in Computer Science from University of South Alabama.

Lokvani sat down with the two enterprising entrepreneurs to share their vision about their company.

In a nutshell, describe Hummingbytes?

Enterprises have adopted Web and Email as standard modes to communicate with people. But both these modes lack interactivity to an extent. With IIG's extended communication mode, enterprises can interact with their customers anywhere and anytime.

Hummingbytes Interactive Information Gateway (IIG) is a unification of Voice (Speech enabled telephony), SMS, Instant Messaging (IM), Fax and E-mail into a single delivery model. It is a platform with which one can accelerate implementation of Voice and Mobile solutions.

How did you start? Where did the inspiration come from and how did you go about it?

We have known each for almost 13 years. Over the years we shared ideas and experiences with each other. But in early 2005 we started solidifying these ideas into a solution. Kris was doing PhD in University of Florida and Atul had a software services company in Boston. We started talking about the idea over the phone. Our first idea was a product to place a song request for someone special on the phone. We had also named that product Dhwaniworks. We were thinking of launching this idea in India and also went to India to analyze the market.

Soon we realized that we could create a communication product which could be used to create innumerous ideas like Dhwaniworks easily. By 2006 we had started putting efforts into developing the product. Realizing the potential of this product we abandoned our respective endeavors (Kris left his PhD and Atul shutdown his startup). Kris moved to Mass and we founded Hummingbytes in late 2006. For one year we worked from the basement, developing our product and ratifying our idea with business community. It was a memorable experience for both of us and we enjoyed those long nights of coding and intellectual exchange.

 How does the Application differ from anything else in the market?

Using Hummingybytes Interactive Information Gateway (IIG) any enterprise software application can become Voice and Mobile enabled. Today's software communicates with their user base with Web and e-mail; with IIG they can extend their reach by adding Voice, TEXTing (SMS) and Instant Messaging.

The solution is used as "Software as a Service" so it is easy to integrate without spending too much of time and money on hardware and communication software development.

 Give us an example of a client that used it for their benefit effectively?

One of our clients is in Business Process Modeling (BPM) and Workflow space.We have integrated our product with their software product. They had Web and E-mail as a communication mechanism. We provided Voice as a third alternative to their solution. Now people can interact with the BPM-Workflow system with their phones which is very useful for mobile workforce.

 What is the next stage or planning for your company?

In the US almost 82% of people have now cell phones and the trend is increasing.Almost 35% people in business world are mobile and the trend is increasing.More and more people are using technologies like TEXTing and Instant Messaging.We are poised to capitalize on this trend. Our first version of product has been released in the market and we have few customers. Our next version will have advanced communication mechanisms. We are also looking for venture capital.

What does being an entrepreneur mean to you?

Kris: It means doing things which are unthinkable. I quit my PhD program in Florida, packed my bags and came here. I have no regrets at all. You have to give yourself at least two years before you hit the gold. In the meanwhile, use the time to hone the idea and have patience.

Atul: A friend of mine once said to expect no return the first 1000 days. This is my second venture and the lessons I learnt were, that this time we created the product, acquired some consulting before we started. It is a lot of hard work and commitment.

Where do you see yourself five years from now?

We are expanding our sales network and customer base. In the next 6 months we are planning to add and enhance features. We also hope to expand beyond the US market to maybe India with its exploding mobile user base.

Other information useful to Lokvani readers

We are always on the look out for entrepreneurs with fresh ideas. We invite budding entrepreneurs to use our product in their environment. We are more than happy to help them by providing our product for their idea. Visit us at www.hummingbytes.com

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