Growth of IoT in India is having a positive impact on LogMeIn: Rahul Sharma

By Anusha Ashwin

Boston-headquartered LogMeIn is a Public Cloud Computing company focused on developing solutions to make worldwide connectivity for mobile work. Founded in 2003, LogMeIn entered India in 2011. LogMeIn is eyeing India as a key growth market by expanding upon its early traction with local BPOs and going after new business with India’s telcos and the burgeoning online retail sector. With the aim of doubling the company’s India operations in the next four years, LogMeIn is helping turn the Internet of Things into a reality by enabling a robust system for the Support-of-Things — the key facet for success of the IoT. Rahul Sharma, Managing Director, LogMeIn India, discusses the company’s interests in strengthening LogMeIn’s India business in a conversation with Voice&Data. Excerpts:

Voice&Data: What is the concept behind LogMeIn?

Rahul Sharma: LogMeIn is a cloud connectivity company that simplifies how people connect to their colleagues, employees, devices and the world around them. LogMeIn was established in both Boston and Budapest in 2003. The idea behind the company’s inception dates back to a personal experience that our co-founder had when he had to drive into the office at 3 am in the morning to reset the servers at his current company. Trying several remote access solutions, he was dissatisfied with what was out there and pioneered a new form of remote connectivity – one that was simpler, faster and more secure. And that is how LogMeIn was born.

With consistent 20% year-over-year revenue growth, 1000+ employees and 2-billion-dollar market cap, the company has grown to become one of the world’s leading SaaS companies.

Voice&Data: When did LogMeIn foray into India and what made the management choose India?

Rahul Sharma: India has always been an exciting market for us, and in 2010 we set up our initial India presence to support regional users of our global clients. Seeing the immense adoption of our products by companies outside of these clients, India quickly transformed into an important growth hub for us. We see our growth in India being positively impacted by four trends — rise of the millennials who are digital natives, increased cloud adoption among enterprises, the Digital India initiative driving technology adoption, and the growth of IoT in India. We are uniquely positioned to support enterprises as they embark on their digital transformation journeys all of the world with India continuing to be a key centre for us.

Voice&Data: What products/services does the company offer for Indian clients?

Rahul Sharma: In India, specifically, we offer most of LogMeIn’s core products including:

LogMeIn Rescue: LogMeIn Rescue is an enterprise-ready professional remote support platform that provides access and support to smartphones, tablets, computers and applications. Four out of five of the world’s top telecommunications companies use Rescue to provide support for mobile devices.

BoldChat: BoldChat is a market-leading live chat and omni-channel customer engagement solution designed to help companies engage with their customers in the right way at the right time to build loyalty, boost conversions and improve operational efficiency.

LogMeIn Pro & Central: The flagship LogMeIn products that allow remote access and management of any computer from anywhere.

LastPass: LastPass is a password manager that makes going online easier and safer, supporting all browsers, operating systems and mobile devices. LastPass Enterprise scales SSO and password management, helping IT be more secure, maintain compliance, and increase productivity.

Xively: Xively is an enterprise IoT solution that simplifies the way companies securely and robustly connects their products & users, manage IoT data at scale, and engage more closely with their customers, users & partners.

Voice&Data: The company seems to be one of the early entrants into IoT. How was this technology exploited to set up LogMeIn?

Rahul Sharma: The Internet of Things is a space that is seeing a plethora of innovations every day. LogMeIn has been making it simple to connect and manage devices for more than 10 years and now we are making it easy for IoT connected products with our Xively IoT Connected Product Management platform. We work with companies around the world to bring to market the most successful and innovative IoT products available today. Xively helps companies connect products securely, manage connected products and the data they produce, and re-imagine how they engage with their customers.

Xively is purpose-built to address key challenges in building and launching a connected product business and helps companies accelerate their IoT initiatives - effectively eliminating the need for costly and risky do-it-yourself IoT projects. The current IoT landscape is far from approachable and is overwhelming to most companies. Through its own innovation and strong partner ecosystem, Xively is doing its part to advance the IoT industry by having a connected product business accessible to companies of all sizes.

Voice&Data: The user can access his/her PC or Mac from a mobile App, according to a description, in a statement by your company. How is this possible?

Rahul Sharma: LogMeIn was built on the core belief that connectivity increases possibilities. LogMeIn Pro allows users to securely access and remotely control their computer desktops and files via the Internet, independent of devices. It provides a user experience akin to using the system, which hosts the original file. This happens on a password-protected basis, and the user can also extend computer and file access to anyone, for instant collaboration. All the user has to do is install the LogMeIn software on the computer that they would like to access and control, and ensure that the computer is turned on. Once that is done, they can access their files from a website or our mobile app. In fact, LogMeIn Pro has globally powered over 3.3 billion remote access sessions till date.

Voice&Data: Who are LogMeIn’s clients in India?

Rahul Sharma: We have over 500 customers in India, including Cognizant, Tech Mahindra, Genpact, Accenture, Happiest Minds, IN Technologies, Glopore, and more. We saw the first wave of adoption of our products come from companies whose business models relied on outsourcing. They adopted LogMeIn’s tools to empower their employees in India to support customers globally and therein began our India journey.

Voice&Data: Since the entry into India, how has LogMeIn grown?

Rahul Sharma: India is a fast-growing market for us and the company has grown exponentially here. We are happy to say that we have over 500 customers in India and we continue to grow our customer base. LogMeIn is one of the world’s leading SaaS companies and has award-winning products across our portfolio. Our presence in India has only helped to positively impact our market position across the board.

Voice&Data: Could you explain about the workforce in India?

Rahul Sharma: Our India office comprises a couple dozen staffers who handle all customer-facing aspects of our business supporting our India customers as well as global customers with an Indian presence. LogMeIn has invested and plans to continue to invest in growing the Indian office. LogMeIn was recently voted as One of Highest-Rated Public Cloud Computing Companies to Work by Glassdoor, and we take pride in providing our team with a fun and engaging workspace.

Voice&Data: What are the future plans for expansion in India?

Rahul Sharma: Indian enterprises are making leaps and strides towards their digital transformation, and we are uniquely positioned to help them in many aspects of that transformation. We are looking at growing our team to cater to the needs of the Indian market, and the future promises to be an interesting one.