3 months ago
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In this edition, we sit down with Shash Anand, Senior Vice President of Product Strategy at SOTI, to explore the company’s journey from a single-product organization to a leader in enterprise mobility and IoT management. With a background that spans both technical and business realms, Shash shares how his experience at IBM shaped his approach to scaling operations at SOTI. In this insightful conversation, he discusses the future of AI and automation in enterprise tech, strategic budget allocation across industries, and what it takes to build scalable device intelligence. Read on to discover Shash’s expert insights.
How did your previous experience at IBM prepare you for your role at SOTI, and what were some of the key challenges you faced during the transition?
At IBM, I started as a Technical Support Engineer with aspirations of transitioning into Software Development. In this role, I gained extensive experience in scalability, performance, user experience and troubleshooting, while also directly interacting with customers to understand their business challenges. This exposure revealed a gap in my business knowledge, prompting me to pursue a part-time MBA to enhance my understanding and prepare for a management role. This led to a position in Business Operations Management at IBM, where I gained valuable insight into strategy, outsourcing and deployment. While I enjoyed the change of pace, I wanted to find something to merge the business side with the technological aspects of my previous work.
My transition to SOTI as a Technical Support Manager allowed me to apply business management skills with a focus on technology. Joining SOTI when it was a small company of just 40 people, I faced the challenge of scaling support operations. I introduced essential documentation practices to build a knowledge base and improve our online help, which reduced support calls and empowered customers to resolve issues independently. Additionally, I successfully established a professional services team that offered training, consulting and advanced configurations, further contributing to the company’s growth and efficiency.
Can you describe the journey of SOTI’s transformation from a single product company focused on MDM to a comprehensive platform for enterprise mobility and IoT management?
Organizations and leaders have shifted their focus from embracing digital transformation to using tech to understand end users and increase process efficiency under one pane of glass. The SOTI ONE Platform was built for this reason; an innovative platform that reduces the cost, complexity and downtime of business-critical mobility as more businesses embrace digital transformation. It destroys functional silos, enables integrated solutions that build apps faster and secures and manages all mobile devices and printers.
Enterprises in the retail, healthcare, field services, emergency services and transportation and logistics (T&L) industries struggle to manage the process of connecting purchased mobile devices, especially as organizations learn that the average consumer requires rapid access to information, making mobility critical to business operations.
Quality and innovation drive SOTI’s commitment to remaining at the forefront of mobility management. Through researching and developing solutions that address some of the biggest challenges of the fast-paced mobility market, SOTI ONE uses business intelligence to improve and automate in this mobile-first era. Mobile technology will continue to play a critical role in how companies do business, but the rapid growth of connected workers and devices creates new challenges. Workers in dispersed locations are managing growing task lists with more apps on more operating systems with more mobile devices than ever before.
SOTI recognized early on that MDM alone is not enough to tackle the challenges organizations are having around mission-critical devices and workforce management. Through speaking with customers, we found they wanted greater visibility into their real-time operations, further automation of manual processes, more integration between different systems, greater security for all types of devices, including printers, scanners and other device types, advanced troubleshooting tools to avoid costly downtime and finally, operational intelligence that would make them proactive as opposed to reactive with their workforce when it comes to mission-critical operations. We started to build these additional products with the intention of creating a platform that tightly integrates together.
Having device management at the core enables us to not only provide high-quality solutions that tackle all these other business problems, but that can perform advanced actions that no other standalone solution could achieve. Hence, the SOTI ONE Platform is a one-stop shop for all of your workforce management needs that no other solution in the world can provide.
How do you see AI and automation reshaping the landscape of enterprise tech investments, and what are the key trends companies should watch out for?
More companies will adopt AI to streamline tricky processes, predict resource needs, optimize decision-making and enhance operational efficiency – but it will be crucial for businesses to learn how to harness their AI capabilities on a personalized level. Using data and analytics to track devices across your fleet, monitor battery health, identify barriers, detect downtime and more will all improve operations and ultimately lead to high-level, intelligent decisions that effectively contribute to your bottom line.
By harnessing AI capabilities, such as those integrated into our products at SOTI, organizations can significantly streamline complex tasks that traditionally require extensive time and expertise. This technology empowers teams to make rapid decisions, predict device performance and gain insights that drive proactive decision-making.
Integrating AI into software development expedites the development lifecycle for creators and organizers by automating time-intensive processes, as exemplified by SOTI Snap which leverages AI to take manual processes to digital to reduce human error. Further, AI-powered predictive analytics – like our AI Engine – enable organizations to optimize resource allocation, reducing unnecessary expenditures and maximizing productivity.
AI and automation are currently massive investments for organizations that want to save on costs. The key is to identify real business problems that AI can help you solve. Companies should keep track of what AI tools are available as the landscape is changing on a daily basis. The costs of building automation and using Gen AI are starting to go down, so it’s important to explore, compare and leverage trusted companies who continue to focus in this area. You should see the tools and products you are using incorporate Gen AI and automation to improve productivity by at least 30%.
In your view, how should companies in retail, transportation & logistics, and healthcare strategically allocate their AI budgets to maximize impact and innovation?
AI-driven diagnostic intelligence and proactive support solutions empower retailers to identify and resolve issues before they impact the consumer experience. One example is building mobile apps. Instead of writing code, which could take months, or dragging and dropping and building apps one widget at a time, with AI, you can take a picture of a napkin or upload a PDF and the app will be generated automatically. App development will go from months to minutes and companies can spend more time working on customer service. AI can also be incorporated by using your natural language to speak to apps to populate data in mobile app forms. You can use your voice to configure complex settings that might otherwise take a considerable amount of time. With the increased emergence of AI use, businesses will need to adopt security protocols more than ever to support and protect their networks.
For companies in supply chain or transportation and logistics (T&L) industries, delivering on time every time isn’t just a promise; it is the brand. Globally, our recent retail report found that 45% of consumers expect to be able to pick up an item ordered online from a physical store on the same day, and 74% of global consumers expect to always know the status of their orders, highlighting the need for efficient supply chain visibility. By integrating location, signal strength and speed data with critical business information, such as inventory levels and delivery status, AI can ensure that in-store hyper-personalization can replicate the seamlessness consumers expect from online shopping.
This also benefits inventory management as AI-powered systems can analyze demand forecasts, historical sales data and supply chain disruptions to optimize inventory levels, ensuring that warehouses maintain adequate stock without excess inventory. The supplier-retailer relationship also sees a benefit as it helps retailers relay critical delivery and product information to consumers and continue to go back to suppliers if consumers have a great experience. In this same vein, T&L and retailer leaders can also use AI to adjust pricing. AI algorithms can adjust pricing in real-time based on factors such as demand, supply, competitor pricing and market conditions, maximizing revenue while remaining competitive.
For the healthcare industry, mobile devices stand as a transformative force actively shaping real-time monitoring and data collection that not only streamline processes but also enhance overall efficiency in the delivery of patient care. In fact, our recent healthcare report found that despite 85% of global healthcare organizations believing AI could help simplify tasks, only 23% are currently using AI widely at present. A great use of AI and machine learning – if integrated effectively – is to remove some of the current bottlenecks in Telehealth. This type of tech would help to provide a more seamless connection between patient and physician. It would automatically and more accurately update patient records – and produce quicker – automated treatment plans that would be visible to those patients digitally.
What are the critical components of scalable device intelligence, and how can organizations leverage these to future-proof their infrastructure?
At SOTI, we have found it crucial to look beyond your collection of managed mobile devices to incorporate all the tools employees use to get the work done. In other words, look for analytics tools that provide a true, well-rounded view of your mobile fleet. Luckily, Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) platforms do provide some of these data intelligence services, and some even cover bring-your-own-device (BYOD) programs and other unique, non-company-managed devices.
For a future-proofed infrastructure, we have found there are four important ways to leverage data intelligence for stronger device management – and a more effective organization overall:
1. Performance Visibility – You cannot fix a problem that you do not see and with mobile devices, there are plenty of challenges to improve. For example, battery failure leads to a significant loss of productivity, so data on battery performance can help you replace batteries before they start affecting your mission. Additionally, analytics on app performance can help you locate the data logs in your enterprise suite, preventing surprise data charges.
2. Diagnostics and Troubleshooting – It is hard to resolve a technical issue over the phone. Data-collection tools can improve diagnostics and help IT staff quickly resolve problems without too much frustration on either end. We recommend looking for diagnostic tools that provide remote control for IT staff, remote whiteboard and annotation, and audio and video recording for IT support interactions.
3. Location, Signal Strength and Data Usage – With asset tracking built into your device data intelligence tool, you will know where your devices are in real-time. Additional data points can reveal operational patterns that affect efficiency. For example, by comparing location with signal strength, you can see if your carriers are providing the right level of connectivity. By overlaying data usage with location, you can determine where employees might need more support. This level of visualization provides actionable insights, so you can make smart, data-driven decisions going forward.
4. Support Ticket Management – If you do not have good data on incoming support requests, your IT team cannot function efficiently. And without functioning mobile devices, your whole operation is at risk. Strong data on support requests allows your IT team to resolve every ticket as quickly and effectively as possible.
Having led SOTI’s global expansion, what are the key factors to consider when scaling a tech company’s operations across different markets?
Working with trusted individuals—whether long-standing customers, partners or colleagues—is crucial for success. Be cautious of exclusivity requests in a region, as while they might offer short-term benefits, they could also limit growth potential. If exclusivity is considered, it’s advisable to make it time-bound to allow for mutual agreement on various scenarios.
Additionally, the challenges faced by organizations in one vertical are often similar to those in others. Therefore, if your products are well-designed, localizable, scalable and address real business problems, expanding into new markets should be more manageable. For instance, since remote troubleshooting of mobile devices is a widespread issue due to application inconsistencies, developing a robust tool for this purpose can be beneficial across multiple markets.
With experience in technical and operational roles, how do you balance the demands of product management, marketing, and strategic alliances to drive product strategy?
With a strong team of highly motivated, intelligent and hardworking individuals, anything is possible. Understanding the interconnected demands of the team and focusing on the customer’s business problems—how these issues impact their operations, what they are currently doing to address them and the associated costs—is crucial, as well as determining the best solutions to these problems. Therefore, spending a lot of time engaging with customers and partners is vital, as they provide the most important feedback. I particularly enjoy presenting and demonstrating our solutions at trade shows, Quarterly Business Reviews, Sales Kickoffs and other events where I can gather direct feedback. Communicating this feedback to a team eager to learn is what makes my role at SOTI so exciting.
What do you envision as the future of enterprise mobility management, especially in the context of increasing IoT adoption and cybersecurity concerns?
As the number of new mobile devices and apps as well as people using devices skyrockets, so are cybercriminals targeting mobile devices and apps to steal sensitive data and slow down processes. Mobile devices are soft targets — they operate outside of the walls of the office and use public communications networks.
Mobile ransomware is one of the fastest-growing categories of malware. When you factor in the scale and vulnerability of the Internet of Things (IoT), you get a grim picture of the future. Tens of billions of devices and endpoints with little or no security. There are no “silver bullets” when it comes to mobile security, but there are some straightforward steps you can take to make things better.
Companies should create a corporate mobility policy to establish guidelines around the assignment and use of mobile devices and apps within the business. It will answer important questions such as, who within the company should get what type of mobile device (laptop, tablet or smartphone)? What apps do workers need or are allowed to install on their own? Who gets access to what documents and files and from where can they access them? Does your company allow or promote bring-your-own-devices (BYOD) and apps? If so, how are they secured to prevent data leakage? The best corporate mobility policy is simply to have one. Once something is in place, it is easy to grow it and change it as your company evolves and mobile workers figure out new ways to mess things up.
Another step is to use an EMM solution to enforce full lifecycle mobile security. Once you have created a corporate mobility policy and educated your workers, it is important to deploy an EMM solution to enforce it. An EMM tool, such as SOTI MobiControl, brings your corporate mobility policy to life. Your enterprise mobile security is only as strong as its weakest link.
Lastly, once an EMM is in place, companies should follow “best practices” to prevent and mitigate security threats for each phase of the mobility lifecycle. It is important to keep abreast of current mobile security trends and threats, which is one of the most heavily covered topics at the moment. It is time for companies to take their mobile security seriously.
As Chairman of the Board at MCIS Language Solutions, how do you leverage your expertise in tech and business to support the organization’s mission?
When I joined MCIS Language Solutions, I became involved with the Marketing and Operations Committee with the goal of understanding how not-for-profit organizations operate and offering advice on scaling their growth. Recognizing the need for technological improvements, we established a Technology Committee. I took the lead on this initiative, and we focused on transitioning from local servers to cloud-based solutions to enhance MCIS’s tech capabilities. Despite MCIS’s distinct mission of eliminating language barriers and upholding the human right to be informed, heard and understood, the organization faced similar growth challenges to those encountered by SOTI. Drawing on my experience at SOTI and IBM, I have been able to provide valuable advice and share insights to help MCIS navigate and avoid common pitfalls.
What drives your passion for technology and innovation, and what personal achievements are you most proud of in your career thus far?
Technology is continually evolving as innovation progresses, and I am passionate about exploring new technologies, understanding the problems they solve and examining their global impact. I am immensely proud of completing my MBA part-time from Rotman, an achievement made possible with the unwavering support of my wife, Pam. Her patience and encouragement allowed me to balance long hours of study with family life, contributing to both my successful career and our wonderful family. I am also proud of my two boys, Sayan (16) and Samay (13), who keep me engaged through sports, academic challenges and family time. Professionally, I take great pride in my 15-year tenure at SOTI, where I have thrived in eight different roles and expanded my responsibilities. Lastly, I’m proud to serve as Chairman of the Board for MCIS and volunteer my time for a greater cause.
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