Tally, as an organization, has been through a roller coaster, from being a start-up to becoming a market leader to seeing product prices collapse. It has several future goals and the main one is to become a Rs 5000 crore company in the near future. Bharat Goenka, the founder of Tally Solutions, India’s largest company in accounting software domain, has big ambitions. The company intends to surpass $2 billion in revenue by the end of FY 16-17 at a growth rate that might make other startups think.
Growing twenty times in a few years may seem like an unreasonable dream; however, the ambition to do so is perhaps more a product of Tally’s unrealized ambitions than a statement of overconfidence. After a long road littered with struggles, successes, and then some big mistakes, Tally seems to have discovered herself and sees no reason why she shouldn’t take to the open road at alarming speed. The founder of the company seems to be clear about his priorities for the company this time. According to him, it is quite easy to make money, but it is not that simple to create an impact and if the company is successful in doing so, it is natural that the money will flow.
Tally’s flagship software, ERP 9, is widely considered the best accounting package available to businesses today. Its ease of use and its ability to impart access to real-time information, enabling up-to-date cash flow analysis and offering the ability to better understand the numbers behind a business on an ongoing basis, is what makes Tally unique in India. Today, his product has an 80% market share, and according to Mr. Goenka, manual bookkeeping is the only competition. Although financial accounting is a global product, it is extremely unique to each market.
According to experts, the accounting standard and rules in India are quite different and also change very fast. One of the biggest benefits that Tally has is their understanding of the regulatory environment in the country and the fact that they update their products very frequently. The other great benefit of Tally ERP is their strong network of partners, who actually go and sell their products in the marketplace. The expert is of the opinion that for any global company to succeed in India, where many small businesses require people to come and sell and install their products, this is a tough act to follow.
going forward
Tally primarily sells its products under two brand names; Tally and Shopper. The company has presented its latest version Tally ERP 9 which has been a great success. In the future, it has also identified an area of opportunity, mainly ‘supply chain visibility’; seeks to take advantage of its broad reach to offer last-mile connectivity to small and medium-sized organizations.
For Tally to get past the growing completion and reach the anticipated $2 billion mark, she must get back to the things that made her successful in the first place, which is innovation and unmatched work ethic.