It is usually considered that young minds take time to achieve something or start a right career. Stereotyping the youths is one big mistake that the society does. A mind full of ideas, innovations, and extraordinary vision is something that can be seen in the young entrepreneurs.
A man with such mental presence and vision is Varun Abhaykumar Dahotre. He is an inspiring personality who has achieved milestones in his journey towards success. Varun is the Founder and Associate Director at D-DMS Techno Solutions Private Limited. He started reading self-help and business books for understanding how to live life and build a business at the same time.
According to Varun, change is the process of either adding, modifying, or replacing something for a better substitute or alternative to substantially improve something for a good cause.
Bringing in Change
There are a lot of businesses that have the potential to expand but they are not able to. Various factors are stopping them from doing so. An inappropriate mindset, business model, organization structure, non-optimized business process flow, and incorrect use of technology being some of the main ones.
D-DMS Techno Solutions Private Limited is bringing change by way of transforming businesses powerfully with the use of technology catering to the problem statements mentioned above. The world is a hub of business entrepreneurs and intellectuals who have the potential to grow but, they do not have the formal skill for setting up a business.
The Company’s Mission:
- Powerfully Transform Businesses Technologically.
- Digitizing Businesses using emerging technologies.
- Helping Businesses run without the owners actually being involved in the day-to-day activities.
- Tackling change and resistance in businesses while implementing technology and management frameworks.
- Precise Auditing of Systems that will add value to the customer.
Exemplifying Leader
Varun studied his Bachelor of Commerce (B. Com) from Brihan Maharashtra College of Commerce, Pune in 2017. He completed his Chartered Accountancy (CA) in the year 2019 at the age of 22.
He got certified as a Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA) in the year 2021. He has a handhold experience in auditing and implementing information systems for the last six years. He is a Founder and Associate Director at D-DMS Techno Solutions Private Limited and an Associate Partner at Dahotre and Dahotre Chartered Accountants.
Expertise Unleashed
Varun is into business transformation advisory, information systems implementation, management advisory, financial advisory, and auditing services. He had joined his family business (a mid-size Chartered Accountancy firm) back in 2015 as an intern.
He has always had a fascination with information technology since the 6th Grade, which pushed his inner drive towards bringing improvements via technology by digitizing all the business functions possible. This brought a thought in his mind, that almost every business at an MSME (Medium, Small and Micro Enterprises) stage requires business transformation to expand and these services help add actual value to businesses.
Providing the Best
The company provides the following services:
- Digitization and Automation of Business Processes.
- Information Systems Implementation.
- Business Analytics and Financial Management Advisory.
- Management Advisory.
- IT Audits.
Varun helps businesses automate their processes digitally or otherwise thereby freeing the business owner’s mind to support their expansion.
Solutions that Inspire
“The most intimidating challenge in this business was standardizing the business model. Being a service-based business model, it was always difficult to pitch the idea of automation of business processes”, says Varun.
Finding newer sales models, generating quality customer leads, and converting them has also been a major challenge. There has always been a gap between the business owner and technology (application) developers. Varun’s team, which understands both the technological and business aspects help bridge this gap. A distant dream for all MSME businesses, is that they assume that processes can be automated if it is a large company. But it is the other way around, as companies are large because they have already automated their processes well in the past.
Being 25 years of age and running a business was always difficult when it came to converting leads, but through this, Varun has learnt a lot when it comes to personal communication skills, presentation skills, and strong networking skills. This business has allowed him to work with well-known brands at the same time keeping him away from his comfort zone.
Sailing Through the Pandemic
The pandemic has sped up the process of digitization, which is a catalyst for Varun’s business model. But still, due to restrictions on physical presence, the business has had a minor hitch. Learning from the pandemic period last year in 2020, Varun made all his systems ready to enable work from home (WFH) by using a VPN for connecting to his central server and implementing various communication and video-conferencing apps.
This helped his organization sustain its operations while keeping the employees safe.
Keeping up With the Change
Varun will be scaling his business by setting up and implementing the following strategies:
- Setting up strong marketing and sales leadership within the organization.
- Exploring newer sales areas/customers.
- Hiring a like-minded ‘A’ class team, thereby having the ‘Right People for the Right Job.’
- Setting up simple to be executed systems within the organization.
- Keeping a reserve money force learning from the Covid-19 Pandemic.
Listen from the Best
“My advice will always be, learn from your failures and don’t be afraid to fail/change. It is often said, When the fear of staying the same outweighs the fear of change is when you actually change,” says Varun.
It is tough to start a business is what it is said, but Varun says that it is comparatively easy for youngsters, as they are akin to the latest technologies. Technology is the one major thing, which has reshaped how businesses operate in this age.
“Many youngsters and budding entrepreneurs never develop the guts to run a business because they are afraid of the outcome. I would advise them to just dive in the deep waters and believe me that you will learn to swim soon. You live only once, so live it as your last” expresses Varun.
Future Aspirations
When asked about where Varun envisions his company in the future this is what he said, “to capture most of the larger MSME market (Companies having turnover up to INR 500 cr), to enter into application platform/ product development, to have a global presence, talent acquisition and retention.”
Varun’s organization is a service provider and when it comes to the provision of service, it is a part of the overall supply chain in the economy. If all the components of a supply chain succeed, it succeeds and vice versa.
With growing uncertainty due to constant changes in government policies, technology, and other external as well as internal factors, D-DMS is planning to expand into newer horizons. So that it does not keep all its eggs in one basket. Along with Information Systems Implementation advisory, it has also entered the management advisory domain to safeguard the business model.
Industry know-how
Currently, due to the changing scenario in technology, many businesses that are moving forward with technological transformation are gaining a huge competitive edge in terms of market share. On the other side of the coin, some businesses were running smoothly and consistently for years and even decades before Covid-19.
But had to shut down as they were slow to adapt to the technological changes and proper management frameworks. Many businesses sustained too, but are crippled, having lost a huge customer base, and are facing a financial crisis at the same time.
Personal Diary of Mr. Varun Abhaykumar Dahotre
Mr. Varun Abhaykumar Dahotre (Age 25) son of Mr. Abhaykumar Dahotre and Mrs. Rashmi Dahotre started working at the age of 16 when he used to visit and work in his father’s family business (a renowned Chartered Accountancy Firm in Pune, India) and developed a taste for running a business.
He has always had the support of his Father, Mother and Sister (Veena Dahotre), Relatives and friends when it came to living life and culture, a proper and balanced way.
