How Digitisation, Customer Management Helped Aquatics India Grow 23%

Running a business can be compared to building a sports car for a race. Just like a race car needs the right engineering and design, lubricant, speed, and a skilled team, a business also requires a dedicated and motivated team, shared vision and mission, streamlined processes and efforts to scale it up.

This analogy or comparison holds in the case of Aquatics India, a water solutions provider, which has been taking consistent measures to grow 23% Y-o-Y for last several years.

Aquatics India, which started in 2004, offers water pumps, systems, and accessories for water wells, pressure boosters, agricultural and irrigation applications, HVAC systems, boiler controls, flood control and fire protection, wastewater and drainage pumps, secondary biologic treatment, disinfection, and media and membrane filtration.

"We started with Lowara brand because we believed from the beginning that there is a huge scope for an innovative solution and Lowara has been known for their constant innovation. Now, Lowara has come under the brand Xylem and we are handling multiple range of products in various categories. We have catered to almost 1500 customers+ in the last four years which include the industry leaders in different verticals," said Niral Shah, Managing Director, Aquatics India.

Initially, Aquatics India saw a minuscule growth. "It was within the range of 10-15% and our main objective was to build our name in the market for unique solutions and customer-centricity," said Shah.

To achieve their growth targets, the water solutions provider sought professional help and hired consultants to identify gaps and opportunities.

"Our company started by defining SLAs for resolution, strengthening our team through constant training on various aspects including SLAs, customer centricity, technical on-site troubleshooting or remotely, effective time management, etc," said Shah.

Through professional help and aligning the team with the same mission, Shah said the company's focus on timely resolution resulted in higher customer satisfaction and growth in the business.

"Also, we worked on redefining our overall solution for respective verticals, with our sales team. As part of this process, we ensured that our clients were educated about the available solutions and we worked together with them to meet their commercial and technical requirements. Due to the continued support and our technical expertise and commitment, we became preferred partners for our customers," Shah added.

Operationally, Aquatics India also streamlined their supply chain to ensure timely delivery of materials to clients by implementing continuous practices and methods. They even expanded their warehouse capacity, adopted digital tools to manage the movement of materials.

"By doing all of this, our business saw a growth of more than 23% year over year. We controlled our working capital requirement, eliminate wastages, and increase our operational efficiency. On the human capital front, we created effective incentive policies. The incentive plan was designed so that the contribution of each salesperson was acknowledged, which thereby boosted morale. Our business started with a service function, since our business is service oriented, we strive to ensure our customers receive the best service and resolve their problems on time as promised," said Shah.

Going digital is not an option anymore. It has become a necessity for every entrepreneur to grow their business. The benefits of digital tools were also acknowledged by Aquatics India as they gave them control and great insights into the business.

“Yes, digitisation was an important aspect for us. Having a transparent system showcasing individual’s contribution towards the overall goal was a key priority for us. Along with this, we have ensured our key processes are automated which helps the team in prioritising their tasks and accordingly act on them. We built various in-house tools to review our sales insights, stock availability status, order and services fulfilment status with the help of the management consultants,” said Shah.

The water pumps industry continues to face several challenges due to inflation in manufacturing costs, which have variably increased the prices of all the products. Shah said clients are reluctant to work on escalated costs and overlook operating costs, long term benefits, technical soundness, safety, etc. 

"Also, there is a lack of continuity due to COVID-19. Due to the disturbances across the world, material availability has become a challenge. Orders have been delayed for over three months. Aquatics is the master distributor for Xylem and maintains a fairly large stock of running pump models which has proven to be a respite for end users in such times. The ever-fluctuating variable costs of fuel and other consumables is making it extremely difficult to derive a stable selling price particularly for Annual Maintenance Contracts (AMCs)," said Shah.

Aquatics India envisions to be a leading distributor of premium and niche products in water storage, supply, treatment, cooling and heating and thereby emerging as a solution provider for all water needs in the western part of India by achieving a turnover of Rs 75 Crore by 2024.

In his message to business owners, Shah said, "One should have clear focus and goals, ensure the customer commitment is adhered to, use technology to have better internal controls and have an internal culture."

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