SUMMARY
The Revvsales document management lets businesses control access, workflow and approvals for key documents through templates and collaboration
Since January, the company has seen 1500 businesses using its platform with the freemium model for small teams triggering growth during the lockdown
Cofounder Sameer Goel said the vision is to enable the use of documents as vehicles to transfer data from one system to another within a business
The coronavirus pandemic has forced people around the world to give up their daily lives and limit themselves to their homes. Such a drastic change in behaviour has obviously had an impact on businesses everywhere, including in India, where many IT giants, startups and corporates have also asked employees to work from home. However, this impact is not just limited to their balance sheets but also in their day-to-day operations.
Beyond just adjusting to working outside the office, it’s also about finding new ways to connect with teammates, reviewing targets and approaching consumers and customers in a more responsible manner. Perhaps nothing is more important for businesses these days than automation in most processes.
Even something as simple as creating a document for collaboration and processing can be fraught with complications when working with a remote workforce. Documentation is at the core of all businesses, and documents that have transaction values are crucial from the bottomline perspective as well. Bengaluru-based Revvsales is targeting this basic need for companies and empower them in creating and managing documents such as proposals, invoices, quotes, contracts and agreements of various kinds, resignation letters, recommendation letters and more.
Founded in 2018, the all-in-one document management system lets businesses take full control of document templates, approval flows, workflows and data from internal systems. Simply put, Revvsales is looking to bring alternative to Google Docs or Microsoft Word, which while indispensable in many cases, may not have the smarts that Revvsales has added to its system.
Cofounder and CEO Rishi Kulkarni told Inc42 that when it comes to document tools, the biggest mind share continues to be Microsoft Word and Google Docs, however, these are generic and may not integrate with communication apps, enterprise email and cloud storage solutions or platforms such as Workato, Hubspot or Salesforce. To infuse documents with logic, data and application programme interface (APIs) still need some kind of consultant or additional resource.
“That is where most of these applications fall short. We are not up against one competition, we are up against a suit of application as we bring all of that under one roof,” added Sameer Goel, cofounder and COO.
Besides Revvsales, other notable document and template management applications include eFileCabinet, Hightail, PaperTracer, DocuWare, Templafy, M-Files, MasterControl and more. But a majority of these target enterprise clients and bigger customers. Revvsales currently focuses on bringing enterprise-grade, data management tools to individuals, teams, freelancers and small and medium businesses (SMBs). “This is the target segment which needs most help when it comes to tools, software and technology. Large corporates have enough resources to make it through this period,” added Kulkarni.
Backed by Lightspeed Venture Partners and Matrix Partners, Revvsales has customers in the US, Singapore, UK, South Africa, India and Australia among other markets. The list includes Sprout Solutions, Randstad, Hypertec, Moglix, Hexagon, Miracle Software Systems among others. With an undisclosed amount of funding raised from investors, the current focus is on revenue generation. Revvsales charges customers on a per user basis at a rate of $15 per user per month for SMBs. The service is free for teams with less than ten members.
Revvsales emerged from stealth mode in September 2019, and has been aggressively pitching its products to SMBs, enterprises and founders since then at various industry events, but this had to change with Covid-19. “In fact, we had booked a booth at SaaStr event which was supposed to be held in March, but then Covid-19 happened and everything got cancelled,” Kulkarni revealed.
By mid-March, the entire team had moved to work from home and by April, things slowly began to normalise, when the company started seeing gradual growth as most companies started to work remotely. “A lot of them were looking for product-first, easy to use collaborative tools. This was automatically followed by virtual product demos via email, video and audio calls,” shared Goel.
Since January, it has seen 1500 businesses using its platform. The freemium model offered by Revvsales has been a major trigger behind this growth. “Honestly, we do not know, if Covid-19 or the need for the enterprise to have a simplified document management system triggered this growth,” said Kulkarni.
As per the Wall Street Journal report, nearly 28% of job searches are now for remote or work from home, and the searches went up to 40%. Revvsales, which essentially addresses remote working challenges, is looking to automate most of the features across its document management system through artificial intelligence, machine learning algorithms and predictive analytics.
When it comes to safety, storage and authenticity of documents, Revvsales currently uses Amazon Cloud Services (AWS), approved SOC 1 and SOC 2 cloud security. Its eSignature is approved in 48 countries in Europe, US and UK.
Citing the example of Canva and Grammarly for what it has done for design and writing, Goel said that Revvsales aims to be that player in the document management space. He said the idea is to use documents as a vehicle to transfer data from one system to another and simplify the experience of not having to use multiple applications and tools in the process. “Making things simple is complex,” said Kulkarni.
“At the end of the day, users don’t care what technology you have used to get the product right, what they really care is the convenience factor, and how easy, safe or simple your product is to use,” concluded Goel.
