Karthik Mani, Chief Product Officer for Aptos, and Prashant Kamat, VP of Aptos India, share how technology innovation is driving the retail industry forward and why Aptos, a leading global technology provider, is significantly expanding its presence in India.
Q. For starters, can you describe Aptos and what types of solutions you offer?
A. Karthik: Aptos is one of the largest technology providers 100% focused on retail. Our solutions help retailers price, promote, sell, fulfil and stock products and are trusted by over 1,000 retail brands in 65 countries. Some of the retailers we work with include Crocs, Michael Kors, New Balance, Skechers and WH Smith. We have 1,600 colleagues – and growing – who are located around the globe.
Q: Aptos received a strategic capital commitment from Goldman Sachs in 2020. How has that investment been beneficial to Aptos – and your clients?
A. Karthik: Aptos was acquired by Goldman Sachs in early 2020, right before the pandemic took hold in many parts of the world. While the pandemic has been devastating on every level (lives, businesses, economies), from an Aptos standpoint, we were fortunate that our business was in a position to not only continue investing in our products, but in many cases, to accelerate some of those investments.
These investments have provided our customers with material competitive advantages, and in turn, have allowed Aptos to create clear differentiation between itself and other technology vendors in the market.
Many software companies do not have the funding to move beyond their legacy technology portfolios. At Aptos, we are all about innovation. Our development teams are delivering AI-enabled, mobile-first, cloud-native, API-centric and microservices-based technologies.
Q: From an innovation standpoint, is your roadmap being driven heavily by many of the consumer behaviour shifts that resulted from the pandemic?
A. Karthik: That’s a great question. And the answer is yes. More consumer shopping journeys are beginning online. More journeys are crossing between digital channels and stores. While I believe the store will continue to be central to the vast majority of retail purchases, there’s no doubt that consumers are looking for a more blended experience across retailers’ channels.
Directly related to this, Aptos’ vision is to be the No. 1 global provider for unified commerce solutions. We define unified commerce as the activities necessary for retailers to connect customers with products.
Q. Related to your investments in innovation, Aptos announced the launch of Aptos India, a new entity in Bengaluru, to augment development and delivery capabilities. Can you tell us more about that?
A. Prashant: Several years ago, Aptos began its investment in the Indian market primarily through partnerships. Those partnerships helped us to establish our India-based operations, giving us the opportunity to tap into India’s vibrant ecosystem of highly skilled software talent.
Now a convergence of factors – including Aptos’ expanding customer base in Asia-Pacific, accelerated funding for R&D investments and maturing global infrastructure – has led to our decision to launch an Aptos-owned entity in India.
Our business already has 400+ colleagues in Asia-Pacific, so we are excited to increase our focus and presence materially in India, with plans to have about 200 colleagues in-country by the end of 2022. We are actively hiring in Bengaluru across numerous positions, in areas such as engineering, consulting, customer operations and other key roles.
Q. For someone who is interested in learning more about Aptos and the positions available in Bengaluru, how would you describe the opportunity?
A. Prashant: I would first emphasise that by joining Aptos India, a colleague can experience the fulfilment of being part of an empowered, new, fast moving team on a meaningful mission. Aptos India colleagues can see their impact day to day while enjoying the confidence that comes from being employed at one of the largest technology providers servicing the retail sector.
I would also highlight the opportunity to do truly ground-breaking work – as Karthik mentioned earlier, we are leveraging capabilities such as cloud-native and mobile-first technologies, data-science and machine learning algorithms, microservices-based architectures, etc.
The intent of Aptos India is to bring to market cutting-edge technologies that can have a direct impact on our customers’ organisations – and our customers happen to be some of the most recognisable retail brands in the world.
For someone who enjoys a fast pace and the ability to be part of a global team, Aptos is a great place to advance your career. Our company has a strong focus on building the right culture – a culture that is supportive, collaborative and welcoming to new people and new ideas.
If you are interested in learning more about Aptos India and the employment opportunities available in Bengaluru, reach out to Prashant Kamat or Smitha Pradeep on LinkedIn or visit the Aptos Careers page.
