Deskera sees exponential uptick in app downloads in 2020

- Deskera is seeing major adoption of its free business app, launched in January 2020.

- Since the global outbreak of COVID-19, Deskera has seen 300,000 downloads of the app

A new normal accelerated by the outbreak of COVID-19 has been the biggest proof of concept for cloud computing, according to Shashank Dixit, CEO, Deskera. The company has seen increased business momentum across its key markets since the outbreak, especially in the adoption of an award-winning app that was launched in January 2020.

The free full-featured mobile business app targets small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in mobile-first economies such as India and Southeast Asia. The solution helps to run every facet of their business, from accounting to inventory, attendance to expenses and tax management.

“With changing market dynamics, we felt the need to change too - to keep growing, to continue to provide positive customer experiences and to stay business relevant with a shift in our business model. For years now, everyone has spoken about how markets such as India and Southeast Asia leapfrogged the PC revolution to the mobile era. But it was interesting that no one thought deeply enough about providing small- and medium-sized businesses with the freedom to run their businesses on the mobile.

"That is the paradigm shift that we are attempting to address - to empower SMEs to run their business on the mobile, leveraging the cloud, from anywhere in the world. The current global health situation has only accelerated their digital transformation journey,” said Shashank Dixit, CEO, Deskera.

While digitisation has never been a core business focus for most SMEs in Southeast Asia, particularly with access and costs being deterrents, Deskera observes a visible shift towards adopting technology to battle the economic effects of the pandemic. Since the soft launch of the app in January this year, the number of downloads have exceeded 300,000. Deskera has been onboarding 70,000-80,000 users a month, making it one of the fastest growing apps in the region for the Invoices, Taxes & Accounting categories.

“SMEs need to continue to adopt digital practices and tools that will enable them to future-proof their competitive advantage. This current period has proved to be the biggest proof of concept for cloud-based technologies,” Dixit added.

According to Deskera, the app was fully built in-house, and recently earned the distinction of becoming a Webby Honoree, an award from the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences.

The increased business momentum coincides with a shift in its go-to-market model, from selling purely through channels model to one where Deskera and its channels sell direct to customers. Customers can buy from Deskera through a self-service model via the mobile app and the website. Over the last twelve months, Deskera has experienced a year-on-year (YoY) user acquisition run rate that is faster than the average market growth rate.

The company also doubled its headcount in Singapore during this period.

In 2018-19, Deskera raised over $100 million in an extended Series A round from investors Jungle Ventures, Cisco Investments, Tembusu Partners, Susquehanna International Group and Innoven Capital. The company’s primary focus for 2020 will be to increase market share through continued online marketing efforts, broader efforts in user acquisition and platform improvements.

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Download the free Deskera App at the App Store and Google Playstore.