We are excited to welcome Satish Thiagarajan, Founder@ Brysa. We hear his founder’s story in his own words, his successes, his challenges, and his insights. Let’s begin…

Let’s start by getting to know you. Can you tell us a little about yourself, your background, and what you do today?

I am Satish and I am the CEO of the Salesforce technology consulting and implementation company, Brysa. I started out studying Engineering, Business, and Culture, but the majority of my career has been spent in the Media industry, with some experience in Banking and Engineering.

On a personal level, I come from a modest socio-economic background, which has shaped my outlook on life. As such, my values are built around trust, commitment, and service — something that I’ve worked hard to build into the foundations of Brysa.

What does Brysa do, who do you serve, where are you based, and how can people engage with your product or service today?

Brysa are experts in consulting, implementation, and maintenance of Salesforce, the world’s leading Sales and Service CRM platform. We do this with a focus on the Media industry, whether it be publishers, retail or traditional media owners, media agencies, creative agencies, or any other niche in the almost $1 trillion media ecosystem.

We’re founded and based in London, and that’s where all of our consultants are based too, giving us a comprehensive understanding of our UK, European, and North American client base.

Our clients are mainly in the Media industry, and they come in all shapes and sizes. From small out-of-home media companies to large-scale agencies and everything in between. We also have valuable clients in the Engineering and Charity verticals, both in the UK and in North America, which keeps things interesting.

Anyone who wants to engage with us can find us through our LinkedIn channel or through our website www.brysa.co.uk.

How did you start Brysa? What moment or insight made you decide to take the leap?

It wasn’t much of a leap, more of an evolution. I used to play basketball at a fairly high level in India, and we use a mantra: when you see an opportunity, take the shot. I just took the shot as the opportunity presented itself. I had already implemented and maintained Salesforce on the client side with a sizeable UK-based media company. When M&A activities were happening in that company, I saw how the Salesforce services could be better provided, so I took the next logical step and started Brysa.

The continued innovation and leadership of Salesforce in AI has made it an exciting and profitable sector to become involved in. Some economists are predicting 20% y-o-y world economic growth due to the AI-effect, and Salesforce will play a big part in this hypergrowth through Sales and Service automations. Brysa has a major role in taking this change to the market in the UK and abroad.

What is your mission, and which values shape your decision-making as a founder?

We exist to help our clients succeed because if and only if they are successful, we are successful. In an ecosystem where options proliferate and opinions are passed as truths, we exist so we can provide our clients with objective, impactful consultancy. We walk in their shoes to understand their unique problems and implement the solutions that will transform their businesses. This rigorous client-first approach is always at the forefront when making any decisions.

What sets your approach or product apart from others in your space?

In the industry, consultancy and IT implementation sometimes get a bad rep. It’s a fact that one out of two IT implementation projects fail. The key reasons for this, we believe, are lack of leadership and a structured change management process. So, we lead with our expertise in managing complex change that’s rooted in the clients’ business problems. Brysa is not a one-size-fits-all, out-of-the-box technology solution. What differentiates our business is that we take the time to understand your business, technology investment, and operational workflows. We delve deep to identify the root causes of friction and unnecessary effort. We leverage multiple experts and years of experience to craft custom automation solutions that create a sustainable flow.

How long have you been operating, and what key milestones or moments of pride stand out so far?

We just crossed our third full year of operations. Taking a moment to look back, there are many achievements to be proud of. The foremost achievement is the amazing team that we have built and continue to build. I feel grateful to the immense talent who have put their faith in the potential of Brysa. Another key achievement is creating a culture of learning. We do a lot of research and development, especially in Agentforce and AI. And then there are all the client success stories. One of the most memorable for me is saving close to 2000 hours for National Family Mediation.

What trends, behaviours, or shifts are you seeing in your industry that others might not be talking about yet?

One trend that’s not talked about enough is how AI is going to be great for the young. More than anything, the conversation has circled around the graduate jobs that are disappearing. This is obviously concerning, but I see it as a mirage. The young entrants into the workforce have the advantage of not being held back by non-AI thinking. In the medium term, this will help them win out over the “dinosaurs” that populate the business world now. We’re very much in the valley of disillusionment so far as AI is concerned.

The industry is seeing AI as a broad brush stroke, and the PE money is considering it a safe bet along the lines of the internet revolution. I see it differently: AI will, no doubt, streamline some areas of business; but more importantly, AI will bring into relief other areas that need humans more than ever: structuring and managing change, leadership, team management, and motivation. The jobs and opportunities aren’t disappearing — they’re changing.

From your experience, what are the biggest opportunities and challenges for businesses in your sector right now?

Consultancy firms are in an interesting place. At the top tier, McKinsey is losing ground to BCG, and the whole market is moving towards professional services rather than pure-play consulting. This means that those who are providing advice are also expected to see it through in implementation: something we specialise in. It is very difficult to say where the IT industry is going as such. We can, however, say a few things with certainty, both positive and negative.

On the positives: software sophistication will continue to improve lives by being more embedded and at the same time, more invisible; the number of services automated and streamlined will continue to grow at a rapid pace making communications better and improving productivity as a whole; software will make software with little or no human intervention, hyperscaling the solving of problems.

On the negatives, we’re likely to see near infinite options to solve every single problem, and this will confuse businesses. Organisations will struggle to make sense of and embed the future solutions into their workflows and processes, unfortunately leading to a human cost. It’s not easy to make a move when one doesn’t know what game one is playing. So, there is bound to be an extended period of chaos and uncertainty, coupled with the geopolitical wrangling, creating a scenario that will feel destabilising. My view is that it will take a generation, as it took for the internet to mature, for AI to mature as well.

If someone is interested in buying our services, collaborating or investing, they must know that almost no one in the IT consultancy and implementation industry knows the right risk-return balance at the moment. Long-standing market leaders, like Salesforce, are safer bets because they have a good track record of managing client data, which is the fuel for AI. So far as the workflows of the future are concerned, it’s still work in progress with little certainty and at different degrees of automation.

Looking three to five years ahead, how do you see AI or emerging technology changing your industry? How are you preparing for that future?

It’s a fraught question. Think of the day before ChatGPT launched: would many of us have guessed that we would be here? That’s not to say we cannot look ahead; we just need to be aware of the risks that come with it. As with practising music or sports, businesses that go back to first principles and practice the basics will win out: investing in people development, continuously improving systems and processes, always listening to and being led by the customers. These, when implemented with AI, will supercharge businesses.

We’re doing everything we can to stay close to the media industry developments and to our clients’ business problems. We’re also investing a lot in AI-driven efficiencies and automations in our business, from Sales and Marketing to Delivery and Finance. Lastly, we’re communicating a lot of optimism about how AI will help us serve more clients in the future. That’s definitely something to be excited about.

For anyone looking to break into your industry or progress in their career, what advice would you give based on your experience as a founder?

Stay grounded to fundamentals. It’s very easy to use AI to solve problems. However, when you’re in a learning phase of the industry basics, it’s important to know that AI is like a coach rather than a butler. The more you rely on it to provide off-the-shelf solutions, the more irrelevant your own skills of leadership, critical thinking, and teamwork become.

Also, it is very easy to be cynical in the current epoch. I believe we deserve a better outlook towards the world and the future of humanity. Being cynical about the latest technology or developments gets us nowhere. It’s far better to embrace the positives. Don’t compare yourself with anyone else. Believe and invest in your uniqueness.

And turn up. That’s half the battle won.

What three tools make your business run better, and why are they essential to your daily success?

• Salesforce — We practice what we preach and use Salesforce ourselves for our key functions. This means we know the problems firsthand and how to solve them with the technology we implement.
• Slack — It’s helping us collaborate and connect internally, while also allowing us to network with our clients and partners seamlessly. We have implemented a number of Slack automations and AI functionality that saves a lot of time.
• Agentforce — We are increasingly positive about this tool. We have implemented Agentforce for Marketing Cloud and are testing a few AI-powered campaigns. It is becoming essential for us as the economic climate becomes more challenging, helping us attract the ideal customer.

To finish our Founder@ questions… Our motto is “Everything starts with a founder.” We believe that sharing inspiring words can inspire others. What advice would you give to another founder or someone thinking about starting a business, and why?

I am not big on advising: every founder will and would find their own way to success. If there is a learning I can share, then it’s this: find a group of advisors and mentors who have gone through the journey and engage regularly with them. Learning from others’ mistakes is the most effective way to grow.

“Find a group of advisors and mentors who have gone through the journey and engage with them regularly — learning from others’ mistakes is the most effective way to grow.” — Satish Thiagarajan

Thank you Satish Thiagarajan, it has been great learning more about your leadership story and Brysa.

Originally published on Founder@
Check out this interview at: https://www.founderat.com/Satish-Thiagarajan/