- The app can be customised to any company’s needs and integrated into any of its application.
- V-Empower has a long list of enhancements to be added which Zoom, Google and Microsoft are not currently offering to their users.
Dubai: There are already many video conferencing apps in the market and does the industry need more?
Video conferencing app Zoom became popular during Covid-19 and it has already more active users than Microsoft’s Teams, Cisco’s WebEx and Google’s Meet.
Video conferencing apps are going to become a part of our life even after the pandemic as some companies will prefer to work from home for many years.
One Indian company which is trying to cash in on is – V-Empower, which has been offering solutions and services for the last 20 years, with its new video conference solution known as MeetHour.
The company launched MeetHour in August this year and a ride-hailing app – Wakuk –in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh last year.
Its Indian American Co-Founder Shukoor Ahmed, in an interview with TechChannel News, said that it is an app with unlimited free usage for smaller schools, institutions and non-profit organisations.
However, he said that they also have a paid version with greater insights and analytics of the audience and participants, and can be customised to any company’s needs and integrated into any of their application.
The team consists of four founders – Shukoor Ahmed, Rajan Natarajan, Vijay Veerapan and Shoeb Ahmed.
Shoeb is the Chief Technology Officer and Chief Product Officer and the other three are mentoring, providing input and also funding to Meet Hour.
How MeetHour is trying to differentiate from the crowd is by offering unlimited usage for 200 participants for the paid version and 55 participants for the free version while Zoom allows 100 participants for 40 minutes in its free version.
Sees huge potential
“We were fortunate to have a young and talented CTO Shoeb Ahmed who conceptualised it. It is user friendly, simple and does not require a download and/or sign-up from a computer. It does require a download to join for smartphone,” he said.
It works on three platforms – Web, Android and iOS.
The app is already been used by six clients such as healthcare and schools in the US and EezyClinic in the UAE, he said, adding that many political parties used the app for their campaigns and fundraising from the app during the US election.
“We have a lot of users who are using our free version and a lot from the Middle East, US and India. We are in negotiations with many schools, colleges, government agencies, healthcare providers, law firms, political candidates and faith communities. Schools can use for classes. Political candidates can use for their virtual townhalls. Individuals are using for their family reunions. Faith communities are using for their faith-related congregations virtually,” Ahmed said.
The app is end-to-end encrypted and can be hosted on the client’s server.
“It is a big market and if we pay attention to the individual needs and able to address them, there will be big opportunities. Eventually, everyone will have their own video conferencing app, similar to the way they have their emails. We will be adding more features where others are not offering to capture the market and where the money is,” Ahmed said.
Wakuk to focus on smaller cities
Furthermore, he said that it has been pretty positive and many corporate users are “waiting for few of our enhancements. We are in a crowded market and we are listening to the customers and trying to incorporate their input to add more value to the app.”
“We have a long list of enhancements which Zoom, Google and Microsoft are not currently offering to their users,” he said.
Despite its ride-hailing app service being disrupted due to the pandemic, Ahmed said that there is a significant space for emerging ride-sharing firms to grow in the absence of established ones.
The ride-hailing app Wakuk was launched in Hyderabad last year but because of the Covid situation, they were not able to expand.
“What we learnt from Wakuk is that both Uber and Ola are focusing on big cities and what we are trying to focus is on smaller cities where Uber or Ola is not available. We believe this model is sustainable in the long run especially in smaller cities in India because of non-availability of established ones,” he said.
Ahmed sees a lot of potential in smaller cities in India and with internet reaching even the villages, there is a tremendous opportunity, especially for locals and tourists.
“We came very close to signing a contract with Sharjah Taxi this year but because of the pandemic, it is getting delayed. I need to follow it up. We want to play like a franchise model. We are looking to team up with potential entrepreneurs and businessmen who want to have a social impact.
“We are in conversion with Tata Motors and philanthropist Azim Premji to team up for certain cities and raise some money from them. I think there is still some type of experiments needed in the market.
Uber and Ola have been making money but it hasn’t turned out to be a sustainable business. Wakuk’s subscription model is beneficial to both drivers and consumers,” he said.