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“Our clientele aspires for more than matchboxes!”
Mohammed Ali Vakil, Director - Marketing, Customer Care,
R&D and IT, Vakil Housing Development Corporation, speaks
about his company and the real estate industry.
Today, thanks to the healthy growth of the Indian economy
that is attracting migrants to bustling towns and cities,
we know that urban India faces an acute housing shortage.
Chartered accountant Mohammed Ali Vakil’s foresight
drew him to this sector in 2002. Vakil believed that a huge
demand for quality housing would arise over the next decade,
and was hence inspired to conceive and establish Vakil Housing
Development Corporation, as a developer of gated community
projects and townships.
He tells CHARU BAHRI what makes his company tick…
What is your USP?
We derive our USP from serving a niche target audience. After
zeroing in on Bengaluru, which had come to be known as India’s
IT capital, our vision encompassed housing based on meticulous
engineering plans that would be implemented by a qualified
and experienced team using high quality construction material.
I believed the clientele we would serve would aspire for far
more than mere matchboxes or even well constructed middle-class
homes.
Tell us more about your projects.
Each of Vakil Housing’s projects revolves around a certain
theme. Vakil Hamlet, for instance, situated at Jigani on the
intermediate Ring Road projects an English hamlet. Straight
out of a history textbook, it aims to capture the mystery,
romance and grandeur of medieval English lifestyles right
here in Bengaluru. We modelled the residential enclave on
the magnificent architecture of yore using an imposing entrance
arch, water walls with thematic murals, ornate designs and
ancient street lamps.
However, alongside its old world charm, the township offers
every modern amenity, including an amphitheatre, day care
centre for children, and facilities for indoor and outdoor
games. My Green projects include Vakil Townscape, Vakil Hosur
Hills, Vakil Garden City and Vakil Whispering Woods. Other
completed and sold out projects include Vakil Marina, Vakil
Satellite Township, Vakil Gardenia and Vakil Club Class.
Are your projects eco-friendly?
Yes, all our endeavours incorporate environment-friendly initiatives
with the aim to create healthy green environments. These initiatives
include maximising green spaces within townships by including
more gardens and playgrounds, regular tree-planting, the installation
of rainwater harvesting systems, and support for the Concern
India Foundation’s W2 challenge campaign to bring greater
awareness in cities on how to manage waste and water.
How do you stay ahead of the competition?
Hard work, dedication, a commitment to ethics, transparency
and customer service underlie all our activities and are the
keys to our success. In addition, each of our well-trained
teams - engineering, marketing, customer support, architecture,
accounts, human resources, system administration, front-office
and back-office operations - is headed by well-established
professionals in the world of real estate. This ensures the
company stays ahead of its competitors. The company’s
investments in vehicles, office space, land and state-of-the-art
technology also enable it to do business with world-class
sophistication.
Tell us more about the technology you use.
My keen interest in applied information technology to streamline
business operations has ensured that Vakil Housing uses a
medley of IT solutions to enhance its efficiency in marketing,
property management, task execution and customer care. The
software we use include Real Estate Internet Portal (REIP),
Vakil Integrated Business Enterprising Solutions (VIBES),
content management system Drupal, E-Support, PM Wiki, Google
Docs and Spreadsheets (see box for details). Our commitment
to technology and quality has attracted a high-profile audience
to invest in our projects. Much of this clientele is from
the IT sector. Besides, it has helped the company garner the
trust and financial support in the form of investments of
blue-chip IT companies like Wipro, Infosys, Philip’s,
RelQ, Cisco systems, Intel, IBM and Satyam, to name a few.
What’s next for Vakil Housing?
I am in this business for more than five years. Whereas previously,
I only looked after the technology aspects of all the projects,
since the last couple of years I am acti-vely involved in
all my ongoing projects. Beyond doubt, the going has been
good.
My success mantra is “Remaining cool-headed in all
situations and not taking unnecessary tension,” I strongly
believe that only hard work pays even in the toughest of conditions.
I have a clear vision for the future of Vakil Housing.
In the coming years, I see Vakil Housing as a leading township
developer providing residential spaces of an international
quality that are also environment-friendly. At the same time,
our short-term plan is to concentrate on Hosur. This small
town close to Bengaluru offers the best of both worlds to
its residents. People can enjoy the privileges of a large
metropolis without compromising on the quality of their living.
Moving to satellite towns is an accepted international trend
and we have examples like Delhi-Noida, Dubai-Sharjah and New
York-New Jersey to support this. With the development of SEZs
and companies like JMR and Tittco looking to set up a Tidal
Park towards Hosur, both residential and commercial real estate
developments are sure to spur explosive growth in and around
Hosur in the coming decade.
Software for developers
• Vakil Integrated Business Enterprising Solutions (VIBES)
is an enterprise resource planning (ERP) software used by
Vakil Housing to manage its information flows from one department
to the other. VIBES is an easy-to-use, Web-based solution
that serves as a one-stop-shop solution for those rendering
professional services and the real estate and property development
industries.
• Real Estate Internet Portal (REIP) is India’s
largest selling and the only integrated end-to-end solution
for real estate and property development firms. It facilitates
the automation of business processes–from land acquisition
to engineering, purchase to sales, and rental to property
management. It helps manage a land bank and residential and
commercial project details, create receipts, generate reports
and serve customers using a customer-care module.
• Drupal (www.drupal.org) is open-source content manage-ment
software that is very handy to create a database of vendors,
as well as update it with the experience of dealing with each
and, thus, every vendor’s rating.
• E-Support is specially designed customer care software
that manages calls, mails and any type of inputs from customers
whether feedback, requests or complaints. The software marks
and sorts inputs from customers on the basis of action taken,
i.e. answered, unanswered or in progress. Thus, no customer
feedback or queries are left unattended.
• PM Wiki (www.pmwiki.org) works on the concept behind
Wikipedia. PM Wiki pages look and act like normal Web pages,
except they have an ‘Edit’ link that makes it
easy to modify existing pages and add new pages to the website
using basic editing rules. You do not need to know or use
any HTML or CSS. Page editing can be left open to the public
or restricted to small groups of authors. This software helps
in updating a corporate website as and when new projects come
in and with new price ranges and client testimonials.
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