Incubator Feature: Pranjal Dutta of KDIT Solutions

Pranjal Dutta is the President at KDIT Solutions, a startup that provides an integrated cloud platform for enterprise testing and interactive e-learning. 

Like many startups, what’s now a cloud-based software started as an excel sheet. 

Pranjal Dutta, President at KDIT Solutions, studied industrial engineering and management, but was always interested in computers. He started his career in 2000 as a developer, but transitioned to software quality a year later – which he’s remained committed to since then. 

The idea for what is now KDIT Solutions came in 2015. 

These days, KDIT Solutions works with medium and large-sized organizations to streamline business process workflows for complex enterprise resource planning (ERP) software, validating them, and automating with no-code solutions. 

The ultimate goal is to find more software defects faster – preventing costly failures for organizations.

He cites the significant disruption caused by the Rogers Telecom outage during July 2022, as an example. He explains the trouble started with a straightforward software upgrade, which unexpectedly led to a complete system shutdown.

“Software defects can impact you heavily without knowing they exist and they are extremely costly if it becomes a disaster.”

Why it matters

As organizations become increasingly intricate, their reliance on applications functioning in unison becomes more important. 

But making sure these workflows run smoothly is no easy task. 

This is where KDIT Solutions comes in. 

They offer tools that allow users to visually organize workflows, then transition them into manual tests, and finally evolve these into automated tests that don’t require coding. 

The majority of existing testing tools are designed to identify defects in isolated applications, a method that does not capture the entire scope of potential issues. That’s because real challenges and defects become evident when an organization's processes see multiple applications that span diverse functions, such as HR, finance, sales or marketing. 

Pranjal says KDIT’s method simplifies the workflow validation process, making it 80% faster and more efficient. 

“With the integration of AI technology, there’s a vision for the future where continuous process validation and compliance could be achieved with minimal human oversight,” he adds. 

It’s working

KDIT’s early adopter CNRL who joined in 2018, saw a 81% reduction in customer incidents for their enterprise application, IBM Maximo. 

“Imagine in a large organization like CNRL which has 12,000 employees. They use software to do some operations. And if something is not happening and people are calling, ‘Hey, I cannot approve a purchase order, I cannot move my material from this warehouse to the other warehouse.’ That's an incident.”

“So imagine just 1000 incidents each month, and that number has gone down by 80%, right? That's a huge cost reduction for them.”

He says they’re saving their clients time and effort – an average of 15,000 hours saved on an annual basis, to be exact.  ‍

Finding a community 

Pranjal’s first connection to Platform Calgary was at a Hackathon during Innovation Week 2022. With his product built, finding community felt like the next step. His team at the Hackathon ended up winning – and with it came his introduction to the startup community in Calgary. 

So far his experience with the Platform Incubator has been extremely positive. 

“It has helped me to look back and see what mistakes I'm making.” 

His advice for other founders? 

“Platform Calgary is my starting point and it's opening doors for others as well. So I would start here.” 

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‍Platform Incubator Entrepreneur-in-Residence (EiR), Savana Radley, has been working closely with KDIT Solutions throughout the Incubator. The Incubator EiRs ask questions, make connections, and hold founders accountable to progress. They are focused on helping the startup leaders achieve their highest potential. Get to know Savana:

A business process optimization and automation specialist, I’ve spent over 25 years working with B2B SaaS software, data, cloud, digital and back office, leading and developing custom and out-of-the-box solutions that drive efficiency, support growth and introduce people to what’s possible. I've been a leader in two successful scaleup companies here in Calgary (Evoco and Benevity), have worked all over the world and founded my own robotics startup a couple of years ago. As that experiment came to a close, I've been consulting to a number of local organizations including Virtual Gurus, Fillip, the Hunter Hub for Entrepreneurial Thinking at U of C and Tangent Design Engineering.

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‍KDIT Solutions is part of Platform’s second Incubator cohort. The Incubator provides high-potential founders with the resources and connections needed to build world-class companies. Founders work closely with an Entrepreneur-in-Residence and a community of founders to grow their business over 18 months. Learn more about the Platform Incubator.