The Indian edtech giant, BYJU’S, is currently grappling with a significant setback as unpaid dues have resulted in the loss of access to critical data management tools from Salesforce, Tableau, and Tooljet, affecting the company’s operations and leaving employees frustrated.
Unpaid Dues Impact BYJU’S Operations
According to reports, BYJU’S has not settled outstanding payments amounting to a staggering Rs 45-50 crore owed to these tech companies for approximately two months. The repercussions of this non-payment were felt on August 31 when BYJU’S employees found themselves locked out of essential CRM (customer relationship management) and data visualization tools, causing operational disruptions within the organization.
Among the impacted services, Salesforce stands out as a vital global customer relationship management (CRM) platform, offering a suite of enterprise applications tailored for customer service, marketing automation, analytics, and application development. Meanwhile, Tableau and Tooljet provide indispensable data visualization software that aids businesses in enhancing their analytical capabilities.
Vendor Disputes Escalate
The financial woes of BYJU’S are further exacerbated by a series of vendor disputes. LeadSquared, a provider of marketing automation and sales execution CRM solutions, has also scaled back its services to the company led by Byju Raveendran. Furthermore, Orderhive, an e-commerce automation platform, is slated to suspend its services starting from September 1, following non-payment of dues dating back to December of the previous year.
These ongoing financial challenges are just the latest in a series of issues faced by BYJU’S. Earlier this year, the company witnessed the departure of several senior executives, including Pratyusha Agarwal, the Chief Business Officer; Himanshu Bajaj, Business Head of BYJU’S Tuition Centre; and Mukut Deepak, Business Head of Classes 4-10 Online and Home Tuitions.
BYJU’S Troubled Streak Continues
The recent exits follow the departure of Cherian Thomas, Senior Vice President for International Business at BYJU’S, who left the company to assume the role of CEO at Impending, a company specializing in software and mobile gaming apps. Despite experiencing unprecedented growth during the pandemic-induced lockdowns, BYJU’S has encountered a series of challenges.
The company has yet to file its financial statements for FY22 and FY23, leading to the resignation of Deloitte as its auditor in June of the current year. Additionally, BYJU’S is embroiled in a dispute with lenders concerning a $1.2-billion term loan B and faces a conflict with the US-based investment fund Davidson Kempner over its test prep unit, Aakash.
In light of these ongoing issues, BYJU’S faces a challenging road ahead as it seeks to resolve financial and operational hurdles while maintaining its position as a prominent player in the edtech industry.
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