Srishti Digilife Pvt Ltd
Imaging Accessories Marketing And Distributing Company
Focusing On The Present, Framing the Future
Written By: Kriti Anand
Company Overview
Established in 2007, Srishti Digilife is an imaging accessories marketing and distributing company with offices in India, Singapore, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, and Thailand. The sole intent behind Srishti’s inception was marketing and distributing the world’s finest and top of the line photographing equipment, which includes but isn’t limited to tripods, lighting equipment, camera bags, analogue supplies, fine art paper, etc, in Asia. Srishti Digilife has grown to become a go-to company in the imaging industry. In order to meet the needs of a variegated clientele, Srishti Digilife markets world-renowned brands like Vitec Imaging Solutions (Manfrotto Photo & Video Supports, Gitzo, Avenger, Lastolite, Colorama, National Geographic, Syrp, JOBY), Profoto, Zeiss, Ilford Photo, Ilford Galerie, Tamron, Tether Tools, Novoflex, Kodak Colour Films, X-Rite Photos, MagMod, Rycote, and Phase One. From tripods, to lights, to bags, to backdrops, to film, paper, lenses, cables, modifiers, and a variety of other accessories, each of these brands deliver the best of their kind in the industry.
Apart from this, Srishti also conducts several activities in order to educate, entertain, and expand the photographic community. With regular workshops, seminars, contests, panel discussions, photo walks, and much more at Srishti, they ensure that the passion for photography keeps growing among the general public.
The foundational purpose of Srishti has always been to further visual literacy, and serve visual communicators in their endeavors to create the finest images. In order for Srishti Digilife to fulfil this mission, they have always strived for excellence, in both the brands they distribute, and the services they offer. The objective of Srishti Digilife is to aid the Indian industry of photography to grow and flourish, and so they constantly seek to cultivate a rising interest in the visual arts by conducting various activities of educational value.
One thing that sets Srishti apart is that they believe in being the support system for the entire community of visual storytellers. Srishti Digilife believes that education is the key in order for the photographic community and the industry as a whole to move forward. They want to engage the audience by teaching them the right methods and techniques regarding the creation of images, and introduce them to the right tools that may be necessary to create such images.
Each letter of the word Srishti holds the values upon which the company is built – Stability, Reliability, Integrity, Simplicity, Honesty, Trustworthiness, and Ingenuity. At Srishti Digilife, the core values influence every aspect of the functioning, ensuring that their relationship with the clients are genuine and transparent. Srishti Digilife keeps to their principles of professionalism, and their own personal moral standards, which are central to the company. Investing in each individual customer, they strive to deliver nothing but the best, every single time. The employees and mentors embody these values, and bring fresh perspectives and insightful outlooks to the table. They are continuously in the process of reinventing themselves, holding on to their principles, yet allowing themselves to evolve and expand, pushing the boundaries of the photographic community.
USP of Srishti: Innovate the FPS
Srishti Digilife offers the best in photography and videography equipment in the industry – be it tripods, Gorilla Pods, bags, lights, lenses, or modifiers. They work with companies who actively want to provide the best experience in terms of quality and ease of use with their products. For example, Srishti has a Manfrotto Befree Advanced carbon fibre tripod which is extremely light, making it the perfect travel companion. Carbon fibre is a premium material – it is the experience and ease of use that one pays for. Bags have been carefully designed to protect the spine of the user – made with the best of materials and also with the use of the product in mind. When it comes to lighting, Srishti Digilife works with Profoto, which is considered the world’s best light shaping company. Profoto has been constantly innovating their products from their B10 & B10Plus to the A10, which is the world’s smallest studio light. The latest AirX feature gives the user the ability to use their Profoto B10 & B10 Plus with their iPhones to shoot images. Selected lights also offer a UV light filter which protects the skin.
Srishti Digilife is keeping up with the latest technological advancements in the industry by constantly evolving and trying to connect to the customers and identifying their needs. Through their close relationship with the clients, they constantly come up with new ways to keep the community engaged. The imaging business has been through several transformations – from film to digital cameras, from DSLRs to smartphones. The common man does not need a DSLR anymore to be called a photographer. So, Srishti is evolving as well – with lights and microphones catering especially to the largely smartphone-using audience of today, and with vlogging kits that allow one to create unparalleled content using just the phone in their hands.
Srishti Digilife constantly needs to keep pace with the changing trends. There was a time when wedding photographers used to have large video cameras in India to shoot weddings. Today it’s all small, handheld devices. So they keep up by offering education for the same, and by also introducing products for it. They also modify their marketing strategies accordingly – from traditional media advertisements to social media campaigns. Now, with the onset of the Coronavirus outbreak, Srishti has had to quickly change and adapt all their methods in order to stay relevant.
The key advertising strategies used to be very traditional – mostly relying on word of mouth, and advertisements in magazines and newspapers. However, Srishti Digilife has evolved over time, and currently invests heavily on social media campaigns on Instagram and Facebook. They also use Google Ads, and keep in touch with the database they have collected over the years via email.
Research and Development plays a critical role in the innovation process at Srishti. It is essentially an investment in technology and future capabilities which is transformed into new processes, and services. The huge influx of knowledge and brainstorming for new ideas brings about an innovation in the way they present themselves to the world.
Every renowned brand in the world has achieved what they have because of their employees. For Srishti too, the employees are the pillars of the organization. The leader comes with a vision and mission, but the employees are the ones that come up with ideas and implementation strategies. It is of utmost importance to keep the employees content, and therefore, motivated. With Gen Z now slowly becoming a part of the workforce, this is a huge challenge, but also a great gift. Srishti understands that there’s a need to recognize and nurture progress and talent, trust the employees, make sure they are a part of the bigger picture. Srishti Digilife is highly receptive to employee preferences and prioritizes a good work-life balance by celebrating personal and professional milestones.
The perception of success is measured by the happiness of the employees at Srishti Digilife, because without the employees, there is no company. They are the ones that either make or break the brand. Srishti Digilife also measures their success by ensuring that the brands they handle become the go-to brands in the market. It is also the corporate image of Srishti in the minds of customers. Srishti Digilife wants Srishti to be a household name in the community and beyond. The number of failures they see also takes them a step closer towards success. It can also be defined as how meaningful and empathetic Srishti Digilife is as a company towards the community, and the society at large. Of course, at the end, Srishti wants to be profitable and that’s why they go through so much struggle, but profitability at Srishti Digilife is also viewed differently. The more profitable they are, the more they believe they can share and give back to the society – with 60% of the profits going back to the employees, and also towards their in-house CSR activities.
Fish Eye focus, Wide Angle Dreams
At Srishti, the belief is that freedom in the workplace makes the employees more motivated and thus leads to more creativity. Each person’s opinion is valued, thereby making the team as a whole stronger, and united with the objective to make Srishti itself a brand. All employees at Srishti believe in the mission of the company and so, strive to do their best when it comes to providing customers with services, and supporting the community of visual storytellers.
The photographic landscape has made such drastic changes since its inception, and with technology racing forward at a nearly insurmountable pace, it’s hard to predict anything but change itself. Sony has come out with some incredible image sensors. Smartphone companies may soon launch phones with a 100 MegaPixel camera – which could lead to a huge advancement in mobile photography. The smartphone has evolved so much that it has greatly benefitted the entire community of photojournalists. So this will become a greater way of storytelling. Contact lens cameras and other innovations may help cameras to integrate directly into the human body. That’s the future Srishti envisions.
Srishti is in the midst of revamping their website in order to better appeal to the audience. With a special e-commerce site, they hope to make their products and services exponentially more accessible and noticeable. “As we grow, we want the community to grow with us.”
Srishti Digilife is planning to continue their strong focus into their core competency, and at the same time, Srishti is also slowly venturing into the world of gaming. The company feels gaming is the future. With immense leaps in technology and creativity, it offers a lot of potential for an imaging company like Srishti Digilife. As they look ahead at new avenues, and paths, they would like to be competitively present in futuristic products and technology.
Srishti Digilife has bagged the awards of Best Regional Distributor for South, and East, (The Digital Studio India Channel Award) twice, and the Best Entrepreneur Award in the category of Photography & Videography, among several others.
From their very inception, Srishti has believed that the best form of service lies in the art of giving back. Abandoning the impersonal, business-like stance, Srishti lends personal support to people from different walks of life with varied predispositions. They fiercely involve themselves in the education of underprivileged children through support programmes, empowering them to grasp a brighter future. Srishti also endeavours to lessen employment gaps for people from diverse domains amidst a dense population, sparse opportunities, and merciless competition by endowing them with initial monetary support that guarantees their eventual financial independence. Srishti does not help once and turn away: they stay committed to their word. Srishti Digilife ensures that the positive outcomes persist and multiply. In this regard, Srishti conceived an innovative idea wherein a community could be perpetually served. They helped construct temples in rural areas that regularly carry out soil enriching rituals using environment-friendly materials. It equips the locals with stable jobs and provides free, hearty, regular meals for the impoverished. Srishti strives to profoundly touch lives, raise living standards and support overlooked communities.
Srishti Digilife has a positive mindset, an unwavering focus on progress, and a bold, pioneering outlook. They always aspire to do better and never allow themselves to be satisfied with their success. They celebrate their success but don’t accept it as the final result. They critically analyse what they’ve achieved and ask themselves what they can learn from others.
Another important thing Srishti believes in is to build a great team that shares a common vision. They treat challenges as an opportunity to refocus the existing strategies and open up new horizons. They believe in being clear on how short-term goals fit with long-term strategy and objectives. They live by this rule: if actions aren’t advancing their goals, then ask yourself why, and do something about it.
The Entrepreneur
- Vijayakumar is the Group CEO of Srishti Digilife Pvt. Ltd. The story behind Vijay is truly heart-warming – from humble beginnings, to founding and directing his own multinational company, you can be sure that he has earned every bit of his success with ceaseless hard work and perseverance. Vijay was born to be an entrepreneur, and having diligently saved up enough money, went to pursue an MBA at the University of Louisville, Kentucky USA, from where he graduated with a Masters in Entrepreneurship.
Srishti was his brainchild, and was started in 2007 with a small setup in India. Today, Srishti Digilife is spread over 5 countries, and represents over 15 of the world’s finest imaging brands. However, at its core, Srishti still has the same humble values upon which it was founded and manages to make a lasting connection with people.
Despite having been brought up under difficult circumstances, sometimes even going to sleep not knowing where his next meal could come from, Vijay has not let his success go to his head. Genuinely interested in each and every one of his employee’s wellbeing, he makes it a point to encourage others, and to this day, is a man who is willing to stretch out a hand to help someone in need.
“Being successful doesn’t just mean making a lot of money – it is more holistic than that. It is the perfect alignment of one’s personal life, values, and professional life.
- Vijayakumar
Vijay believes that in order to learn and grow holistically, one must travel to a variety of places, imbibing different cultures, each with their own unique beauty. Though not a professional photographer himself, Vijay has recently ventured into the field of mobile photography, capturing the essence of the places he travels to, bringing back with him a piece of each place. Just as he is always on the lookout for different perspectives and angles to make his photos more unique, he also approaches problems the same way – with a different point of view. His photos, available on his IG handle (@vjsdpl), portray his distinctive photography skills.
Regarding the raging pandemic and its aftermath, Vijay remembers the words of Winston Churchill, “Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”
Srishti Digilife sees some faint signs of progress in the struggle to contain the pandemic. But the risk of resurgence is real, and if the virus does prove to be seasonal, the effect will probably be muted. It is likely never more important than now for boards of directors and executive management teams to tackle the right questions and jointly guide their organizations towards the next normal, whatever that may be.
Innovation has always been essential to solving big problems. The world is looking not just for new things, but also for new ways/ideas of doing things (especially on the people’s side, where they need new behaviors, long-term rather than short-term), capabilities, and work ethics.
