Soft Corner – Financial Products https://soft-corner.com/ Software Development Company Tue, 10 Feb 2026 05:32:54 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.5.8 https://soft-corner.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/cropped-softcorner_favicon-1-32x32.png Soft Corner – Financial Products https://soft-corner.com/ 32 32 Moving from Self-Attestation to Independent Assurance https://soft-corner.com/2026/02/08/moving-from-self-attestation-to-independent-assurance/ Sun, 08 Feb 2026 08:03:04 +0000 https://soft-corner.com/?p=2169 The post Moving from Self-Attestation to Independent Assurance appeared first on Soft Corner - Financial Products.

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In the financial world, trust is built on evidence. At Soft Corner, we understand that our customers and partners need more than assurances—they need independent validation of our control environment. That’s why our SOC reporting process is a core compliance priority and remains a top focus for our leadership team.

What Is a SOC Report?

A SOC (System and Organization Controls) report is an independent auditor’s attestation, conducted in accordance with AICPA SSAE 18 standards, that evaluates the design and operating effectiveness of an organization’s internal controls.

It provides a transparent, objective assessment of how we:

  • Manage operational and financial risk
  • Protect sensitive customer data
  • Maintain system availability and security

Why SOC Matters to Our Partners
✅   Enhanced Due Diligence
Our SOC reports provide independent, audit‑grade assurance that auditors, regulators, and risk teams rely on to evaluate our control environment.
✅ Streamlined Vendor Assessments
A SOC report replaces time-consuming questionnaires and onsite reviews with a standardized, audit-ready document.
✅ Proven Control Effectiveness
We demonstrate that our controls are not only well-designed—but consistently operating as intended.

SOC 1 and SOC 2: Comprehensive Assurance

  • SOC 1 reports validate controls relevant to financial reporting.
  • SOC 2 reports assess controls related to security, availability, confidentiality, processing integrity, and privacy.

Together, they provide assurance that our financial processes and data protection measures meet industry expectations.

Key Advantages

  • Builds instant credibility with clients, auditors, and stakeholders
  • Saves time by reducing repetitive audits and due-diligence requests
  • Strengthens internal processes and governance
  • Enables faster business decisions backed by verified controls

Trust Is the Most Valuable Currency in Business

SOC compliance isn’t about checking a box—it’s about earning and maintaining trust.

Our SOC examinations reflect our commitment to transparency, accountability, and long-term partnerships. We’re not just meeting compliance requirements—we’re strengthening the foundation of every relationship we build.

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]]> Iceland trip – June 2024 https://soft-corner.com/2024/08/02/iceland-trip-june-2024/ Fri, 02 Aug 2024 08:51:33 +0000 https://soft-corner.com/?p=1814 The post Iceland trip – June 2024 appeared first on Soft Corner - Financial Products.

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Recently (June 21 to 29, 2024) we did a 9-day trip of Iceland with Gurjars, Karandikars, Beheres, Nerlekars, Satish Khole and Rohan for just two days. This is yet another trip with lifelong friends from the gym, whom we meet every morning! This was followed by a weeklong trip to Norway with Karandikars (June 29 to July 6, 2024). One of the best vacations that Meenal and I have had. For me, Iceland was by far the most exotic countries I have visited to date. In many places, I had to take a video because photographs do not do justice. This album is only for Iceland as Norway and Iceland are completely different in sights and they have to be seen separately. I really had to struggle to leave out many pictures/videos.

Iceland is one country where you need to drive around to be able to see the best. We were 14 of us, so had rented 3 cars. I drove one car for most of the time (and it was a pleasure because of the almost non-existent traffic). While driving was a pleasure, I also had to miss taking pictures of the places that we passed while driving. We did stop at a number of places to take pictures.

Here is one place that we stopped at on our way for a hike to Glymur falls, near Reykjavik (where we stayed for the initial 4 nights). The greenery, the sheer expanse of empty land was stunning.

It was cloudy and there was an occasional drizzle. Anjali and Meenal posing for a pic on the way to Glymur falls.

On the way to Glymur falls.

On the way to Glymur falls.

We went up to the point where there was a river crossing. One had to get one’s shoes wet and I had only one pair. At this point, I turned back, while some of them went ahead. Here is Shashank, crossing the river.

Next day, we did the tour of the Snaefellsnes Peninsula (about 200 KM from Reykjavik). We went to the iconic Kirkjufell mountain and waterfalls, which has gained fame as some part of ‘Game of Thrones’ was shot here. It was a bit cloudy, but the sun was out, off and on. In Icelandic mythology, Kirkjufell is sometimes referred to as the “Wizard’s Hat.” It is thought that the mountain is a gathering place for mystical beings, and its unique shape is said to be the result of a battle between two mighty trolls. The trolls, frozen by the first light of day, are said to have become Kirkjufell and the nearby mountain, Grundarfjall.

The Kirkjufellsfoss (Kirkjufell waterfall. Foss in Icelandic means waterfall) with the Kirkjufell mountain as the backdrop.

On the way to Djúpalónssandur. These Icelandic names are so difficult. Anish was my navigator in the car. While on the way to this place, I had asked Anish ‘आपण आता कुठे निघालो आहोत?’ and I remember he had replied ‘द्वापार युगात’. The landscape just before that was outlandish. Somewhat similar landscape was also seen on Mt. Kilimanjaro, near Lava Tower. The well paved road in the middle of this rocky terrain seemed so weird!

Here is most of the gang in front of Kirkjufell mountain. Only Aseem and Mukul (and Satish who took this pic) are missing from the picture. Pic credits: Satish Khole

Here’s Meenal heading down to the beach through this weird landscape.

It is a black sand beach with an extremely turbulent ocean. What a wonderful sight!

We hardly get to see such an empty beach!

Another detour we took on our way back to Reykjavik. Meenal and Shrikant seen through this structure which is a collection of rocks kept on another without any cementing material.

Next day, we did the famous Golden Circle of Iceland (a 200 km round trip from Reykjavik). We first went to Þingvellir National Park (pronounced Thingvellir). Here is the only place on earth where you can walk between two continental plates – America and Europe. This is a UNESCO world heritage site

You can see the rift between the two tectonic plates. The tectonic plate of America and that of Eurasia are on both sides of this path – so they say.

From here, we went to a wonderful restaurant at a farm called Efstidalur (turned out to be an excellent one). The restaurant is attached to a farm and serves fresh stuff. Soups, sourdough bread and fresh ice cream were to die for. I had to take a picture of the toilet J.

We then visited the Brúarfoss. On several blogs we had read that it is a 7 km roundtrip hike, but apparently that was old info. We found the parking spot just next to the falls and it was hardly 100 metres from there.

One interesting thing to note in Iceland is that there is no fee for visiting a spot, but you have to pay a parking fee (around 1000 ISK – which translates to about Rs. 600 or sometimes even more) per car. These parking lots are unmanned but there is a camera that takes the picture of your car and if you don’t pay, then you end up paying double that when you return the car. We had been told about this by the rental car agency.

The water is icy blue (don’t know the reason) and it is very beautiful. पैसा वसूल!

The next on the golden circle route was the famous Geysir Hot Spring Area with boiling mud pits and geysers. This is the Strokkur geyser, which shoots up to 100 feet, every few minutes. Next best thing to the Old Faithful in the Yellowstone national park, apparently. But not so exactly timed like the Old Faithful.

Next on the route was the famous Gullfoss, which can surely be called as the most spectacular waterfall in Iceland. It is HUGE. For scale, you can see the people on the left side of the video. Truly eye-popping.

Gullfoss is a multi-tiered waterfall that finally crashes into a canyon from where the river proceeds further.

Next: Kerið (pronounced as Kerid) is a volcanic crater lake located in the Grímsnes area in south Iceland, along the Golden Circle. So, typically, once the magma explodes, the cone collapses into the empty magma chamber and leaves a large depression what is known as a Caldera. We walked all along the upper ridge.

Next day, on our way to the absolute southern tip of Iceland, we saw several beautiful waterfalls. Here we are at a place where there are multiple waterfalls – and the best thing is they just off the main road. Pic credits: Satish Khole

We visited this very famous waterfall – Seljalandsfoss. You can see that we can walk behind the waterfall!

Here is a picture from behind the Seljalandsfoss.

Just next to that is this hidden waterfall (inside a gorge) called Gljúfrabúi. If you don’t want to get your shoes wet, you have to step over strategically placed stones in the water to reach the waterfall.

Gljúfrabúi – in all its glory. We actually saw this couple, who probably had just come there after their wedding.

Meenal and I, just outside the previously mentioned waterfalls (मला माहिती आहे की पुन्हा नावांची उजळणी करून काही उपयोग नाही 😊). Pic credits: Satish Khole.

The famous Icelandic horse. Notice that the mane and the tail are full! Apparently, this breed of horse is distinctly different from the horse from any other country – as all other horses have 3 or 4 types of styles of walking or running (gaits) – while the Icelandic horse has one more, which no other horses have. Hence, it is forbidden to import any horse from anywhere in the world to this place, to keep this breed pure.

Yet another wonderful waterfall – The Skógafoss. Pic credits: Satish Khole.

A video of the Skógafoss.

You can climb up to the top of the falls (from the side). This is the view from the top, where our back is to the Skógafoss

Yet another stunning place to see is the Reynisfjara beach. Iceland is a heaven for Geologists, I must say. This is also a black sand beach. Here you can see hexagonal columns of Basalt rock rising from the beach. We could see such columnar basalt at two places we visited.

Meenal against the columnar basalt formation.

The sea is extremely turbulent at Reynisfjara – and the size of the waves is almost frightening.

Lovely long black beach

Different forms of basalt, behind and above Meenal.

On this night, we stayed at Kirkjubæjarklaustur. Probably the kids in the village also cannot say the name of the village till they’ve grown up quite a bit. On the way to Kirkjubæjarklaustur, we saw this amazing landscape (like being on some alien planet). The entire place is covered in a layer of moss – and on our flight on Iceland Air from Seattle, we were shown a film where it said that we should not step on this moss as it takes almost 70 years for the moss to grow. These are huge lava fields and nothing else but moss grows in this place.

We had booked 2 such cabins on AirBnB at Kirkjubæjarklaustur.

Next day was all glaciers. This is on the way to the Vatnajökull National Park. We are just not used to seeing such large open spaces. Here is everyone except the Nerlekars, who were in another car.

The skaftafell glacier from a distance.

The Skaftafell glacier in Vatnajökull National Park. We could walk all the way up to it.

The tongue of the skaftafell glacier.

From here we went on to see the Jökulsárlón glacier. On the way (as is the case in almost the entire south of Iceland in mid-summer), we saw the landscape full of the Lupine flower (Lúpína). Apparently, this flower is not native to Iceland. It was apparently brought to Iceland in 1945 in a suitcase, to see if it could survive the harsh climate and to dot the green landscape with some other colour. Looks like it did 😊

We went on a raft in the lagoon near the Diamond beach to see the Jökulsárlón glacier up close. All the rest of us fit in on one raft, while Shashank went on another.

While were close to some icerbergs, we saw two of them turn over completely. The first one caught us unawares, but we could catch the action the second time. It happened very close to us! What a sight and experience. Apparently, the icebergs which have freshly broken off from the glacier appear blue in colour but very shortly after, they turn white.

This is the tongue of the Jökulsárlón glacier and the black lines seen on the glacier tell its age as well (like the rings of a tree).

Some big icebergs. Pic credits: Shashank Nerlekar

The next day, on our way back from Kirkjubæjarklaustur to Reykjavik (via the town Vik, which is the southernmost tip), we went to see this place called Fjaðrárgljúfur (meaning feather river canyon). The Fjaðrá river flows through it. The canyon has steep walls and a winding waterway. It is very scenic.

We next went to Dyrhólaey view point, where we can see the black sand beach from the top of a hill, where there is also a lighthouse. What a sight!

One more picture on the other side of the light house. We came to Reykjavik that evening.

Everyone else went to the blue lagoon that evening (a hotspring, where you can take a dip), while I stayed back as I had some urgent work to get over with. On the way, they passed through areas where there have been eruptions lately and they could see smoke coming out of the ground as they passed. Pic credits: Satish Khole

Next morning, we went to Þríhnúkagígur (pronounced Thrihnukagigur, which can be broken into 3 words Thri hnuka gigur which literally means Three Peaks Crater). There are three craters (formed several thousand years apart), the youngest is seen on the right hand side, where we are going. It is a hike of about 4 kms to reach that place.

Just before this crater, there is a small building where we were given all the gear to wear, before we could descend into the crater by a lift that takes you down into the magma chamber.

Here we are into the magma chamber. Apparently, this is the only known place on earth where the magma chamber that spewed out the magma is intact and has not collapsed after the ejection of the magma. We elevator went down through a very narrow tube like chamber to the base. It is a slow elevator which takes about 7 mins to go down.

Once at the base, they let you walk inside along a marked path. You can see different minerals in bright colour and the sight is amazing.

Inside the volcano

Once outside, I took this picture of Reykjavik in the distance, as seen from the top of the volcano.

That evening, we went walking around Reykjavik. This is one interesting building – the prison. Apparently, there is no one there now. Apparently there was one person in the prison some years back and he too has left, so they have just painted pictures on the windows. The guide said that it is a very safe and honest country 😊

The Nerlekars and Satish

Rohan, who joined us for the last two days only, sitting on the Rainbow street 😊. All in all, Iceland was a fantastic place to visit. We did not see anything of the east and north side of Iceland. Hopefully, one of these years, life will bring me back to these parts. Fingers crossed.

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]]> Khopara Ridge trek in Nepal https://soft-corner.com/2023/12/22/khopara-ridge-trek-in-nepal/ Fri, 22 Dec 2023 05:40:11 +0000 https://soft-corner.com/?p=1666 The post Khopara Ridge trek in Nepal appeared first on Soft Corner - Financial Products.

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Six of us – Satish Khole, Mrugendra Behere, Shrikant Gurjar, Shashank Nerlekar, Ved Prakash Dubey and I went for the ‘Khopara Ridge’ trek in Nepal (28 November 2023 to 8 December 2023).
Warning: I don’t know if you have ever seen one of those old maps where they mark a spot with a cross and put ‘Here be dragons’ or ‘Keep ye eye skinned for hippogriffs” – but I issue this statutory warning that you have gotten into reading a rather long account. (BTW, the words are not mine, but of P.G. Wodehouse 😊)

The narrative is meant for me to browse over in the later years (when I won’t be able to do trekking). So, enter at your own risk!

This time, we had not done any practice climbs on Sinhagad, so we were a bit worried about how we would find this trek. But the spirit was high, so we recorded this on the hillock in Pune (Tekdi), a day before we left for the trek. Total shining 😊

Next morning (November 29, 2023), we left very early for Kathmandu airport to take the flight to Pokhara. We could see several snow peaks from the flight. It is a short (22 minute) flight.
Our assistant guide and 3 porters also joined us at the airport. We then got into two 4×4 vehicles to drive us to a place called Ghandruk. The drive was about 1.5 hrs (or a bit more). The road was almost non-existent for most parts (as you can see in the video). Our watches thought we were doing exercise and registered thousands of steps!

We reached Ghandruk and assembled our bones together. I had a feeling as if a couple of vertebrae had telescoped into each other and got fused 😊

At Ghandruk, which seemed like a taluka place, we had lunch. Our tryst with Dal bhaat had begun here. Mrugendra ordered Aloo Paratha, which apparently was very tasty. We started our trek from here around 1.45 pm and we had about a 3 hour walk to our destination, Tadapani. The initial path led through some scenic villages
Then started the steps. Endless steps, just going on and on.

While climbing these steps that went on forever (which Ved also called as स्वर्ग की सीढियाँ), we passed through some tea gardens on both sides of the steps.

After about an hour and half of climbing, we passed through a forest.

Again a whole lot of steps to climb. This had slowed us down. It was all very green and scenic. We finally reached a place called Bhaisikharka at 4.45 pm.

It gets dark around 5 pm in these parts, so we decided to stay at this place instead of going further to Tadapani. We had done three modes of travel today – air, road and walk and there was another 45 minutes to 1 hour to Tadapani – so Ang also thought it best to stay here.

We all had a nice hot shower at Bhaisikharka. It was quite cold and the hot shower felt really good. One person who could not have a shower was – Shrikant. He had forgotten to carry his towel. There were only 2 tea houses here and both did not have any towels for sale. Mrugendra, very helpfully offered him his spare towel, which he is holding here. After Shrikant rejected the offer, rather disdainfully, and mentioned some specific part of the body which he would clean with it, the offer was hurriedly withdrawn by Mrugendra 😊

We had good views of Macchapuchhare while going to Dobato. We reached Dobato, again at a similar time like last evening – around 4.15 pm or so. It was windy and very cold out here.
We had told our guide to ask the porters to go ahead everyday and book us at tea houses that had a western toilet, wherever available (as the knees aren’t getting any stronger by the day – and squatting at Indian toilets is getting more and more difficult).

Here, the owner of the tea house told us that only Indian toilets were available. We asked the guide to check in the other 2 or 3 tea houses that were present, so that we could move if they had western toilets. The owner, then told our guide that they had recently installed a western toilet and had done the cement floor for it etc. just 5 days ago and she wasn’t sure if it was ready for use. Our guide went and checked and convinced her that it was ready to use. So, I was given the honour of inaugurating the first western toilet of that tea house. Some of our gang and a couple of porters got around and clapped – but sigh…there was no ribbon to be cut as I entered . I forgot to take the picture of this first western toilet. While I was in there, Mrugendra started yelling to come out – to everyone – as if there was a fire somewhere.
I hurriedly came out to witness one of the best evening sunlight on the hills around. This is what we saw on the mountains around. The light was absolutely ORANGE and the hills were aflame! I have not touched up this picture or enhanced the colour in any way. This is how it was!

This lasted for some 5 to 8 minutes and it was gone after that! We were lucky to see this, no doubt!
Summary for the day –

Date: 30 November 2023
Segment: Bhaisikharka to Dobato
Distance: 7.8 kms
Total Ascent: 3744 feet
Total Descent: 740 feet
Net Ascent: 3004 feet
Next morning, December 1, 2023, we got up at 5 am and went up a small hillock behind our tea house at 5.30 am, to a view point called Muldai (or Mulde) Top. This was recommended as a MUST DO on all sites, so we had planned to see the sunrise from there. When we reached at the top, it was extremely cold and very windy. There was still some time for sunrise. We saw this to the east, where the sun was to come up. It takes about 45 minutes to climb to this place from the place of stay.

You have a beautiful, 360 degrees view here. Ang pointed out the different peaks to us from north to east. Some more peaks on the other side being pointed out by Ang.

The town seen below in the picture is Ghorepani. The arrow is pointing to Poon Hill, which is a famous view point in the Annapurna region. You see about 270-300 degrees view of the same that you get from much higher here at Muldai top.

This is a video of mountains – at sunrise!

In the distance, you can see a swing that has been installed on the top. It is at the top of the precipice, apparently. We missed going there, though.

The majestic Mt. Machhapuchhare. Probably one of the most beautiful peaks (shared with Ama Dablam, I would guess).

After breakfast, onward to the next destination – Chistibung (Also known by another name, Dhan Kharka). People spell Chistibung as Chistibang also, but our guide told me that the pronunciation for it is चिस्तीबुंग. Well, so be it. We would be overall going downhill but again, there would be ups and downs. On the way, Machhapucchare and multiple layers of mountains were visible. The cloud formation looked nice.

In the valley, we could see a Yak kharka, with lots of Yaks. Kharka in Nepalese means a plain. A plan where they rear Yaks is called Yak Kharka. We had stayed at Bhaisi kharka on the first night, which meant it was where they reared buffaloes.
We have to go there. I have marked the place with an arrow. That’s Chistibung. It is farther than we would believe.

We reached Chistibung around 2 or 2.30 pm. We have not had lunch as yet, so they asked where we would like – outside in the sun or inside? The answer was obvious! This place was called Rockland and had excellent internet connectivity – free!!

Summary for the day –
Date: 1 December 2023
Segment: Dobato to Chistibung (Dhan Kharka)
Distance: 9 kms (including the visit to Muldai top – which was about 1.5 kms roundtrip)
Total Ascent: 2602 feet (including 600 feet for Muldai top)
Total Descent: 4103 feet (including 600 feet descent from Muldai top)
Net Descent: 1503 feet

Next morning, December 2, 2023, we had to climb to the Khopara ridge. This time, fortunately, it was switchbacks and very few steps. We took a break here to drink water. Pemba, our assistant guide is on extreme right.

Mandatory photo against Dhaulagiri 😊

Finally we reached the tea house at Khopara ridge. Fantastic location. It is a tea house run by the community. Here you see Annapurna South on the right and Annapurna Fang in the middle. Our lodge at Khopara ridge. The community lodge (tea house) was good but had only Indian toilets. So, on asking a couple of times, the guy reluctantly told that we could use the new wing which was a little away from here (like 50 metres, maybe) – but was costing double the room rent here (NPR 2,000 instead of 1,000) but each room had an attached western toilet! We said भारत माता की जय! and immediately told that guy to take us there.

This was the fantastic view from this new building. Those people were reluctant probably because they are paid employees of the community and don’t care less if the community makes money, as long as they don’t have to walk extra to reach that place. This is the picture taken just as the sun was setting. The whole Dhaulagiri range was bang in front of the lodge.

Once again, layers of mountain ranges in the evening light. Great view!

The beautiful sunset.

The light on the Annapurna is slightly modified on its own by the Pixel camera and it looks more orange here than it really was. But the rest of the video has proper colour as it was seen by naked eyes.

After viewing the beautiful sunset, we settled in the restaurant to play some card games (like exploding kittens)

Electricity, Connectivity, Hot soup and food, Bed, Blankets – और क्या चाहिए? 😊. Ved, about to retire for the day. We are now at more than 12,000 feet (which was true at Dobato also). The four of us – Shrikant, Ved, Satish and I decided that we would take the next day as a rest day and would not do the trip to Khayar lake – which is another 3,000 feet up – and is quite challenging. We decided that we would preserve our knees to come back for yet another trek 😊. Shashank and Mrugendra decided to do the Khayar lake trip next morning.

Summary for the day –
Date: 2 December 2023
Segment: Chistibung (Dhan Kharka) to Khopara ridge
Distance: A little more than 3 kms
Total Ascent: 2350 feet
Total Descent: 175 feet
Net Ascent: 2175 feet

Next day, December 3, 2023 was rest day for 4 of us, but for Shashank and Mrugendra, it was the toughest day. Pemba and one porter, Balkumar, accompanied them. Ved and I got up early to bid them goodbye and also to watch the sunrise. Of course, the sun was behind Annapurna, so we could not see the sun, but the light could be seen spreading.

They started climbing up towards Khayar lake around 6.30 am. Since it was already told to us that it is a tough climb, Pemba was told that they have to turn back at 1 pm from wherever they were, as it would be difficult to come down in the dark, after sunset. Here you see the first rays hitting Annapurna.
The first rays hitting on Dhaulagiri!

Panoramic view from our lodge. While the other three ventured out and went up a bit in the afternoon and came back, I just lazed around.

That evening, we entered into the kitchen where we found this guy playing flute. He was a bit drunk, but was playing quite nice. The other guy in the video, who is cooking, plays the guitar, apparently.

Now, here are some pictures shared by Shashank and Mrugendra, of their climb to Khayar lake. Here they are, negotiating on ice. If any of them had fallen and had any injury, there was absolutely no one around to help – other than one porter and one guide.

The steps leading to the lake. Quite a steep climb, I was told.

Shashank stopped just short of the lake and waited for Mrugendra to go up to the lake and come back. Here is Mrugendra at the Khayar lake. This is supposed to be a sacred lake for the Nepalese people. Apparently, Khayar lake has another sister (called ‘Hidden Lake’) in the same region, which is also supposed to be sacred. Balkumar and Pemba also went up to the lake and paid their respects.

Summary for the day –
Date: 4 December 2023
Segment: Khopara ridge to Chistibung
Distance: A little more than 3 kms
Total Ascent: 175 feet
Total Descent: 2350 feet
Net Descent: 2175 feet

Next morning, December 5, 2023 – we started our trek to Swanta village. Again, we started early – I think around 7.30 am. We had a lot to descend today – about 3.5 hours. A dog from Chistibung decided to come with us and actually came down all the way till Swanta. Here is a narrow bridge we crossed on the way. The way was through dense forest – almost a rainforest – and apparently infested with leeches during monsoon. Luckily no leeches this time.

Pemba and I walked ahead and reached the Swanta village. The village is quite cute and clean. This was the place we were going to end our trek and take a jeep once again to go to Pokhara. Rest of the gang coming down to the lodge where we waited for lunch, just before leaving by road to Pokhara.

End of trek, waiting for lunch.

Shrikant’s birthday was yesterday (4th December) and Ang had ordered a cake at this place. Unfortunately, we did not reach this place yesterday but came today. So, he had requested them to keep the cake cutting for 5th December. Here is the cake cutting ceremony organized by Ang.

After lunch, we had a very bumpy ride (with absolutely no roads for almost 2 hours) after which we hit a proper road. By the time we reached the hotel in Pokhara, it was evening. We then had a celebration dinner along with the guides and porters at a place called ‘Boomerang’ – a very nice restaurant. Boomerang has a cultural dance programme every evening. Once we had let loose a few beers down the hatch, the gang decided to join the dancers and danced along with them. It was a great way to end the trek. After this, we had lovely filter coffee outside and then walked back to the hotel.

Summary of the day –
Date: 5 December 2023
Segment: Chistibung to Swanta
Distance: Almost 5 kms
Total Ascent: 1075 feet
Total Descent: 3555 feet
Net Descent: 2480 feet
Next morning, December 6, 2023 – we decided to go to Sarangkot, a view point in Pokhara. They have a very modern ropeway built over there. We went up by ropeway. It is quite a way up. The length of the cable is about 2.4 kms and it takes about 9 to 10 mins to reach the top. Wonderful view from the top. You can see the town of Pokhara in the valley. Machhapuchhare is there in front, once again.

Next full day, December 7, 2023 we had a free day in Kathmandu. Ved wanted to visit the Pashupatinath temple. Ved had helped me a lot during the trek (him being the youngest and me being the oldest 😊). So, even though I am an atheist, I decided to get up early, have a bath and visit the temple with him. We had darshan of Pashupatinath and listened to some vigorous songs in the praise of the lord and then came out. Here is Ved while coming out of the temple. Shashank also accompanied us to the temple.

After coming back, we spent late morning and early afternoon in visiting Patan (the old town in the Kathmandu region). Lot of temples were there in this area. This place had been completely flattened and ruined during the 2015 earthquake in Nepal. This is a UNESCO heritage site and everything was meticulously restored. Some of the scaffolding you see is where restoration is still going on.
Our gang of six in Patan!

There was a school trip of grade 1 kids and they were really enjoying themselves. Here they are, gleefully shouting, when the pigeons all flew up together.

Inside one of the buildings in Patan.

A throwback on the same picture taken in 2011, when we had done the Annapurna circuit trek – a couple of people are different from then.

That evening, we did a lot of shopping – small stuff to carry back home. That evening, the owners and organizers of the trek, Mr. Deepak Shreshtha and Mrs. Suchitra Bhandari treated us to a wonderful dinner at their new restaurant in the hotel. It was really good.
Next morning, December 8, 2023, our flight was at 2.20 pm. We left by around 10.30 am to beat the traffic. The red cloth around our necks is what the organizers present at the end of the trek, as a symbol of honour.

A thoroughly enjoyable and scenic trek. Highly recommended. Difficulty grade moderate to difficult.

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]]> ERP – How to achieve a successful implementation https://soft-corner.com/2022/10/20/erp-how-to-achieve-a-successful-implementation-by-ravichandran-s-implementation-head-emerge/ Thu, 20 Oct 2022 10:23:01 +0000 http://soft-corner.com/?p=1258 The post ERP – How to achieve a successful implementation appeared first on Soft Corner - Financial Products.

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By – Ravichandran S.

Implementation Head, eMerge

 

ERP – How to achieve a successful implementation

One of the biggest Investment decisions a Corporate can make in terms of cost involved and reach, is the investment in an ERP. Properly made, it can add a huge synergy boost to the operations and cut cost of operations.

Keys factors influencing a successful ERP implementation:

a. Choice of ERP: Investment in an ERP is a long-term one and must not be based purely on cost. It will consume a lot of time and energy and if not implemented properly, it will haunt us for a long-long time. It is not easy to get out of an incorrect decision either.

Every ERP has its own strengths and weakness; the ERP of our choice should be one whose strength is in the area which could be our biggest weakness (weakness here refers to the most critical processes which an organisation cannot afford to compromise on).

Choice of implementation partner also matters a lot as we need a good mix of experience and youth in the implementation team, and we must be willing to pay the right price to get the right resources.

b. Management buy-in: ERP is a long-drawn process as it affects a large part of the organisation …hence management support over the full cycle of implementation, encouragement to the team and providing the correct direction by way of STECO is super critical for successful implementation. Management must create and maintain an environment of trust and adopt the right communication mode to encourage the team.

The role of the Project manager is very important in all this. The project manager need not be a know-it-all person but one who is able to listen, learn, arbitrate, and keep focus on schedules and deliver in time.

c. Play to the strength: Every ERP is an outcome of years of programming excellence, domain knowledge and process optimisation. When implementing an ERP, look to adapt to these processes rather than try to twist the ERP process to meet existing legacy systems. It is hard to train people to discard their age-old practices and adopt new ones but it is a disaster to make the ERP system adapt to the legacy practices. We will end up in a knot of very high customisation costs and sub-optimal results.

d. Train and Test: Study the process to be implemented. Understand the process involved. Train all the concerned persons. They need to understand their role in the ERP process and the cost of failure of not following standard practice. During initial implementation, spend more time on testing various scenarios to ensure that no critical process is missed. At the same time do not focus on outliers. Just know them and have a contingency plan for handling them. Do not look to twist the ERP to handle these situations (if these are not part of the standard solution).

e. After “Go-Live”: Spend the initial days post Go Live as you would nurture a new-born. Pay full attention to ensure every player is performing his/her role properly (the ERP does not fail but people do and hence it is important to maintain constant vigil till it becomes routine for all the players).

An ERP implementation that goes through the above will necessarily result in success and achieve the desired end-result.

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]]> Consolidation Process and Challenges Faced https://soft-corner.com/2022/09/20/consolidation-process-and-challenges-faced/ Tue, 20 Sep 2022 23:35:53 +0000 http://soft-corner.com/?p=841 The post Consolidation Process and Challenges Faced appeared first on Soft Corner - Financial Products.

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By – Meenal Kadekodi

Solutions Architect, eMerge

 

Effective financial consolidation is a rigorous process requiring accurate data, expert project management across all entities, and compliance with accounting regulations.

As you scale, consolidation increases in complexity. Despite this, many growing companies still rely on processes or on tools which are person oriented. Most group companied use MS Excel for preparing Consolidated Financial Statements

Common Challenges faced while generating Financial Consolidation Reports

1.    Low quality Data

Often while preparing consolidated statements, some manual data is entered at various levels to bring the standalone numbers of entities to align with consolidation requirements. These data elements do not have proper tagging and explanation, resulting in bottlenecks and Audit Delays.

2.    Failure to Automate Consolidation Process

Invest in software that specializes in Financial Consolidation of Multiple Companies. Various Consolidation Standards should be inbuilt into the tool.

3.    Identifying and reconciling Inter-company transactions

Here the challenges are maximum since all the group entities may not be on the same ERP platform. Best scenario is to have a Common ERP implemented with a central control over the Chart of Accounts. However, this is not practical and may also be expensive. Hence defining a process which can be followed by all group companies to prepare the Eliminations data is important activity. A proper Software can help in simplifying this.

4.    Adapting to the changes in Reporting requirements

Regulatory body keeps making changes for the disclosures required to be submitted by listed companies. A proper flexible and simple to use Software will be of immense help to modify the reports and make these available downstream to all entities in the group. This will ensure that the Consolidation activity will be performed in a smooth way.

5.    Data Manipulation and Risk of Fraud

If the tool used for preparing Consolidation statements does not have a proper Audit Trail and traceability of all data elements, there will always be a risk of data manipulation. Look for Solutions that will integrate with the ERP systems to automatically fetch data required for Consolidation. Whatever additional inputs are required should have proper Tagging, Bucketing and Audit trails to make everything transparent.

6.    Complications arising due to Multi Currency handling

Most Companies have entities across countries and hence Consolidation process involves data of Multiple Currencies to be converted. Automating FCTR computations and its traceability is utmost important in the tool / Software used.

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