Didar, a CRM services company, has filed a complaint against Sepidar (System Partners) for compelling its customers to use its CRM.
According to IDEA, software companies in the CRM sector, during the second Nasr Software Breakfast Meeting, identified the lack of interaction and cooperation among some software colleagues in the field of API exchange as one of the most significant issues. Specifically, they expressed grievances about the lack of cooperation from System Partners and its subsidiary companies.
The formation of a commission or association within the Computer Guild Organization of the country to address internal issues of CRM companies was proposed as one of the solutions to respond to their concerns. However, it seems that System Partners did not provide a satisfactory response to Nasr. On the 6th of Shahrivar, Hamid Mahmoudzadeh, the CEO of the CRM software company ‘Didar,’ announced in a tweet that they had filed a complaint against Sepidar, one of the subsidiaries of System Partners.
In this tweet, it was stated that Sepidar forces other software companies to purchase services from the CRM company ‘Servo’ by not providing them with APIs, which is another subsidiary of System Partners.
Despite all efforts to listen to the opinions of Sepidar and System Partners in this regard, the managers of the company claimed to be unaware of such a complaint.
Hamid Mahmoudzadeh, the CEO of Didar Company, commented on his complaint, saying: ‘For over a year, our customers have been asking us to integrate their accounting software services with Didar. However, Sepidar does not provide APIs and forces our customers to use Servo’s services. Since Sepidar holds more than 50% of the market share, we have lost many of our customers due to this monopolistic behavior, and this trend continues.
He added: We have repeatedly asked the managers of this company to resolve this issue in a meeting, but since System Partners claims to control the Iranian software market, they did not attend the meetings and stated, ‘We will neither attend the meeting nor provide APIs.’ It is regrettable that the largest software company in Iran, which should be a model in the technology sector, thinks of monopolizing instead of prioritizing quality for development.
Did Sepidar act against the technology culture?
Mahmoudzadeh continued: In the beginning, we wanted to pursue the issue with Nasr, but this pursuit did not yield results, and ultimately, we were forced to complain about System Partners to the Competition Council. The largest accounting software companies in the world provide APIs to their colleagues and competitors because the era of monopolization has come to an end worldwide. Unfortunately, this culture has not yet taken hold in Iran.
Mahmoudzadeh said: Currently, System Partners is selling its APIs to WordPress and e-commerce websites. API is a part of the product, and once a product is sold, it is not sold to Didar because it claims that Sepidar’s customers must use Servo.
Is monopolization legal?
According to Mohammad Hossein Amiri, CEO and co-founder of Windad Company and legal consultant for Didar Company, Sepidar’s refusal to share APIs can be seen as an act of monopolization: The issue of anti-competitive behavior by Sepidar is a clear matter. Many Didar customers have faced difficulties due to Sepidar’s monopolistic practices, and based on Article 44 of the Constitution, which addresses monopolization, engaging in anti-competitive and exclusionary activities that cut off others’ access to services from another company is considered anti-competitive and illegal.
Amiri, in response to the question of why other companies have not filed complaints about the issues raised by System Partners and its subsidiary companies like Rahkaran and Sepidar, stated: There is a lack of legal awareness in this regard, where the anti-competitive laws are not well understood, and the issue of monopolization is addressed by the Competition Council.
However, the process is time-consuming, and the lack of trust in the legal system is also a significant challenge. Looking at the comments under Mr. Mahmoudzadeh’s Twitter post, it becomes clear how many companies are complaining about this issue and have paid a heavy price for obtaining APIs from System Partners.
Have customer rights been considered?
Seyyed Majid Oraei, a member of the board and head of the software development branch at Nasr, also commented on this issue: Personally, and not on behalf of Nasr, I believe that the only stakeholder overlooked in this matter is the customer and their interests.
He added: Data ownership belongs to the customer, and we are currently facing two contractors: a CRM contractor and an accounting contractor. However, data ownership is determinative, and companies must collaborate with each other based on the customer’s request.
Regarding the involvement of the Guild Organization in this matter, Oraei said: Nasr, by itself, cannot intervene as long as the customers of the companies do not request it.
One of the main stakeholders that has not been addressed in this discussion is the customer. One of Nasr’s duties is market regulation, and wherever customer rights are being neglected, Nasr steps in. In fact, Nasr only gets involved when customers demand it.
Pouya Ahmadi, CEO of Bit-and, another company dissatisfied with the working process of System Partners, said: We have many dissatisfied customers, but naturally, a customer does not want to put their business at risk.
The customer’s risk is that they say to themselves if they confront Sepidar or Rahkaran and they do not respond to my claims during Tir month and the time of tax declaration and blacklist us, what should we do?
If Didar Company has filed a complaint, it’s because it depends on their business, and they think it’s worth taking a greater risk. Besides, they have been more involved with Sepidar according to their business.
How important is API exchange?
Ahmadi continued: API exchange is not a choice in the world and the realm of software; rather, it is a necessity that every software should have. However, inside Iran, this culture has not been fully understood. This monopolistic behavior and the lack of API provision are not exclusive to System Partners, but since they have a larger market share, they are more noticeable.
Currently, System Partners and their subsidiary companies have no technical limitations, but their sales teams still have the mistaken and outdated belief that not providing API creates a monopoly and expands their market. This issue was hot in Western companies 20 years ago, but this industry worldwide has matured to the point where monopolies don’t help.
Ahmadi concluded: Outside of Iran and the leading software world, API is a necessity and one of the anticipated built-in features of software. In System Partners, if you deal with a representative who takes a more mature and mature look at things, you can buy their API. In fact, here it’s a matter of monopoly, not a technical one.
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