At Shivaami, girls lead the digital transformation course of

When Punit Thakkar turned an entrepreneur in 1997, he was clear he wished to do one thing across the web. Nevertheless, the late Nineteen Nineties was not likely the web age in India and few wished to begin an web enterprise.

“In 1997, not many talked in regards to the web, however I’ve been an web fanatic from the Nineteen Nineties and I wished to enhance lives by harnessing the ability of digital. I began a digital company that was primarily doing net designing. I began with multimedia CD-ROMS after which moved to net designing since that was the necessity of the hour at that time,” says Thakkar.

The enterprise flourished, however Thakkar realised the necessity to evolve each 5-6 years, holding in thoughts the trail the IT business traversed. “Each half a decade, we attempt to determine if we’re nonetheless related or are we outdated. We constantly look to reinvent and maintain tempo with the pattern and in 2004, I began Shivaami. By 2012, I might sense there can be a requirement for cloud providers and options and entered the area. Initially, individuals thought we have been losing our vitality, however we are actually reaping the advantages of investing in the precise route. We have been in all probability one of many first corporations to be listed as a cloud providers agency within the MCA portal,” says Thakkar.

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Immediately, the corporate is primarily a Google Cloud options supplier, accounting for 90% of its enterprise. “We specialize in Google Workspace and since we’ve got been within the enterprise for thus lengthy, we’ve got served over 15,000-16,00 clients. About 10% of our enterprise contains AWS, Azure, and different cloud providers,” says Thakkar.

Digital transformation thrust
Whereas it was not a buzzword in 2012, Thakkar slowly realised that his firm was serving to shoppers of their digital transformation journey. Many corporations wished to have a web based presence and use the ability of digital of their space of labor, and Thakkar was the one enabling it.

Thakkar says after Covid, it has change into simpler for him to make a enterprise case for digital transformation. “Earlier than the pandemic, we have been asking shoppers to undertake cloud options and undertake digital transformation. The post-pandemic state of affairs is the other, the place I wouldn’t have the bandwidth to cater to the ever-growing demand,” says Thakkar.
He provides that folks have now understood the ability of cloud computing. Thakkar says the pandemic compelled individuals to be away from workplace for a while they usually realised the significance of getting the job performed from their residence or another location. “On the identical time, they didn’t wish to incur important prices, and that’s the place we play an important position. There are lots of situations the place we’ve got helped corporations optimise by saving near 30% of their value by shifting from a capex (capital expenditure) to opex (operational expenditure) mannequin and nonetheless do a greater job in delivering their providers internationally,” he provides.

With expertise present process speedy modifications after Covid-19, Thakkar says the wants of the shoppers have additionally undergone a change. For instance, Thakkar says, whereas e-mail throughout completely different options largely stays the identical, the distinction in collaboration instruments, cell system administration, and elements round doc sharing is palpable after the pandemic.

“Earlier than the pandemic, it was okay to come back to the workplace and examine your paperwork and have what you want in your desktop. Nevertheless, within the post-pandemic world, you want to have the ability to entry your information in every single place. We assist shoppers with upgrading their mailing options to begin with, however then progress to shifting every part from recordsdata, paperwork and CRM options to the cloud. If, for instance, a shopper has an SAP system and needs to combine it with the mailing answer, we’d be capable to present end-to-end service for this,” says Thakkar.

Transformation is a steady course of and as corporations mature in digital adoption, their want for various options expands. Thakkar says corporations need assistance on this course of.

A number one built-in monetary options supplier coping with startups, giant enterprises, and retailers determined to attempt Shivaami to assist retailer information. “We assist our shoppers in fixing their progress capital and dealing capital challenges. Since we take care of information frequently, we have been searching for an answer that would offer storage for our information. We have been searching for an all-in-one answer for which we bought in contact with Shivaami. An authorised companion of Google Cloud, they helped us by shifting us to Google Workspace, which resolved our storage points. As well as, we bought purposes like Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Chat for collaboration and content material administration,” says the spokesperson for the organisation.

Chetana Chaudhari, CTO of Shivaami, says with hybrid work tradition, the pattern is now to supply flexibility to workers. “This, within the true sense, is transformation, the place work can occur from wherever. The digital journey of an enterprise on the cloud may be left to a service supplier, whereas the agency itself can focus on their core enterprise. Whereas shoppers within the western international locations are higher by way of their understanding of collaborative instruments, shoppers in India want extra hand-holding. In India, change administration takes lots of time,” says Chaudhari.

Wants can fluctuate and an electromechanical gear firm was searching for an answer the place its workers might entry the required information with out compromising safety. “We have been additionally searching for a collaboration and communication answer. We dwell within the digital age and every part has been digitalised to save lots of sources and enhance work effectivity. Our firm might enhance productiveness by means of digital transformation and in addition provide higher providers to our clients. In consequence, we underwent a digital transformation to enhance our enterprise,” says the spokesperson of the equipment manufacturing firm.

Ladies-powered
Thakkar’s firm additionally stands out due to the composition of its group. Within the tech area, the place the ratio of males to girls is mostly skewed, about 80% of its workforce is girls.

“This has been a acutely aware resolution and a big a part of it’s due to Chetana, the CTO of the corporate, who began her profession after her maternity break. We’ve at all times believed in giving alternatives to girls who wish to restart their profession and for ladies who wish to make a profession within the IT sector,” says Priyanka Khanna, Chief Income Officer, Shivaami.

Based on Chaudhari, bringing girls in expertise can work wonders in an in any other case male-dominated subject. She provides that the corporate employs about 250 girls workers in over 5 places. “I want to add that we wouldn’t have any gender bias and that is merely a method to supply girls an opportunity. On the finish of the day, everyone seems to be equal within the organisation,” says Chaudhari.

Khanna says even the management positions of the corporate are dominated by girls. “The shoppers that we work with are impressed with our worker composition and plenty of wish to emulate it inside their organisation. Ladies are higher at multitasking,” says Khanna.

Thakkar says lots of emphasis is placed on workers having the precise expertise and for that, on-the-job coaching is extraordinarily necessary. “For the primary 30 days, all workers are taken by means of a coaching course and certification. We’ve an inner coaching group that conducts day by day periods. We be certain that workers who be a part of us get the mandatory certifications that corporations like Google and AWS provide,” says Thakkar.

Khanna says as a Google Cloud companion, the corporate may also help shoppers with every part from e-mail options to high-performance infrastructure for cloud computing. “Together with the GCP platform, we’re additionally a part of {hardware}, which is Google Chromebooks, and in addition assist in optimising SaaS options and offering safety inside the firm. Immediately, we offer end-to-end cloud options,” says Khanna.

This monetary yr, Shivaami expects a turnover of Rs 600 crore, which Thakkar says can be in sync with business progress charges. “Trying on the market state of affairs after the Ukraine-Russia conflict, lots of international locations are observing a recession. In India, we’ve got seen little dip in demand, however the problem is shoppers are actually extra cost-conscious. Additionally, the funding winter for startups has meant smaller corporations are tightening their belt. Cloud adoption is going on, however the tempo has slowed,” says Thakkar.