iSteer TECHNOLOGIES, ACCELERATING PACE OF THE DIGITAL BUSINESS PLATFORM WITH NEXT GEN – PRODUCTS

"iSteer is built on the principle of Japanese proverb 'Ishi no uenimo san nen' it means 'expect to work at something for three years before you see results' – Umashanker Krishnamaraju

Meticulously focused on the digital era, iSteer Technologies Pvt. Ltd is a fairly young player on the ground offering cutting-edge solutions on API Life Cycle Management, Integration, analytics and IoT technologies accelerating the pace of digital business for customers.

The company today is under the wise leadership of Founder Umashanker Krishnamaraju and has developed a culture that roots from his core values. It inspires the company's behaviour, relationships, and business decisions further celebrating achievements and teamwork. 

Established in 2009, the company laid its foundation as a business house serving the client needs of enterprise application integration, but in due course of time has added digital engineering & data science based on the collective experience of his team of skilled IT experts.

MORE ON THE FOUNDER

Umashanker Krishnamaraju, the Founder of iSteer Technologies Pvt. Ltd, a BE graduate from Vellore Institute of Technology, Tamil Nadu is 'Japanese Language Proficiency Certified'. He has worked as a Bilingual IT Consultant and Architect for Indo-Fuji, Toyo Engineering Corporation, before joining US Based TIBCO Software at Japan and UK. 

He returned to India in 2009 and founded iSteer Technologies which focuses on providing Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) and Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) implementations to the customer.

Umashanker, in a delightful conversation with The CEO Magazine editorial, exudes that his customers' delight powers the success of the company and exceeding customer expectations is his belief. No matter how big or small a project is – it is delivered with the highest quality on priority.

He further shares that each of his associates knows that the customer is why they are here and hence they place unwavering focus on customer satisfaction. He feels that the only way to ensure success for all is to operate in a fully transparent manner. Keep reading ahead to know more about the company from the horse's mouth himself;

Share a bit about the company and the factors that make you stand out in the industry.

iSteer stands by its   motto "Linking Expertise – Leading Success". We enable customers to "Connect Everything" which can be Enterprise systems/Cloud Apps/IoT/IIOT/Processes/Users/Partners/Customers and make the data in these ecosystems generate value for everyone.

iSteer is a place where a fine line of young minds lead to infinite opportunities in the digital era. At iSteer, we make sure that talent meets technology in a culture that is driven by knowledge and growth. Being a part of iSteer makes you a stakeholder of achievements which will turn your latent potential into a success story.

Brief us about the solutions you provide to your customers and how they derive value out of it.

Our cutting-edge solution offerings on API Life Cycle Management, Integration, Analytics, and IoT technologies along with our next generation product offerings are accelerating the pace of digital business for our customers.

This enables our customers in executing business processes end to end across multiple applications in real-time using which the business heads can make quick decisions.

Tell us the story of your company, and how it's grown since foundation.

I have worked for many years in the Japanese IT industry and also in the UK and the USA. The work experience, business interactions / communications and work ethics in these regions have greatly helped me in becoming an IT entrepreneur.

iSteer was started in Mysore in 2009 after I came back to India and moved its operations completely to the IT hub of Bangalore and gradually expanded into North American and APAC markets as well. iSteer has been bootstrapped since inception and self-sustaining for the last 11 years into the business, iSteer is growing YoY at  40% rate consistently generating value for everyone involved in the ecosystem.

How is your company impacting the world/your clients?

iSteer has been awarded  TIBCO America's Connect Everything Partner of 2019. This is a huge global recognition of iSteer's end to end delivery capabilities while using different technologies seamlessly. 

We can impact in quite a few ways, but mainly it enhances our say in the decisions related to the quality of the products and the customer/supplier connection is also amplified with connected enterprises.

What are the various industries you serve? Highlight a few use cases where your services have benefited people or businesses?

We mainly serve banking, manufacturing, retail, and logistics. Our solutions help customers to digitally transform the enterprise to acquire new business channels and generate more value from existing systems. iSteer has vast expertise in Integration, Data Engineering, Analytics, Process Automation, and Cloud Technologies.

We are a powerhouse of highly experienced and self-motivated workforce. This means we provide great products and services with great efficiency.

As your company grew, what were the primary challenges? Hiring? Quality control? Capital?

iSteer believes  continuous learning is the key to success. Hiring the right talent at right time being a challenge in the industry, being in the niche technologies space, we had to invest more in terms of learning curves. With growth come wider aspects such as finance, statutory timelines, administration, and logistics.

What are the innovations and impediments you notice in your domain? How do you embed those trends into your solutions?

As a lot of customers are moving to cloud architecture or adopting to cloud SaaS applications, we see there is a tremendous change in the way the data moves in the enterprise and our expertise and learning are helping to guide our customers to help realize the value with new modern integration and data science solutions.

We observed customers adopting to Internet of Things (IoT) platforms. Customers are looking for real-time data for most of the measurements and quick decision-making capabilities in the systems as well.

What are the achievements and awards earned by your company?

We have a high retaining customer rate, 40% of our customers are doing business with us for more than 8years, and we have been recognized by customers as the go to partners for Integration and Data requirements. Recently, we have been awarded "Americas Connect Everything Partner of 2019" by TIBCO Software. 

Why is it important for companies to innovate and invest in advance technologies?

There are a number of reasons why companies decide to invest in technologies while keeping innovations on priority; it helps us stay ahead of the competition. It helps a business in adding value to the customers through services which further helps them add value ahead while at the same time helps in tapping on maximum potential customer base.

In this ever-changing technological era, it is of high significance to adapt to the changing trends, it helps in sustaining and growing the business by retaining the existing talent and attracting new ones.

What are the major challenges that a start-up in the tech domain face today?

We may start developing a product with an Idea to solve an identified problem. But, we keep developing or evolving the same idea over a period of time as we start working, brainstorming with partners/potential customers.

The challenges are: the fight to be persistent, hiring the right talent that has the required skill set, once you have the hiring right, it automatically eases the process of forming the right team, and most importantly making the cost vs. investment decisions,  sometimes your company may need to become top heavy.

Also, the senior team focuses on product development and customer acquisition. Delivery and Operations become a challenge, and external investments: when to take? How much to take etc.

Tell us about your team. How do you keep your team motivated?

We believe in an open office system where each person can be noticed. We don't insist on cubicles and keep communications open. This way each and every employee feels a sense of belonging and responsibility. We are proud to say we encourage employees to get global certifications and also bear the cost of the same.

This is a big gesture that helps employees throughout their career and also adds confidence to our customers to be working with a company which has a certified pool of employees. We also have many social engagements and fun activities. We always encourage employees to keep upgrading skills and learning new technologies.

Has your company been associated with corporate social responsibilities?

We have developed a Lifeline App. This app connects blood donors with patients, blood banks and hospitals. This platform ensures that help is available to the ones in need while they can access the information with simple clicks in a comprehensive interface and by further taking necessary actions thereby saving lives.

We are partnering with non-profit organizations to take this platform to everyone. We also have been involved with orphanages and in making donations, as and when possible or according to the need.

Where do you see your company in another five years?

In another five years, I believe we would have achieved the status of being the top brand globally which provides products and solutions in the space of Data Integration, Data Science and Cloud Offerings.

What advice can you give to aspirants looking to make the most out of their investments in the tech field?

Be persistent in what you do and learn from your and others' success/failure and keep learning the new innovations and customer behaviours.