I-TECH MISSION, OFFERING LOW-COST ICT SOLUTIONS AND SERVICES TO TACKLE SOCIO-ECONOMIC CHALLENGES

"DATA IS FUEL AND DATA SCIENCE IS THE STEERING WHEEL"

An ISO certified social enterprise that combines strategic thinking and emerging technologies, iTech Mission Private Limited (iTM) provides innovative data solutions that are consistently breaking new grounds for the public good.

iTM delivers high-quality work through its focus on bidirectional communication, responsive customer service, client education, accurate project management, product quality, and an ethical approach to business.

They also specialize in providing end-to-end data solutions with services that bring together content/data and technology; this facilitates an enhanced digital experience for its clients.

An expert team of unrelenting professionals, under the wise guidance of Arun Kapuria, Founder and CEO, leads the company's state-of-the-art innovations lab by delivering cutting-edge technologies and showcasing market-driven innovative applications.

The company has meticulously been involved in the successful implementation of development projects, organizational development in international settings, change management and developing technical training programs and plans for working groups.

They have assisted public institutions in the development of enhanced data management techniques and tools with their deep understanding of digital data storytelling and data visualization platforms.

ABOUT THE VISIONARY

Arun Kapuria, Founder and CEO, iTech Mission Private Limited (iTM) is a Human Rights Expert and PRINCE2 certified Technical entrepreneur with over 25 years of broad experience in technology innovations and development sector.

He has an excellent understanding of the overall operations and the implementation of technology projects in human development verticals. He also has extensive experience in managing the implementation of information management systems, data analytics, and data visualization solutions in over 100 countries.

Integrated data solutions are at the heart of how iTM's technology solutions work well with all other solutions within a required architecture. They have the knowledge, experience and expertise to design the right content and data integration solution to meet the needs of the present and the future to utilize the best in breed solutions.

iTM has provided technical assistance to many organizations, including United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), The World Bank (WBG), Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), CARE International, John Snow Inc. (JSI), John Hopkins University (JHU), International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Swasti, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).

In an eye-opening conversation with the founder, The Magazine grabbed a chance to know at length about the company's corporate culture, achievements, plans, marketing strategies, and more;

TCM: How is your company different from other players in the market offering the same solution?

ARUN: iTM provides solutions to reach out to individuals to change and save lives. Our digital business intelligence platforms that support making informed decisions that flag potential problems are helping to boost care quality.

We use technology innovations to tackle socio-economic challenges and progress towards positive growth in human development. Together as a team, iTM contributes to developing products and providing technical support and services in areas that make a difference!

TCM: Which are some of the major brands that you are already working with? 

ARUN: United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), The World Bank (WBG), Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), CARE International, John Snow Inc. (JSI), John Hopkins University (JHU), International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Price waterhouse Coopers (PwC), Through our partners we have provided technical support to Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), Ministry of Women and Child Development (MoWCD), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), NITI Aayog, Ministry of Commerce (MoC).

TCM: Tell us more about your company's niche.

ARUN: iTM develops and delivers digital solutions that help international development implementers intensify outreach and impact—quickly, affordably, and at scale. We firmly believe that data support in making informed decisions and data science converts unanalyzed data into meaningful insights.

Hence, data science plays a very critical role, it helps in saving lives. iTM designs and develops Open Source technology data solutions for the public good. Our products and services support governments, development agencies and corporate in evidence-based decision making and management for development results.

These products and services bring technology innovations in sectors like Health, Education, Economic, Environment, Agriculture, Trade, Gender equity and many more. iTM specializes in providing technology solutions for tracking, monitoring and reporting on United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

TCM: What is your project management methodology, brief us on the same?

ARUN: iTM's Project Management Methodology is intended to promote the delivery of quality products that meet customers' needs and results in projects that are completed on time and within budget.

The objective of the methodology is to provide standard methods and guidelines to ensure that projects are conducted in a disciplined, well-managed, and consistent manner. They consider quality to be a strong focus area in the entire project management process.

iTM puts forth a plan and an acceptable checks-and-balances process to assure quality deliverables, subject to client approval. iTM's quality management process has been optimized to provide effective quality control with the least amount of project overhead.

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

ARUN: We are entrepreneurs, data storytellers, anthropologists, strategists, data scientists, technologists, designers, trainers and we are young, relentless professionals. At iTM, we provide a warm working environment and there is no rigidity like larger organizations.

We offer opportunities for success regardless of age and experience. We don't care about which school or college our staff went to. At iTM, if you work harder you can accelerate more than in any corporate setting. There are several opportunities to work in multiple domains, sectors, products, and projects.

TCM: How does the organization commit to sustainability?

ARUN: The success of a team is highly dependent upon staff continuity. To perform at peak productivity levels software developers need to have the pre-requisite technical skills and process understanding; they need to understand the client's domain and ways of working.

We at iTM follow the Triple Constraint, which demonstrates the key attributes that must be handled effectively for successful completion and closure of any project.

The key attributes of the Triple Constraint are time, cost, and schedule. Time – The amount of time required to produce the deliverable will be directly related to the scope along with the number of resources allocated to the project, which is the cost.

Cost – Cost itself encompasses various things, such as resources, rates, risk estimates, etc. All aspects of the project that have a monetary component are made part of the overall cost structure.

Scope- The scope itself is generally identified upfront to give the project the best chance of success. Note that the common success measure for the scope aspect of a project is its inherent quality upon delivery.

TCM: What is the vision and mission of the company? 

ARUN: We continuously strive to be the world's most trusted partner for data solutions and services. Our firm belief is in efficiently implementing ICT solutions will impact millions of people's lives.

We trust in providing low cost ICT solutions and services to tackle socio-economic challenges. Integral to our approach is capacity building that uses simple technology transfer methods for sustainable implementation.

We strive to provide a complete solution to improve organization's performance and output. Our mission is to reduce further the digital divide and give a chance to more people to improve their lives. iTM's mission is to innovate, develop and implement technology solutions, which supports making this world a better place.

TCM: What are the achievements and awards earned by your company?

ARUN: iTM in its commitment to partnerships for SDGs has designed and developed an exciting new open-source platform to monitor, track and disseminate Socio-economic data including data on SDGs. This integrated platform allows users to collect, process, and aggregate, analyze, disseminate and evaluate data.

During United Nations, High-Level Political Forum in New York United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) awarded iTM the winner of global competition for analyzing and visualizing data on SDG14 Commitments.

• iTM has endorsed the Principles for Digital Development and as an endorser, we will seek to embody the concepts the Principles represent in our ethos, our work culture, and the policies and processes guiding our international development activities.

• iTM is a partner to support UN SDGs is devoted to supporting the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals. (United Nations Partnerships for SDGs)

• iTM is a partner for Data4SDGs initiative (Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data)

• iTM is a signatory to Support for the Women's Empowerment Principles.

TCM: Has your company been associated with corporate social responsibilities?

ARUN: We in our way have been associated with CSR, when possible we donate food to the hungry, blankets to the homeless during winters. iTM is a participant of the corporate responsibility initiative and supports the Ten Principles of the UN Global Compact concerning human rights, labour, environment, and anti-corruption.

We maintain our offices and run our business operations and responsibly develop products. We manage the consumption of energy, water, paper and other resources used in our daily operations; we try and reduce business travel and promote alternatives wherever feasible; we are committed to complying with applicable environmental laws and regulations.

TCM: Tell us about your global presence?

ARUN: iTM has technical partnerships in the USA, Canada, the Caribbean, Kenya, Ghana, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia. iTM provides solutions in multiple languages including all 6 UN Languages – English, Spanish, French, Russian, Arabic, Chinese

MORE ABOUT ITM AND ITS TOP MANAGEMENT

Team iTM has over 20 years of broad experience in software design and development industry. iTM's management has provided broad global strategic advice in the design, development, planning, and implementation of a variety of technology innovations for human development.

​iTM has professional skills in systems development, database design, database development, data analysis, data visualizations, capacity building, and strategic planning. iTM possesses cross-sectoral monitoring, evaluation and analysis skills for evidence-based decision making and results-based management.

iTM's solutions are aimed to be implemented in over 100 countries. iTM works across cultures and wide perspective of technologies are being used, while also being able to adapt to and understand a variety of global social issues.

iTM is a young and dynamic organization with a 'Can-Do' approach hence rapid decisions are made at iTM!  At iTM, everyone is given the opportunity to take ownership of a part of the business and create a fun and proactive environment and to support iTM's growth; iTM is always seeking talented individuals who want to be part of a growing initiative.