Systems+: Disrupting IT Since 1987

Nikunj Jhaveri, Chairman & Founder

The quintessential Bombay boy, Mr. Nikunj Jhaveri is the founder of Systems +. An IIT-Bombay pass out, Jhaveri always had a penchant for Information Technology which was still in its early days in India. Though his formal education was in Chemical Engineering, his passion for Information Technology led to him starting his own IT Solutions company.

Talking to APAC CIO Outlook, he says, “Since the inception of this journey, I was very sure that foundation of the company would be to provide value to its customers, with an equal focus on service quality and cost optimization.” Adding on, he discussed that his personal belief has always been to provide solutions that are tailored to the client’s requirements. The organization has always focused on providing clients with solutions that are optimal given their internal IT and business frameworks. It is a perfect partner for any business that wants to break away from the challenges that come with service commoditization.

Interestingly, during this journey, Jhaveri also served as the CIO of Pepsico Asia for a period of 6 years, which added to the business’ capability of being able to evaluate solutions from both sides of the table. This is especially important in the current scenario, when CIOs are struggling to make sense of the Legacy Mess. The highly skilled team, under the guidance of Jhaveri, has become adept at analysing systems and documenting them into intuitive and engaging learning modules. In addition, they also pitch in to study business processes so that they can use that insight to review, reengineer, and integrate the IT side of things with the business, providing a more streamlined and friendlier IT ecosystem.

Since the company has always followed a solutions-based approach, the strong consulting foundation that it has, enables the team to not only assist with streamlining of legacy systems but also system integration, data migration and management (ETL), process and system redesign to provide for a more flexible bimodal operating environment. “IT and Business processes have to work in synergy in order for digitization to bring about cost and operational efficiencies. For this, it is first required to understand key business pain areas and then analyse IT systems and processes to suggest the perfect fit,” says Jhaveri.

The core business approach is to provide solutions that help client organizations extract the maximum out of their existing technology. New technology additions don’t necessarily make processes agile hence the Systems+ team believes in suggesting upgrades or additions only if the cost of ownership is significantly lower than what is currently being used by the client and if the value that comes with the new outweighs that of the old.

Systems+’s diverse legacy of 3 decades in IT lays the foundation of a disruptive offshoring model—Managed Captive, which allows clients with 100 percent control, and transparency of costs and operations

The approach has helped Systems+ suggest optimized best of breed Technology Solutions which has allowed clients to deliver on IT requirements efficiently either through new technology or a combination of old and new. There have also been instances where old processes and applications have been re-engineered and system architecture has been tweaked to facilitate automation. Systems+ offers its clients, advisory, and implementation related to enterprise applications, portals, and data, in addition to providing regular support and maintenance. It’s said the proof of the pudding is in its taste! So, amongst, many such initiatives, is one such initiative carried out for a global electronics manufacturer that got them nominated and awarded at the Dallas CIO Orbie Awards.

The project required Systems+ to build a framework, which brings together disparate systems at the backend culminating into one customer/ distributor facing platform in the front end. The outcome, of course, was added convenience and increase in efficiency of operations.

However, IT is no longer restricted to the core systems and processes. With digitization permeating each aspect of business operations, compatibility with multiple platforms and easy interfacing is a must, the Systems+ Mobility & Open Source vertical focuses on providing clients with a user-centred design with an intuitive interface and comfortable web and mobile experience. The team goes the entire distance and beyond partnering with business clients right from strategy, design, development to tracking and analysis. Thorough knowledge of the market and consumer behaviour ensures that the business content and social media presence are optimized for maximum reach.

With its expertise in providing custom technology services, also comes in-depth knowledge of IT security and governance which they have used to create their own IT audit and governance framework, Manage IT. A classic example is that of a global beverages manufacturer, which had different compliance standards and processes in geographically diverse operating units within Europe and Japan. Systems+ designed compliance framework basis internationally compliant parameters, keeping the technology current and best of breed. This allowed for the removal of gaps in information flow, increased automation, tighter security measures, and bridging of process gaps.

It is with this rich legacy and the willingness to ‘Think Yes’ that the Systems+ services suite now includes a disruptive offshoring model called Managed Captive. The offering in simple terms is captive unit set up and managed by Systems+ but operated by the client. It is essentially a far more convenient alternative to having a self-owned captive unit, with all the advantages and none of the hassles! Systems+ oversees program management, governance & regulations, team sourcing & employee management, and also provide the infrastructure for setting up the unit. This not only offers clients, economies of scale, but also allows them the comfort of having their own team to manage their processes.

The organization continues its steady growth through diversification into newer solutions such as Amazon Web Services and Web Storefront Technologies.