How Mantratech Scaled its Owner-Driven IT Consultancy into a Corporate Powerhouse
Mantratech began as a small IT consultancy founded by Hiren Bhandari in 2001. Hiren, a seasoned IT professional, started the business with four employees, in Ahmedabad, India, offering software development and IT consulting services and Biometric Systems to local businesses. Over the years, the company gained a reputation for delivering cost effective solutions, and a deep understanding of the technology in the space they were operating in. This led to an increasing demand for its services. They bid for a lot of Government Contracts and were awarded a few, which catapulted them from four people to twenty.
However, the real growth took place around 2010 when they bagged the contract from the State of Rajasthan for implementing the Aadhaar Card Scheme (a Social Security number for 1 Billion residents of the Country) of the Indian Government, which involved Biometric capture (Retina & Fingerprint) of every individual in the State, a whopping number of 56507188, at the time.
Growth Phase:
During the initial years, Hiren played a hands-on role in project management, client relations, and technical decision-making. The company’s success was largely attributed to his own expertise and personalized approach to client needs. Mantratech established a strong client base and gradually expanded its team to meet growing demands. It also earned goodwill with the Government Agencies during that time.
However, now, the growth expected was explosive. They needed a huge team to implement this project. The way that they were used to operate, communicate, recruit and essentially manage the projects had to change for them to be successful. There was an inherent risk that they might lose their core business after the large Project was implemented, and they would only become maintenance extensions for the Governement.
They hired a consultant to help them with implementing the huge project, while retaining their existing clients. The following observations were made by him:
There were challenges!
1. Operational Bottlenecks: The company faced bottlenecks as decision-making authority was concentrated in Hiren. As the workload increased, it became difficult for him to oversee every aspect of the projects, causing delays in decision-making and project delivery.
2. Lack of Standardized Processes: With the company’s rapid growth expected, there was a perceivable lack of standardized processes and documentation. Each project was managed uniquely, leading to inconsistencies in project delivery and quality. This project had to be handled differently, too.
3. Communication Issues: As the team expanded, communication became a challenge. The informal communication channels that worked well in a smaller setting became insufficient, resulting in misunderstandings and inefficiencies. A separate communication mechanism had to be set up for the Aadhaar Project, independent of the parent company’s communication mechanism.
4. Limited Scalability: The business model heavily relied on Hiren’s personal involvement, making it challenging to scale operations without compromising quality. With Hiren needing to be highly involved in the Aadhaar Card project, his availability could no longer be taken for granted. Scaling of the existing business had to be successfully done, independent of the large project on hand and without relying on Hiren’s availability.
Strategies for Streamlining Processes:
In order to address these challenges and streamline processes, Mantratech implemented the following strategies:
1. Implementing Project Management Systems: The company adopted Microsoft Project software to streamline project workflows, facilitate collaboration, and enhance transparency. This helped in better task allocation, tracking, and overall project management. They used it for the existing Projects and this large one.
2. Developing Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs): Mantratech invested time in creating SOPs for key processes, ensuring that every team member followed standardized procedures. This helped in maintaining consistency across projects and mitigated risks associated with ad-hoc decision-making.
3. Leadership Development: Recognizing the need for distributed leadership, the company invested in training and developing key team members to take on leadership roles. This reduced the dependency on Hiren for decision-making and empowered the team to make informed choices.
4. Enhancing Communication Channels: Mantratech implemented regular team meetings, communication tools, and feedback sessions to improve internal communication. This helped in fostering a collaborative environment and ensuring that everyone was on the same page.
Results:
By implementing these strategies, Mantratech successfully navigated its growth phase and transformed into a corporate powerhouse, retaining over 250 employees even after the huge project was concluded. The streamlined processes resulted in improved project efficiency, increased client satisfaction, and a more scalable business model. The company’s ability to adapt to change and embrace standardized processes played a crucial role in its journey from a small owner-driven consultancy to an enterprise that could not be ignored in the IT industry. They had implemented a huge Project which demanded its own resources, but had also grown rapidly in their main stream of business without losing their customers and ensuring life of the Company after the large project which brought revenue but had no scope for the future, beyond maintenance revenue.
