CIOTechOutlook >> Magazine >> March - 2015 issue

Directing IT: Affordable Tech consulting and Virtual CTOs for a competent SME market!

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Well established vendors have been reluctant to target small-and-medium enterprises (SMEs) as they find budgets and other assets of these firms too modest in range to be profitable. Constrained by limited resources, SMEs do not have a designated IT department or a full time CTO. Even if they do have an IT team, they are encountered with lack of expertise to operate tools efficiently and effectively.
To overcome limitations and to harness the opportunities of the market, Bangalore based Directing IT is positioned to target the SMEs market through various IT services & solutions such as Virtual CTO, IT Recruitment, IT Consulting, Project Management, IT System Selection and IT Audit. “Our vision is to enable Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) for all their technology needs by providing affordable technology services & solutions and align their technology strategy with business strategy in order to maximize their ROI from all technology investments,” says Nitin Manchanda, Founder & CEO at Directing IT. Following an experience of over 15 years in IT and finance sector, Nitin founded the company in 2013 with an aim to assist SMEs, non-profit organizations and start-up companies.

Virtual CTO & IT Outsourcing Services
It is common for SMEs to try hands on multiple administrative functions without external assistance; although very few would be comfortable in handling the technology function. To overcome this problem Directing IT offers Virtual CTO services to SMEs. “By charging for few hours in a month, our affordable Virtual CTO becomes an integral part of the management team of our clients and guides them for all their technology needs.” adds Nitin.
Virtual CTO service will enable clients to take informed technology decisions and manage their business requirements efficiently. Secondly, IT Outsourcing will lead to achieve high return on investments by saving expenses on full time technology professionals.

Focused on enabling SMEs and Non-Profits to leverage cloud solutions
Directing IT has partnered with Amazon, Microsoft, Google, IBM SoftLayer and McAfee to resell and offer cloud computing solutions to SMEs. In addition to this, the company has also partnered with Sales force Foundation to assist non-profit organizations with cloud based Salesforce CRM and build custom applications over Force.com platform.

Assistance for Identification and Mitigation of Risks
Unlike large enterprises, SMEs don’t have the luxury of information security teams and resources; they still face similar technology risks. As risks could emanate from different levels, Directing IT initiates the strategy to mitigate these risks by proactively identifying them and implementing various checks and controls. The company also assists clients in regards to Business Continuity plans and cloud backups. In addition to this, the company also ensures that clients comply with various regulations and industry standards such as ISO Standards, BS Standards, and basic IT Security policies among other IT ethics.“Our goal is to integrate IT Audit as part of enterprise IT Strategy,” adds Nitin.

Looking towards greater success
Within a span of one-and-a-half year, Directing IT has been successful in providing its services to start-ups, non-profits and SMEs located in Australia, India, New Zealand, Seychelles, UK and US. Nitin is confident to convert the global SME market’s technology requirements into an opportunity. “It does not matter whether the business is small or big, we provide professional services to all our clients and we have been able to retain our customers throughout,” adds Nitin.

Directing IT assists Abacus Seychelles Limited through its Virtual CTO services. The company that offers business and financial consulting services was unable to find the right technology services in Seychelles; as it was located in a small island near South East Africa. Directing IT enabled them to leverage their existing technology investments and bring in efficiencies by aligning their business processes and technology.
IT outsourcing services by Directing IT is also being leveraged by Mumbai headquartered Swadhaar, a non-banking finance company providing Microfinance services to the urban population in India. Similar to Abacus Seychelles, Swadhaar is being assisted by Directing IT for all their technology needs, be it CTO services, technology procurements, vendor management, IT infrastructure management, business application management or business intelligence (BI).


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