The advances in technology especially communication tools and the ease of access to the Internet has practically eliminated the need for software development partners to be geographically close. Outsourcing allows companies to avoid the expense on IT infrastructure, so that they can use their capital to invest into revenue-generating activities. Being able to leverage a good resource pool having expertise in a variety of technologies at a fraction of the current cost is another advantage that only outsourcing can provide.
Working with a software development partner halfway around the globe can be daunting especially since there are many companies out there from big giants to small businesses. Choosing the right tech partner can make or break your business.
Featuring for the Cover Story of The Business Fame’s this issue of “The Most Valuable Outsourcing Companies to Watch in 2021”, Citrus Informatics is one such company that is helping clients gain an advantage over the others with their tailored technological services.
The Company-
With their reliable and innovative approaches, a team of 200+ technically proficient engineers at Citrus Informatics, helps customers achieve their business objectives by making use of emerging technologies and building solutions with speed and agility.
Citrus Informatics serves a broad spectrum of industries from healthcare, automotive, airlines, broadcasting, cold chain, logistics, real estate, non- profit to e-commerce domains. With every domain being unique in terms of best practices, regulations, standards, and protocols, it requires expert knowledge and experience honed over the years to make decisions as to the best solutions for each industry. Right from IT Consulting, Project Management, Technology Management, Product Management & Engineering, Architecture, Application/Solution Development, Mobile Apps, Database Design and Administration, Data Analytics, Machine Learning, Cloud Computing, UX Design, Testing and Quality Assurance and Digital Marketing, Citrus Informatics covers it all.
With each customer having their own measures of success, their own values, objectives and methods of project execution, Citrus Informatics has been able to share their values and execute projects in the manner required by the customer yet maintaining its strong foundations of ethics, security policies, source control methodologies and implementation strategies using best practices.
A Challenging Journey towards Growth-
Having completed about 14 years in the IT industry doing extensive project management and handling all phases of the Software development Life Cycle (SDLC), Sarji R Mohammedali, the Founder and CEO of Citrus Informatics, knew it was finally time to pursue his dream. He wanted to build a company that would not only solve the problems of outsourcing that he had been constantly coming across during his IT industry tenure, but to also build an organization where business ethics would be of the highest importance, where the customer would have a peace of mind that their projects were in capable hands and delivery timelines were met no matter what.
Starting a company and having every employee adhere to such a vision was not such a small feat. The company started with just 5 employees. From day 1, the vision that Sarji believed in was inculcated into the minds of the employees so that they would pass it on to every new employee that would come after them. Needless to say, Citrus grew to 65 in five years, to 130 in 10 years and in the last 1 year, having onboarded more than 80 engineers virtually, Citrus has crossed the 200-engineer mark. Every single person onboarded into the Citrus family, is instilled with the fundamental values that form part of the Citrus culture.
The first customer is always the most difficult to get. It was a huge challenge finding the right customer to start with. With small projects that were done efficiently, customers began to see the value of Citrus Informatics as they started getting their projects completed on time with excellent quality. Most of the projects delivered, required little or no maintenance at all, which increased trust in customers and projects began pouring in.
On the revenue side, a whopping 100% increase was achieved in revenue every year during the initial few years. The past 4 years together has seen a further 100% increase in revenue.
This journey that started 11 years ago is still continuing …
The Products and Services-
Being proficient in multifunctional and multiple technology solutions, Citrus Informatics has always played the role of problem-solvers for their clients. They do not believe in the policy of a single solution and a single technology for all. They believe that every customer is unique, and every project is unique and hence every solution has to be made taking into consideration the business and project requirements. A technology ought to be chosen not because it is the latest and is hyped about, but because it best solves the problem of the customer. It is this positioning as a problem solver that has paved their way to success. Their customers instantly saw the difference of working with Citrus Informatics when compared to other solution providers.
Some of the business services provided by Citrus Informatics –
Dedicated Research and Development – Many of the best industry players in the software industry are not willing to compromise on quality and expertise. Hence, cost alone is not a driver when it comes to foreign companies outsourcing their R&D. An efficient team of competent technical staff with their out of box thinking and determination is what has helped Citrus Informatics reach the levels of excellence as of today.
Product Management and Engineering – Product engineering for Citrus Informatics is about successfully translating a product vision into reality. Citrus Informatics can help with the entire development life cycle of a product from conceptualization to post-implementation support.
Custom Software Development – A lot of customers have requirements that are very specific to their organization. A typical COTS solution does not solve their problem. Given their expertise in various frameworks, the Citrus team of engineers are able to design, develop and implement custom solutions for these segments of customers in shorter time spans.
Specialty Services – Citrus expertise also spans special areas such as architecture validation, integration services, penetration testing and security testing as well. Given the increase in the number of hacking attempts, security is of utmost importance these days. Pen testing as well as security testing done by quality Engineers at Citrus Informatics penetrate the software through all the weak links thereby allowing businesses to find security holes in their software.
Digital Marketing and Analytics – With competition increasing by the minute, every company is in a race against time. The ones that reach their customers sooner will be the winners. Digital marketing can help spread the word about the customer products. Additionally, analytics lets clients know how their customers are reacting to their products and what course correction needs to be done to get their attention.
IT consulting – Some of the problems brought forward by customers who reach out have already solutions in the market which they may not be aware of. Some others need an opinion on how best to execute a project. Over the years, Citrus has been able provide valuable opinions to customers in solving their various business problems in many ways from pointing to COTS solutions, quick fix suggestions or discussions that helped them define their business strategies. These customers see Citrus as a valuable firm where they can always go to for truthful and unbiased information and suggestions.
With a primary customer base in the USA and a minimal presence in the Middle East, Citrus Informatics is planning to expand its services to other countries covering Europe and Australia.
Sarji R Mohammedali- Leading the Way
Founder and CEO of Citrus Informatics, Sarji R Mohammedali, has 25 years of diverse experience of spearheading large IT Divisions spanning Program & Project Management, Infrastructure & Operations Management, People Management, Research, Product Development & Engineering, Technology management, Application development, Information security and Quality Management across a broad spectrum of verticals in the IT industry in USA and India.
Sarji is a role model to his employees by showing his employees how to work with customers. Despite an increase in administrative and management responsibilities as the company has grown, Sarji still manages projects like a project manager. There are many customers that he still handles on his own to this day.
Sarji began his career as a lecturer in Computer Engineering at the Institute of Human Resources Development for Electronics in Kerala. Later he moved to the IT industry and worked in various key roles. He worked at Avenir Inc. and Atinav LLC in India and USA in the capacity of Senior Vice President – Technology, prior to Citrus Informatics. He has also served as the Head of Projects & Operations at UCI Technology Private Limited (Software R&D Division of a US Corporate).
Apart from Citrus Informatics (India) Pvt Ltd, Sarji Mohammedali decisively serves two different IT companies in the USA. Since 2010, he has been serving Netspective Communications LLC, USA as Director of Engineering; since 2009 and as Offshore Head of TCTI Inc, USA. He is also an IT Advisory to RGB Broadcasting Equipments, Kerala, India.
Sarji says “Looking back I feel proud to have many satisfied customers and happy engineers working towards the success of the organization. Being able to save the time as well as the money of my customers in addition to delivering successful solutions to solve their business problems is what means the most to me.”
His Message to the Budding Entrepreneurs-
Every entrepreneur should know that he plays a major role in the transformation of the business sector as well as the society. He needs to be able to play multiple roles simultaneously for the smooth running of his organization.
In short, an entrepreneur must fulfil his duties towards his customers, employees, country, environment, society and himself.
“Do whatever you do, better than anyone else so that you stand out as the best”, is the motto that Sarji lives by. He believes that an entrepreneur should set an example through their character and policy and not just by monetary success.”
Headquarter In: Kochi, Kerala, India
Founded in Year: 2010
Employees Headcount: 220
Your Tagline/Quote: “Always a Step Ahead
