At BrilliantRead Media, our aim is to bring to our community some of the unique and compelling stories from the start-up ecosystem. As part of this endeavour, we invited seasoned entrepreneur and business leader Arun Thiyagarajan, for an exclusive interview with us.
Arun Thiyagarajan is the founder of Swathi Business Solutions. He has a Bachelor’s Degree in Agricultural Science from Annamalai University, Chidambaram & a Masters Degree in Business Administration specialized in the field of Marketing from the University of Madras.
He comes with an overall experience of 20 years in the consulting industry. Expertise includes Business Development & Client Relations, Resourcing, Corporate Training & Software Development activities both in the domestic & global market. He was also instrumental in setting up of Swathi Business Solutions LLC in Atlanta, GA, the USA in 2011. He also heads an organization called IntegWrite Technologies a group company of Swathi Business Solutions, which focuses on consulting on Technical Writing & Documentation projects, Social Media Audit & Workshops on various domains. The recent add-ons are consulting on various process implementations to our clients. Let’s learn more about his inspirational journey and his advice for our growing community!
Excerpts from our exclusive interview with him:
You are always positive and motivated, what keeps you going?
It is always necessary for all of us to have a positive attitude when we venture into some kind of activity (or) the other. Only then the venture will become a success. It is not only for any venture but even a small activity you would like to carry out.
Specifically, in the case of an Entrepreneur, this kind of positive attitude is very important. As an Entrepreneur, in a majority of the situations, you will not have anybody to motivate you all the time.
There are a lot of many situations I have come across wherein there will be people to demotivate us as they will not understand that success for an Entrepreneur does not come overnight.”
There would be very few people who will be able to understand the secret of Entrepreneurship.
In those kinds of situations, only Ones Own positive attitude will help to motivate you and make us run faster than what we were before.
This kind of approach helps me to keep going on and climb from one step to another.
What attracts you towards entrepreneurship instead of a corporate career?
Entrepreneurship and Corporate Career as per my experience of 20 years, does not make much of a difference. To be precise, the present-day Corporates were once started by an Entrepreneur.
For eg: HCL was started in a Garage in Delhi and now it has become a large Corporate Organization.
One of the biggest Corporate Giants in the World Microsoft Corporation was started by Bill Gates as an Entrepreneur. As on date, it has become a corporate which has become a Public Ltd Company with the Promoter/Entrepreneur holding the major shares in the organization.
Every Entrepreneur’s dream would be to make his start-up to a big corporate organization. For some, it happens in a shorter period of time and for some, it takes a longer time. There are a lot of factors which influence the growth of the Entrepreneur.”
The only point here is that whether you would like to promote your own organization as an Entrepreneur (or) you want to go for employment.
You are the Founder and CEO of ‘Swathi Business Solutions’ and ‘IntegWrite’ such a unique name. Please share with us where is the idea come from?
The Word Swathi has the following meanings in Sanskrit “Pure as a Pearl; A Star; Clean; Bright; First Drop of Rain; Precious”.
As the name implies we are crystal clear in our approach in our delivery to the client. Like the first drop of rain, we communicate to the client in a clear and transparent way What Could be Delivered and What Cannot Be Delivered.
IntegWrite – Was derived from the Word Integrity which implies the trustworthiness of oneself towards others. A simple example is that of The National Bird Of India The Peacock.
As per the Author: Joshua Zitting “The Peacock’s many different colours and radiant feathers signifies integrity, truth, honour, and making sure to love one’s self. When a peacock enters into the Frey they strut in confidently and gracefully as if nothing is wrong”.
Similar to this IntegWrite caters to their clients with full integrity, confidentiality, not making the client spend on something which shall not be productive, just because to bill the client.
Apart from this, the other aspect is the Integration of ideas and thoughts of different personalities like Technical Communicators, Technology Experts, SME’s (Subject Matter Experts) Management experts, etc., while providing/suggesting and implementing a solution for the client’s requirement and need of the hour.
Our audience wants to know what kind of problem are you solving with the help of your startup?
Our area of expertise is our in-depth knowledge and understanding of the various Information Technological needs. We take care in building an excellent relationship with clients thereby providing professional service globally.
We offer our services in the given areas:
1 – IT consulting
2 – Staffing (Contract & Direct Hire)
3 – R2D – Ready to Deploy Resource
4 – SAP Consulting
5 – Corporate Training and Workshops
6 – Recruitment Audit
7 – Social Media Audit
8 – HR Audit & Process Implementation
9 – Software Development
10 – Multimedia
11 – Technical Writing & Software documentation
12 – Advanced Certification Programs
Please share with our audience, what is the uniqueness of your startup?
Business is always in the air, but the most valuable commodity in this scenario is a healthy and supportive client relationship. We seriously keep a note of maintaining a balanced client loyalty to avoid denting our relationship, thus affecting our market reputation. We practice regular follow up with our clients. This is to ensure relationship building measures and also make them aware that we are available to cater to their proposed or future business needs. We take time to listen to them as to what their feedback is with regard to their previous work or in pursuance to their pending work with us. We take time to understand their issues and prepare ourselves to address their concerns if any. This helps us with learning a lesson to forego such challenges in time ahead. Our line of communication is not just phone or emails, but we pursue regular contact with our clients through brochures, posters, pamphlets, videos, e-mail marketing and other digital marketing souvenirs. We try to send in questionnaires to update our knowledge base and FAQs to recommend alternate solutions, appropriately.
During this COVID-19 crisis, what are the measures you have undertaken to continue your business without disruption?
There have been disruptions in the activities under the Covid-19 crisis. To overcome this you need to realign your strategy in such a way that you add one (or) 2 activities, which could fetch you some kind of revenue to tide over the crisis. Under these circumstances, we need to think of an area wherein your services are much needed which others could not provide. The most important criteria here is that it would be better to make this as an add-on to your existing line of service (or) activity. Never ever try to quit the existing service and try a new different line as this may not be the right time to do.
There has been a couple of add-ons during this crisis from our end.
1) Feasibility Audit in terms of Aligning Resource Management with Technology Migration.
It is a kind of audit wherein you work on the strength and weakness of our client in terms of Resource Management and Deployment with Technology Migration. There are a lot of factors involved which would be taken into account to come out with the Audit report.
Would be delighted to present a detailed insight in a separate column in this regard
2) Investment Advisory & Consulting: The need of the hour for every business person to tide over the current difficult situation, for an Entrepreneur, Manufacturer, People engaged in catering to the service industry. What they require is the Working Capital at this point of time to streamline his line of activity and to restore the supply chain to the Pre-Covid era.
This is one such area we have started focusing as an add-on to our existing line of activity. We are also focussing on niches like Software Development and Software Documentation & RFP. Though we were involved in this previously, our focus has been on high priority in the current situation.
How do you manage yourself and keep on going despite the challenges? What drives you?
Pressure and stress have been a part and parcel of my life and have been used to it. I should be grateful to my father who taught me the art of managing it.
He has served in the Indian Army as a Commissioned Officer during the Emergency Commission after which he served as a Senior Gazetted Officer in the State Government.
He used to tell me that there is no life without pressure and stress, and it might be different for each one of us.
When we feel that we are under pressure (or) stress it will exert us too much. As a result of which one will not be able to use his mind to think of what should be done next.
The best way is to try to keep it aside and to think about what could be done to come out of the situation. Try to analyze where we went wrong as this would be most crucial to take the next step. There may be some instances, wherein one gets stuck in the middle of something from which he can neither get out of it (or) proceed further. One such example would be in the case of making investments in something. A thorough analysis of what we are going to do, exploring both plus and minuses of the act, what should be done to overcome if something negative happens during the process to make it positive. The best thing would be making a proper analysis and setting up a strategy before you act.”
Given the rapid pace at which the world is changing, what are the leadership traits that are necessary for success?
In order to cope with the rapid pace in which the world is changing, the following are the leadership traits that are mandatory for achieving your success.
1 – Do proper analysis before venturing.
2 – Should be willing to work as a part of the team besides leading the team
3 – Should be a good leader and do not try only to be a boss. Being a good leader will automatically make you a boss.
4 – The foremost of among all this is that one should have the patience to listen to others as this would be key to get all the information you require.
5 – Never behave like an autocratic manner as that would lead to your inevitable downfall.
Despite all the challenges, what has worked well for you so far?
In my way of thinking, success is a process which is not instantaneously achieved. Hence, there is no just one thing, but a combination of different traits, which helps me reach the destination. I believe in starting from the beginning of an assignment or contract and this needs proper planning and strategized execution. I get inspired and motivated to take up challenges with more energy. Any business helps you build and grow your career, but also helps you establish as a person. I try to identify the circumstances on which the requirements are based upon and allocate my team who are accountable for the activity, thus tracking the progress from its initial stages. I keep reiterating that my desires and objectives just keep on winning and that brings me the satisfaction of performing the duties without any lapse. Commitment is my accomplishment and the result it gives is a success, sweet success.
In your opinion – what is more necessary: Idea or a good team for a successful start-up?
As per my opinion, for a Start-up, both ideas as well as a good team is required. First comes the idea followed by the identification of a good and trustworthy team to support from the backend.
Beyond all this, the most critical factor is that one should be able to withstand any kind of pressures by taking it as a challenge and to prove yourself.
We would love to know your advice for all those starting out as an aspiring entrepreneur?
1 – Be clear in your objective
2 – Should have a fighting spirit to achieve your goal.
3 – Do proper analysis before venturing.
4 Should be willing to work as a part of the team besides leading the team
5 – Should be a good leader and do not try only to be a boss, as being a good leader will automatically make you a boss.
6 – Care for your employees, as employees form the backbone of any organizations.
7 – Have a constructive approach.
8 – Do not be negative.
9 – Take an only calculative risk when you start.
10 – Try to grow at a steady pace as this would set a strong platform
11 – Do not try to develop in a short span as that may result in catastrophe.
BrilliantRead is committed to bringing stories from the startup ecosystem, stories that reshape our perspective, add value to our community and be a constant source of motivation not just for our community but also for the whole ecosystem of entrepreneurs and aspiring individuals.
Note: If you have a similar story to share with our audience and would like to be featured on our online magazine, then please write to us at [email protected], we will review your story and extend an invitation to feature if it is worth publishing.
