A chance encounter brings past friends together
Bitwise Global, an IT consulting firm based in Schaumburg, Ill., has a unique origin story: a vision spurred by curiosity and entrepreneurialism shared among two couples who were friends from college. According to President and Co-founder Salil Sakhardande, the four of them met and became friends while doing their postgraduation studies in computer science in Pune, India.
“It so happened in that 1992, through our companies in India, we were sent for projects in the United States. We were working together in Chicago, and during that time, we felt that we could go on our own. So, we decided to give it a try.”
From this unusual start, Bitwise entered the world of IT services and, over the next 28 years, continuously reinvented itself as generational shifts in technology demanded new skills and services to meet a changing market. Today, Bitwise has over 1,000 global employees serving Fortune 500 customers from locations in the United States, India, and the United Kingdom.
Strong values as a guide to success
So, what contributed to the company’s success? And how does a small startup technology firm not only survive — but thrive — in a complex, highly competitive IT services industry?
According to Salil, it was a combination of factors, chief among them being an organizational culture built on strong values that were defined early in the company’s history and consistently observed over the following decades. He says the values are centered on passion for their work, being open-minded when working with each other and clients, having compassion for the people they work with, and personal integrity, mutual respect, and a sense of belonging felt within the organization.
“We live these values daily,” says Salil. “They’re not just something on paper — they’re a major reason for our success.”
Delivering transparency and trust
Salil cites an instance of how their values helped guide the company through an issue common to companies that work across cultures.
“One of the cultural issues we needed to learn how to deal with is how to share bad news. Sometimes people aren’t very good at delivering bad news because they don't want to disappoint. But at the same time, transparency within the organization and with the client is critical to building trust. So, we train our people on the importance of being transparent — to say it like it is — and don’t worry about delivering bad news. Bad news is the most important news one can deliver.”
To build a collaborative environment within the organization, Bitwise team members regularly visit back and forth between the United States and India. In the United States, many of our staff work at client locations. They’re in front of clients all the time. In India, they predominantly work at Bitwise locations. The difference in environment is significant; one is more formal, and the other not so much. When you’re at the client site, they’re right there asking you for solutions, there’s pressure. When staff from India travel to the United States and spend time at customer locations it’s huge in terms of learning and understanding the challenges here. Similarly, when staff from the United States travels to India, they get a good understanding of the environment there.
Working at the confluence of change
As a company that has persevered in the evolving world of technology consulting, Bitwise excels at managing change. They listen to their customers’ needs, conduct ongoing strategic reviews, and adjust their go-to-market strategy to keep pace with emerging trends. To manage this process, Bitwise has a dedicated technology organization whose role is to continuously explore new solutions that complement the company’s offerings in the market.
“This is where our current knowledge and futuristic technology come together, says Salil. “As an outcome of this work, we’ve built our own accelerators that help our customers convert from legacy applications to new technologies. It has a big impact on how we go to market.”
Advice for new entrepreneurs
After 28 years, moving from a startup to established global technology company, Salil has a few pieces of advice for entrepreneurs looking to start their own business.
- Be clear on your differentiators. “What’s the value-add that you bring to the market in comparison with your competition? It doesn’t cut it to be a standard provider.”
- Know your limits. “It’s important to have confidence, but not be overconfident. It’s a delicate balance — you have to instill confidence that you’re there to solve the customer’s problems and provide the value-add, but at the same time, be gracious enough to bow out if you can’t help them.”
- Surround yourself with the right people. “Hire experts who understand the business that you’re working in, and are at least equally as passionate as you are. And then listen to them. Many founders have the best executives around them and don’t listen to them.”
- Never stop networking. “Networking plays a big role in the success of any business: having relationships and always trying to build on those relationships is very important.”
Continuing the journey
What’s next for Bitwise? Salil says as Bitwise matures, it plans to continue along the path of innovation and edging toward being a thought leader in the market. And as the company continues to evolve, it’s adapting its strategy to combine technical expertise with industry vertical expertise.
“And we’ll keep focusing on delivering value growth to our customers. That’s how we got started, that’s what’s defined success for us, and it’s been a great journey.”
