Sahaj Software Solutions: The Purveyors of the 'Simple' Approach to Agile

AkashAgrawal, Co-Founders

The greatest accomplishments in human history so far have all been inspired by ideas perceived by great minds of a previous generation. From the submarine to the helicopter, every invention that has changed the way we live has been either borrowed or inspired by the works of intellects who during their time were bereft of the necessary tools required to bring their ideas to tangible reality. The rules and lessons taken from such ideas have paved way for innovations that have yielded results that far surpass the aspirations of their original conceptualists and exposed the world to new marvels. For the computer enthusiasts, Agile is this code that has been borrowed from the various contributions that Information Technology has received through the course of the past century. While some codes eventually fade away, others are made for the long haul. This has exactly been the case for Agile. Agile methodology over the past several decades has enabled software developers to stretch the limits of their technical prowess. While Agile is a set of principles which are designed to solve complex sets of problems in IT, the solution itself does not always have to be complex. An organization built upon this very principle is Sahaj Software Solutions. The name of the company which translates to “Simplicity” in the Sanskrit language, exemplifies the level of conviction its founders have on the concept.

The Convergence of Radical Ideas

The brainchild of IT experts, AkashAgrawal, RohitBansal, Sunder Malyandi, NitinDhall and BalachanderSwaminathan, Sahaj Software was conceived as an attempt at providing an alternative in the IT rat race for technical supremacy. Established in 2014, Sahaj’s primary focus is to tackle the most complex of technological problems with the simplest of solutions, thereby creating a faster go to market that can help consumers realize all their goals. “We wanted to break the age old philosophy of product development and move to a more new age approach tackling a problem,” says Akash, who is also the Director of the company. Sunder, who is also a Director at Sahaj identifies it as a platform rather than a company. This to a great extent is true, as Sahaj always has a better alternative to its clients’ needs that does not involve burning a hole in their pockets.Sahaj manages to go the extra mile in customer relationship and customer satisfaction by providing clients with more cost effective and efficient ways to satisfy their needs instead of just complying with their requests. This is accomplished by offering the clients a two day white boarding and workshop that is designed to offer them various other methods to complete the project they are going undertake. The result of this approach has always brought a positive remark from the clients who realize the prospects of completing their projects the “Sahaj” way.

A Company beyond the Bounds of Organizational Hierarchy

While Sahaj follows an unorthodox approach in terms of work, the unconventional alignment of its internal structure may come as a surprise to most. The founders believe that a structured hierarchy in an organization is only designed to limit the potential of its employees by cultivating an inhibition amongst them to think outside the box. In practical terms this factor does pose a threat to a company's growth. Being part of an organization that is free from all the bounds of the traditional corporate structure, employees at Sahaj are naturally motivated to come up with ideas that often defy the laws of IT in an unprecedented manner to extract the most out of agile. According to Nitin this 'killing of designations' has released the employees from the confines of being in a single role.

This enables everyone at Sahaj to act autonomously, exploring new opportunities within the company and coming up with innovative ideas to enhance their own performance as well as the company’s.

“Sahaj believes that their model is very similar to a Banyan tree, with the wide trunk and the branches that eventually grow out and sustain themselves,” says Akash. While the entire Sahaj team is given the freedom to follow new approaches in providing IT solutions, they do so by providing the clients with an utmost level of transparency on their respective ongoing projects. This often leads to several hours of back and forth discussions and several conflicts of ideas, but the end result proves more than worth all these hassles. This has enabled Sahaj to constantly maintain an open line of communication with its clients even when during tough times. Sahaj also deviates from the traditional strategy followed by most IT companies of maximizing the duration of projects and retaining their clients for longer durations of time. Sahaj treats each task in a project as a project by itself and hands them over to the clients as and when they are completed at a faster rate deriving both value and efficiency, thereby earning their loyalty. This culture of transparency has trickled into the company’s assets as well. In a shocking move, Sahaj announced that it would have a policy of open compensation, allowing every member in the company to know the salary of the other person. What began as just an experiment which was received with a lot of skepticism from the team, eventually bore fruitful results after the member were given a free hand at determining what component each of the founders take home, allowing the founders to pitch to the members on what they have brought to the table before making a decision.

Sahaj manages to go the extra mile in customer relationship and customer satisfaction by providing clients with more cost effective and efficient ways to satisfy their needs instead of just complying with their requests.

A Different Machine under the Hood

Sahaj’s unique organizational structure has fostered an unconstrained way of thinking and solving which has enabled the company to look at each problem historically and addressing each of its aspects individually deriving better results. “We don't get bogged down by our roles as a technology partner or technologist, but look at every aspect of the problem in order to come up with a solution. This has helped our clients achieve their project goals immensely,” says Rohit. This method of learning from previous experience has also seeped into the consulting services offered by the company. Consultants at Sahaj hone their abilities through the insights they gain by interacting with clients and peers. “Good consultants need to have a high degree of empathy, an innate ability to abstract the learnings from a situation and assess their applicability to different situations and above all, be ready to jump headlong into implementing the same, in partnership with our customers,” elaborates Bala on Sahaj’s perception of consultants. This unique consulting model coupled with the maturity of services offered facilitate the 'wow' effect, rapid turnaround and productivity gains that allow our customers to establish a distinction forthemselves in the market. To this end Sahaj’s also partakes in implementing the recommendation offered, thereby offering end to end solutions that aid companies in avoiding most of the hassles involved with the services rendered through multiple services providers.

Despite its multi-service competence, the core of Sahaj’s work complement is comprised of consultants dubbed Sahajeevis. Sahaj team has an average work experience of about 12 years with proportionally valuable portions of insights and experience to offer. The leadership team at Sahaj too boasts a combined experience of over a century which been very successfully translated into one of the most comprehensively diverse IT companies in the world.

The Road Ahead

Over the past two years Sahaj has been successful in carving a niche for itself in the APAC market and further seeks to add its own products and solutions into its distinct service portfolio._ Currently catering the global market through its offices in India, the company will soon expand its presence in the U.S. where it is already handling few projects, and enter the UK market along with some other western countries. With the kind of approach and attitude Sahaj has imbibed, reaching this goal doesn’t seem like a far off dream.