CIOInsider India Magazine
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Imran Kazi
Founder & Director
Having travelled great miles, Imran has gathered 20 years of professional IT experience. Imran was associated with companies like Microsoft, Symantec, Huawei and Ingram micro for over a decade, both in UAE and International markets.
Today’s business world is complex, and technology is invasive and pervasive and the fundamental changes affecting the industry are more permanent in nature. As an entrepreneur how are you looking forward to enhancing your business in the growing IT industry?
Evolution of Technology in the recent times has changed the way we live, in multiple ways both for the better and also has become one of our greatest threats both physically and mentally. This is moulding us to shape our future thoughts on how far we can extend to allow the technology to intrude our privacy & lives. That means we are contemplating on the level of pervasive and invasive, are we willing to let technology influence our products.
There are technology areas like Artificial Intelligence (AI), where we have been focussing on for quite some time. However, given the current situation prevailing across the globe, it has become much more useful for services like assistance in monitoring, and implementation etc. As an organization we put in our best efforts in meeting our customer needs in time, and therefore we are strategically placed. We follow a few mantras in order to increase our business footprint; Researching the competition, identifying new opportunities, align with new age technologies, Charting into new geographies, Partnering with OEM(s), Account mining, and Form strategic partnerships.
Strategic partnerships with the right companies can truly make a world of difference. It could allow you to reach a myriad of customers quickly. Identifying those partnerships might be easier said than done. But, look out for companies that are complementary to your own; contact them and propose opportunities to work together.
The biggest challenge to IT in the future is security. As an IT expert how are you managing to provide security to the customers as well as to the employees of KernelSphere?
I agree that there are challenges in the Industry and with the current pandemic it has worsened.
Our endeavour will be to provide business continuity of our customers by providing the right resources in time. Therefore, we have set up a dedicated team aligned to each customer so that the customer connect is always maintained hence providing them the much-needed confidence.
Right from inception, our approach has been the optimum utilization of our staff. We also train & motivate our staff to develop multiple skills so that they are relevant at all times. This helps our employees gain higher confidence level and feel secured while being minimally affected by the outside environment.
With a holistic view of this industry, we have initiated a multi-pronged approach. I am happy that our multi-pronged approach was in the right direction especially in these unfortunate times
Like anything else in life or in business, you have to put in the time if you're looking to reap the benefits. Don't focus on the short-term outcomes of your work. Look to the long term. Build sincere values and aim to help your customers. Genuinely care. That should be the foundation. After that, it's simply a matter of taking action and putting in the work to scale.
To move forward with an organisation, a team of experts are necessary, what are the strategies you apply in the organisation to coordinate among your employees to bring out the best output?
As a technology company, we are run by subject matter experts and as I mentioned Learning & Development is one of the key areas, we focus on to bring out the best in each one of them.
As a manager, one of the biggest responsibilities is to inspire other people to be the best versions of themselves. If done well, everyone on the team will not only be more productive and efficient, but also happier with their jobs. One of the hardest challenges, especially for new managers, is to balance this leadership mindset (focusing on helping other people) while still looking for ways to get your own work done.
With 20 years of professional IT experience, how are you planning to take your organisation ahead in the growing industry of technology?
I started my IT career at a very young age with a passion to learn stratagems
of Business world and a dream to generate employment rather than Corporate Gain. I started this organization with the same passion after working for many years in the IT industry and having donned many roles during this journey.
With a holistic view of this industry, we have initiated a multi-pronged approach. I am happy that our multi-pronged approach was in the right direction especially in these unfortunate times. We have invested heavily in sunrise technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IOT), Data Analytics, Mobility, Digital Ecosystems and Cloud Management Services.
We are working with different verticals like Healthcare, Public Services, BFSI and others. Our engagement is twofold; either by directly working with a client to deploy tailor made solutions or products on the said technologies, or deploy our diligently selected talent to augment client’s project.
We also have a division where we undertake IT Infrastructure Management Services including deploying and maintaining IT Hardware & Software services.
To sum up our core areas, I would say we’re primarily inclined toward working with our partners on emerging technologies and deploying talent.
As a founder and managing director of KernelSphere, what advice would you give to the young entrepreneurs in the emerging IT sector?
Today’s world is very competitive and so are the current generation of youngsters who have immense talent and think out of the box. My observation is that most of them have fantastic ideas and have a passion hidden in them to become an entrepreneur.
My advice is, if you have an idea, take the risk and present it to the world. This is the time when the world is embracing with open arms any game changing ideas.
It is better to try and fail rather than not try at all. At least you won’t carry any regrets when the time is not on your side. You have age & welcoming ecosystem on your side, so you have nothing to lose.
Organization: Kernelsphere
Headquartered: Dubai
Domain: IT Serives
While businesses take a dip giving in to the economic slowdown, it has become imperative that businesses start taking their IT infrastructure seriously. There are several questions as to what now, when the damage is already done. Fresh conversation from an IT professional, Imran Kazi gives us a succinct picture of what will matter now and why his firm has the right abilities to fix your business good time.
