Author: prime

The need for Consultants and Consulting firms in India have increased in the recent years with the country emerging as a Startup hub, especially after having attracted a lot of attention of the Investors both from within and outside the country being more than willing to invest in startups in India. With more and more investors coming forward to take the risk, the startup environment in India is growing throwing up a potential opportunity for a host of service providers, mentors and Consulting firms.

NASSCOM has reported that more than 1,200 startups came up in 2018, including eight unicorns, taking the total number of startups in India to 7,200 with a 108% growth in the funding in 2018 (from about USD 2 billion in 2017 to about USD 4.2 billion in 2018).

With this growth and India emerging as a Startup hub, the requirement of experienced Consultants has been on the rise. This is especially so for Consultants who in addition to being mentors, could also provide services in specific non-core areas for these startups. The startup founders are keen to offload key support functions including Legal, Commercial Contracting, Company Secretarial services, Finance & Accounting, HR, etc. It is essential that some of these key areas are addressed by a Consulting firm with experienced professionals who not only are trained in these disciplines, but also have in-depth experience in diverse industry background and having handled live situations. We are proud to say that, Triangulas, a company founded by the two of us in early May 2017 is one such Consulting firm. From our broad based background across various industry sectors, we feel that there are some key ingredients for a Business to be successful.

1. Structuring the company and its products/services

One of the most important challenges for any Business has been to evolve a successful structure from the time of its incorporation. At the time of incorporation, the company needs to decide on the shareholding of its promoters, the amount of dilution of shareholding in the company to bring in investors who would not only support in terms of funds, but also provide their expertise to enhance the products/services of the company and help in gaining market share within or outside the country. Equally important is the need to apportion about 10-15% of the shareholding for Employee Stock Option Plan (ESOP) for key and dedicated employees who are early joiners (in most cases) and remain loyal to the company. Another aspect to be considered for existing companies is to assess if there is a need to create new subsidiaries under the company for diversified business (which may not have much in common with their core business). A commonly seen practice in the early stage of startups is the need to bring in technology partners for building the products or platforms. At a boot-strap stage of the company, the challenge would then be to decide if such technology partners should have shareholding in lieu of being paid for their efforts. .

Subsequent to the incorporation and at a stage when revenue starts picking up, the companies have a dilemma on whether to stick and concentrate on the local market for the sale of their products/platform or to expand its reach across multiple markets and seek investment (and associated shareholding dilution) for the associated investments required for such expansion.

Structuring of the organization is like laying foundation of a building – it is always necessary for it to be strong enough to withstand the challenges of the market for a long period of time, but at the same time be nimble to adapt to changing environments and technology enhancements.

Triangulas has successfully structured large number of companies based on their individual stated objectives and depending on the type of product, platform or services they provide, industry domain which is serviced by these products/platforms/services and the regulatory requirements based on the law of the land.

2. Legal and Regulatory Compliance

While it is understood that the companies in their initial stages focus on the development of their product/services, one of the grave mistakes they make are the fact that they ignore the need to ensure both Legal and Regulatory compliance. Triangulas has come across many start-ups who have a brilliant product, a large pipeline of opportunities and reputed prospective clients, but have failed miserably due to have not complied with the compliance requirements from both a Legal and Regulatory perspective.  In some cases, these start-ups had to even wind up their business and incur heavy losses. This situation can be avoided with very minimal effort by engaging experts in the field of Legal & Regulatory Compliance. Triangulas has had the opportunity to have supported multiple organisations in managing the Legal and Regulatory risks very efficiently and thus ensuring that the Business does not have to struggle at a stage when it is ready to scale up.

3. Protect the interest of the company by way of signing up contracts

With your business being your livelihood, it is essential that it is protected adequately. Many business owners run the risk and ruin their business by not having the most essential contracts in place to protect them. In the absence of contracts, most companies which seek growth cannot survive for long. It not only maintains the connectivity appropriately strong and operational between the Business and both its Customers and Vendors, but also ensures that even within the organization, it clearly defines the rights and obligations of the stakeholders – be it Promoters, Investors, Board members or employees.

Triangulas has had the fortune to assist a large number of companies in drafting various kinds of contracts – be it for their customer/client orders, vendor or service provider services, employment or consultant contracts, shareholder agreements between promoters and subsequently between promoters and investors. In most cases, especially in the startup ecosystem, the request for support comes in after having had issues with the counter party or between the company and its employees.

There are many more requirements which companies need to have in place for being successful, but the above would in most cases, take this through the right path if addressed as early as in the incorporation stages.

– Surekha Rao & Jayakrishnan V E
Co-Founders, Triangulas Business Consulting

India, the seventh largest economy by nominal GDP and the third largest by the purchasing power parity is expected to be the third largest construction market globally by 2025. As per reports, by 2025, the construction output is expected to grow on average by 7.1 percent each year and with the allowance of 100 percent FDI under automatic route in completed projects for operations and management of townships, malls/shopping complexes and business constructions, it seems all the more plausible.

However, one of the major causes of concerns in the construction ecosystem is the lack of apt Project Management and with a infrastructural investment of more than Rs 1 trillion (2012-2017), lack of accountability, improper risk management, ambiguous contingency plan do tend to creep in. Couple that with a total of more than 44 million actively involved people, the Indian construction industry is bound to come across stints of inadequately skilled personnel, undefined goals, scope changes, poor communications, resource deprivation and lack of stakeholder engagement.

In this milieu, Fidesto Projects Private Limited, a professional Project Management Company, has incorporated a 360⁰ vision and approach towards Project Management with the motive to serve their esteemed Clients for their projects.

Extended Hands for respected Clients

Derived from the word ‘fides’ which means loyal, reliable and responsible, Fidesto has adopted a 3H approach, i.e. Humbleness, Honesty and Hardwork to provide professional, dedicated and value based project management services to their respected clients. It acts as extended hands for respected clients and works as Single Point of Contact (SPOC) on client’s behalf for complete project management. Fidesto Projects Private Limited involves itself in overall planning, design coordination, award strategy and award process, monitoring, controlling quality, safety and hand over of the project in order to produce a functionally and financially viable project.

Once entrusted, Fidesto Projects Private Limited takes over the project from its conceptualisation to design development to whole developments through the active participation of competent and well qualified design and execution team. Banking on their experience, Fidesto Projects Private Limited not only implements its ‘Standard Operating Procedures’ (to ensure Design Coordination, Quality, Safety, Progress, HSE, Cost Management and much more), but also forecasts upcoming challenges, and acts with necessary solutions to safeguard the project.

The aforementioned 360⁰ approach involves –

Pre-Construction

• Site Reconnaissance
• Team Consultants Finalisation through the Process of RFP/ Proposal/ Discussion/ Negotiation/ Clients Feedback/ Rating Matrix/ Award.
• Concept Briefing
• Coordination for various Applicable Approvals from Authority
• Project Scheduling (Macro level)
• Design Management (Coordination with Architect/ Consultants to get the design done from Concept Design to Good for Construction Drawings and BOQ/ Estimation Stage.)
• Project Budgeting
• Tender Packages Strategy
• Value Engineering
• Award Process
• HSE Planning
• Award as per Project Schedule

During Construction

• Drawing Review and Coordination for closure for Execution
• Site Logistics Review and Implementation through Contractors
• Coordination with Contractors and Team Consultants for proper Site Execution
• Quality Assurance & Quality Control
• EHS
• Site Supervision and Progress monitoring
• Cost Management
• Safety & Quality Audits.

Post Construction

• Snagging & De-snagging Coordination
• Project Closeout Report including “As – Built” Drawings, Final Billing Closure for all Contractors/ Vendors and Learning & Experiences, etc.

Aiming for the best, delivering only best

A university gold medal awardee in his graduation in Civil Engineering from Amravati University and a Masters of Engineering from IIT Roorkee and MBA in finance with over 22 years of experience in project management, project planning, project execution and management, the Director of Fidesto, Vipul Garg has worked with various government sectors through UPSC for UP irrigation department and has even held fifth rank in UPSC. Along with experience in corporates like Birla Group, Desein Group, Feedback ventures and AIPL Group.  Vipul has published technical papers in national and international journals which even earned him the L&T ECC Award for technical presentation on Concrete Technology.

With such an able visionary at the helm of affairs, Fidesto Projects Private Limited has reached the figure of 50 lakh square feet (approx.) BUA for project management for various high rise projects and the entire credit to it is shared amongst the team at Fidesto called the ‘Fidesto Family’. The family like work culture that enables authority to explore and implement ideas has however acted as a catalyst in the process at Fidesto. The Processes gets strengthened by periodical issuances of ‘Working Manuals’. Believing firmly that ‘only Work, Works’, Fidesto Projects Private Limited involves its team including senior officials and owners in each project irrespective of quantum to utilise their experience for good of the projects.

Harbouring its biggest asset: Team

Along with fortnightly regular Design Coordination Meeting (DCM), Fortnightly Regular Conference Call (CC), Fortnightly Project Updation to Clients, Weekly Internal Site Updation, Monthly Progress Report (MPR) and Monthly Construction Updates to all Consultants, full focus on soft skills in addition to the software skills is also considered for the Fidesto Family. Regular Team Training on Technical and Managerial aspects is a routine in Fidesto. Fidesto carries out periodical social gatherings, takes care of every individual, management’s and team’s involvement in all good or crucial times for Team’s families. Fidesto has adopted a pro-active and systematic approach and Vipul’s guidance is there at every step for growth of the individual and Company.

It is due to such fine attributes that Fidesto has earned the adulations from some of the best in the industry like the Rucha Group, Yashvastu Group, Shah Developers and Promoters, Bhumiraj Group, Kakkad Group, Sense Wellness (Wave Group), AGI Infra, Old World Hospitality, Apratim Group, Vaswani 108  Lifespaces, Vighnadanta Reality, Prathamesh AOP and many others.

Fidesto and its team prides itself in forecasting a problem even before it crops up and tackling it event before it becomes a concern to its client.

During the initial twenty years of Hemant’s career, he gained experience in the same domain with different companies. He was always passionate of doing things differently and take responsibility in whatever he pursued. However, during last six years as CEO of the East Corp Group, as a serial entrepreneur he felt the responsibility not evolves about himself but also building team and brand around him in the market. Each day as an opportunity to learn and achieve something that encourages and excites Hemant and its team. Hemant is on mission to take his group to the next level from day one and never felt discouraged of being an entrepreneur in a price sensitive economy.

Out-of-the-Box Services and Solutions

East Corp Group is a growing company with resources of fourteen people and serving clients not only PAN India but also SAARC countries. Currently, the company is operated from Mumbai. The brand expanded as a group providing consulting services in Fire, Security and Safety. The Group is engaged with end-users, architects, developers, industries and contractors in terms of Consulting, Audits and Awareness trainings. All three pillars; Fire, Security and Safety are vital and interdependent for many customers. It becomes convenient for these facility owners to deal with the company as one point of contact. Moreover, they don’t sell any products or systems and hence their unbiased, technical approach sets them apart from the competition, making them truly independent third party trusted and professional consultants.

Conversion of Hemant’s Rich Experience into Fruitful Fire Safety Startup

Hemant Khadse is CEO of the Group company. He started his career in year 1994 with Mather and Platt Ltd Mumbai, then a leading British company in Fire system solutions. Since then, he continued working in same industry but played different roles in various organizations in India and Middle East. During the first twenty years of employment, he gained in-depth understanding of this industry – demand and supply. He came up with business plan and it was not only to begin start a commercial entity but a platform where he can exchange his experience and elevate the fire safety standards in the form of consulting and training services. This is how Hemant’s independent consultant journey started in 2013.

Awards and Achievement

Last year, East Corp Group was awarded as Top 20 Safety consulting company by Silicon India Bangalore. Hemant was also privileged to receive honor as Top 30 dynamic CEO in India from Startup City Magazine. Apart from media mentions, Hemant values each customer feedback which drives the company to do better every day.

Growing Mindset of People for Safety and Security

Growing concerns of safety and rising security thefts issues in India, making facility owners to opt for experienced professionals to guide them in the process of making them non-compliant to compliant and unsafe to safe-secure place. There is notable change in the perception of users when they engage professional consultants as at present they consider it as a long-term investment rather an immediate expense.

Making Aware People About Significance of Fire Safety

India being price sensitive marketplace, safety security is given least or last importance. Business wakes only when something directly affects them. Users are still unaware of the best practices and statutory compliances that may prevent their losses or danger rather paying for the risk. East Corp conducts various free training awareness programs on fire safety but some people still consider it’s not meant for them. This mindset needs to change.

Long-term Customer Relations has High Contribution in Company’s Success

Hemant truly believes “people buy from People”. Winning trust is the key in any business and he always has this objective in mind while dealing with people. The company is in the domain of protecting someone’s life, property and environment and hence utmost care is taken while delivering our services. Company’s biggest asset so far is their customer relationship and trust that they build in the industry.

Motivation, Creativity and Innovation

Hemant’s passion is to interact with people and solve their issues with required abilities/knowledge in the best possible manner. Company’s professional team is trained to deliver the solutions responsibly. Although the work is may be repetitive, however each customer offerings is different and specific. This cultivates innovation and creativity within the team.

Work on Long-term Relationships instead of Shortcuts

Hemant’s wise words for maintaining long-term relationships include, “Never follow short cuts for immediate gain and treat our customers as long term business partner.

Transparent and professional approach always build strong bond with your customer and once we take care of his problems, he takes care of you well.”

Multiplied Growth in Future

Currently, East Corp Group has created a group of companies focusing Fire, Security and Safety verticals independently and offerings; Audit, Consulting and Trainings solutions to the market. The company has its footprints in India and SAARC. In terms of consulting solutions, the company wishes to be the preferred choice of customer and achieve 10X growth by 2022.

Useful Insight

East Corp Group is doubling their business every year without compromising quality service. Interested corporate industry should come forward and associate their training awareness programmes under CSR program for mutual benefit.

India is world’s third largest startup eco-system and overall startup base is expected to cross 7,500. There is also a surge in funding which is above $5 billion in the year 2018. The start-up ecosystem in the country is only going to expand in coming times and it is already seeing growth of 12-15 percent from last year and funding is likely to multiply. However, the greatest challenge is the astounding failure ratio of startups. We need to remember the fact that each startup sustained and transformed into profitable venture is a great opportunity for our country as well to promote social good precisely through saving of and creation of new jobs for the people, other than contributing towards sustainable economic growth of the nation. This is where the management consultants step in, helping startups to solve all their problems ranging from checking their viability and business health to building their business models and to aid them to improve their overall performance and profitability.

Established in 2017, Crefin India Management is a management consultancy firm that is built over decades of experience of learning, training in corporate world, as an investment banker and as a manager. Its clientele varies from e-commerce starts-ups to companies dealing with Exim solutions and agricultural supplies. It is helping these businesses to improve their performance and grow by providing customised management solutions as per the estimated needs.

Seamless execution of ideas

As a management consultant, it offers various services like business management, project management, start-up management, financial management and business health check and detailed project report to elevate the various sectors of business. Crefin is known for its trademark and copyright solution ‘MPO – Management Process Outsourcing’ which is especially focused towards boosting the start-ups. It is a unique process through which clients outsource their management to Crefin India and through MPO it enters a contract with CUC (Company under Consultancy) to bring in seamless execution of idea in order to make company profitable and sustain in the start-up ecosystem. In the course of MPO, it also provides a dedicated management team to start-ups to carry out their everyday business operations efficiently. Crefin India aims to reduce the staggering failure rate of starts-ups in India which is above 90 percent presently and thus contributes towards the economic growth of the nation.

Crefin India has also announced plans to integrate artificial intelligence (AI) with management process to devise new management systems for the startups. At the same time, they are aware of the fact that one person is different from the other person and it is not possible to follow same motivation strategy for two different individuals.

From a darkhorse to a rising star

Like any proper aspirational startup story of India, Crefin gained its current stature not through Godfathers or family fortunes for guidance or support but through passion, professionalism, hardwork and zeal to turn the tide. The whole team at Crefin India is currently working on bypassing all the constraints by devising new strategies and techniques of disruption. While looking at all the major challenges that new businesses typically face. Crefin firmly believes that every sector needs a reverse way of working along with new innovations. Primarily, the workforce needs to be more skilled, and thus, major training and motivation is required for the new entrants in workforce of the country as they have energy and passion but lack direction and motivation.

Crefin on its part does not believe in chasing success in mechanical terms but strives to achieve excellence by ensuring perfect blend of consistent hard and smart work. Crefin has set high standards of professionalism and business ethics, and the team management reveals that the core values of its organisation are efficiency, creativity, innovation, consistency, commitment and perseverance. They have gained the respect that they enjoy today in the industry because of their belief that the most important measure of any company’s success is client satisfaction and it is the high degree of client satisfaction and trust it has earned over the time, which has enabled Crefin to cross new puddle of success, though they have set their eyes on oceans.

Stronger the foundation, mightier the construction

Crefin India attributes entrepreneurial spirit highly for foundation and sustenance of any enterprise. The company believes in the line – An entrepreneur is someone who are possessed by dream and will to create own commercial kingdom. For them an entrepreneur is someone who has impeccable risk-taking abilities and has ventured into untested waters for setting up an enterprise from scratch, moving beyond the comfort of salaried job.

With a vision to create a world full of best professionals, the co-founders of Crefin India, Shipra Singh, currently the CEO and Jeevendra Poddar, currently the managing director, have worked to improve the performance of people as well as companies in the best possible ways they can by devising business tools and working closely with the companies to improve their performance and increase their profitability and contribute a better value to the society.

This is among the many reasons why they were honoured with many awards and recognitions across the globe including the ‘Brand Leadership Award’ at Goa State Best Brand awards 2018. Jeevendra has also been invited as a special speaker at ‘Debt Syndication Asia Summit 2018’, held at Singapore.

Building lives, spreading happiness

The leadership at Crefin India firmly believes that a leader is successful if his/her team is happy and content and obviously happy and content people are more productive and deliver better results. Shipra and Jeevendra jointly believe that success is not a destination, but it’s an on-going journey which never ends and in this journey the people you meet are the most important resources you can have. If you can make enough people happy and comfortable you will be surely happy and comfortable as a result of it.

They consider this as more of a service to the citizen of the country and they strongly believe that if people are treated well and their intellectual as well as emotional capabilities are well balanced, they can do wonders in their personal as well as professional space. Clearly stressing on the importance of relationship management, Crefin India works closely with people around them and understands them holistically.

ARKA Integrated Project Management Solutions was founded in 2009 by AR Kuldeep Singh-Founder and Managing Director. The consultancy firm has large Technical team of architects and Project managers working on various projects ARKA’s Head Office is in Hyderabad and Project Office at Mumbai and Bangalore.

ARKA–IPMS is based on four core values – a)Stakeholders-mainly Client & project team, b)Adaptability to client requirements, c)Quality project delivery and d) Ethics &Transparency. Company’s focus is not just on timely completion of the projects but hand holding their client in technical know-how during all stages of the project. Gaining Client Trust is important for PMC consultant and ARKA has demonstrated this trust by partnering on repeat projects with many clients.

Top-notch Services and Solutions by ARKA

Primarily, ARKA provides Project Management Services and Architectural Design Services to corporate companies and Indian Real Estate firms. The company’s main focus is on corporate offices for large and medium size companies. The Service Lines includes sub-categories:

Project Management

• Project Monitoring &
• Construction Management
• Fit out Management

Design Management

• Planning and Design development

Project Development services 

• Feasibilities reports
• Due Diligence advisory

ARKA manages projects in Mumbai Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chennai and NCR markets. Managing projects across all major cities and PAN India is ARKAs USP.

Brainchild Behind the Company

Kuldeep Singh is Founder and Managing Director of the Company. He pursued Bachelor of Architecture and holds a PG in Construction Management. He has rich experience of 25 years in Architectural Design, Project Planning, Construction Management and Program Management for Corporate and Real estate Clients across major Indian Metro and Overseas markets.

Besides that, he has briefly worked on project assignment in Switzerland. He has got significant large scale Management exposure in TATA Group, Jones Lang LaSalle and Novartis. One of the senior members to Set-up Jones Lang LaSalle (MNC) Project Management Operation in India/Hyderabad.

Being Operation Head at Jones Lang LaSalle, he has handled and managed many projects such as MICROSOFT campus, ACCENTURE India, UBS India Campus, EMAAR TOWNSHIPS and HOTELS Projects. He has hands-on experience in Hotels, Telecom MSCs/ Datacenters, Mixed use Townships, SEZs and Corporate Interiors projects.

Besides aforementioned achievements of Kuldeep, he is an active member of Indian Institute of Architect, Project Management Institute and other Constructions management Institutes/bodies. He is also speaker at NICMAR, ASCI and various Design and Construction management Institutes.

List of Awards and Achievements

ARKA IPMS was featured amongst 20 most promising Project Management Consultant in India for year 2018 by Silicon India. The Magazine edition for March 2018 has Project Management Consultants Special.

They got Certificate of Recognition – for their excellent performance for PMC services by clients such as Genesys India, TATA Communications, ICICI Prudential and others

Building Trust with Client holds Utmost Importance

In today’s competitive environment,  trust within various project  stakeholders is utmost important, it doesn’t matter what project type is — the major issue is always related to finance along with the demand for spending it appropriately and in an optimized way. Maintaining relationship with various stakeholders and holding owner’s trust is crucial as collaborative processes leave higher expectancy from client-side.

With their sustainable approach, ARKA managed to build trust with all the stakeholders. They created niche as professionals in the market as their approach of work is “Under Promise” and “Over Deliver”.

Approach Followed by Company to Meet the Market Expectations

Major Challenges encountered by ARKA is Build Quality team, Training of Engineers and Architects to match market expectation, Collaborations with specialized associates.

The approach followed by ARKA is SMART-Specific Measurable Achievable Relevant Time-Bound. The company is process driven consultancy and value customer data and information. ARKA signs NDA with all clients as part of agreement. They majorly focus on Energy Conservation and Building Code where their PMs are trained as experts in the field of energy audit in building Industry. ARKA follows all National Building Code and SOPs for project technical advisory.

Involvement of Senior Management in troubleshooting Smallest Issue, got Company Success

One of the key contributing factors in company’s success is direct involvement of Senior Management, as ARKA IPMS Senior Management get involved with client on personal basis for all small and big projects. This is to instill ownership responsibility of the project and team. This results in highest level of trust and quality of project delivery. ARKA offers custom made solutions to client such as complete technical consultancy services (Architectural + MEP+ Specialized AV, Building technology etc.).

Imparting Motivation and Creativity in Team Members

ARKA follows open culture and organization works on the principals of TEAM WORK and accessibility. Technical training sessions are conducted by experts to motivate and excel in the industry.

Tactics and Strategies Followed by ARKA

ARKA follows strategy of, Think Global-Act Local. Thereby, ARKA provides Technical solutions based on global standards custom made to Indian conditions.

Aristi Ninja is a Global Information Security company headquartered in Gurgaon, India. The company consists of a team of passionate and highly experienced practitioners in Information, Cyber Security & Risk management. With unmatched expertise and skills on multiple technologies, team is committed to strengthen digital security and achieve desired compliance level in line with client’s business and/or regulatory requirements.

Aristi Ninja’s Security warriors protect from new generation cyber threats. The company is known to deliver tailor-made, smart and next generation solutions and consulting services for the Digital Security needs of companies both in SMB and Enterprise segments.

The Warriors expertise in information security and cyber security domains including Application security, Information security governance, Cloud security, Endpoint security, Network security and Security Architecture & design. Company’s skills, approach and integrity has earned them goodwill and several leading organizations have shown faith in Aristi Ninja. Their clients appreciate working in safe environment crafted by the company which let them work worry-free and concentrate entirely on business activities.

One Stop-shop Solution for All Your Security Concerns

Aristi Ninja is a team of Practioners and subject matter experts with multitude years of experience. Company’s consultants (aka.Warriors) are senior professionals, having gained exposure to complex environments, while working for medium and large enterprises across the globe. The company comprehend the ever-changing threat landscape and provision customized solution aligned to business needs for their clientele.

In past year, while delivering security consulting and services assignments, Aristi Ninja has strengthened their product portfolio with strategic partnerships with cyber security product companies. The solutions and products range cover- Anti-Phishing & Awareness, DMARC, Cloud Access Security Broker, Endpoint security and Insider Threat management

Leader with Multifaceted and Extraordinary Experience

Sapan Talwar is Founder CEO of the company. He is a seasoned practitioner with 20+ years of industry experience in areas including Information Security Governance & Compliance, Cyber Resilience, Data privacy, Information Risk management and Security Architecture. He holds extensive experience in establishing Technology programs, Security Centre of Excellence, Risk management frameworks while leading and managing highly skilled teams at regional and global level.

In his prolonged career, Sapan has been associated with Global MNC’s including IBM, Hughes, Canon, Genpact, Aon, Aricent, Adobe in various individual, team and senior management roles, working towards establishing a secure ecosystem, while partnering with stakeholders to enable business growth and producing desired results.

He holds Bachelor of Engineering in Electronics & Telecom and Masters in Business Administration with specialization in Marketing. Also, he has earned industry recognized certifications including CRISC, CIPR, CCNA, PSE, MCSE, ISO 27001 Lead Auditor and Six Sigma Black Belt.

Sapan has been speaking on Cyber and Information security topics in conferences since last 8+ years and is associated with various global forums as panelist and judging for security awards.

Awards and Accolades                                                

Aristi Ninja won ‘Cyber security Consultants of the year award in 2017, the first year of inception. Sapan has been recognized by various Security forums, rewarded for – Top 100 CISO award 2012, Next 100 CIO award 2012, Security Implementation of the Year 2014, Information Security Leader Award for 2015, Top 100 CISO 2015, InfoSec Maestro Award 2016, Magnificent 7 of the country 2017, Special Achievement Award 2017, IT Security Influencer and Community Contributor 2017.

Turning the Mindset from “Reactive” to “Proactive”

The journey so far has been a roller-coaster ride getting into the domain of cyber and Information security. The biggest challenge has been to convince stakeholders in Small & Medium business to adopt security framework. The culture and mindsets in India is more of “reactive” rather than being Proactive to adopt security measures in form of Tools, processes and people awareness aligned to prevailing cyber threats, which makes the industry as ‘sitting ducks’ for intruders willing to exploit the situation. While, the startup ecosystem has been growing in India since last few years, not many of these startup’s thought of Data security and meeting regulatory requirements (especially Fintech and InsureTech) during planning phase. For such startup’s, while there is intent to secure their business, budget constraints render them from moving forward.

Key Challenges Faced by Current Cyber Security Industry

Year 2018 has been tough year as businesses are grappling with difficulty in detection, prevention, containment and recovering from cyber-attacks. The current scenario can be largely attributed to lack of skilled staff and insufficient visibility into people and business processes becoming barriers. The other primary problem is the difficulty in integrating threat intelligence with other security technologies. These challenges have been causing malware and DNS-based data exfiltration in recent past. Last but not the least, the ‘Basics’ doesn’t seem to be put in place, even after huge impact, various cyber-attacks have caused in past. While patching and updating systems to close vulnerability, protection from insider threats and securing data on cloud have been on the agenda, huge efforts are required from execution perspective or we should expect more breaches and cyber-attacks coming our way as last quarter of calendar year approaches.

 Forthcoming Plans

With advent of new technologies, bringing innovation in various fields, the cyber security threat vectors will also evolve and attain even higher levels. While, Blockchain, Machine Learning, Artificial intelligence technologies are leading the change for creating tools around protecting the environment, moving from manual to automated approach, the hackers and hacktivists community are also utilizing the emerging technologies to sharpen their attacks.

Aristi Ninja believe in ‘change is the only constant’ and strive on evolving their strategy aligned to business needs of their clients, adding products and services to the portfolio. While the company intend to grow their portfolio in ‘Reactive security’ space getting in SOC, Incident management and Forensics services in future, however staying relevant and adopting products in ‘Proactive Security’ will be their focus.