Nurturing Intrapreneurship at Nitor Infotech

Our customers and prospects always asked us “How are you different and better than your competition?”. We always had a business answer to this question, right from technology and domain prowess, customer references, and best practices. However, a few months ago when I was going through my connects and interactions with some of my colleagues, it struck me that the answer to this question is not a business response but a people one.

It is this epiphany that made me want to write this blog.

Most of us either opt for a job or we start our own venture. Statistically less than 2% of people become entrepreneurs. They possess the collective traits of being passionate, innovative, tremendously hard working, with an ability to manage uncertainty, make complex decisions, and most importantly, the guts to go and become an entrepreneur.

Of the remaining 98% people, a good 30% rely on their abilities as an entrepreneur but lack the risk-taking ability to go and jump into the torrid waters. Despite that, they flourish in taking ownership and driving with passion. I will classify them as Intrapreneurs- an elegant midway between employees who just do their jobs and those who drive initiatives and lead with passion.

At Nitor Infotech, we take pride in saying that we have curated the most conducive environment for nurturing intrapreneurs and that is our real differentiator.

To build these intrapreneurship-driven leaders, we, at Nitor Infotech, have tried to instill a value-driven culture that aims not only to deliver excellence to our customers but also inculcate the passion of intrapreneurship. What’s more, we have also seen some of these intrapreneurs cross over to become entrepreneurs.

Now, I’m not merely saying this. Allow me to back my claim with some numbers.

• 42 entrepreneurs since our inception in 2006
• 18% of the organization is part of the 5+ year club
• 80% of leadership has been groomed internally

You might wonder what it is that we did to achieve this feat. Put simply, we built a solid foundation centered around our core values of Respect & Care, Integrity, Customer Delight, and Excellence to make Nitor Infotech a growth destination.

In doing so, we created a platform for people who joined us at the beginning of their careers to explore their abilities and become the best version of themselves. My observation here is that our team members don’t just do their jobs but continually drive with passion and take full ownership of their assigned tasks. This subsequently leads them to respectable positions in the organization.

As you can see, being an intrapreneur is a natural stepping-stone to becoming an entrepreneur, and while there are prominent differences in certain aspects that account to 20-30%, there is an overlap in the remaining qualities such as leadership, adaptability, and skill.

Now, one might say that this 20-30% boils down to the ability to sustain in a volatile environment with nominal risk, all while having a healthy work-life balance as well as mindfulness. And that’s essentially what we offer here!

Similarities between Intrapreneurs and Entrepreneurs

At Nitor Infotech, we pride ourselves on naturally nurturing intrapreneurs within the organization by giving them responsibility and trusting them to ideate and execute their own innovations, all while sparing them of the risks involved. This approach of delegating full onus to team members has allowed us to satisfy complex customers and rise to the occasion in the face of turbulence.

This is, of course, in addition to the fact that we’re churning out more leaders and entrepreneurs than you can imagine! And that is precisely our differentiator, the reason why people join us and the reason they stay. So, when we claim that we’re building entrepreneurs, it is only because we create an environment to make them intrapreneurs first.

Now, even though most of us are happily married to our jobs (not a paradox, rest assured) it is common knowledge that not everyone is cut out to start their own business. But typically, people hesitate to jump ship given the plethora of risks associated with running your own business.

However, I have realized that my intrapreneurs are able to handpick the best of both worlds and dip their toes into the realm of entrepreneurship, all while keeping their mental, physical, professional, and financial health intact. So, it is happy hormones galore without the worry of ailments like high blood pressure and excessive stress.

And while there’s nothing wrong with doing just a job, intrapreneurship gives you the ability to achieve sustained growth while driving with passion and ownership. So, with it, you’re getting low risk, high rewards, and a happy organization. A true win-win-win if there was ever any!

To sum up, allow me to tell you a little bit more about what our stellar intrapreneurs have accomplished over the years.

We have two pioneering concepts here at Nitor Infotech namely Research as a Service (RaaS) and Peer Product Management (PPM), both set in motion by budding intrapreneurs.

RaaS primarily focuses on helping businesses draw value from unknown opportunities and tackle unknown threats without compromising on their day-to-day workflows while PPM puts forth a framework that allows our managers to work closely with our customers team and bring their vision to life in a performant, quick, and cost-effective way.

I urge you to explore the concepts of RaaS and PPM by reading our blogs and reach out to us if you want to join our fantastic team!