Video

Addressing IT Challenges in Small Organizations and Startups

Managing IT operations for a smaller organization or startup presents a unique set of challenges, such as a lack of predefined business processes. CIOs need to develop their own methods to address these challenges. Mahesh Mirchandani, former group CTO, TruDoc Healthcare LLC, shares his unique approaches and best practices.

"From an IT perspective, I introduced the agile approach to the management of IT processes, including software development and infrastructure management. As part of the new team, we hired a scrum master who helped us implement the scrum framework," Mirchandani said. "The business requirements were fluid, and we managed this through the implementation of a demand pipeline, which was approved by stakeholders from all active global P&L centers. This fed into a biweekly sprint, which was then closed for two weeks of development and testing."

One of the primary challenges for CIOs and CTOs is convincing the business leaders of the benefits that technology can bring to the organization. Mirchandani said he adopted a "bottom-up" approach and ensured robust financial management.

"I built the IT budget bottom-up and insisted on overseeing every IT dollar spent. Regular reporting created the trust and fostered a culture of openness; I questioned a lot of business actions and had many tough conversations," Mirchandani said.

In this video interview with ISMG, Mirchandani also discussed:

• Challenges faced while working for smaller organizations;
• Translating tech value to business value;
• Enhancing communications between internal and external teams.

With more than 25 years of experience in the corporate realm, Mirchandani is an accomplished senior technology professional and has served in CIO and CTO roles across diverse sectors. In his role as group CTO, he was responsible for driving the group’s technology vision and co-leading their business expansion to six countries in Africa and the Middle East.