NATRINAI TECHNOLOGIES: Guiding the Digital Transformation in Aerospace Industry
During the past decades, the technology sector has made the world a better place to live. Technology is directly impacting the lives of people and undoubtedly making them more convenient and enjoyable. Technology is ever-changing and there have been drastic improvements in society. Natrinai Technologies is a leading service provider and product development company in Aerospace, Automotive, Agriculture and consumer electronics. Under the leadership of Pasupathi Pandian, Director, Natrinai Technologies started as a product company and developed itself to provide the latest technology-based solutions to its clients. They relentlessly worked on technological solutions including AI, computer vision, IoT, mobile applications to name a few. Let us look into why Natrinai Technologies promises to deliver big in the future.
Big journeys begin with small steps
A decision that group of ambitious people took in the Spring of 2019 later went on to become a brand that will make life easier and work simpler. Technology was always at the forefront to build IoT based solutions across diverse markets like agriculture and aerospace. The name, ‘Natrinai’, brings the nativity of the startup and embraces the technology they work on. From the inception, the group was prepared for vicissitudes of fortune, a mindset to accept negative results, be grateful to surprises, work upon customer feedback and obstacles that come their way. The Act-Learn-Build strategy has helped not only entrepreneurs but also the employees of the startup. Natrinai Technologies has achieved to build a sense of momentum for an idea that would have been difficult for larger companies to attain. Natrinai Engineers have very unique culture that is very hard to find elsewhere – Debate well, provide constructive feedback, works together as extended family, transparent communication from leadership perspective. Company environment gives a chance to employees to build a trust. When it comes to hiring, Natrinai hires people who are more of ‘T’ Shaped. That is, able to really understand the common vision and understand how the pieces work together and know one domain in detail, meantime.
Growing through the challenges
Every new challenge brings along an opportunity with it. This was true for Natrinai Technologies also, right from the start they faced challenges like how to set up payroll systems, the right policies to implement, how to build and motivate a team. Their presence in Seattle expedited the process to bring the startup ecosystem together and fortunately, the initial team came together. The domain in which the startup is, changes at speeds that are hard to measure and quantify. Just take the example of the pandemic, most of us today can communicate virtually with the help of rapid digital transformation and advancement in technology. Every engineer in the company has the vision for the goal they have set in the next one or two years. They regularly add domains to their core aerospace skills to utilise skillsets and learn from them.
Building trust
Trust is a fundamental fabric of success. The startup is full of engineers who are good at managing up and a management that is open and honest with the information that builds trust.
Unlike large organizations which adopt a military-like management structure, the flow of information is top-down and only a few individuals have the power to make decisions in the dark, in Natrinai Technologies, executives and employees share similar responsibilities aligning to the definition of the brand. Natrinai takes pride in going extra mile in making the customer achieving end goal rather than limiting itself on scope boundaries in hours of need. Natrinai is a horizontal organization with every engineer contributing to the solution delivery apart from specific roles and responsibilities. It becomes very hard to know which factors are significant when large organizations do not encourage to understand the bigger picture or provide an opportunity to question the information. Moreover, it undermines confidence and creativity to speak about a new idea. Whereas in Natrinai Technologies, the visionary leaders have enabled others to react, act with confidence, be inspired by a shared vision, exhibit confidence leading to company growth.
When actions meet words
The company has seen a tremendous increase in customer satisfaction and received ISO 9001:2015 within a few months into service. The offerings they provide to the public are IoT sensors for agriculture and industrial use, smart glasses, the on-demand app for home services. Apart from these, there are a wide range of engineering services in areas like airborne systems software development and verification, embedded and platform software development, mobile application development, imaging and data analytics, cyber security and automated testing. All these services position them right at the top with great stability to conquer the market. The startup believes that the one who does not climb, will not fall either. Keeping this in mind, they have developed breakthrough services like voice recognition for aeroplane systems, delivered complex software solutions to leading aeroplane system providers and managed to address pilot and cabin crew needs. Generally, the products are promoted via conventional channels and social media. The word of mouth has helped them market and also attending conferences that align with their domain.
A leader shows the way
Although starting a new venture comes up with hardships, Pasupathi shares that the journey has been enjoyable, with loads of freedom to experiment that has kept him running with caffeine all day. The pandemic was a learning for the brand to introspect about their strengths and look for areas where they can innovate. New insights from customer feedback helped them take the right action at right time. For Pasupathi, the problem fascinated him more than the solution. As a keen learner, he always looks find an interesting approach to arrive at the root cause. For the startup, such a mindset helps them take strategic decisions, reduce risks and enhance their core competencies. Natrinai has key leaders and SMEs – Embedded systems projects by Vinayagakumar, Principal Software Engineer who architected and guided team of engineers Linux/Android based IoT solutions in Natrinai.
Archana B, head of software defines how the next generation software and systems to be built. Manigandan G, Senior Engineering Manager is head of test engineering and brings innovation and DevOps to trusted systems. Natrinai is bottom-up organization and its hard to experience the heat of a start-up here. Its vision and strategy are derived from and as well inculcated in every engineer – Shared by Lakshmanakumar Mohan, Senior Engineering Manager, Airplane Systems at Natrinai. Kothandaraman PS, Director of Operations leads the quality and consumer apps division. Vivek S, Principal Software Engieneer in Consumer Apps division and his peer Manimaran and team come-up with apps that helps your daily needs.
A satisfied customer
During the pandemic, key companies of the aviation industry got affected globally, most flights were cancelled, the travel industry was impacted but still as a startup, Natrinai Technologies had the products and services in their arsenal that offered value to the customer. They worked more hours to take care of all the innovative solutions to be implemented. A sense of compassion helped them accomplish their goal where profit and growth were a by-product. The standardisation in the work process with weekly meetings, strategy discussions, combined marketing plans, focus on R&D and innovative initiatives make clients also enjoy working with the ‘Natrinai-ites’. A customer envisions this booming startup like the one who develops air to ground connectivity software, works on various technologies that move to the next curve to solve day-to-day issues.
The perfect future
In the coming years, the startup wants to reinitiate product development, innovation and creativity which were on a brief hiatus due to the pandemic. Currently, most of the revenue comes from Europe and US business but they are targeting 20-30% of business share from India. They will resiliently work closely with customers and develop apps and products that address the daily needs of people.
A valuable piece of advice for budding entrepreneurs
One should always look for ‘unmet needs’ and focus on the product that addresses it with differentiation. While entering the market, offer a product that is better and high on performance and benefits. Launch a minimum viable product for model assumptions, understanding customer segments and eliminating founder bias. Go through the value proposition and most importantly listen to the honest feedback of your customer.
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