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May - 2015 - issue > Best Startups to Work For - IT Software Services

Alcanzar: Fostering Future Leaders by Empowering them to Take Ownership

Susila Govindaraj
Thursday, May 7, 2015
Susila Govindaraj
Typically when a project goes adrift, teams fritter away more time in playing the blame game than fixing it. Not in Alcanzar Software Services, since the Washington headquartered company flourishing with plethora of cutting-edge projects empowers its people to take ownership for their projects, regardless their position/department. The company kindles their entrepreneurial spirit and adds tremendous value to their resume with this unique opportunity of building diverse projects from scratch; right from conception, specification, designing, implementation to deployment. Unlike other companies where client interaction is limited to top management, Alcanzar enables its people to directly collaborate with clients via regular communications, thus endows them with great experience of designing a profitable software system precisely according to client requirements. Alcanzar is also one of the few companies that expose its people to revolutionary technologies in niche sectors like Salesforce, Cybase and SAP mobility implementation, while developing pioneering mobile apps, complex server side systems, web apps, websites and desktop apps.

The company's distinctive six month appraisal cycle is based on point system, which defines the type/amount of appraisal. For instance, a good client feedback adds 10 points to appraisal sheet. This sheet is made transparent in a common HR portal to inspire everyone to pursue right route. Every month, Alcanzar spends the last Saturday on doing nothing but rewarding employees with best leadership award, best performer award and star customer satisfaction award. The company also celebrates an annual party that recognizes contributions of the year. Every midyear, all employees go to picnic or out of city tour. The company that follows the standard 45 days holiday policy also gives maternity and sick leaves.

Aside from engaging employees to nullify work pressure, Alcanzar lays immense emphasis on recruiting candidates who mentally match with its culture. Albeit the company has developed a reputation for designing cost-effective, scalable and high-performance solutions, it doesn't hire people solely based on technical expertise. "Technical prowess can be enhanced. But attitude can't be. Hence, we prefer people who are flexible, open to grow with us, hope to learn new skills and excited to tackle new challenges," asserts Seeraj Ahmed, CEO, Alcanzar Software Solutions. The company conducts very comprehensive and honest exit interviews to identify flaws and rectify them.

Retaining Even Early Employees

Retaining early employees is most startup's biggest challenge, but Alcanzar's core team is still intact. "Four people joined us in 2012 and they are still with us. Retaining their trust has been possible only because of their belief in the initiative," adds Seeraj. In the open and people friendly culture, work is not counted by hours but by contributions. Everyday people get to work on ideas that changes the way team operates & performs and every person teaches something to another.


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