“We strategically chose to establish in a second tier city in India where we don’t compete with the large IT firms. Our secret lies in satisfied employees who do not need to relocate for their job and deliver top quality.”
Smartshore is an IT company which is already active for a decade in the Netherlands and became operational in India four years ago. The company provides outsourcing software solutions and technical implementations for marketing agencies as well as additional capacities for IT companies. Smartshore specializes in providing customized IT solutions to Dutch businesses for their technology needs and also caters to clients all around Europe.
We spoke with our NICCT Member Mr. Jelke Schippers, CEO Smartshore B.V. who gave some inspiring insights and shared his best practices within the IT corridor between Netherlands and India. We learned about Jelke being an extraordinary entrepreneur, who started his first company when he was 15 years old. Smartshore is the third IT company he founded.
Best Practices
- Smartshore benefits from its strategy to establish their oversees office in a tier two city in India: Ludiana, Punjab. Jelke explains that “this provides their employees with a job close to their family, and Smartshore doesn’t need to compete with the large IT companies regarding its employees.” In this way, they achieve stability and satisfied employees.
- Smartshore provides its Dutch and European customers with customized high quality IT solutions. Jelke emphasizes that this demand for high-end tailored software solutions is quite inelastic. “For an Indian business to be successful in The Netherlands, focus on delivering high quality is of greater importance than being competitive on price.” Therefore, maintaining the highest possible quality is of utmost importance for Smartshore.
Challenges
“One of the challenges we face while working in both countries, is the difference in evolution pace. While India is changing very quickly, Netherlands is more stable. Balancing this difference in pace will become more and more challenging,” according to Mr. Schippers.
Next year, Jelke foresees rapid growth within new parts in India. For these future endeavors, Smartshore also targets second tier cities, instead of the established IT hubs. We feel that Smartshore will have a promising year ahead.
