The Relationship Man

His clients call him a customer-oriented technocrat. His

employees vouch for him saying he is a great teacher with a vision to boot. Nitin Shah, MD

of Allied Digital Services Pvt Ltd, is all this and much more. His pet obsession is to

share his relationship-based vision with his employees and ensure that they implement it

to the last dot. The result is that Nitin doesn’t have to worry about business. While

top-notch new customers flock to him offering greater challenges, repeat business keeps

coming in.

When Pfizer lost its IT infrastructure in a blazing fire on

the 23rd floor of Express Towers in Mumbai, Rajendra Erande, GM, IT, was a worried man.

His concern was how to set up the infrastructure all anew in the quickest time possible.

He looked up to Nitin Shah, who maintained his machines. Nitin met Rajendra’s

expectations with aplomb.

Nitin’s men climbed 23 floors to set up 20 machines

within 24 hours. Nitin charged nothing extra for the efforts put in. When Rajendra asked

him why he wasn’t charging for a good job done, Nitin replied saying his efforts were

aimed at maintaining a relationship, not to earn extra money. Pfizer was impressed and

Nitin was to soon get his rewards. When Pfizer constructed its own new office building,

Nitin got the contract to set up the entire IT infrastructure.

When Hindustan Lever Ltd (HLL) wanted to install its email

software Infrastore across their agents in 35 C category cities, HLL chose Allied

Digital Services (ADS). The job was executed on the dot, to the complete satisfaction of

the client. HLL did not get the same kind of satisfaction from people who were assigned to

do the job in A and B category cities.

Total customer satisfaction has been an obsession with

Nitin from day one when he started Digital Data Services (which was rechristened ADS four

years ago) along with his younger brother Prakash on 1st May 1984. After working for five

years in CMC and two years in Hinditron as a customer support executive, the business itch

within him led Nitin to start his own venture in the field of Third Party Maintenance

(TPM).

"I never wanted to be a trader," says

Nitin,

"I did sell assembled PCs beside TPM when PCs came to India initially. But soon I

diverted my attention to providing solutions to my clients." Since then the tradition

of offering total IT solutions continues. Some of the top corporates who have become a

part of this tradition include Pfizer, Air India, Citibank, TCS, MBT and Standard

Chartered Bank. Says Rajendra of Pfizer, "Nitin has specialized in providing

single-window solution to his clients. This means a client doesn’t have to go around

hunting for hardware and software components."

In Nitin’s business model, providing a total solution

to a client, comes only towards the end. The first pointer in his model is ethics,

followed by trust. These two give rise to a relationship between ADS and the customer.

Then ADS, in its sound technical capability, infrastructure and right attitude transacts

business with the customer. RN Shrivastava, Assistant GM at Air India, says, "Nitin

has a very sound business philosophy. ADS is flexible enough even to the extent of

stretching contractual terms to keep the customer satisfied."