Srivathsa Malavalli: A Phenomenal Industry Leader Helping Organizations to Achieve Business, Operational & Delivery Excellence
Srivathsa Malavalli
Co-Founder & Director
One such phenomenon is Srivathsa Malavalli, who is currently positioned as the Co-Founder & Director of Improvalue Consulting, a premium consultancy firm based out of Bangalore, India, that specializes in Business process consulting with a focus on IT and ITES organizations. Armed with almost three decades of experience in building products, handling customers, managing large accounts, adopting industry best practices and process frameworks like Agile, ISO, ISMS, Six-Sigma, LEAN for Business excellence, Srivathsa Malavalli joined Improvalue Consulting as the Co-Founder in the year 2011. Srivathsa is currently driving the Operations and Client Engagement for Improvalue Consulting as well as providing Consultancy to his client organizations in the areas of Business, Operational and Delivery Excellence.
Srivathsa Malavalli engages in an exclusive interaction with CEOInsights.
Along with your professional background and experiences,tell us about your journey prior to Improvalue Consulting.
Graduated from Mysore University in BE Electronics and Instrumentation by securing 1st Rank and winning Gold Medal (instituted in the memory of atomic scientist Dr. Raja Ramanna), I started my career by teaching engineering students for a brief period of six months. Later I joined a Japanese MNC Yokogawa India a pioneer in the Industrial Automation domain as a Software Engineer in 1993. Further I attended one-year on-job training at Tokyo, Japan, as part of an exchange program between Japan and India called AOTS(Association for oversees technical scholarship) with good learning of the Japanese Language as well. Exposure to Japanese work etiquettes such as timeliness, built-in quality approach, accurate documentation and team collaboration along with optimization methodologies such as Kanban and LEAN laid a strong foundation to my professional journey.
Successfully executing design and development of industrial automation projects with focussed experience in software development for large Thermal Power Plants and Petro Chemical Corporations by collaborating with teams across India, Singapore and Japan, I gained professional experience working with multiple stakeholders, cultural aspects across nations.
After five years of a stint at the Japanese MNC, I switched to the Core IT domain and joined Wipro Technologies as Project Leader and grew professionally to become Group Head. This journey lasted successfully for 15 years till 2011, during which I spearheaded IT solution delivery including the Commercial aspects for many of technology Customers – mostly from US, Japan and Germany, in the areas of Enterprise, Networking Domain and Telecom Technologies. Further was responsible for driving the Non-Linear Transformation Program under the Vice President of a Large Business Unit, by using in house framework and methodologies towards effective utilization of existing resources.Was recognized multiple times for high performance and efficient execution of projects. During this voyage, I was nominated for many transformationals and career enhancement programs like ‘Advance Program Management’from Stanford University-US, the Executive MBA program from Alliance School of Business, Six-Sigma Black Belt Certification and the Global Managers’ Program from Wipro, to name a few.
Define ImproValue Consulting as an organization. Where is it positioned in the market?
The main motto of forming Improvalue Consulting was to help companies in the IT space, to establish their Business and reach ambitious topline growths/ scale through efficient software development processes without compromising bottom-line parameters such as profitability and cost rationalization through Operational and Business Excellence methodologies. Improvalue Consulting handholds their customers which includes, Startups, Tier-ii Product and Service Companies, Back-office operations of large MNCs and R&D offshore centres, in deploying needed industry acknowledged process
standards and business excellence frameworks. Improvalue’s Consultants are equipped with rich Industry experience and have been certified as Internal Auditors for various Industry Standards
We are able to add value to our customers, through our domain experience and expertise by providing Consultancy in the areas of Software Engineering, Software Quality Assurance, Process definition and Deployment, Project Management, Risk Assessment and Management, Data Analytics, Work Flow Optimization, Metric Dashboards, Audits and Assessment Support, Training and Workshops on various Industry standards like ISO 9001, Information Security ISMS, Agile methodologies, LEAN and Six-Sigma, ASPICE and ISO 26262 to name a few.
Most importantly, Improvalue has developed its own customizable productized solutions namely iCOPS and iREM.
Improvalue’s Comprehensive Process Set (iCOPS)is an all encompassing customizable and deployableset of policies, procedures, guidelines, semi-automated templates, and checklists aligning to various industry standards (like ISO9001 and ISO27001) for efficient Software Engineering, Quality Management and Information Security Management. iCOPS contains domain-specific process sets (such as ASPICE, ISO 26262 for the automotive domain, 13485 for medical devices, aeronautical standards, and so on). Improvalue has successfully deployed iCOPS Customized Solution for multiple Customers for the last 10 years which have received ISO9001, ISO27001, CMMI L2/L3 and ASPICE L2/L3 Certifications from Certification bodies like TUV and DNV.
iREM(Improvalue’s Resource Estimation Model) is a data-analytics tool developed using MS-Excel, by adopting statistical methods for analysing large inflow of service requests in Backoffice operations, Application Maintenance groups and there by provides manpower and resource loading patterns along with shift planning for efficient operations and higher cost optimization. Improvalue has deployed their inhouse data-analytics model for captives, callcentres, and ITES segments to make a day-to-day objective decision based on the huge number of transactions/ call records.
Both these solutions are ready to use and have deployable frameworks with the flexibility of customization that the individual organization needs. We thus provide the organization with the much needed jump start, faster scaling up, and gaining their client organizations’ confidence & trust. In the last 14 years of operation of Improvalue Consulting, we have successfully partnered with more than 15 organizations including MNCs, MSMEs, and Startups along with the DRDO subsidiary as well. We strictly believe in ‘Adding Value to our client business' by bringing our expertise, solutions, talent through our collective expertise, experience of all of our senior consultants. This has worked very well for us as it builds trust in our customers turning most of our engagements into long tenured relationships.
Highlight the key aspects that make Improvalue Consulting stand out amongst its competitors.
Improvalue is uniquely positioned in the industry, as it is equipped with result-oriented business/strategy consultants supported by its inhouse developed productized solutions (iCOPS and iREMS). Thereby our customers are benefitted from the rich experience, exposure, ground zero experiences of delivery, quality, and operational challenges that come with the organization of various sizes, cultures, mindset, geography, and IT products/ services space, talent, and so on.
Improvalue consulting in 2015 was featured as Top 25 Consultant organizations in India (source Consultants review magazine) with featured article on the founder Thara Srivathsa.
Improvalue Consulting is not tied to any particular standard committee, SME groups, certification bodies, or agencies. Though this has some disadvantages, We do not intend to influence our customers to go with anyone particular agency for certifications. Rather we provide/ recommend/deploy what works best for our customers and help them succeed. That way, we have no compulsions or obligations with any third party agency.
What drives you today as an industry leader and entrepreneur?
I was lucky to be part of the economic transformation journey in the IT space in India, predominantly post economic liberalization from its nascent stages since 1991 to where it has grown into a gigantic proportion both in India and Abroad. The main driving force to be an entrepreneur is to give back to society from where I have reaped in. With this common belief that both my spouse and I carry, we always ensured to be back to our motherland after working in different geographies like Japan, Singapore, US, and Germany, despite getting long term job opportunity in each of the above countries. Working in various geographies added lot of exposure and experience in understanding the
We are able to add value to our customers, through our domain experience and expertise by providing Consultancy in the areas of Software Engineering, Software Quality Assurance, Process definition and Deployment, Project Management, Risk Assessment and Management, Data Analytics, Work Flow Optimization, Metric Dashboards, Audits and Assessment Support, Training and Workshops on various Industry standards like ISO 9001, Information Security ISMS, Agile methodologies, LEAN and Six-Sigma, ASPICE and ISO 26262 to name a few.
Most importantly, Improvalue has developed its own customizable productized solutions namely iCOPS and iREM.
Improvalue’s Comprehensive Process Set (iCOPS)is an all encompassing customizable and deployableset of policies, procedures, guidelines, semi-automated templates, and checklists aligning to various industry standards (like ISO9001 and ISO27001) for efficient Software Engineering, Quality Management and Information Security Management. iCOPS contains domain-specific process sets (such as ASPICE, ISO 26262 for the automotive domain, 13485 for medical devices, aeronautical standards, and so on). Improvalue has successfully deployed iCOPS Customized Solution for multiple Customers for the last 10 years which have received ISO9001, ISO27001, CMMI L2/L3 and ASPICE L2/L3 Certifications from Certification bodies like TUV and DNV.
iREM(Improvalue’s Resource Estimation Model) is a data-analytics tool developed using MS-Excel, by adopting statistical methods for analysing large inflow of service requests in Backoffice operations, Application Maintenance groups and there by provides manpower and resource loading patterns along with shift planning for efficient operations and higher cost optimization. Improvalue has deployed their inhouse data-analytics model for captives, callcentres, and ITES segments to make a day-to-day objective decision based on the huge number of transactions/ call records.
Both these solutions are ready to use and have deployable frameworks with the flexibility of customization that the individual organization needs. We thus provide the organization with the much needed jump start, faster scaling up, and gaining their client organizations’ confidence & trust. In the last 14 years of operation of Improvalue Consulting, we have successfully partnered with more than 15 organizations including MNCs, MSMEs, and Startups along with the DRDO subsidiary as well. We strictly believe in ‘Adding Value to our client business' by bringing our expertise, solutions, talent through our collective expertise, experience of all of our senior consultants. This has worked very well for us as it builds trust in our customers turning most of our engagements into long tenured relationships.
Highlight the key aspects that make Improvalue Consulting stand out amongst its competitors.
Improvalue is uniquely positioned in the industry, as it is equipped with result-oriented business/strategy consultants supported by its inhouse developed productized solutions (iCOPS and iREMS). Thereby our customers are benefitted from the rich experience, exposure, ground zero experiences of delivery, quality, and operational challenges that come with the organization of various sizes, cultures, mindset, geography, and IT products/ services space, talent, and so on.
Improvalue consulting in 2015 was featured as Top 25 Consultant organizations in India (source Consultants review magazine) with featured article on the founder Thara Srivathsa.
Improvalue Consulting is not tied to any particular standard committee, SME groups, certification bodies, or agencies. Though this has some disadvantages, We do not intend to influence our customers to go with anyone particular agency for certifications. Rather we provide/ recommend/deploy what works best for our customers and help them succeed. That way, we have no compulsions or obligations with any third party agency.
What drives you today as an industry leader and entrepreneur?
I was lucky to be part of the economic transformation journey in the IT space in India, predominantly post economic liberalization from its nascent stages since 1991 to where it has grown into a gigantic proportion both in India and Abroad. The main driving force to be an entrepreneur is to give back to society from where I have reaped in. With this common belief that both my spouse and I carry, we always ensured to be back to our motherland after working in different geographies like Japan, Singapore, US, and Germany, despite getting long term job opportunity in each of the above countries. Working in various geographies added lot of exposure and experience in understanding the
organizational and business dynamics.
Establishing Improvalue Consulting, we have the satisfaction of contributing to India’s economy in our own small way by providing opportunity to consultants to be part of Improvalue, guiding Organizations towards excellence and sharing our experience with young students and future entrepreneurs through guest lectures in the Universities.
The Consultants who have been part of Improvalue, where each of our senior consultants is with 20+ years of experience with a similar journey, drive us to be passionate to take up the niche fields of consulting and help organizations to solve their complex business problems. Further, we have partnered with other startups/small organizations to address specific technology/automation needs of our customers. Head quartered in Bangalore, which has been recognized as the no.1 startup hub in the whole world, we are having the best opportunity and niche areas for Consulting.
Sugnaanathara Pratishtana’ is another brainchild of Improvalue towards our contribution in spreading knowledge, as Sugnaana means ‘Good Knowledge’. As part of Sugnaana, we are contributing to various literary andcultural organizations who are into publishing the spiritual knowledge, core values and rich heritage of our country.
In summary, the urge to contribute to nation building, unconditional support from family and the blessings of parents and elders, constantly inspire me to continue on the entrepreneurship journey.
Tell us about your leadership approach, and the guidelines or methodologies you follow to lead your team?
Being a consultant organization, the need is to adopt a leadership style and approach based on the requirements of our clients. However there are some guidelines that are adopted across all our engagements. For example total integrity is the DNA of Our organization. This ensures trust and confidence with all our customers and within our senior consultants mutually. We prioritize our business commitments and strive towards adhering to the timelines and efforts. Apart from that, we are quite proactive with our customers and maintain an open line of communication with the CXOs of our client organizations. We don’t hesitate to say NO to some of the unrealistic initiatives of our customers, even if it leads to commercial loss or payoffs to Improvalue. Remaining focussed, we frequently review the business commitments and risk management aspects that add extra value to our customers’ operations. We strictly comply with the rules and regulations necessary for the company such as tax filings, company establishment acts, copyright acts and so on.
Personally, I follow ‘Stay hungry stay foolish’, the famous quote by Steve Jobs and the book by the same name by Indian Author Rashmi Bansal. I believe in taking timeout for oneself, introspect, study/ learn new things each day.
As a leader probably you have many following you, but at the top or in front, you are always alone. The successes are shared by the team, but any small glitch is always pointed to the leader. Hence as a leader I want to always stand for hard work, Integrity and Sincerity. I strongly believe that one should focus on hard work and not the outcome. More often what is considered as failure in the entre preneurship journey is a big learning towards future success. Would like to share the same with all young entrepreneurs and technology leaders.
Srivathsa Malavalli, Co-Founder & Director, Improvalue Consulting
Srivathsa loves spending time with nature and finds solace in observing every minute aspects of nature such as insect movement, fluttering leaves,watching birds, sunrise, sunset, cloud movement, and more. He feels that each of such moments bring deep sense of gratitude within and drives him to contribute more to society. It also awakens the sacrifice of forefathers and reminds the constant struggle by the security forces to provide us with a safe environment we are living in each day.
Apart from having a palate for south-Indian meal, Srivathsa also enjoys Jain Vegetarian food now and often. He fasts on regular basis which he has practised for more than 15 years now.
Srivathsa constantly tries to keep in touch with latest technologies and scientific discoveries. Often, he pens down his thoughts and emotions in the form of poems.He loves reading Indian Spiritual texts and affirms Bhagavadgita to be his Life guide anytime. Having visited world’s best urban centric places, Srivathsa would like to explore India more especially places like Uttarakhand and Kashmir.
Awards and Recognitions
•Gold medal for securing first Rank in Mysore University
•Selected for one-year AOTS scholarship from Japan
•‘Quality champion award’ within the Organization and Six-Sigma Black Belt
•Nominated for Stanford's 'Advance Program Management'Certification
•Selected for'Global Managers Program' within the organization
•Selected for 'Executive Mini-MBA program' Alliance School of Business
•Improvalue recognized as 'Top 25 best consultant organization in India -'Consultants review magazine' in 2015
Establishing Improvalue Consulting, we have the satisfaction of contributing to India’s economy in our own small way by providing opportunity to consultants to be part of Improvalue, guiding Organizations towards excellence and sharing our experience with young students and future entrepreneurs through guest lectures in the Universities.
The Consultants who have been part of Improvalue, where each of our senior consultants is with 20+ years of experience with a similar journey, drive us to be passionate to take up the niche fields of consulting and help organizations to solve their complex business problems. Further, we have partnered with other startups/small organizations to address specific technology/automation needs of our customers. Head quartered in Bangalore, which has been recognized as the no.1 startup hub in the whole world, we are having the best opportunity and niche areas for Consulting.
Sugnaanathara Pratishtana’ is another brainchild of Improvalue towards our contribution in spreading knowledge, as Sugnaana means ‘Good Knowledge’. As part of Sugnaana, we are contributing to various literary andcultural organizations who are into publishing the spiritual knowledge, core values and rich heritage of our country.
In summary, the urge to contribute to nation building, unconditional support from family and the blessings of parents and elders, constantly inspire me to continue on the entrepreneurship journey.
Tell us about your leadership approach, and the guidelines or methodologies you follow to lead your team?
Being a consultant organization, the need is to adopt a leadership style and approach based on the requirements of our clients. However there are some guidelines that are adopted across all our engagements. For example total integrity is the DNA of Our organization. This ensures trust and confidence with all our customers and within our senior consultants mutually. We prioritize our business commitments and strive towards adhering to the timelines and efforts. Apart from that, we are quite proactive with our customers and maintain an open line of communication with the CXOs of our client organizations. We don’t hesitate to say NO to some of the unrealistic initiatives of our customers, even if it leads to commercial loss or payoffs to Improvalue. Remaining focussed, we frequently review the business commitments and risk management aspects that add extra value to our customers’ operations. We strictly comply with the rules and regulations necessary for the company such as tax filings, company establishment acts, copyright acts and so on.
Personally, I follow ‘Stay hungry stay foolish’, the famous quote by Steve Jobs and the book by the same name by Indian Author Rashmi Bansal. I believe in taking timeout for oneself, introspect, study/ learn new things each day.
As a leader probably you have many following you, but at the top or in front, you are always alone. The successes are shared by the team, but any small glitch is always pointed to the leader. Hence as a leader I want to always stand for hard work, Integrity and Sincerity. I strongly believe that one should focus on hard work and not the outcome. More often what is considered as failure in the entre preneurship journey is a big learning towards future success. Would like to share the same with all young entrepreneurs and technology leaders.
Srivathsa Malavalli, Co-Founder & Director, Improvalue Consulting
Srivathsa loves spending time with nature and finds solace in observing every minute aspects of nature such as insect movement, fluttering leaves,watching birds, sunrise, sunset, cloud movement, and more. He feels that each of such moments bring deep sense of gratitude within and drives him to contribute more to society. It also awakens the sacrifice of forefathers and reminds the constant struggle by the security forces to provide us with a safe environment we are living in each day.
Apart from having a palate for south-Indian meal, Srivathsa also enjoys Jain Vegetarian food now and often. He fasts on regular basis which he has practised for more than 15 years now.
Srivathsa constantly tries to keep in touch with latest technologies and scientific discoveries. Often, he pens down his thoughts and emotions in the form of poems.He loves reading Indian Spiritual texts and affirms Bhagavadgita to be his Life guide anytime. Having visited world’s best urban centric places, Srivathsa would like to explore India more especially places like Uttarakhand and Kashmir.
Awards and Recognitions
•Gold medal for securing first Rank in Mysore University
•Selected for one-year AOTS scholarship from Japan
•‘Quality champion award’ within the Organization and Six-Sigma Black Belt
•Nominated for Stanford's 'Advance Program Management'Certification
•Selected for'Global Managers Program' within the organization
•Selected for 'Executive Mini-MBA program' Alliance School of Business
•Improvalue recognized as 'Top 25 best consultant organization in India -'Consultants review magazine' in 2015