We caught up recently with the INADEV team – CEO Jitesh Sachdev; Chief Strategy Officer, D.J. Dart; Creative Director Michael Buie; and former intern, now Marketing Coordinator, Rachel Brown to learn more about how empathy grows a team and wins business; the challenge of culture within a global company; how bold trust influences the employee journey; and the importance of like-minded partners.
Building Reputation
From its inception, INADEV has been built upon and continues to focus on genuine connections based on values that include collaboration, innovation, altruism and empathy. That concentration on the employee and their experience, from recruitment through the lifespan of their time with the company, has created a feeling of family, a community where everyone contributes and is ready to jump in to help when something is needed.
That same culture translates to client excellence and a focus on putting the client’s mission and business at the forefront of all INADEV does. “Those foundational values achieve client success and we have truly never lost a single client.”
A story shared recounts an early pitch that saw six of the team piling into a van to make the trek to New Jersey. A very different company now in terms of size and scope, the team on that journey say they would do it again tomorrow if the need arose. “That speaks volumes about how we have grown while maintaining our culture.”
People Focus
That focus on people, whether it be the client, the end user, or its own team, has meant INADEV has concentrated on reinvesting in itself as a company, and in its people, to ensure effective solutions.
Six years ago, the company’s R&D investment looked to tackle the challenge of repeated time and effort spent managing similar tasks. The result was CEEBIT, INADEV’s own low-code, no-code open-source framework which allows for faster innovation and the ability to deliver to customers in weeks, rather than months. “With the infrastructure in place, our teams have more time to focus on the end user and the user experience, on creating an experience built upon empathy, as well as technology.”
INADEV will say they do not deliver solutions. Instead, they create experiences that often include features and benefits a customer did not know they could or needed to ask for. One example is the National Mall, for which INADEV developed an interactive 360 degree experience with the memorial. “This project allowed us to create an experience for Veterans and their families, for other adults and young children to learn and remember. We have multiple projects across various agencies that all point to projects intended to enhance people’s lives or experiences and to make things better.”
Cultural Across Continents
During 2022 INADEV brought its India-based and US-based teams together under one umbrella. With customers in seven countries and a team of more than 400 spanning two continents, the challenge of growth and scale as a global entity is real.
“We have to be more diligent about both culture and our R&D efforts. It means quarterly meetings that bring the entire company together, offering the chance for anyone to bring forward questions and to get answers. It means a culture of collaboration across the entire company, and it means giving back that engages across the company.”
Noting this is one area it wants to increase efforts in, INADEV already takes part in Toys for Tots and organizations that collect music instruments for schools that cannot afford them. In India, the company takes part in a donate-a-thon focused on collecting school supplies. Just as it has invested in R&D, in the year ahead, it will focus on strengthening ways to give back.
Crossing Industry Boundaries
Beyond crossing geographic boundaries, INADEV also crosses the range of industries, supporting government, but also commercial entities and non-profits. This combined perspective allows the team to draw on best practices and varied experiences, offering the innovation of the commercial sector with scale, technology, tools and automation that allow it to achieve profitable work with non-profits while supporting their financial limits.
From Recruitment through the Employee Journey
There exists within the hiring process a mentality that focuses on personality and fit as much as any hard skills. That personality view ensures the culture of collaboration is maintained, that people understand the values inherent in the company they are considering joining. “We regularly ask people why INADEV and we hear back appreciation for leadership support, access to be heard and get information, being empowered to make decisions without fear of failure.”
For its part, INADEV ensures it reaches out to those who may not be confident enough to bring things forward individually, leaning into surveys to see how people are really doing and events to connect to form real connections, to know each other’s children, families, and even pets.
“Across the organization everyone is sharing that includes how the company is doing financially, and how we are performing from a delivery view. That level of knowing translates to a high trust, harmonious and high performing organization.”
Strategic Partners
From the team view, the partner view, and even the client view, INADEV recognizes we are all stronger together. Sharing its culture, speaking out about who it is and how it operates, the company hopes to partner with like-minded companies and to support like-minded clients. “You often don’t know until you are working alongside someone and working long hours, whether they have the same work ethic, the same level of empathy, of passion and altruism. Building long-term strategic relationships, rather than one offs, has helped us cement that confidence in our partners, and has helped us to overcome any obstacle we may face along the way.”
The company recently partnered with a company it had never worked with before. Through practice efforts and collaborating on orals preparation, by the time the team came together – 20 members on each side – they said it felt like a cohesive team that had been together for years. “Personalities on our team and within partners that are open, collaborative and not ego driven are critical to succeeding and delivering a solution that is genuinely user focused.”
Bold Trust
INADEV’s hiring brings into play two somewhat unique initiatives. Through its internship program, the company brings on young people, giving them the opportunity to learn, and to gain real work experience through real work. “There is constant encouragement to take risks and to take advantage of opportunities that are available. From the start interns are encouraged to work on the same level as others, get to see the work in action, and are given the opportunity for valuable, independent work.”
Wanting to hire smart people, again with the focus on attitude, rather than aptitude, the focus is not on filling specific labor categories, but on hiring people who will learn from the experience and who may one day become part of the INADEV family.
Another of its initiatives is a mothers returning to work campaign which offers women who have taken time away from work – and any amount of time – the opportunity to become part of the INADEV team. “If the personality and cultural fit is right, these hires bring us amazing people who broaden the depth of our culture.”
About INADEV
Based in McLean, VA, INADEV is a mature SBA 8(a) certified and an award winning agile services company with DCAA-compliant accounting system and a mix of federal / commercial customers. INADEV was one of a very few small businesses recognized as the ACT IAC Institute of Innovation Game Changer Award Winner in 2017. We are CMMI-Level 3 Dev and ISO 9001:2015 certified company with core capabilities in Agile Digital Services, User Experience, Cloud and Virtualization, and Low Code / Zero Code application development. INADEV owns multiple patents and IP related to our Agile-based DevOps and customizable work flow engine platforms. INADEV currently maintains partnerships with Amazon Web Services (AWS), SalesForce, Atlassian, Google, Apple, and Microsoft.
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