A CEO’s Insight – Building Global IT Operations from India
by RAVINDRA BALAJI PUTTEWAR, CEO of ADITI IT SERVICES PVT LTD, India
When we talk about global IT operations today, it’s easy to get swept away by buzzwords—digital transformation, cloud-first, AI-driven, and so on. These phrases are thrown around often, yet behind them lies something both simpler and harder: the discipline of building teams, infrastructure, and trust across borders. And that, I’ve learned, is not just about technology. It’s about people, timing, and the willingness to take risks in a market that doesn’t wait for you to feel ready.
India, my country, has long been recognized as a hub for technology talent. But there’s a difference between talent and building sustainable, global operations. The latter requires strategy. It means taking the scattered puzzle pieces—hardware procurement, software implementation, telecom infrastructure, 24/7 support, logistics—and making them click together in a way that works not just locally, but across multiple continents where the pace of change is relentless.
In my role at ADITI IT SERVICES PVT LTD, I’ve seen how fragile and yet powerful such systems can be. We began with modest operations, but over the years, we’ve managed to extend our reach across more than a dozen international locations. The process hasn’t been linear. Sometimes it’s a step forward and two steps back. For example, entering a new market is rarely about just shipping equipment and signing contracts. It’s about aligning with local compliance, understanding cultural expectations, and building trust where you are often the outsider at the table.
A case that sticks in my mind involves one of our telecom projects in Southeast Asia. On paper, everything looked fine. The equipment was ready, the technical specs matched, the contracts were in place. But the reality on the ground was different: regulatory delays, local resistance to new vendors, and simple misunderstandings caused by differences in communication styles. It wasn’t technology that threatened the project—it was people. And until we shifted our approach to focus more on relationships, the system refused to move forward. That’s a lesson in global operations that no textbook teaches.
Now, perhaps one might assume that once you’ve cracked the formula in one country, you can replicate it elsewhere. But that’s not entirely true. Each market reshapes the way you operate. In Africa, for example, infrastructure bottlenecks mean you must be resourceful, planning not for ideal conditions but for reality on the ground. In North America, speed and service-level expectations are uncompromising, and there’s little patience for excuses. The lesson is to remain adaptable. Global doesn’t mean one-size-fits-all—it means being many things at once without losing your core.
This is where India’s strength comes in. We don’t just export IT services; we export resilience and adaptability. The talent pool here has learned to work with constraints—tight budgets, evolving regulations, even the occasional chaos—and somehow turn them into workable solutions. That ability to think on our feet is what makes scaling possible.
At the same time, global operations demand something more than just technical expertise. They demand credibility. And credibility is built not only through successful projects but also through recognition in forums where the world gathers to measure progress. That’s why, for us at ADITI IT SERVICES PVT LTD, being nominated for the 2025 Go Global Awards in London carries weight. This is not just another award ceremony. It’s a gathering of some of the best minds in business worldwide, a conclave where collaborations form, where opportunities that seemed out of reach suddenly come into view. For two days in November, leaders from around the globe will sit in the same rooms, share their stories, and spark ideas that ripple outward for years to come. We are proud to stand alongside them.
Of course, the temptation in any success story is to paint a clean arc from challenge to triumph. But the truth is more uneven. Sometimes, building global IT operations from India feels like climbing a hill that keeps changing shape as you go. You fix one bottleneck, and another appears. You secure one client, and then realize scaling support for them requires a whole new system. This unpredictability can be exhausting. And yet, it’s also the source of innovation. Because when nothing stays the same for long, you’re forced to invent better ways, faster ways, and sometimes unexpected ways to solve problems.
Looking forward, I think the role of IT leaders from India will grow more complex. We’ll be expected not only to deliver services but to anticipate needs before they’re voiced, to provide not just systems but also strategy. The global stage demands it. But with complexity comes opportunity. And in my view, India is positioned well to embrace it.
If I had to leave one thought, it’s that global IT operations are not really about scale or size. They’re about connection. Connecting people to technology, connecting regions to opportunities, and yes, connecting India’s strengths to the world’s needs. That’s what I carry as both a responsibility and a privilege.