Kilowott is the story of how three young men from Saligao started arguably Goa’s first and only IT company that has made its mark across three continents today. Formerly known as ‘Nordic Intent, Kilowott is a result of the founders streamlining and consolidating some of their offerings into a single entity. Kilowott’s USP lies in collaborating with organisations to help drive transformations from within.
With more than 150 employees on its payroll, till date the globally placed firm has executed more than 2,000 projects globally. Spread across three continents, it has collaborated with various government and international agencies and Fortune 500 companies, while also fostering a close association with the Norwegian diplomatic mission in India. Aaron Fernandez, Co- Founder, Kilowott talks exclusively with Rajneesh De, Consulting Editor, APAC News Network on how Kilowott’s aim is to offer cutting-edge digital solutions in a global marketplace to enhance digital customer experience.
How would you trace the genesis of Kilowott?
Kilowott, a digital strategy, design, and development consultancy, offers clients across different regions with 360-degree digital transformation services. Through innovative product architecture, digital engineering, and user-focused design, the organisation creates unforgettable consumer experiences.
Kilowott’s journey to where it is now, encompassing three continents, is based in the sands of Goa’s beaches.
Initially, I established a small design firm to create fliers for my team to distribute. Ultimately, despite its advantages, the project did not take off. The concept was well ahead of its time and did not find any customers. Even though my first website failed, I learned a lot from it. After graduation, I relocated to Norway to work for a design firm.
Following a stint in Norway, we launched ‘Kodework,’ a website development firm in Mumbai in 2014. Our brother Judah joined us, and we decided to establish a base in Goa, our hometown.
Judah was in charge of assembling a coding staff and ensuring quality and timeliness. And he contributed to the sleek vibe of our exciting new venture, Nordic Intent.
The year 2020 saw significant changes worldwide, which prompted the need to streamline and consolidate some of our offerings into a single organization – ‘Kilowott’ – to better serve our customers. This continues to be an important transformation. However, our fundamental idea remains the same to provide cutting-edge digital solutions in a global marketplace in order to improve the digital client experience.
What are the solutions and services in the Kilowott portfolio?
Customer journey mapping, customer experience process assessment and surveys consulting, assessment, roadmap ideation and modelling with use cases, brand positioning and go-to-market strategy, brand identity development, and concept design and prototyping are some of the services offered by ‘Kilowott.’ We believe that all strategies should be based on real-world data analysis, precisely down to the smallest detail created by cutting-edge code.
We work with digital interfaces such as website design, wearable apps, mobile apps, and mobile games, as well as UI/UX development. To create digital interfaces, it supports design features such as augmented reality, virtual reality, analytics, artificial intelligence, and the Internet of Things (IoT).
How is Kilowott driving the digital transformation of organizations?
Kilowott was established to bridge the gap left by the lack of full-service firms in the technology sector. The company has a wide range of products and offers its customers with exceptional insights based on extensive market knowledge. We are a professional team that develops customised digital transformation and operational solutions that include design aspects such as CX, AR, and VR, as well as technologies such as analytics, AI, IoT, and other such tools to improve the customer experience.
What all processes or initiatives are included in your digital transformation roadmap?
Kilowott is a completely digital firm that has employed progressive technology to manage operations and serve a clientele that is largely situated abroad since its inception. We enable our customers to develop their businesses and profits by utilising advanced digital transformation design aspects such as CX, AR, and VR, as well as technology such as AI, IoT, and others.
We use technology and innovation in our consulting and strategy services such as customer journey mapping, customer experience process assessment and surveys consulting, assessment, roadmap ideation and modelling with use cases, brand positioning, go-to-market strategy, brand identity development, concept design and prototyping, and so on for our digital transformation roadmap, which has significantly helped us.
Who are your marquee customers and which are the verticals you are witnessing maximum traction?
Netflix, Nickelodeon, Byjus, HDFC and Radisson are few of the organisations Kilowott has collaborated with while on our journey to where we are today. We’re now developing our competencies in mobile gaming and animation, and we intend to take on more projects in the coming quarters of 2021. We’ve also created a wearables app, as this market is always expanding owing to the increasing fitness culture.
How are your internal infrastructure and manpower resources?
Kilowott’s internal architecture and spatial layout exemplify the classic Goan characteristics to the fullest. Personally, I feel that there should be no official regulations about attire and appearances, with the sole focus being on the timely delivery of quality performance. At Kilowott, whether someone wants to wear their dreadlocks or shorts to work is immaterial. We are a high-performing, cohesive team led by strong individuals. We work with organisations and frequently build collaborative teams with our customers to assist drive transformations from within. We think that great brands have the potential to impact lives, pique people’s imaginations, influence culture, and influence behaviour.
What makes this workplace so spirited is the sense of community and belongingness that has been meticulously instilled in its fundamental framework. The feeling of belonging is key to building robust relationships and fostering productivity. ‘People over process’ – this ideology subtly outlines the undertones of all efforts towards employee well-being and task accomplishment. Furthermore, an open-door culture has been adopted; one in which everyone’s views and opinions are acknowledged and taken into consideration.
In addition to the amiable work sphere, an inspiring and pleasant office ambience is another factor that gets the whole team enthusiastic about working together. The appealing interior space has been idealistically designed to ignite imagination and coax creativity.
Conscious efforts have been made to retain the vibrant vibe in the Work From Home mode. Accordingly, virtual events and activities are frequently lined up to feed on the anticipation of employees, eagerly waiting to join back physically. Moving from such a close-knit context to a remote, physically disengaged mode cannot be a cakewalk. We have laid out extensive plans to bring back the closeness and cordiality that prevailed in the offline mode.
How does Kilowott use design elements such as CX, AR, VR, and futuristic technologies like analytics, AI, IoT?
Several apps are being developed and launched in the market these days, and many of them are rapidly becoming obsolete. Recognizing the necessity for these apps to provide increased value to users, Kilowott has been developing apps that solve a specific problem and have long-term use using the aforementioned technologies. In everything we build today, we consider digitization, automation, and problem-solving. To significantly boost customers’ business growth and profitability, we leverage design components such as CX, AR, VR, and next-generation technology such as analytics, AI, and IoT to create seamless digital interfaces and operations. All of the strategies are tailor-made based on genuine data analysis, right down to the smallest detail, and are developed using cutting-edge coding. We collaborate closely with our clients to create customer experiences that transcend all platforms and brand touch points. Working across platforms, disciplines, and industries, our approach is based on a deep understanding of the interplay between design, technology, and our clients’ needs.
What is the GTM strategy that Kilowott follows?
We identified that very few organisations, particularly in Goa, provided a full range of IT-related services. That’s when we realised this was going to be our GTM strategy for Kilowott. Kilowott’s unique selling point is the unification of several services into a single platform through which clients can obtain a variety of services. Our immaculate insights derived by an in-depth understanding of core markets provide us an advantage over other generalists. Kilowott’s vision is to seamlessly blend digital and design to craft enduring digital user experiences that have a direct impact on customers’ business outcomes. Kilowott believes that clear communication with service and product positioning are two of the fundamental mantras of success in business.
Which are the key focus areas for Kilowott in the next few quarters?
There has been a significant increase in the number of brands interested in expanding their digital presence across continents. We see an opportunity and have restructured our strategy to fit the needs of the global business community.
While Goa will continue to be a vital foundation for the company, talent from all over the world is joining Kilowott. We have recently onboarded Nitish Raikar, who will oversee operations and profitability. Nitish, an XLRI Jamshedpur alumnus, has over two decades of experience in the IT business, having worked for IBM, Infosys, and Mindtree, among others. We intend to grow ‘Kilowott’ into a 500-person firm soon. Kilowott, led by a strong leadership team, is determined to accomplish its aim of becoming a worldwide tech giant while remaining anchored in Goan soil.
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