Hastraa Consulting Services has been recognized by APAC CIOOutlook Magazine as the recipient of “Most Promising QA/Testing Solutions Companies,” based on our proprietary methodology, reflecting its position in the industry. This profile has been developed by the APAC CIOOutlook research and editorial team based on insights from an interview with R. Mukunda Rajan .

Hastraa Consulting Services
Bringing Cutting Edge Testing Solutions to the Fore

R. Mukunda Rajan , Director

Testing is the most critical and essential stage that makes a huge impact on the future of a product. Testing, especially in the software industry holds great significance and demands a need to be implemented with immense precision. Considering this, an IT professional, Mukunda Rajan (Mukund, in short) ventured into the testing industry and started Hastraa Consulting Services. This organization was brought to existence back in 2005 with the idea of delivering promising solutions for software testing. The fact that Malaysia, Singapore and other countries that Mukund wanted to tap had no independent testing company became the founding stone for this company. With an extensive research and a forward looking approach, he went on to establish Hastraa as a name that can be relied upon for testing solutions. Headquartered in Singapore, the organization also has operations in Malaysia, India, UK and Dubai.

Initial Roadblocks
Getting business in the initial years of existence remains a challenge for every organization. It’s not always the competition that makes the survival of a newly formed business tough. In some cases, convincing customers about a service also turns out to be a roadblock. Hastraa too had to encounter this challenge. Talking about the initial struggle, Mukund says, “The challenge was to convince the users about the value that we bring and also the risk of not doing that job effectively.

We had to articulate the value that we bring to the table.” The organization is open to outsourced / collaborative model and promises to deliver the most optimal solutions to its customers.

Vision to Lead the Market
The objective with which Hastraa Consulting was founded was to be recognised as a respected company. With an uncompromised quality and off shore testing solutions, the company made its way towards achieving its goals. In a few years, it developed Hastraa as a known entity not just in Singapore, but also in Malaysia, Dubai and other locations. Malaysia was always a major market where the company aimed to expand. Owing to the unavailability of Indian vendors in Malaysia and promising scenario for testing industry, the company strengthened its position in the country. Detailing the decision to setup offshore services in Malaysia, Mukund entails, “We wanted to be a market leader and we were looking for a location where we could build market leadership. At that time, there were no Indian vendors in Malaysia and we saw potential.” The core competency of Hastraa lies in testing. Besides testing, the organization also extends advisory and assurance services. The major sectors that assure maximum business to Hastraa are banking, insurance and telecom. Over the years, the company has evolved as a BFSI specialist.

The objective with which Hastraa Consulting was founded was to be recognised as a respected company

The Road Ahead
The journey so far for Hastraa Consulting Services has been delightful and the organization aims to continue with its success story in the years to come. Thus, it already has its expansion plans in place. Mukund explains, “We strongly want to focus on testing services in BFSI, which brings in 90% of our business. We have also begun an expansion program and we are also planning to expand into Indonesia.” Besides, the other major regions that the company is looking forward to expand to are Middle East and Africa, most specifically South & East Africa. The major target market for Hastraa would be the local and regional banks operating in these regions.