Behind every successful man, there's always a woman. And who would know this better than these few men who owe their success in the challenging solution providing business to their better halves.

Traditionally, this business domain has always been considered as being a male-dominated one. Understanding the technology, providing the latest solution to the end customers, meeting vendors, generating value to client and managing the flow of funds are considered as the competent skills of men.

However, breaking the traditional norms, the wives of many solutions providers have taken a step ahead and established niche in their husband's business. The wives' league is not only managing the back office operations but they also take care of the front fort of the business by meeting clients and taking managerial decisions.

For spouses, running the same business makes more sense as they know each other, they trust each other and have the common goal of bringing profitability for the company. They act as complimentary skills and add on benefits to the company by sharing their specialized knowledge.

But every coin has two sides. When spouses run a business together, they conceive the partnership with the optimistic belief that their union will create a congenial environment to work and grow. However, there are many different facets which one should take care of while they are in the same business. They should learn to put a line between their business and leisure, between their home affairs and business matters and should realize the importance of giving space to each other during working hours.

Here's looking at what makes these couple tick and what ticks them off.

Diamond Infotech, Kolkata

Manoj Rathi
Value My Wife Adds To Business: She is an asset to the company and adds value to it. My wife is single handedly managing altogether a different distribution unit of Dell, which is a
big profit churning part of the company. She is like an extended support which is safe and secure at any point in time.
Word Of Caution: Husbands and wives who are running a business should have well defined responsibilities. There should be no clash of job roles and they should also distinguish their personal and professional tasks.
Down Memory Lane: There has been nothing as a turning point but the entire journey with her has been a memorable experience.

Shraddha Rathi
Takes Care Of: I-Serve Solutions & Services, a part of Diamond Infotech. This unit is the distribution cell for Dell laptops in West Bengal.
Values Of Spouses Working Together: It is always a good experience working with your own family member. If you have a family member in the company, you can always share your problems and discuss various issues. They can provide good support to each other if one of them is traveling. Another benefit of working with spouse is that you get the liberty to learn new things and even if something goes wrong, you know that there is someone to handle the situation.
Demerit: One tends to discuss business issues everywhere. At times it happens that we always talk about official matters even after office hours. The point of discussion gets concentrated at one point.
Emotional Front: There is no emotional conflict as such. Till the time you give space to each other and segregate the office and home tasks, there are minimal chances of emotional conflicts. In fact, there is an enjoyment in working with your husband. You know the level of stress the other person is going through and you can handle the situation accordingly.

PC Solutions, New Delhi

DevendrA Taneja
Value My Wife Adds To Business: Association of wife with the company contributes more to human values than number game. IT is a segment which is run by a pool of human resources and it becomes very mechanical. She creates an environment that is more lively and inspires the manpower to perform their best.
Word Of Caution: One should not always think that spouses working together would create conflict. However, one should clearly define their role and understand their responsibility so that there is no does overlapping of work.
Down Memory Lane: We started our business in 1987 after I left Wipro. We had just got married and stating a new venture without any financial support from the family was a huge step. We had started everything from scratch and our first investment in the business was Rs 1 lakh. It was a big risk and together we turned it into a successful drive.

Punita Taneja
Takes Care Of: Corporate and internal training and communication, human resource training, soft skill training, planning and organizing events for PC Solutions.
Values Of Spouses Working Together: One knows each other so well that you know the requirements of the other person. While working together you see a side of man, his brain work, intelligence and his hardships which one can never see otherwise. You know the strengths and weaknesses.
Demerit: At times one does not get any break from each other and start seeking independence. At times husband gets so involved in the business that the domain of wife gets less attention when required. One need to create distance and develop his or her own skills in order to avoid too much interference.
Emotional Front: You need to be cautious when working together. One should maintain a gap in the working hour and the area of operation should be different so that both can enjoy their individual expertise in their work, without much interference.

EssenVision Software, Mumbai

Nityanand Shetty
Value My Wife Adds To Business: I started my company in 1995 along with my wife and a peon. As we evolved we segregated our responsibilities. She takes care of the administration and finance whereas I look after the sales. We have an intellectual thought process that helps us gel.
Word Of Caution: Normally it is said that finance is a man's domain but since my wife is good in managing the flow of funds I did not mind taking a step back and she came forward and took charge. One should recognize each other's strong points. If your wife is a part of the business, the male tendency to dominate should cease.
Down Memory Lane: We knew each other since our college days. We were great friends and decided to start a business. In 1995, we launched the company and a year later we got married. After a mind boggling session in a restaurant in Colaba, Mumbai, we decided to name the company Essen, taking the initials of our names, N and S.

Seema Shetty
Takes Care of: Human Resources, Finance and Administration Values of Spouses Working Together: We are very like minded and have a similar thought process, which helps in running a successful business together. It elevates perfection. There needs to be the same level of understanding that can help complimenting each other in all walks of life. One knows the level of stress that the person goes through and in the evening when we are back from work, we know how to take care of the situation.
Demerit: When a decision is taken by the spouses, it may be limited to a certain level and there is no space for a third perspective, which could have been there if you are working with someone else. Demerit occurs when your mentality does not match.
Emotional Front: One should not get into the same business unless you have like minded passion and targets. Since we are very good friends we have developed a kind of relation where we do not carry any emotional issues to work. We may fight at home but the moment we are in office, we are professional.

Peacon Technology, Kolkata

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