A Quest for Greater Meaning

Owners Shail and Sucheta Jain have broken the conventional wisdom of how to successfully operate a software company. It was a departure that was no accident.

“We founded FARRAGUT [formerly known as IIS] in 1992 armed with a determination to break away from a paradigm where customers and employees were treated like a commodity,” said Shail.

Their vision was to create a company where people came first—both customers and employees. It would be a workplace where employees could find meaning in their work and have the confidence to be inventive in their thinking. And, perhaps most of all, it would be the kind of company that customers could trust.

From the very beginning, Shail and Sucheta wrestled with a question: How could they straddle the knowing-doing gap—the difference between putting up a mission statement on the wall and the reality of having each employee carry out the company’s principles?

First and foremost, they decided that their principles—integrity, practical innovation and service mindedness—would underlie all relationships, services and goals. Second, to allow them to operate in line with their principles, their company would maintain zero debt, zero VC funding and zero exit strategies. The target was a sustainable living company that would outlive its founders and last 100 years or more.

This was radical thinking in the early 1990s. As other technology companies joyously embraced the dot-conomy, Sucheta and Shail avoided the golden ring and grew their business slowly and deliberately.

Built to Last 100 Years or More

In 2009, Shail and Sucheta Jain acquired Farragut Systems, a like-minded, forward-thinking software company with deep expertise in the public sector software market. Over the years, the two companies similarly favored investment, service and long-term relationships over short-term returns.

The new FARRAGUT merges the collective strengths of IIS and Farragut Systems to focus on local government software, mobile application development, and enterprise application development and services.

How? By not innovating for innovation’s sake. Our products and services uphold our principle of practical innovation. Then we do what we say we will do, stand by our products, and hold your hand every step of the way.