The Hindu Business Line : Win some, lose some

Zensar Technologies' chief tells eWorld what went wrong, and what went right, with business - and the lessons he's taken to heart to shape the future.

Ganesh Natarajan

THE global software industry is a truly wonderful place - where there are new opportunities emerging every week, new countries and new customers getting curious about the concept and promise of Offshore Outsourcing, and of course, new mistakes being made every day by both old and new companies in the industry.

In this fast moving world, one very rarely looks back and takes stock of what went right and what went wrong during a year but here is an opportunity to list three successes and three failures - all of which taught me quite a few new lessons during the year.

Success lesson one - focus on new markets

In an industry where the bulk of the business for most firms comes from the US and the UK, it takes a different view to see any other market as strategic instead of opportunistic.

And for many years we had treated our one and two-person operations in Singapore, South Africa, Japan and Australia as just that - opportunistic!

But then along came one of our best managerial hires, V. Bala, who breathed new life into these markets during the year and saw these territories jump 100 per cent during the year - faith can move mountains!

And faith in the fast expanding world of Asia has really made the difference for Zensar.

Success lesson two - accept all challenges

In the middle of the year, one of our big offshore clients had a problem with a local vendor who had developed a mission-critical application for them and wanted to know if we could do a quick job of migrating that to a new platform and take over support - success would give us nothing more than some brownie points with the client but failure could see us lose a multi-million dollar account.

After a lot of deliberation, it took our intrepid Program Manager V. Shankar to say "Nothing ventured nothing gained" and we went for the challenge and came through with flying colours and an eternally grateful customer.

Success lesson three - foster innovation

A couple of years ago, we had decided to collaborate with a Silicon Valley startup to design a new generation framework that would automate large chunks of the software development, migration and maintenance processes by creating solution blueprints and reusable solution patterns.

While the initial pilots were successful, it was still difficult to get programmers ingrained in the traditional System Development Life Cycle model to embrace a new model.

The formation of a new business unit with a mix of veterans, such as our CTO, Dilip Ittyera, and young blood drawn straight from business schools has made this new model a reality.

It will well be the 100 per cent growth engine that powers our company to unprecedented success in the future.

But while these major lessons from success have proved to be turning points in my own philosophy and the business outlook of the organisation, a few more lessons have been picked up by learning from mistakes as well.

Learning from mistake one - don't let excessive focus reduce flexibility

When we made our plans to enter China last year, we were very clear that the purpose was three-fold - to create an alternate delivery centre, to find business with large Chinese state-owned enterprises, and help American multinationals develop software in China.

One day, in a chance meeting with the Mayor of Shenzhen, our China CEO was asked if Zensar would help in developing the capabilities of young software professionals in China. He said no, that was not his mandate - but in a meeting I had with Mayor Liu a few months ago, we realised that this was not only a revenue- generation opportunity but also a method of developing a talent plan that would help us in our own growth plans in China. A multi-million dollar Centre of Excellence (COE) contract followed and we realised that we should be truly flexible in any new market.

Learning from mistake two - balancing priorities

Last year was some year - travelling 15 days a month, enabling the fledgling Nasscom SME community to take off and the Innovation movement to blossom while growing my own company's revenues and profits to record levels - and while this was happening, some small health problems remained unattended and a newly bought golf set lay neatly wrapped in the original plastic. A near breakdown of health towards the end of the year taught me one lesson - balance lifestyle and workstyle priorities before it is too late! Will 2005 be a more sensible pace? Only the coming months will tell!

Learning from mistake three - trust them young

At the beginning of the last year, a young associate returning from a stint in the US was being considered for a new role within the corporate planning team of the organisation and sent me a mail - "I can make a difference only if I report to the CEO". The first reaction in the mind was one of amusement and disbelief - that a well-oiled hierarchy machine could be challenged by an ambitious young person. But this mistaken thinking of confusing age with capability was soon replaced by a feeling of "let's give her a chance".

And that chance has proved to be one of the wisest decisions I have made with a bright young team in Business Integration transforming Strategy formation, M&A planning and execution, Process reengineering, Corporate marketing and communications and Community initiatives in the organisation.

So what does one do when there are mistakes made?

As some learned philosophers have said, it is not the falling down that matters but how you pick yourself up and get back on the path - to less future failure and many more successes.

And there are successes in abundance that await entrepreneurial companies and risk-taking leaders in this exciting industry. I have certainly learnt a lot in the last year and look forward to the coming year to see what more it has in store!

The author is Deputy Chairman & MD of Zensar Technologies and chairs the Innovation Forum of Nasscom.

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
More stork than fish?

Rebound in sight

Win some, lose some — but learn every time

A clear divide

`There's nothing called a free lunch!'

Some `open' muscle-building

Quiz

Make spreadsheets yield their secrets

Cartoon