Dhiraj Rajaram, founder and CEO of Mu Sigma, spoke about the leadership changes in the company and the way it is trying to redefine the Indian outsourcing sector.
Will Ambiga Subramanian’s leaving, and reports of attrition affect the company's functioning?
We have lost a few people but it is not something which we had not seen in the past.
At our trainee level part of the business, we had an attrition in the range of 11-15 per cent. If you think this will impact our business, no it is not the case. While the developments have impacted me personally, it has not had an effect on business.
So, this has not created any concern amongst customers, considering Brexit and recessionary earnings reported by a lot of companies globally?
No, we did not see any impact from the demand side of the business.
In fact, last week, we had a Fortune 500 retailer come to a lab to collaborate on some aspects.
Data analytics is different from traditional kind of IT services that the industry was built on. Considering that you have to pay top dollar for this kind of talent, does the economics of it make sense at a time when customers are looking for cost takeaways?
You are looking at our business from the lens of the past. Yes, it was about labour arbitrage but we are not in that business. Our model is not services or products like the industry evolved.
We look at the customers’ business and don't look to solve problems. Instead, we teach them the art of solving a problem using technology.
It is like saying when I ask you what you want to eat and you reply ‘ idli ’. Instead of giving you idli , we will build you the kitchen. We are in the innovation arbitrage business.
Are customers buying into this?
I can tell you that we get 6-8 customers every quarter. We have broken the myth that data analytics cannot achieve scale.
We were a relatively late entrant but now with around 4,000 people and kind of projects we do we are a force to reckon with. This year, we can grow revenues by 20-25 per cent.
How much are you valued at, at present?
We cannot comment on that.