In the early nineties, we began our foray into software services. Since among the promoter group I was the only one who had written some code, I moved to Delhi and assumed the responsibility to build the software business. In 2004 when this business became larger than the training business it was spun off into a separate listed Company called NIIT Technologies Ltd, and I assumed charge as its CEO.
The company scaled to be among the top IT Solutions provider from India. In 2017 as part of our succession plan, we inducted a new CEO and I continued to provide oversight as Vice Chairman and MD while initiating the search for a strategic partner to take the Company to its next level of growth.
Tell us about your background, journey, and upbringing?
I was born in New Delhi. My late father migrated from Lahore post the partition and served with the Indian Army. My mother a very talented lady supported my father in welfare activities as required by Armed Forces. She remains active and independent even at 88.
Being a transferable job, I was enrolled in boarding schools, first at St Xavier's in Delhi and then Mayo College at Ajmer. These schools developed me with a well-rounded personality. I was probably the first in our immediate family who did not pursue a career with the Armed Forces. Instead, I chose to do engineering and was fortunate to get admission into the premier IIT at Kharagpur.
Thereafter I did post-graduation in Industrial Engineering from NITIE, Mumbai. I was recruited by BHEL as an Industrial Engineer from the campus to work in the Corporate Systems Group in New Delhi at a princely salary of Rs 1500/- per month.
How did you rise to the highest echelons in your career?
The role at BHEL was very enriching as I got to work on the most modern mainframe computers at that time. Some of us at the Computer Centre lead by our supervising manager saw great potential in providing computer services. So we left the company to start a Data Processing Centre. This was another period of great learning as building a start-up required dirtying our hands in every aspect of the business.
The eighties were the years when business had to contend with licence raj. The regulatory challenges resulted in inordinate delays which impacted our fledgling startup. A chance meeting with the founders of NIIT leads to my leaving the start-up and partnering with them to pioneer computer education in the country. I was tasked with the responsibility of expanding the regional operations in South India based out of Chennai (known as Madras in those days).
In the early nineties, we began our foray into software services. Since among the promoter group I was the only one who had written some code, I moved to Delhi and assumed the responsibility to build the software business. In 2004 when this business became larger than the training business it was spun off into a separate listed Company called NIIT Technologies Ltd, and I assumed charge as its CEO.
The company scaled to be among the top IT Solutions provider from India. In 2017 as part of our succession plan, we inducted a new CEO and I continued to provide oversight as Vice Chairman and MD while initiating the search for a strategic partner to take the Company to its next level of growth.
In May 2019 with the induction of a strategic investor, I stepped down from the board as the succession was complete. The Company is now renamed Coforge Ltd and continues to be hugely successful.
What does your typical workday look like?
The typical workday today is very different from what it was a year ago before the pandemic got everyone to start working from home. Days earlier would be full of travel, in-person meetings, public engagements, and power workouts wining and dining. This is now replaced by a more relaxed schedule with very little travel and interactions mostly online resulting in far more time to yourself.
A typical workday begins with walking the dogs in the morning, followed by some bodywork and exercise, and, a good sumptuous breakfast by 9am. Thereafter it's quality me time to get up to date on affairs, read the newspapers from end to end, check social media and other sources of information, catch up on reading for personal development, and schedule personal, professional and social activities.
The formal day for professional activities begins at 11am to support the many advisory engagements and board roles with a range of organisations including start-ups, corporates and not-for-profit institutions. These extend till the evening and may include public webinars, and sometimes at night depending on the time zones for interaction with people across the world, almost entirely using electronic means. Occasionally there may be few days of physical meetings, some being on the golf course.
Given that work is from home, in between work, one also full fills any domestic chores, or just talk to friends and family, and of course, take the dogs out for their evening walk. The concept of work-life balance is now replaced with work-life integration.
Dinner is usually at 9pm, which is followed by some family activity like a game of scrabble or simply tuning in to a good serial on Netflix.
It seems onboarding, even in 2021 is a long-drawn-out process behind the scenes. How do you envision this changing in the future?
The entire process of Onboarding involves multiple stakeholders across functions and roles. The seriousness, readiness and capability of the people with whom the new joiners interact impacts their onboarding experience. It is therefore an evolved process involving a multitude of activities like verification of documents, creation of IDs, provisioning of welcome kits, addressing statutory requirements, preparation of workplace, ensuring IT assets, and coordination with respective teams for induction.
These are getting streamlined and made more efficient with tools like virtual onboarding along with ready to use e-learning decks to self-induct. The future lies in the increased use of technology particularly emerging ones like artificial intelligence, natural language processing, and robotic process automation to further improve efficiency and experience. During the onboarding process, Chabot’s can answer queries from new hires through the conversational interface. Bots can speed up the onboarding process by collecting employee information, completing forms, and assisting in online registration thereby removing the need for paperwork. They can even guide new recruits through company policies.
Using emerging technologies HR teams can be freed to manage critical and high priority issues resulting in improved employee satisfaction, enhanced employee engagement, better employee retention, and an increase in overall productivity. Employees would feel more engaged with a 24X7 accessible assistant who can resolve most of their issues.
Several global companies have come out and thrown their support behind not needing a formal education. What is your opinion about this?
I guess by formal education you are referring to a college education that offers a degree. Every form of education requires some kind of certification to acknowledge that the individual has acquired the knowledge or skill.
Google for example has developed 6-month career certificate programs hosted online on Coursera which are taught by Google employees in high paying high growth career segments of technology. While students are not guaranteed a job at Google the organization will treat these certificates as equivalent to a four-year degree in their evaluation.
Zoho Corporation a leader in cloud-based software products in India, runs Zoho schools which they consider as a meaningful alternative to College education. They don’t charge the students any fee but in fact, provide a stipend throughout the course of study and successful students are absorbed by the firm.
Industry-specific courses resulting in rewarding careers in a shorter duration with diplomas have been provided by vocational institutes and polytechnics for a while now. We are beginning to see Corporates create their own learning programs with some like Google and Zoho valuing it equivalent to a degree. There is a whole new industry of EdTechs offering online certification at scale.
Universities are broader in their approach with equal emphasis on theory and practice but their courses take longer to complete. Vocational Institutes and Polytechnics focus on practical aspects and skills as in “applied to learn”. The same principle is adopted by Corporates in their certification program. Countries like Germany and Australia have highly effective vocational education training program that emphasizes more on occupational skills rather than theory.
Vocational programs are however considered to be at a lower level than degrees offered by higher education universities and income earning potential is perceived to be more with a degree. With the likes of Google and Zoho treating their education on par with degrees this perception could change, and with the rapid evolution of technology it may be more relevant to acquire relevant skills over time to stay relevant than just rely on a college degree.
These developments are resulting in significant reforms in higher education. The new education policy (NEP) in India has recommended the merger of technical education with higher education. Multiple entries and exit option will enable the students to get a good return of time. Every year of graduation will add an equivalent qualification.
What does your typical workday look like?
The typical workday today is very different from what it was a year ago before the pandemic got everyone to start working from home. Days earlier would be full of travel, in-person meetings, public engagements, and power workouts wining and dining. This is now replaced by a more relaxed schedule with very little travel and interactions mostly online resulting in far more time to yourself.
A typical workday begins with walking the dogs in the morning, followed by some bodywork and exercise, and, a good sumptuous breakfast by 9am. Thereafter it's quality me time to get up to date on affairs, read the newspapers from end to end, check social media and other sources of information, catch up on reading for personal development, and schedule personal, professional and social activities.
The formal day for professional activities begins at 11am to support the many advisory engagements and board roles with a range of organisations including start-ups, corporates and not-for-profit institutions. These extend till the evening and may include public webinars, and sometimes at night depending on the time zones for interaction with people across the world, almost entirely using electronic means. Occasionally there may be few days of physical meetings, some being on the golf course.
Given that work is from home, in between work, one also full fills any domestic chores, or just talk to friends and family, and of course, take the dogs out for their evening walk. The concept of work-life balance is now replaced with work-life integration.
Dinner is usually at 9pm, which is followed by some family activity like a game of scrabble or simply tuning in to a good serial on Netflix.
It seems onboarding, even in 2021 is a long-drawn-out process behind the scenes. How do you envision this changing in the future?
The entire process of Onboarding involves multiple stakeholders across functions and roles. The seriousness, readiness and capability of the people with whom the new joiners interact impacts their onboarding experience. It is therefore an evolved process involving a multitude of activities like verification of documents, creation of IDs, provisioning of welcome kits, addressing statutory requirements, preparation of workplace, ensuring IT assets, and coordination with respective teams for induction.
These are getting streamlined and made more efficient with tools like virtual onboarding along with ready to use e-learning decks to self-induct. The future lies in the increased use of technology particularly emerging ones like artificial intelligence, natural language processing, and robotic process automation to further improve efficiency and experience. During the onboarding process, Chabot’s can answer queries from new hires through the conversational interface. Bots can speed up the onboarding process by collecting employee information, completing forms, and assisting in online registration thereby removing the need for paperwork. They can even guide new recruits through company policies.
Using emerging technologies HR teams can be freed to manage critical and high priority issues resulting in improved employee satisfaction, enhanced employee engagement, better employee retention, and an increase in overall productivity. Employees would feel more engaged with a 24X7 accessible assistant who can resolve most of their issues.
Studies today show that an organization can lose INR 10 lakh (~ $17,000) on average on a wrong hire or for hiring someone with a false degree. The only tried and tested way to prevent frauds is via a thorough background verification process. Download SpringVerify's e-book for a comprehensive guide to Employee Background Verification in India.
Several global companies have come out and thrown their support behind not needing a formal education. What is your opinion about this?
I guess by formal education you are referring to a college education that offers a degree. Every form of education requires some kind of certification to acknowledge that the individual has acquired the knowledge or skill.
Google for example has developed 6-month career certificate programs hosted online on Coursera which are taught by Google employees in high paying high growth career segments of technology. While students are not guaranteed a job at Google the organization will treat these certificates as equivalent to a four-year degree in their evaluation.
Zoho Corporation a leader in cloud-based software products in India, runs Zoho schools which they consider as a meaningful alternative to College education. They don’t charge the students any fee but in fact, provide a stipend throughout the course of study and successful students are absorbed by the firm.
Industry-specific courses resulting in rewarding careers in a shorter duration with diplomas have been provided by vocational institutes and polytechnics for a while now. We are beginning to see Corporates create their own learning programs with some like Google and Zoho valuing it equivalent to a degree. There is a whole new industry of EdTechs offering online certification at scale.
Universities are broader in their approach with equal emphasis on theory and practice but their courses take longer to complete. Vocational Institutes and Polytechnics focus on practical aspects and skills as in “applied to learn”. The same principle is adopted by Corporates in their certification program. Countries like Germany and Australia have highly effective vocational education training program that emphasizes more on occupational skills rather than theory.
Vocational programs are however considered to be at a lower level than degrees offered by higher education universities and income earning potential is perceived to be more with a degree. With the likes of Google and Zoho treating their education on par with degrees this perception could change, and with the rapid evolution of technology it may be more relevant to acquire relevant skills over time to stay relevant than just rely on a college degree.
These developments are resulting in significant reforms in higher education. The new education policy (NEP) in India has recommended the merger of technical education with higher education. Multiple entries and exit option will enable the students to get a good return of time. Every year of graduation will add an equivalent qualification.
The first year will make the student eligible for a certificate. Next year he/she will be treated as an advanced diploma holder. After the third year, the bachelor’s degree will be confirmed and at the end of 4th, the candidate will be awarded a research degree. With a research, degree a candidate will be able to complete Masters-degree only in one year.
NEP recommendations however have yet to be put into practice and education being a State subject it may take a while to implement. However, the writing on the wall is clear. All models of education ie certifications, diplomas, degrees will survive and the individual can make their own choice.
What is the best piece of advice you would like to give to those who want to rise in their careers in the corporate world?
It is important to understand that relationships matter to further and accomplish your goals. At times it is not what you know, or how much you know, but who you know which makes all the difference. Relationships are built on trust and building trust is never easy. It takes time and conscious effort. Trust itself has two components. Competence and character.
NEP recommendations however have yet to be put into practice and education being a State subject it may take a while to implement. However, the writing on the wall is clear. All models of education ie certifications, diplomas, degrees will survive and the individual can make their own choice.
What is the best piece of advice you would like to give to those who want to rise in their careers in the corporate world?
It is important to understand that relationships matter to further and accomplish your goals. At times it is not what you know, or how much you know, but who you know which makes all the difference. Relationships are built on trust and building trust is never easy. It takes time and conscious effort. Trust itself has two components. Competence and character.
Competence is your ability to execute your responsibilities and character is the integrity that you display in your actions. Both these generate respect to strengthen relationships. Trust and mutual respect are the basis of any relationship. I would encourage all to build on these values to grow your network. Your network is your net worth, and actively developing it will enhance your career.
How are things changing in your domain, what role will data and information play in the future?
Data is growing exponentially and meaningful data is information. This is improving as computing power to process data is also increasing exponentially. The trend would continue with increased internet and smartphone adoption, use of sensors and IoT devices, development of edge devices, bandwidth expansion with 5G infrastructure, use of GPU or TPU for complex computations, and evolution of quantum computing.
How are things changing in your domain, what role will data and information play in the future?
Data is growing exponentially and meaningful data is information. This is improving as computing power to process data is also increasing exponentially. The trend would continue with increased internet and smartphone adoption, use of sensors and IoT devices, development of edge devices, bandwidth expansion with 5G infrastructure, use of GPU or TPU for complex computations, and evolution of quantum computing.
Add to this optimisation of sophisticated algorithms and we are already seeing machine capabilities mimicking human beings with Artificial Intelligence (AI).
There can be no AI without data. The good news is that volume of data is only increasing by each year, and considering people's continuously evolving needs, it would be safe to assume a surge in the usage of data with the application of analytics to gauge patterns and trends in every sphere of business and society. This consistent downpour of information is the fuel for improved machine learning models to create better and new imaginative use cases.
We live in a digital economy where data is more valuable than ever and those who can extract meaning from it will reap the rewards from this resource.
Find on LinkedIn
Interviewed by - Vanshika Jain
There can be no AI without data. The good news is that volume of data is only increasing by each year, and considering people's continuously evolving needs, it would be safe to assume a surge in the usage of data with the application of analytics to gauge patterns and trends in every sphere of business and society. This consistent downpour of information is the fuel for improved machine learning models to create better and new imaginative use cases.
We live in a digital economy where data is more valuable than ever and those who can extract meaning from it will reap the rewards from this resource.
Find on LinkedIn
Interviewed by - Vanshika Jain
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