Focus on the core so you can grow is the outsourcing mantra. How about an outsourcing company outsourcing to specialists and growing at a terrific pace? ANSR Source is an outsourcing company which has a "partnered captive" model and believes in working with partners who are domain specialists- Legal, Human Resource, Finance etc. Sanjay Dugar, Director - Operations, ANSR Source, shared how they are redefining the way outsourcing is done.  ANSR Source is a business process and information technology outsourcing and consulting company headquartered in Dallas, Texas.

What inspired you on this project?

The service offering is very different and unique. It was in line with what I envision as the future needs. The alignment with the team both in US and India was perfect and was something that is very promising in terms of growth.

The founders of the company come with a very good background and we are confident that we would grow from one project to another very fast. It would bring out a lot of challenges in setting up "green-field" situations for Fortune 100 companies, and while we deliver, we would be closely associated with some of the best practices followed by these companies world-wide. This would provide a lot of learning, in a relatively short time frame.

When did you start the company?

The company is now a little over two years old, and today has an in house team of 1200, and engages around 18000 employees from partners, with a  turnover of $25 Million. There were 4  founders and startup team of 9.

How unique is the product line/services?

ANSR is partnered with world-class vendors who believe that being flexible allows the outsourcing experience to be properly customized to meet the client's needs, enabling the client to realize the greatest possible strategic value. This provides ANSR's client a plug and play solution, while ANSR has a lot of flexibility and can
grow fast.

From the time we started this has been a very unique service offering and I have yet to come across anyone else who offers this service.

For instance currently we manage 7 clients, for each of these we have a separate company. In each company we ourselves have invested money, the client has equity participation and at agreed milestones the client buys back our shares, that is how we make our money. So there are no fees as such that we charge the client. The client therefore has a lot of confidence in us and our take is totally based on performance.

The other key aspect  is that our team comprises of people who have been heading companies and have the relevant experience to ensure everything is done. What I intend to convey here is that to start operations in a foreign land is quite a task.  Most companies have (in the past) gone to different consultants for different aspects - company incorporation, legal matters, financial matters, real estate, human resources, publicity management, etc. as against coming to a one-stop shop to get everything done. This involves a team that is effective and has the necessary width and depth to execute the required tasks, and proven track record. Another distinct advantage is that there is clarity, no duplication of efforts and is all done at the least cost.

Our model allows us to do a pilot project, and then even go on to do a small proof of concept if required, before going ahead with the entire project plan. The design is such that scalability is reasonably simple and easy to do.

The Challenges of Scaling up?

Finding people for the core management team has been a real challenge, mainly because people do not relate to this business model.  It took us 3 years to expand the core team to 6, with 4 off  in the US, so this is a real bottle neck.

The other challenge has been handling different cultures across the 7 companies, and people compare across the companies even though the processes are totally different.

What was the market like earlier as compared to today's conditions ?

The market was looking into the off-shoring options rather skeptically, though they were experimenting with "third-party outsourcing." Any third party outsourcing would have their own challenges and all of us had already gone through all of that - and were well versed with them. Positioning ourselves in a slot above that and yet keeping below the proposition of the companies setting shop themselves - was our plan. I think the market was looking for such an option, and probably will continue to do so for some more time at least, and the response has been terrific.

How were you able to convince investors in the initial stage?

Not an easy task by any means. I think it was primarily the management team profile and their vast experience and past success that mattered. In addition - it was backed by a vision, and supported by our unique business model and process.

Getting your First customers?

Our services - as is very evident - would need to be sold right at the top management level, before we could work downwards and get everyone's consent before we could actually sign-off. This was also possible because of the personal contacts available to us by virtue of the professional experience that the team has.

What must one have to succeed as an entrepreneur besides a formal orientation of business?

What comes to my mind is a four E framework (this probably sounds like a management jargon) but what I mean is:

Education, Experience, Excitement, and Enthusiasm.

Education adds to your confidence and is also something that people look for to believe that you can deliver.

Experience is something that cannot be substituted - it sets the theory in perspective to real practice.

Excitement - is what keeps you driving for more. You seek more opportunities, innovate methods to do things differently, and so on.

Enthusiasm - is a very addictive characteristic and it rubs off easily. If you have the enthusiasm and you can have it rub off with your prospect, you have a client.  

Kishor Jagirdar is a Startegic management consultant .Founder of Infopace management pvt Ltd and currently also a faculty for management studies at TASMAC. E mail- This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it \n This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it "

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