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Prakash Gurbaxani - A Man of Many Skills

Feb 15 2005

Prakash Gurbaxani - A Man of Many Skills

Written by Editorial team

Tuesday, 15 February 2005

He smoothly shift gears from being a civil engineer. He accomplished goals and met the targets in all the other companies he worked. Picked the trick of the trade along the way and is now the CEO of TransWork and a spokes person for the other BPO’s

Spanning your career, we see diversity in the types of jobs you have taken up. Is there any kind of common thread that binds them?

My back ground has been that of a civil engineer. I graduated from REC Nagpur in 1983 and in the same year I then went to do my master at NGIT, New Jersey in the U.S.A. and I stayed on till 1997. I worked as a consultant for many small companies. Later I was involved in building of the largest IBM offices in the U.S.A during 1986 and 1987. Just the construction part of it cost us $ 200 million. Then I was in California for nearly six years where I was involved in building the largest filtration plants in the U.S.A.

There are two sides to any profession. One is the technological side and the other is the business side. The engineering side never excited me. With one stint in Silicon Valley I knew that my core skills lay in running a business. I knew that as long as my business was technical I could run it.

And nowadays we find many people shifting careers to a totally different field from what they had originally planned. The construction profession is one such business that gives you an all-round experience and helps in developing strong business skills. I also knew that closing a successful business was tougher than starting a business. At that time IBM hired a CEO who was not from a technical background and that made me think there was some merit in the decision. I though if I came back to India with my construction business and U.S experience, there would hopefully be more opportunities. So I came back to India in 1997 and worked for three years with Micromedia. Micromedia a division of Microland concentrated on Internet focus trade shows which were a big hit in its time. In my time with Micromedia I realized that the domestic business market in India was very small. That’s when I began looking for other stuff. You see India’s potential is very dichotomous and there are two businesses that one could possible do. One is the products market and the other services, I decided I fit into services and got into the BPO sector by starting 24x7. At that time the challenge was to get started by getting finance and getting a good team. After 24x7 got stabilized as a player, I left the company and took over TransWorks in January 2002. At that time Trans Works was a very small company with about 200 people. Today it has crossed 3200 employees and has 24 clients of which half of them are Fortune 500 companies. In July of 2003, it was bought by the Aditya Birla group.

What does an organization need for success?

Firstly, an organization needs a reasonable size. Then it must have a strong referential customer base. It must be efficient to deliver services and must have strong infrastructure and management. TransWorks is backed by the Aditya Birla group which believes in it for the long term. So it’s always better to have a strong backup.

What were the benchmarks that you set up while joining TransWorks?

The key goal was to get to a certain size, have profitable targets and be extremely competitive. One doesn’t always get invited to the table in this business, so it’s a must to stay extremely competitive. Getting your first customer is the most difficult thing. Back then we didn’t have a customer and neither did anybody. So we sold it all theoretically with a promise of delivering highest quality of service. Two years later it was evident that we were competent and we could win large deals and do a good job with our services. The trick here is to make a change and always remain competitive. One of the things we always brought to the table when talking to our customers was Passion. This one thing helped us win against the big names.

If the tean leader's goal is not to be a CEO then it's not a good sign

Are the dimensions different now?

The key difference is the whole customer experience. One must know how to provide customer delight. At the base level there are three keys

1. One has to be fanatically committed to give the customer what he wants.

2. The company must work with the client in an open and transparent way.

3. There must be no excuses for not delivering the goods.

These are the things that separate the people who deliver and the people who just make a good sales presentation. It’s a must to always keep the customer in mind. This is particularly difficult when a company has its key management outside India because it is difficult to deliver this message from the top.

Today attrition is a big hurdle to every company in the BPO industry. How does your company take care of this challenge?

We believe in transparency in all our dealings, so we have created a 100% transparent culture in our organization. We offer our employees opportunities to build their careers here. First and foremost we don’t recruit team leaders from outside. We encourage and drive our own people to take up top positions. We also facilitate higher education and career planning for our employees. We have also started a scheme called “We Care” which is a 24 hour line where our employees can get the solutions to their problems within a 72 hour period. All employees can directly get in touch with the CEO by just sending an email. We also provide them opportunities within the system and other parts of the Aditya Birla group. Twice a year we have employee perception meets and every quarter we have town hall meetings. These things provide us with a fair, transparent and vibrant culture which reflects in our day to day work. I personally try to meet all our inducted people on the first day. If that’s not possible I try to meet them at some point soon.

What is your mantra for success?

Watch and bother about the simple stuff, the complex things will automatically fall into place.

Are you hands-on or hands-off manager?

I always try to recognize a person’s strength and try to help them to work on their weaknesses.

To all the team leaders, if your goal is not to be a CEO then its not a good sign. One must always aim for the highest position

What kind of qualities do you look for in an employee?

It’s fairly simple. I look for people with a great and a healthy attitude. At the base level they must have knowledge and skills to be competent. The difference between success and not being a success lies in the attitude of the person.

Do you look at the past and the success track of your potential employees?

No, we don’t necessarily look at an employees past record, although it may help. We don’t use people’s past against them. If you look at my own career background, things could have gone against me. We only look at the past in terms of integrity, attitude and ability to put in hard work.

What are your suggestions in terms of achieving a goal?

Goals should never be short-term and one should not have very low expectations. Even if you get there a month later it does not matter as long as you get there. To all the team leaders, if your goal is not to be a CEO then it’s not a good sign. One must always aim for the highest positon. The trouble is when one wants to see success in a very short time, and when that does not happen they feel very disappointed, it is better to set high goals and work towards them keeping a longer term in perspective.

What are your predictions of the BPO industry’s future?

The BPO industry is here to stay. Some companies might have a 90% call business and some may go in for 10%. Many companies may get into data analysis and other specific jobs. I think it’s only the strong companies that will emerge out of this present scenario. Every one in this industry has a very bright future!

Issue BG47 Feb05