From customers to employees, experiences shape the story for Brand TCS

Ask any newly minted engineering graduate in the country about TCS and it is likely that it has been on her list of dream jobs or, likelier still, employs her. For the average Indian, the company is synonymous with the country’s IT prowess and also, to a smaller extent in the metros, one with a fitness fetish as it is the brand partner for major marathons. And for its stakeholders in countries across the world, TCS epitomises the problem solving IT company with a strong emphasis on capacity building.

But what does Brand TCS stand for? A company that wears multiple identities across its multiple stakeholders is now looking to answer that question as it looks to build a unified and cogent narrative around itself.

Ravi Viswanathan, chief marketing officer, TCS says that the brand has leveraged the Tata group platform very well to grow, especially in new markets. However, he adds, TCS as a brand identifies strongly with reinventing itself time and again to suit changing markets. 

It is the fastest growing brand in the IT Services sector over the past decade according to Brand Finance. TCS’ brand value increased by 447 per cent, from $2.34 Billion in 2010 to $12.8 Billion in 2019 according to the global brand valuation firm, in its 2019 IT Services rankings. Even as an employer, TCS has repeatedly made it to the top of multiple global employer reports.

David Haigh, CEO, Brand Finance notes that in the technology services market TCS is currently surpassed only by Accenture and IBM. What has worked in its favour so far, he said, were their corporate social responsibility initiatives, a flagship presence at the World Economic Forum in Davos and a reputation for staff satisfaction. 

The tech imprint

Viswanathan says, “Between 1990 and today the organisation structure has changed multiple times both from the technology perspective as well as people perspective and we have managed to project that ability to our customers as well,” he said talking about how the brand has developed.

Fifty years ago, TCS was born as a division of Tata Sons to service their electronic data processing (EDP) requirements and provide management consulting services. The leap that the brand has made from being an in-house solutions provider to a global entity that is at par with global software giants is a phenomenal point out several people within the company.

The expanding scope of the organisation and the manner in which it has evolved has helped craft the present identity of the company, where it stands as an envied employer brand. Globally it is also associated with education as it partners with several academic institutions for technology based educational programmes. IT industry analysts credit former CEO S Ramadorai for the company’s business model and work culture.  But it was his successor and current chairman of Tata Sons, N Chandrasekharan, who analysts point out, helped Brand TCS expand its circle of influence.

Talking to consumers

Under Chandra, TCS amplified its community outreach programmes including sports and fitness events. It sponsors several marathons, from New York and Amsterdam to several other running events in other countries.

“The idea is to give key stakeholders (like clients and the employees) stories and experiences through these programmes. We put technology in the heart of these events through apps and devices to make it exciting for the participants,” said Viswanathan. The chief marketing officer and the chief technology officer often work hand in hand to curate these experiences like the marathon, client innovation forums for customers and CSR programmes, he added.

These experiences are forming the core of the brand’s narrative as it looks to build an identity that is not a sum of many parts, but more a unifier of the different roles the company plays in different capacities. In an age where employees and customers are increasingly blurring the lines between the brands they use and the brands they work for, this is its biggest challenge.