Our hiring strategy is focused on spotting curious minds: LTI chief

In a Q&A, Sanjay Jalona, CEO and MD, LTI (earlier L&T Infotech), talks about the growth momentum, the Shoshin approach to hiring and talent development and acquisitions

Sanjay Jalona, CEO and MD of LTI (erstwhile L&T Infotech) will complete six years at the helm of the company. He has not only managed to shed the company of its image of just another mid-cap firm, but also led the firm to a successful listing. Since the listing in 2016, the company’s stock price has gone up 6.7x. In an interview with Shivani Shinde, he talks about the growth momentum, the Shoshin approach to hiring and talent development and acquisitions. Edited excerpts:

Q1 results reported a strong growth momentum. How do you see the fiscal year panning out?

This quarter was the best ever Q1 we have had since we got listed and the growth was best in QoQ terms. The good thing about this growth is that it was holistic, growth has been across parameters. Traditionally we have seen growth a bit soft in verticals like insurance, energy and utility but even those have done well. We added 23 new logos, and revenue from large accounts grew well. I think it gives us the confidence that for this year as well we will be in the leader’s quadrant of growth. Confidence comes from Q1 exit, conversation we have had with customers, pipeline for our work and robustness of demand. Even in terms of hiring we have added over 4,000 people between Q4FY21 and Q1.

How are you making sure that LTI continues to capture the growth due to the cloud and digital transformation?

We believe that this is an era of digital restructuring. If three years back you would have asked me about remote workforce, I would have laughed at it and said the industry will perish. But look around and every industry has been restructured. Banks, retail, entertainment and media, take any sector, all are going through a shift. And the one thing that is binding this together is technology. We believe strongly that in the foreseeable future, I cannot crystal gaze, but for at least the next 7-8 years there is enough and more in terms of tech services.

The big difference we see is that earlier there would be this one company which would lead in a technology adoption or shift, and others would follow. This time there is no leader or follower, if you do not accept this shift you will disappear.

…so what is LTI doing to keep up with this shift?

There are two things that are important in our business; one, you need to know the business of your customers and hence you need to have a sharp vertical focus. Six years back when I joined this company, we got out of several verticals and decided to get sharp focus on a few sectors.

Two, is to be aware of the technology that is coming in. We bet very early on with Snowflake, a data warehousing services provider, last year they had the largest IPO in the US, but more importantly they recently made us their Elite Service partner globally. And there are several such examples.

And three, we make sure that our employees are on a continuous path of learning.

In short, we want to be paranoid all the time, keep looking for newer things, keep an appetite for risk and for failure. I have incorporated the Shoshin—Zen Buddhism philosophy of a ‘beginners mind’ within the company. The world today belongs to people who have a curious mind. Learn fast, fail fast and get up again and do something new.

With majority of the deals now being digital first, which also means they are getting smaller, is there more competition for mid-cap players like LTI?

Our business has always been hyper competitive. If I have to reflect on some of my businesses, at least 85-90 per cent of our business will be where the largest global SI’s or India GSI’s will also have presence. We are used to competing for the mindshare of the customer.

That was one of the thought processes when six-years back we reduced our presence from some of the sectors and started to focus on fewer things, we invested in building a dream team which today co-creates with customers. LTI’s culture has changed to customer centricity. Along with that we are disproportionately investing the capabilities of people, and of the company to support customers. So while doing so we have acquired seven companies and these are all small tuck-in acquisitions where the largest one for us would have been $15-20 million in revenue. We are not into headline grabbing M&As for just taking up revenue. We have to build capability that creates differentiation.

For instance, our acquisition of Syncordis and N+P made us the second largest Temenos partner. This was a capability that LTI did not have six years back. Our presence in the core banking segment was negligible. Today we are competitors. Even in times of pandemic this business has grown 25 per cent.

Similarly, augment IQ which was acquired 6-years back and Lymbyc have created a space for us in data products. And we are competing with the largest and the best. Cuelogic is helping with our digital engineering practice with more than 300 team size.

Capability building is the foundation block for us.

How much of the current demand-supply scenario bothers you in terms of meeting the business demand?

Attrition has spiked up, for this quarter for us it was 15.2 per cent. It’s in line with what we see in the market. More than the attrition, the bigger challenge is the talent pool. How do you make sure that the person you are hiring has a curious bent of mind? We changed our hiring strategy, now we look for people who have a curious mind. Figuring that out in a 2-3 hours meeting is very difficult. We look for signs in recruits that show whether they are keen learners or do they like to read etc. The future is for those who are curious.

You are a part of L&T conglomerate that also has two other tech firms, one is into services (Mindtree) and the other into tech. Do we see them coming together or are there synergies that can be built on?

IT companies and LTTS they cater to two different markets and they have been in this space for 20 years and there is enough and more to elaborate and co-operate. Mindtree and LTI both are doing well, and the headroom for growth is also good. We complement each other, there is a good place where we can collaborate too. Only time will tell if there is a need for these companies to merge. But my sense is there is more time. Also getting two publicly listed companies to merge is a complex process.