Tech Mahindra bets on telecom strength to grow IoT, connected devices biz

Tech Mahindra's net profit stood at Rs 2,813 cr on revenues of Rs 29,141 cr in last financial year

Tech Mahindra, India’s fifth-largest IT services firm, looks to tap on its traditional strength in serving telecom customers to expand its business in connected networks and Internet of things. It plans to drive growth through small platforms to solve problems of clients in a targeted approach. 

For example, Tech Mahindra is offering software-defined network (SDN) solution with an additional layer of the internet of things (IoT) in the communication technology services business, wherein the company saw sharp fall in revenue in the fourth quarter of last fiscal. The company is planning to offer bundled packages on digital technology areas through focused teams and skills. 

The company has developed “more than 30 small platforms and all of them function like individual start-ups” to improve the customer experience of its clients faster. 

“We have built more than 30 platforms as one big platform will not solve all the problems. And the whole objective for is to be able to make changes faster. Our focus has been on a 360-degree approach and it is important that a culture is created, as we cannot do it in isolation. So we have created a young CEO programme who will run these small platforms as start-ups within the organisation,” said Jagdish Mitra, chief strategy officer, Tech Mahindra. 

He added that the company has taken a “very significant bet” in building SDN and network function virtualisation for the communication services vertical and it would offer a combined experience to the clients consisting of styling, design, technology and operation. 

“Our vision is to be amongst the top five system integrators or orchestrators in the world of IoT. We are trying to drive the whole story of the man to machine connectivity and machine to machine connectivity,” said Mitra.        

The company’s fourth-quarter profits declined more than 30 per cent on the back of poor performance in communication business amidst restructuring of Lightbridge Communications Corporation (LCC), a US firm it acquired in 2015. 

Tech Mahindra’s net profit stood at Rs 2,813 crore on revenues of Rs 29,141 crore in the last financial year. 

Mitra believes the in long-term Tech Mahindra will drive growth through agile Devops platforms ( a combination of software development and IT operations) and people will be skilled accordingly to ensure better customer experience through dedicated platforms. 

The platforms within Tech Mahindra are largely segregated into two categories - horizontal and vertical platforms. “While horizontal are those can cut across multiple nonlinearities and vertical ones are industry specific and we are building them through a mix of buy and build.”

The company has built something called a “Second Nest” in the Silicon Valley to partner with startups and work on customer problems. “We have created a small unit in the (Silicon) Valley that focuses on partnering with startups. We take customer problems and jointly work with the startups.”