We would be least affected by Hire American policy: C Vijayakumar

Interview of C Vijayakumar, president and CEO of HCL Technologies

In conversation with Karan Choudhury, C Vijayakumar, president and CEO of HCL Technologies, says that new geographies are being looked at and automation is not harmful. Edited excerpts:

You seem to be more confident than your peers on growth? What are you looking at?

Every company is in a distinct situation and we focused on a strategy that centres around using the inflection points in the industry and creates propositions that would be relevant for customers. That is why we have decided the Mode-1-2-3 strategy, in which Mode-one is about providing efficiency and agility, Mode-two optimises the spend on digital, analytics, IoT works, security and cloud, and Mode-three is about products and platforms. We are finding out how we can future-proof the services business by building a products and platform business. But we do not want to build it from scratch. We want to build the right partnerships and invest in IPs.

What do you think would be the cost impact of the Trump administration’s ‘Hire American’ stance?

I think it is still early days. It depends on what the nature of the regulations is, when they come into force, etc. Is it for everyone currently on the H-1B Visa? Or those who might re-apply? It will have some impact on margins, but our dependence on visas is the lowest, so I think we will have the least impact. But we have to hire locally, and we are prepared as we have been doing this for the past 7 years. 

The US and the UK are adopting protectionist policies. What will the impact of this on your company?

We are focused not just on the US and the UK. We have a very large presence in the Scandinavian countries, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, and are building a presence in places such as Germany and Switzerland. These are the markets we are focused on and every year we add one of two to our mix.

On Obamacare, what do you think is happening? What would be the ramifications on companies like yours?

The whole thing can be withdrawn, which means from an IT and technology perspective, there would be more project work. But there are other implications and we hope the stakeholders do the right thing. From a technology perspective I see it as an opportunity. 

As a company are you in talks with the Trump administration?

We are part of all industry bodies, and are not doing anything individually. But as part of industry bodies, we are happy to participate. And, yes, talks are happening.

If you expand more in the US, will the expansion affect your margins?

For this financial year, we will maintain the margin guidance we have given. For the next year we will do all our mathematics and then come back with a number.

How is the world cyber security situation like and how is HCL capitalising on it?

We have launched a programme under Mode-2, which is based on cyber security. There is a significant spend on cyber security. Every boardroom conversation is on compliance, cyber credit intelligence monitoring. We had that practice and we have expanded it to include application vulnerability, security logs, etc.

What are your customers saying?

Customers are very keen to pay for the right talent because technology is at the core of everything. A lot of differentiation can be created, whether it is in banks or healthcare, by getting the best from each solution and programme. So to that extent they are very open. They ask us about our visa dependence, and how would it impact them. 

Do you see automation and digital are taking away work/jobs?

I think it is an inaccurate view. While some jobs will go, new ones will be created. This has happened each time there has been an improvement in technology, maybe with a time lag. The success will lie in how one can bridge that gap. It is a supply chain management problem. If you use a standard supply chain management solution, it can be solved in a scientific manner. 

In the wake of demonetisation, do you see more work coming from financial-services firms and fin-tech companies in India?

India is a very small contribution to our revenues. There is interest and growth but it is not something that can move the needle. There is a lot more focus on payments, and some of these payments platforms are on cloud, so their usage increases and raise revenues for us.