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After completion of the formal merger into parent Tech Mahindra of Mahindra Satyam, the consultancy and information technology services provider, the combined entity is now the country’s fifth largest software exporter. A S Murty, chief technology officer (CTO) of the erstwhile entity and likely to have the same job in Tech Mahindra, shares some of the new plans with K Rajani Kanth. Edited excerpts:
Will you be donning the CTO role of the amalgamated entity?
The board is going to take decisions on all the key positions. How they would like to structure and how they would like to qualify some of these positions, we will come to know in the next 10 days or so.
For how long has technology integration been happening between the two companies?
When Tech Mahindra acquired Satyam Computer Services in April 2009, a broad statement was made by Anand Mahindra and Vineet Nayyar that at some point of time, we were going to merge. Unfortunately, we lost a lot of time in making sure all the procedures and processes were completed.
The management didn't want to replicate or duplicate the services at both companies. So, in the past three years, we have been deciding which technologies each company will invest in.
Three years ago itself, it was decided that Tech Mahindra would only go after telecom customers, and Mahindra Satyam would not invest in mobility, security or networking. Since then, we were working in a very synergistic manner. Today, (merger completion) was just about formalising the whole thing, so that money is optimal and associates (employees) not have any confusion whatsoever. It has been a very smooth affair.
Tech Mahindra's core competency is in telecom. Mahindra Satyam is known for versatility in terms of service delivery and solutions. How is the new entity leveraging this?
Today, the combined entity wants to enable enterprises to become digital organisations. For this, we need components like NMACS (network, mobility, analytics, cloud, security/social), a concept of newer technologies that Mahindra Satyam had formally started proliferating since the past six months. If you want to enable organisations to become digital, you need expertise in telecom networks, in which Tech Mahindra has been very strong.
What Mahindra Satyam now brings to the table is analytics competency as part of its Enterprise Business Solutions (EBS). And, security for mobile devices has been a practice at Tech Mahindra for 10 years. When you marry Tech Mahindra and Mahindra Satyam, all these competencies become seamless in one company.
Also, all telecom companies might have requirements of SAP, Oracle or Business Intelligence (BI), and these are there in Mahindra Satyam. There are over 100 telecom customers for Tech Mahindra and we need a systematic way of applying EBS into each of these. We are cross-leveraging these technologies.
Do you see Tech Mahindra developing its own solutions and filing patents?
Registering patents will be an interesting thing because that talks about innovation. There is no such focus at this point of time. It (Tech Mahindra) is still predominantly a services company and there are no plans as of now to come up with big-bang products which can be sold. IP (intellectual property) can happen at a small portions level but it will not be a very large revenue-generating one. We are currently working jointly with our alliance partners like SAP and Oracle to develop new solutions where we can also claim some of the IP. Similarly, we want to do joint innovation with customers. If it clicks, we can go-to-market together and sell to other customers as well. This kind of joint innovation with customers and alliance partners is very strong in both the companies.
Which technological practices of the erstwhile Mahindra Satyam are expected to bring more revenue to the combined entity?
I will say EBS, which includes SAP, Oracle, BI, data warehousing and big data. All that is vital for telecom customers. Infrastructure management services are also gaining a lot of attention and we are coming up with innovative offerings on this.
Which regions contribute more to the combined entity?
In the combined entity, 43 per cent is from the North American market, Europe accounts for 33 per cent and the rest of the world (RoW) for 23 per cent, a very decent mix across the geographies. Not many IT companies can really boast of one-fourth of their revenues coming from RoW.
Adoption of the newer technologies is easier in RoW than in matured geographies. For, matured geographies need to stop doing what they’ve been traditionally doing and then go for the new ones. In RoW, it’s the first time they’re attempting something, so they can straightaway go for the newer technologies. In the third world countries of Africa and Asia, including India, adoption of newer technologies might be faster and better.
Will you be donning the CTO role of the amalgamated entity?
The board is going to take decisions on all the key positions. How they would like to structure and how they would like to qualify some of these positions, we will come to know in the next 10 days or so.
For how long has technology integration been happening between the two companies?
When Tech Mahindra acquired Satyam Computer Services in April 2009, a broad statement was made by Anand Mahindra and Vineet Nayyar that at some point of time, we were going to merge. Unfortunately, we lost a lot of time in making sure all the procedures and processes were completed.
The management didn't want to replicate or duplicate the services at both companies. So, in the past three years, we have been deciding which technologies each company will invest in.
Three years ago itself, it was decided that Tech Mahindra would only go after telecom customers, and Mahindra Satyam would not invest in mobility, security or networking. Since then, we were working in a very synergistic manner. Today, (merger completion) was just about formalising the whole thing, so that money is optimal and associates (employees) not have any confusion whatsoever. It has been a very smooth affair.
Tech Mahindra's core competency is in telecom. Mahindra Satyam is known for versatility in terms of service delivery and solutions. How is the new entity leveraging this?
Today, the combined entity wants to enable enterprises to become digital organisations. For this, we need components like NMACS (network, mobility, analytics, cloud, security/social), a concept of newer technologies that Mahindra Satyam had formally started proliferating since the past six months. If you want to enable organisations to become digital, you need expertise in telecom networks, in which Tech Mahindra has been very strong.
What Mahindra Satyam now brings to the table is analytics competency as part of its Enterprise Business Solutions (EBS). And, security for mobile devices has been a practice at Tech Mahindra for 10 years. When you marry Tech Mahindra and Mahindra Satyam, all these competencies become seamless in one company.
Also, all telecom companies might have requirements of SAP, Oracle or Business Intelligence (BI), and these are there in Mahindra Satyam. There are over 100 telecom customers for Tech Mahindra and we need a systematic way of applying EBS into each of these. We are cross-leveraging these technologies.
Do you see Tech Mahindra developing its own solutions and filing patents?
Registering patents will be an interesting thing because that talks about innovation. There is no such focus at this point of time. It (Tech Mahindra) is still predominantly a services company and there are no plans as of now to come up with big-bang products which can be sold. IP (intellectual property) can happen at a small portions level but it will not be a very large revenue-generating one. We are currently working jointly with our alliance partners like SAP and Oracle to develop new solutions where we can also claim some of the IP. Similarly, we want to do joint innovation with customers. If it clicks, we can go-to-market together and sell to other customers as well. This kind of joint innovation with customers and alliance partners is very strong in both the companies.
Which technological practices of the erstwhile Mahindra Satyam are expected to bring more revenue to the combined entity?
I will say EBS, which includes SAP, Oracle, BI, data warehousing and big data. All that is vital for telecom customers. Infrastructure management services are also gaining a lot of attention and we are coming up with innovative offerings on this.
Which regions contribute more to the combined entity?
In the combined entity, 43 per cent is from the North American market, Europe accounts for 33 per cent and the rest of the world (RoW) for 23 per cent, a very decent mix across the geographies. Not many IT companies can really boast of one-fourth of their revenues coming from RoW.
Adoption of the newer technologies is easier in RoW than in matured geographies. For, matured geographies need to stop doing what they’ve been traditionally doing and then go for the new ones. In RoW, it’s the first time they’re attempting something, so they can straightaway go for the newer technologies. In the third world countries of Africa and Asia, including India, adoption of newer technologies might be faster and better.
