See 2019 as glass half-full; there are many new opportunities: C P Gurnani

On the back of global recovery, there are many new opportunities to explore, especially in the digital space: CEO & MD of Tech Mahindra

As the spending on digital transformation is increasing every quarter, Indian IT services companies are seen acquiring newer capabilities either in-house or through acquisitions. C P Gurnani, CEO & MD of Tech Mahindra, India’s fifth-largest IT services company, tells B Dasarath Reddy that the company is exploring both ways as it looks at bringing in best of the breed technologies to offer to global clients. Edited excerpts:

How does the overall demand environment look like for the next fiscal year?

I see 2019 as a glass half-full. On the back of global recovery, there are many new opportunities to explore, especially in the digital space. We have to obviously lead with innovation and preparedness to meet the dynamic market needs.

How has been the progress on various re-skilling initiatives currently underway at Tech Mahindra?

Reskilling is core to our strategy at Tech Mahindra as a digital transformation, consulting, services and solutions provider. After all, we are looking at the ‘Connected Ecosystem’. Thus, our human resources are key to making us future-ready and deliver the connected experience. One just cannot ride the growth path with resources who are not in sync with the market dynamics. Our recent partnerships with Unity Technologies, Pluralsight and now edX.org are testimony to our commitment towards building these capabilities, reskilling employees through a three-tier internal training programme and collaboration with online education companies.

What has been the net outcome of those initiatives?

At the end of the second quarter (FY18), Tech Mahindra had trained close to 70 per cent of its total employees in different modules around new-age technologies driving digital projects.

This year, we will train an additional 10,000 employees on automation as we continue to enhance our focus on newer technologies. To be precise, more than 90 per cent of our technical employees have undergone training in digital familiarisation and primary digital skills, while over 60 per cent of them have undergone advance training on digital competencies in areas like IoT (Internet of Things), cloud, business intelligence & analytics, and networks and security, among others.

Are you looking at working with start-ups?

Start-ups are the guiding light into the digital future and we want to futurise with them. Tech Mahindra’s NxT is a programme to strategically engage with innovative start-ups to explore newer technologies and business models that provide highest impact for our customers. We are looking at areas like artificial intelligence, block chain, analytics, cyber security and cloud among others. We have rolled out Tech M NxT successfully in the US as well as in Israel. It’s obviously a mutually beneficial partnership.