Tech for a local TikTok is easy; making it win is tougher: CP Gurnani, Tech Mahindra

Tech Mahindra is seeing customers starting to invest in digital faster than anticipated and it wil continue to go as more businesses adopt technology, said CEO CP Gurnani. In an interview with ET, Gurnani spoke about why the company would not try to build consumer apps; the business challenges in India and the opportunities for the tech sector going forward. Edited excerpts: When we spoke in April, you said it would be a couple of quarters before things started getting back to normal. Now, a few months on, how do you see the post Covid19 impact? To be very honest I’m actually surprised in my own way that despite some of the obvious challenges, most of the industry sectors are continuing to invest. Some of them are more towards the new digital new normal. In a lot of ways that seems to be working to our advantage. Automobile, aerospace, travel and transportation businesses are hugely impacted and in that part of the business there is degrowth but there is a lot that is happening in alternate businesses and service offerings. Some sectors there is degrowth. I would reserve my comments but I’m a little more optimistic than I was a few months ago. Do you think that this will sustain for a longer period or is this a short term spurt in spending as clients are investing in enabling their employees to work remotely? People talk to Tech Mahindra not only for digital business but because they want to run their operations, to be able to cost optimise and change and to grow their businesses. The good news is that these 100 days are forcing people to go back on three things. Run has become survive, change has become thrive, and grow has become repurpose. A logistics company may switch to last mile delivery so Amazon can deliver products. People are repurposing and I personally believe that while the business will be under stress, technology and automation are an integral part of any survival revival or repurposing. With India banning apps and looking at homegrown solutions, what are the opportunities for Tech Mahindra? Or would the startups build and you help in scaling up?I think it is two different businesses and I don't want to mix it. None of these apps are original, they’ve existed in some form. … What has differentiated TikTok or WhatsApp is the capability to fund and a winner takes it all attitude. My business model is built around services given, cash flow generated and sharing the salary and overheads. If I have to create a new WhatsApp, it’s not that it won't get created. Technology is the easy part. I need $1billion, technology (software) will be $10 million, rest of $990 million will be in marketing and putting things to scale - server farms, communication links etc. I think most of us understand they are different businesses and if at all we ever do something like this, it would be a separate company and I don't think we are currently looking at too many business to consumer (B2C) businesses. With the H-1B visa suspension in the US, how does it affect your plans for this year? The reality is that India Inc dependence on H1B has reduced. I opened nine centres in the US and two in Canada because I wanted to be able to hire people locally and service them locally wherever it is the right strategy. Second, 30% of my clients have said WFH till middle of november, 5% of clients have said 2020 you can WFH,, let’s review it in mid-December. Now, I have a skill, 15-30% of my clients don't want me to come to office and that means that I’ll be living my life on Webex and Microsoft Teams so why would I sit on a plane.Why would I get my H-1B visa stamped. Come January, whoever takes the white house will determine whether he needs Indian talent or not. If they don’t take Indian talent it is evident that it will hurt America. I don't think at this stage H-1B visa is a challenge. To get a perspective, 6-12 months down the line, what are the new opportunities for the tech sector and Tech Mahindra?If I look at a window of 1-2 years down the line, India Inc’s immediate opportunities are healthcare ,digital education, anything that can be made digital. It's the ultimate equaliser. I think the opportunities are huge, whether we do it tomorrow or today, digital will become the ultimate unifier.The other thing people talk about is the ease of doing business and making it much more transparent, that’s also a big challenge as a country.. I haven't had to deal with it much but few of my clients are more concerned, not about the red tape, but the judicial system which is so hugely backlogged. They are always worried about if there is a dispute, where do they go…. When I look at my global clients, they are more worried about consistency of policy, what is the long term digital policy, taxation policy, will it get changed if someone else comes in tomorrow. There is more stress about consistency of policy, particularly around taxation and licensing. 50% of my customers are in the telecom industry and that’s who i’m talking to.

from Economic Times https://ift.tt/31FoYwf