Anand Mahindra dreams of building an IT powerhouse from the rubble of Satyam. His new team must cut through inertia and reignite sales to make that possible
Creation is only the first phase. You then have to move on to the next phase of sustaining that creation to the realm of Vishnu the preserver… Perhaps that is why Vishnu comes not in one, but in ten incarnations.
- Anand Mahindra, February 13, 2008, Nasscom Leadership Summit
Shape of Things to Come
This restructuring is not unusual as all the top four Indian IT companies follow the same approach. This industry-focussed structure needs a sales and marketing team that really understands forces that are shaping the industry. For instance, “you would typically need to staff the relationship manager role with MBAs who can do blue-sky [concept-based] selling,” says Phaneesh Murthy, CEO of iGate Global and one of the pioneers of this sort of selling.
Those Left Behind
Until now margin employee reduction is the one lever the company has used to boost margins. Since the scandal broke, almost 6,000 people have quit. Now 10,000 people have been asked to go on leave with 40 percent of their salaries (under the “VPP” or the Virtual Pool Policy). Insiders expect another 3,000 people to leave.
(This story appears in the 17 July, 2009 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)