New Innings

Ganesh

Natarajan’s innings at Aptech has ended. He rode the helm at Aptech for over

nine years, spearheading its growth from a mere Rs 10-crore IT division of Apple

Industries to its present stature as a Rs 580-crore listed company with diverse

interests in infotech.

One of the more popular CEOs in Indian IT industry, Natarajan had built a

core team of able managers at Aptech, and in his own words, "having a

supportive chairman in Atul Nishar propelled the cause". By the time he

left, the innings at Aptech had realized most of the goals he had set for

himself and the company, Natarajan says. "I had my brief, I had my

self-appointed goals. Together with my team, we managed to achieve all

objectives. It was time to move on to new challenges," he says.

There comes a time in every chief executive’s career when he gets the urge

to move on; does that make him a restless person? "It was time for a new

challenge. I had expressed to Atul (Nishar) my desire to call it a day and was

just looking for a good time to leave. This is why I left when I did–before

the company budgets for next year and the accompanying mandates and all the

planning. I didn’t want to be part of the next phase of the company’s

initiatives. It wouldn’t have been fair to stay on and have someone walk blind

into the MD’s chair," Natarajan says.

Losing the CEO can be tormenting for any listed company’s board, and more

so when no successor has been decided upon. But Natarajan’s departure, though

sudden, was taken well at Aptech. "Natarajan had given as much time to the

company as any CEO would at the time of leaving. While the parting was smooth,

it was certainly painful too," Nishar said. Acting chief executive Pramod

Khera added that the transition had not hit the business. "For the past 18

months or so, I have been heading the training and education business units

independently, with some colleagues. Therefore, the business unit has not been

numbed by the departure. Of course, it was quite sudden for us old-timers in the

organization, and painful too."

Painful it was for Natarajan as well, when corporate circles buzzed with

speculation on the reason behind his move. Scoffing at those who have been

suggesting that he left on "moral grounds, owning responsibility for the

crash in Aptech share prices" or "differences of opinion between him

and the board about the proposed merger with Hexaware", he said such

decisions were always up to the board.

When it came to his next port of call, though, he left no room for

speculation. Barely 24 hours after announcing his resignation from Aptech,

Natarajan took over as deputy chairman and managing director of Zensar

Technologies, the Rs 280-crore RPG Group company. "Once I was told my

mandate at Zensar and I checked out their set-up and facilities, there was

little to stop me," Natarajan said. And his known friendship with RPG scion

Sanjeev Goenka also made the choice easy for both.

Natarajan finds the assignment exciting on two counts–first, it is a fully

board-managed company and second, the healthy business model, offering room for

expansion and growth. "I studied the business processes, employee profile

and the company credentials and there was little else to think of–Zensar is

solid and I love my mandate," he said. What is this mandate that has him so

happy? To set Zensar on the growth ramp, adding more lines of technology, adding

verticals, expanding geographies and looking at inorganic growth in the medium

to long term.

Zensar, which was earlier named ICIL, has been a low-profile software company

for long, but boasts an impressive parentage–the RPG Group, ICL Plc of the UK

and Electra Partners. The company is evidently not in a big hurry to grow its

top line. Defying the normal character traits of the software sector, Zensar has

grown at a sedate 26% CAGR in the past three years. The business model is

offshore-centric with overseas development centers for Cisco, Sprint, etc. Ask

about the types of software it makes and pat comes the reply–"telecom,

retail and financial services".

In a sense, Zensar is well insulated from the vagaries of the software and

services industry. It claims to have never had a body-shopping component, did

not have a Y2K thrust, does not rely on a base of few customers (Fujitsu, Cisco,

and Sprint together account for less than 10% of its revenues), and is not very

heavily reliant on the US market. "In this backdrop, I am looking to build

a stronger sales and marketing capability within the organization and handle

issues such as global branding, CIO partnerships, competitive positioning, and

best of breed partnerships. However, don’t expect any first-year

miracles," Natarajan says.

Will he be able to pull it off? The simple answer to that could be a finger

pointing at the track record: Natarajan has proved his mettle as a manager many

times over. His colleagues vouch for his quick decision-making ability and

charismatic personality. He has handled a variety of businesses, including the

global software and service wing at Aptech, which he was fully occupied with

since 1998. Natarajan’s predecessor at Zensar, LC Singh (formerly with Tata

Consultancy Services, was also a known name in the software industry when he

joined Zensar.

Having met Zensar employees in Pune and Mumbai, Natarajan has set off on a

trip to the various other office locations of the company worldwide,

particularly in the United States. "I am impressed with the functioning of

the development centers and the quality methodologies at Zensar. The company is

the first in the world to have received the enterprise-wide SEI CMM Level 5

accreditation," he adds.

Also, there is a proposal for a merger between Zensar and Fujitsu ICIM, which

is expected to be finalized shortly.

Post-merger, the shareholding pattern will change, with RPG Group and ICL Plc

holding 30% each, 22% being held by Electra Partners, a financial investor,

while the remaining 18% will be held by the public.

Asked about the prospects of working in a purely board-managed company,

Natarajan says, "It helps the CEO get to down to work like an entrepreneur–a

CEO who is merely a manager is not the order, at least not for me." While a

multi-party diverse board might be distasteful to some, Natarajan seems to

relish the challenge.

Easwardas Satyan with Bijesh Kamath in

Mumbai