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