'No company can do away with attrition'

"Keane India is the fourth fastest growing company as per Dataquest

survey. It is also listed as one of the 20 best employers in the IT companies.

This is a testimony to prove the fact that we are on an aggressive growth

path," avers Keane India MD, Parminder S Miglani. The $800 mn Keane Inc.

has ambitious plans to reach the $3 bn mark over a couple of years. With this

figure as the milestone, the Indian subsidiary, Keane India attempts to augment

the client base, share of outsourcing deals and workforce. Miglani shares the

company's plans to cash in on this vibrant move with Sunitha Natti of

CyberMedia News.

Where does Keane India figure in the parent company's list?



When Keane India was started in 1989 we were working as part of the US based

Keane Inc. Till 1996, we had only 120 people but that's when there was an

increase in the onsite, offsite activity. Slowly, we started operations in

Delhi, Noida and expanded our Hyderabad facility. In the year 2000, we became a

fully-owned subsidiary of Keane Inc., who was at that time was looking out for a

offshore and outsourcing services provider.

Parminder S Miglani

Overall, Keane Inc. has 8,500 employees worldwide, of which 25 percent are in

India. Also, Keane Inc. now earns 25 percent of the revenues outside the US

office, which is slated to grow to about 50 percent in the next few years. We

are attempting to increase our client base and outsourcing deals largely to

increase our contribution to the total revenues.

What are the essential factors to retain quality and still increase

quantity as far as projects are concerned?



Keane has a strategy to serve its customers. It offers onsite, offsite

services and was looking out for offshore and nearshore services. So Keane India

with offshore and nearshore services came as a natural fit. So clients can opt

for any of the models depending on the type of the project.

And as far as quality is concerned, it all depends on the processes we have.

At Keane we have got solid processes in place, but just having processes is not

enough. We need to have good people to work on those processes. With processes

and people as a right mix, quality could be retained.

Increasing quantity comes as a bonus with quality service being delivered for

the projects that are given to us. Customer satisfaction, flexibility,

responsibility, gaining confidence in delivering the desired on time, are some

of the parameters that bring in more quantity.

What are initiatives taken on the HR front?



We are into multi-technologies so our employees get a chance to work on

various platforms. This gives them an opportunity to be in sync with the latest

technologies and at the same time breaks the monotony in working on the same

platform. Secondly, culture is one important aspect in Keane. We try building

and maintaining an association with a personal touch. Career growth is vital for

any employee for which training in latest technologies is essential. We have

entry, middle, and senior level management programs to share knowledge on

technology, soft skills, languages and so on.

With good HR policies in place, what is the company's attrition level?



Attrition is common in any field and no company can do away with it. We have

13 percent to 15 percent attrition level, but the heartening fact is that most

of the people who leave the company are making a comeback of sorts. Of the 15

percent of employees who leave, roughly 10 percent of them come back. This only

brings out the fact that salary is not the only criteria, but the association

and conducive environment for growth of every employee on an unbiased basis is

what is required to attract and retain talent.