Polaris: Converging, along a Vertical

While the media and the industry are focusing on the
Polaris-Data Inc imbroglio, Polaris is busy restructuring to take itself to the
next league. The company is changing its approach to doing business–more than
any visible change. "To start with, Polaris, which has been strong in the
banking, financial services and insurance segments, is now looking at its
business as one convergent vertical. And this leads to a series of
changes," says Arun Jain, CMD, Polaris. For instance, earlier the company
would look at developing a bank automation product, and then, as and when the
customer needs more advancements or additions in the system, it would work on
it.

"But now we have realized that it’s an era of ‘relationship
banking’. Today, a customer walks into a bank and has multiple accounts–for
loan, savings, credit cards. And the same automation package cannot support all
these functions as it was not designed to handle all these tasks. Hence, now we
are seeing that the bank needs to be equipped to handle all that the bank’s
customers would demand. This approach has been followed in Bankware, a banking
product for the domestic and foreign banks, which is under beta test
presently," he explains.

Along with this approach has come in another change in the
way the company does business. First, it has started looking at the component
model rather than taking to the product route that it had followed so far. The
company, which was looking at offering end-to-end solutions to customers in the
banking and financial services area, is now looking at the product as a
plug-and-play component that can be enhanced according to requirements. The
setting up of a component factory and a Web lab are significant steps towards
this goal. The development of the product takes place at the component factory
and it is tested at the Web lab, which is an Internet-based testing facility.
"The idea is that everything, including product distribution, will be
conducted on the Internet and hence we can start with our products right
away," says Jain. There is also a competency center working on contemporary
and emerging technologies to deliver solutions. This center focuses on
e-commerce and component technologies. One such area is the ATM labs, which is a
set of ATMs within the company premises to test products and services by
actually running the functions on the ATM. These changes are creating a
different identity, positioning, branding and segmentation for Polaris. The
company has hired Ashok Korwar from IIM Ahmedabad as an IT consultant. He is
also in charge of a project called Naalanda. "I can see all the pieces. I
am looking at how to convert it into a pyramid," says Jain. By May 2001,
Polaris’ new corporate identify and brand will be visible. The company will
also change its structure in keeping with the new identity. Its eight strategic
business units would be restructured such that there is more integration and
cross-leveraging happening. The company’s proposed ADR issue and listing in
Nasdaq are still being worked out internally.

Polaris moved fast to invest in concepts such as CRM,
knowledge management and Internet banking. It has been one of the first Indian
companies to tie up with Siebel for its CRM and with a US-based company for its
knowledge management solutions. The company is also expanding in other areas.
While retail has been established as a separate focus group within Polaris, the
company is now getting into telecom. Called the "telco-in-a-box"
project, Polaris, along with Nilgiris Network and IIT Madras, is working on
managing complex convergent networks in a box. The project is to be commercially
launched by May 2001.

Polaris has made a lot of investments in infrastructure. The
company recently moved into its new premises at Navaloor, some 20 km off Chennai.
This state-of-the-art facility, which houses 1,900-odd employees on a 200,000 Sq
ft space, is already fully occupied and Polaris is setting up a facility close
to the existing one, which is expected to be ready by June 2001. A software
development park in Gurgaon, HR occupying 90,000 Sq ft is also nearing
completion.

Polaris is working on a project called Naalanda–to create a
university of learning for its in-house requirements. "This will be similar
to the Motorola University and will focus on providing learning to the
employees, rather than focusing just on technology," states Ashok Korwar,
in-charge, Naalanda. "We will be looking at processes, skills, personality
development, customer services and business skills for overall training to each
employee," states Korwar. Polaris has been growing at 100% every year.

AKILA SUBRAMANIAM

in Chennai