Shashwat Chaturvedi
MUMBAI: Something seems to be amiss as one enters the fourth floor of Leela
Business Park in Andheri (W). The artistically done reception lobby of Tata
Interactive Systems (TIS) is unusually silent. A few months back, job
aspirants, waiting for results or interviews, took up all the seats in the
lobby. But now, there are none of those excited souls, only the receptionist and
a few security guards.
The blue board near the entrance displays the mission, vision, and value
statements of the company. The words, “changing the way the world,” stand
out. Indeed, TIS has made an impact on the way knowledge is disseminated in the
developed world. A way that substitutes a human with technology, redundancy with
imagination, information with knowledge. Simply put, it is e-learning.
In many ways, TIS can be termed as the architect of e-learning industry in
India. Sanjaya Sharma, the present CEO, established the company in 1990, a time
when the concept of e-learning was unheard off. The next few years were quite
trying for the company, first to attract the right mix of employees and the
bigger challenge to market itself in the global village. At that time, brand
India was not so coveted.
To cut the long story short, TIS crossed all those hurdles and established
itself firmly in the global space as a dominant player. Establishing quite many
offices across different geographies, working on projects for multinational
companies. Dataquest ranked the company at number 123 in India in 2005, with
revenues in the range of Rs. 98 crore and a growth rate of 18 per cent.
Everything seemed to be going the TIS way.
Then in the month of November 2005, a Tata World newsletter, quoting a
business magazine, hinted at the supposed merger of TIS with Tata Consultancy
Services (TCS). The news came as a shocker for everyone, not only because TIS
was doing reasonably well but also the e-learning industry market was growing
extremely well. TIS is now a 900-person behemoth, with a development center in
Kolkatta and offices across the globe.
The market was rife with rumors; everyone seemed to be speculating on the
future of the company. When S. Ramadorai, CEO, TCS, was queried about the
supposed merger of TIS into TCS, he just smiled and replied, “let us first
complete the merger of Tata Infotech,” he said. The sentence was loaded with
implications that could be construed either ways.
To compound matters, TIS supposedly lost a few big projects and things
started looking gloomy. People started leaving the company in significantly
large numbers. The HR policies within the organization were made stricter, for
instance, flexi-timings was relegated to history.
Suddenly, competing companies like Hurix and Lionbridge were flooded with
resumes from TIS employees looking for job opportunities and they were only
happier. The trickle turned into a torrent and yet the company refrained from
any corrective measure. Reportedly, many contracts of employees were not renewed
citing various reasons. People from middle-management were leaving every month,
even a senior manager left for competition, reportedly citing 'personal
reasons'.
Finally came the big shocker. TIS had missed its annual targets for the first
time in 16 years. Sanjaya Sharma, CEO, TIS, admitted the same in a forthright
manner. He puts the blame on a project that did not fructify.
“A single big order that was supposed to come in the month of December did
not turn up, skewing up all the targets,” he informs. He also does not seem to
be a person who is unduly bothered about the number of people leaving the
company. “We had taken up extra people on board for a project, which did not
happen and this is the correction happening,” says Sharma.
“The big difference right now is that we have stopped hiring. We were over
900 people; the ideal number should be around 800. So, there is really nothing
to be unduly bothered. Once the correction has taken place, we hope to start
recruiting people again in October (2006),” he adds. That should explain the
silent lobby.
Sharma also explains that since TIS is a division of the Tata Industries, it
is intricately associated with TCS. “In fact, Ramadorai is one of the
reviewers of TIS,” he adds. He also informs that TIS and TCS are currently
working on over half a dozen projects, “When it comes to external projects, we
present a unified Tata front,” he says.
Regarding the financial health of TIS, Sharma is confidence personified. “Though
we might have missed the ambitious target set by us. I am quite confident about
our performance this year. I am already sitting on a 50 per cent order backlog
for the current year. Hence, the story will be quite different,” he says.
TIS also seems to be working on its strategy real hard. To get things in
order, TIS linked all its global offices using SAP. It also restructured the
internal organization, thereby making the company poised for growth in different
sectors. In January this year, TIS also announced the acquisition of two
companies in Europe, increasing its footprint in the continent, the first for an
Indian e-learning player.
Sharma also informs that TIS would be opening up a sales office shortly in
South Africa as part of the expansion drive. The company recently received four
awards for its different projects. “We are aiming for over 30 per cent growth
this year,” says a confident Sharma.
Coming back to the main question then, is everything well at TIS? It seems to
be so at the moment.
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