Patni aims to be lean at agility front

BANGALORE, INDIA: With the global financial crisis settling in, IT industry that was on an upward trajectory until recently, is today struggling to get out of the heat of recession. Companies have pulled up their socks and are looking at means to prune activities and sail through the tough times.

However, the current global recession is neither the first of its kind, nor will be the last of its genre. The world has gone through a similar mode earlier and have withstood its aftermaths. Having said that, the times to come won't be easy either.

Rajesh Padmanabhan, executive vice president and global head, HR, Patni Computer Systems, says: "A point that acts in favour of these companies today is that people involved are more experienced and have advanced technologies in place to combat the situation. Moreover, it's during these times of adversity that the most innovative initiatives come in place to optimize cost and augment production to meet the needs."

Green and lean at Patni

There are many takers for the argument that India is still a growing economy and today it is just going through a phase of slowdown and not really recession. However, there are no second thoughts on cost optimization and companies are today leaving no stone unturned to meet its new 'leaner' requirements.

"At Patni, the objective is to get leaner - not in terms of size but in terms of agility. This allows the organization to be more flexible and adaptive to the dynamic changing market. Our focus is on operational efficiency, which includes increasing productivity, more efficient processes and better utilization of employees,” Padmanabhan adds.

Patni's charter for operational efficiency:

- Discretionary spend brought under centralized control.

- Increased digital communication

- Expense management for meetings through extensive tele and video conferencing facility.

- Supply chain management closely monitored to align with revenue growth and optimize utilization through planned infusion and pooling of bench across business units, for better float management.

- Higher energy conservation.

Padmanabhan also points out that Patni is very conscious about energy conservation, minimization of wastage and reduction of carbon footprint. The company recently set up its first green centre in Noida, Patni Knowledge Centre, a platinum rated building, which is the second largest LEED certified building in the world.

As per Indian Green Building Council (IGBC), a green building can offer many benefits like increased employee productivity of up to 15 per cent and this can also go a long way for companies to raise overall operational efficiency. However, a green building requires 5-7 per cent more investment compared to a conventional building.

"The Patni Knowledge Centre was built at a total investment of Rs. 175 crore, four per cent more than the cost of a regular building. However, we will recover it within 36–42 months’ time. Moreover, it has helped us save 35-50 per cent on our energy bills, 25-30 per cent of the water requirements and also caters to 100 per cent recycling of waste,” he adds.

Instilling employee confidence

The IT boom and doom brings to mind the Dotcom boom of the late nineties; the bubble that burst quite prematurely. The latter also took along several venture capitalists in its southward journey, such that they could never really recover from the fall.

Both the booms have several similar features. In the first kind, companies exceedingly indulged in investments, without prior experience or knowledge, in oder to make some 'hasty' hay. Similarly, during the IT boom, companies went into a mode of expansion like never before, hired in over and excess and also brought in a mode of exorbitant pay packages and lifestyles, unheard of two generations back.

And today, the same are trying to reduce the excess workforce. Axes are falling at such high rates that pink slips have become the order of the day. It is estimated that around six lakh people lost jobs from various sectors in India during the last 5-6 months.

Today, the global economy is going through a phase where uncertainty rules and pessimism pervades. But Patni wants to instill confidence among its employees

“At Patni we believe it's essential to enhance the skills of our employees, ensuring we are more responsive to the market needs. Also this is the readying phase for the future. While, improving utilization has been a focus, we are also looking at other means of raising productivity,” says Padmanabhan.

“We have also focused on effective use of bench by deploying employees on internal projects. In this phase, employee re-skilling through ‘learning and development’ is another core area of focus at Patni,” he adds.

Patni has improvised a few programmes to empower employees through the use of technology to abet productivity. They are:

Communique: A top-down interaction platform through which executive leadership regularly interacts with employees

Performance Improvement Programme: For low performers

Patni Explorer: An e-mail programme to keep employees updated on the happenings in the company

Confidante: A 24x7 employee assistance programme, both online and face-to-face, where anonymity is maintained, especially within the company

STAR (Success, Talent, Achievement & Reward): Recognition programme for high-performers

India Inc has kept its doors open for the changes that is being ushered in owing to the crisis in the market today. However, India is already showing signs of stabilizing and this is the period to gear-up so as to raise stronger when the market is ready.