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The man in (Big) Blue

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CIOL Bureau
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Sometimes, it takes a person from a different field to bring new perspective to an organization. This is perhaps, what the IBM management had in mind when it decided in 2004, to go with its choice of Shanker Annaswamy, a non-IT industry veteran and the first Indian national to head IBM’s operations in the country.

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Annaswamy, a veteran in the medical electronics business for 27 years having donned executive roles at Philips and Wipro-GE, was confident about doing well in his new role. A strong believer in cross-functional responsibilities, he had received kudos while at Wipro-GE from no less than GE chairman Jeffrey Immelt. 

What interested him to take up the top job at IBM India was not audaciousness but inquisitiveness and continuous learning that came with the role. Besides, he says that IBM’s integrity and values impressed him. “Integrity and values are important for me at companies I work at. The value-proposition of the company attracted me and struck a chord. I also liked the company’s culture.”

Two years since, Big Blue’s story in India is bigger than ever before. The employee strength in the country has almost doubled from 23,800 in 2004 to 43,000 at present. The domestic business in the country is galloping at a steady 55 per cent year-on-year growth. Little wonder then that IBM chief Sam Palmisano announced a whopper of an investment-$6 billion in India in June this year.

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Annaswamy credits IBM’s various managers for the huge market traction that the company has built in India. About his personal achievement to the company, he says that he succeeded in presenting a unified IBM India picture to the world. “Employees, customers and also the external world were not aware of the whole gamut of activities that the company has in India. India was fitting in very nicely both from the market point of view and also a very good component of the global integrated enterprise of IBM. We presented that visibility to the world. We strengthened the India case for IBM.” 

He also launched the India leadership forum or ILF where he brought in different cross-functional teams from the company together to understand the opportunities ahead of them. Annaswamy also put together an operating initiative called the mega-deal mechanism to unite all the teams like server, services, consultancy and software groups together to pursue a big deal and win in the market. “This is now beginning to pay off some results. It has made some impact on some of the big deals,” he says.

The bio-medical path 

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This ability to bring in efficiency and turn around things is something of a habit to Annaswamy. He did his engineering in medical electronics from Guindy engineering College, Tamil Nadu in 1978. Following his education he joined Philips’s medical technologies division in Mumbai as a techno-commercial engineer. He was posted in various cities across India and rose up the ranks in Philips. 

In the mid-80s managed to convince the higher-ups at the company to start manufacturing of medical equipment in India. In the meantime, he also picked up a management degree from the Institute of Management Sciences at Loyala College in Chennai. His success in bringing manufacturing to India led to a lot of visibility in the organization. He was promoted to the position of all India Business Manager. At the time, Philips also decided to shift its headquarters from Madras to Mumbai. This posed a personal problem since a shift to Mumbai would mean that his wife would have to discontinue her PhD in Genetics. So in 1990, he decided to join Wipro-GE in Bangalore as project manager to produce CT-scanners locally with Japanese collaboration. 

He reached a decision to manufacture entry-level high volume ultra sound equipment in India.

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As much as he is committed to his job, Annaswamy is also a devoted family man. When his wife gave birth to a baby boy in 1993, he decided to take a break from the corporate world. An interesting opportunity came in the form of an advisor role to the Ministry of Health in Oman. He moved to Muscat in 1994 along with his family. “It was easier work which allowed me to spend a lot of time with family.” Three years later, he felt the need for a challenge and decided to re-enter the corporate world. Wipro-GE had a job opportunity for him-heading manufacturing operations in India. He plunged into a learning mode and equipped himself with knowledge of manufacturing, operations, quality and materials. He did this role for one and a half years and then became VP, sales, at the company. 

Going up the ladder 

In 2000, Annaswamy’s performance caught the attention of GE Medical chief Jeff Immelt who wanted him in a much bigger role in Tokyo as the director and GM of the CT Scanner business. Annaswamy cherishes this work experience in Tokyo where he immersed himself in learning quality and six sigma processes. “It was an outstanding experience working with Japanese people. Their hard work and passion to deliver numbers is outstanding. Nothing is half-shod, ” he says. 

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In 2002, Wipro-GE was on the look out for a person who could head the company operations in India. Annaswamy fit the bill and he shifted back to Bangalore along with his family. However, his experience this time around the toughest he would experience in his career. “Within a few months, I realized that Wipro-GE was in a crisis mode. Throughout my career, I never managed a business that was in a downward spiral. 

But this downtime proved to be the greatest learning period in his life. “Usually, when you are not the boss, you expect someone else to take the tough decisions. When you are the boss, you have to do it yourself.” Some of these tough decisions were on pricing, cleaning up bad deals and sending out non-performers. He held the team together and gave them the confidence about the future ahead. 

By 2004, the company had turned around. He and his team earned kudos from both Wipro and GE. 

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A bolt out of the blue

In mid-2004, Annaswamy received a call from an IBM headhunter. Usually one to brush aside such calls, he took the call since he was in a “relaxed state”. 

After extensive meetings and interviews, IBM decided to hire him. Annaswamy is the first Indian national and the only non-IBMer so far to head the company. His predecessor Abraham Thomas was of Indian origin but a Singapore national. 

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He covets IBM’s value system that has given him space to follow his style. Annaswamy has managed to bring in his insights and style of functioning into Big Blue and the results are for all to see.

 

Ambition To be a well-recognized business leader and make an impact to society
What I would like to change about myself Spend more time with family
Hobbies Tennis, badminton, listening to Carnatic music
Best moment When my children were born; when I broke the coconut to launch Philips’ medical electronics product manufactured in India
A Must Have Integrity and values
Passionate about Making a difference, search for excellence
Worst Fears Have no fear
Passionate about Making a difference
Fav gizmo IPod
Fav destination Kumarakom in Kerala
Fav Book "The World is Flat" by Thomas Friedman
What ticks you off People who make judgments without data
Motto To serve
A lesson for life Give due credit to people. Don’t take all the credit but put the right person in charge and stay behind and support him

Priya Padmanabhan

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