The vanguard visionary

Name: Jan Baan

Designation: Chairman

Company: Cordys

Forethought and conviction have always been the pillar on which every business decision of Jan Baan has been based. As one maneuvered his way through the busy roads of Mumbai to meet one of the world’s leading software scions, one was energized as well as excited to have a conversation with the man with the Midas touch.

Baan’s demure and discreet tenor thunders, “When I started my business, I was running fast, I learnt things that you have to walk with other people side by side and that’s how you would grow,” clearly exhibiting a belief that forms the pillars of his protégé—Cordys that brings out the –Business Process Management Suite (BPMS) that is at the very vanguard of every ‘Service Oriented Architecture (SOA)’ based enterprise Business Process Management (BPM) systems.

Early years

Born in the year 1946 in Rijssen, which lies in the eastern part of The Netherlands into a family that had nine children, Baan comes across as a personality who is forthright with a good sense of humor.

After a stint at the military service and at the accountancy office of Van den Broeke & Zwemer in Serooskerke, Baan was ready to start upon a new journey in his life. He was marrying Rinie de Ridder who he got to know during his days at the military service and in 1968 he had married her.

A decade later and after serving a handful of organizations with distinction, the entrepreneurial trait in Jan Baan made him venture on his own in 1978. “I had accrued a fair amount of money to sustain for about a year and I thought of risking it.”

Baan Financial Management Consultancy Bureau’s first activity comprised developing models in the financial management domain of corporation in addition to consultancy. He points out that the rationale behind developing such business models was the hypothesis that management wouldn’t be armed with the right information to initiate good decisions. Baan also points out that there was a tremendous personal challenge which he saw at that point of time which in turn would bring high levels of fulfillment that wouldn’t have been possible had he carried on working for a stipulated salary elsewhere.

Growing the business

Enterprising initiatives had led to Baan Company witnessing growth, growth and more growth. Baan avers—“Growth is something that just happens.”

The growth in Baan was explosive with the employees’ strength surging tenfold. While many companies would now be eyeing the Indian market, Baan predicted this market’s potential in 1987.

He adds—“Building up a software development division in India would become one of our strongest features in the ensuing years.”

Baan Company’s faith in the Indian market can be fathomed from the fact that the company had only three International Service Centers—in America, The Netherlands and in India. The year 1995 saw Baan Company making its way to the bourses and quickly the market value of the company skyrocketed past five billion dollars.

Baan exhibited tremendous business acumen and leadership traits in the fast-paced software domain to catapult his company from a modest $35 million enterprise to a gargantuan $680 million entity in the nineties and is widely acclaimed for his prominent role in caricaturing a global market for Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software.

With over two-and-a-half decades of entrepreneurial experience under his belt, Baan in 2001 founded Cordys in partnership with Theodoor Van Donge.

Leadership lessons for the new-age entrepreneur

Baan’s leadership mantra seems to be simple and meaningful. “My style is talking a lot on the shop floor with my engineers, which in turn give inputs for my vision. There has to be a mutual respect between the leader and his followers, I like to grow my people and I like to invest in my people.”

On questioned about the busy schedule that he has and how he manages to strike the elusive balance between work and leisure, the IT icon states—“Entrepreneurs are never busy, if you are busy then you can’t manage yourself. Being an entrepreneur, I give more to the company and the company gives to me. Thirty years ago, I had no idea that I would become an entrepreneur. Learn from your mistakes and you need to have a passion.”

He goes on to reminisce—“When I started my business, I was running fast, I learnt things that you have to walk with other people side by side. Like my ego—I was not aware of it and then I recognized it. You need to control your ego; I hope that at the end of the life, I must be remembered for having contributed to your life, that’s more important.”

This ever smiling and cheerful leader spends time in swimming, reading and in walking. He adds: “I have a beautiful collection of 17th century paintings, 17th and 18th century music. In my business life and I am all involved in uncertainties and then when I see these paintings, they are stable. I go to real rural regions and Papua New Guinea is more rural place than you would find even in India.”

A journey that commenced in The Netherlands has seen many destinations en-route and the dynamic dealmaker has been instrumental in igniting the minds of myriad entrepreneurs who now model their thoughts and aspirations on Baan.

As one ended his tête-à-tête with Baan, he was certain that more and more global entities would be benefiting from this vanguard vista’s vision!