By D Govardan: HTC Global Services is a provider of information technology and business process outsourcing services and headquartered in Troy, Michigan, USA. Established in 1990, HTC is an Inc 500 Hall of Fame company whose client base spans several Global 2000 organisations. A company that has been primarily focused on organic growth over the years, HTC made its first big acquisition in 2014, when it acquired CareTech Solutions to expand its base in the healthcare industry. The Indian-American company has offices in several countries and global delivery centres in North America, India and Malaysia to serve customers globally. Madhava Reddy, president & CEO, HTC Global Services, who was in Chennai earlier this week, spoke with FC on the company’s growth plans and the way forward.
- Even though HTC was started in 1990, it has not grown to become an IT biggie like several others who came into being around the same time or even later. Can you elaborate? Yes, you are right in a way. HTC Global Services has taken time to grow unlike some companies, which were started around the same time and grew into IT biggies. The primary reason for this is that as an organisation we have always focused on organic growth and never opted for the inorganic route. We focused on building long-term relationships and establishing a strong client base. It may be uncommon in this industry, but this is the route we have travelled. Till now, HTC Global Services has never lost a customer. As a result, we have a developed a lasting relationship with our customers which has also given us an opportunity to gain a strong and deep sense of understanding about the industry. This is true even with our employees. There are several of them who have been associated with us for over 20 years. Besides, we have prioritised quality over mass production and that is one of the reasons for our slow yet steady growth. It may not be the norm with most IT companies, but that is what we believed to be the growth mantra. We were conservative in our approach and we could not afford to commit big mistakes, which come with bigger costs. As a result, every customer and every dollar was important to us and we could not afford to lose even a single one. In a way, as a founder, I had a humble beginning and I remain the same. But now that we have a good management team in place and a good customer base, it gives me confidence to go out and do bigger things. HTC Global Services is a privately held company and we have never seen the need do make a big flash to impress anyone. Now, due to our increased customer base and to meet their increasing requirements, we are looking at aggressive growth strategies. As part of the new strategy, we did our first acquisition last December, wherein we acquired CareTech Solutions, a leading IT solution expert for the healthcare sector in the US. Interestingly, both the companies are headquartered in Troy, Michigan, and it so happened that, CareTech too was as big as HTC Global Services. While CareTech was a $168 million company, the combined entity (including HTC Global Services) has revenues to the tune of about $320 million in the US region. The past year was mostly spent on integrating the two companies, understanding the strengths, and bringing in greater focus for long-term growth. The time has come to build HTC Global Services as a billion dollar company in about five years from now.
- The company shifted gears over the last one year to speed up the growth pace. What are the improvements on that front? We have invested in emerging technologies such as big data, mobility, social media and analytics. We are also creating cutting edge solutions and patenting our solutions. Stylometrics is an example. We have created regulatory and compliance related products in the banking sector and also established a service desk to serve customers especially in the areas of healthcare, retail and insurance. Alongside, we have created a world class BPO facility in Chennai to cater to customers in the areas of accounting, back office, digitisation and e-books. This facility has a capacity to seat 4,500 people over three shifts. It is now operating in two shifts with 1,600- 1,700 employees and we can easily add another 3,000 more. Also, one of the key highlights of this year has been a reduction in attrition rates in our organisation due to the top class facilities. In the US, we are strengthening our sales bandwidth. We are a delivery focused company and are now hiring more salespeople in both the east and west coasts. We are seeing lot of traction not only in the US, but also in APAC and West Asia.
- HTC has also been looking at the Indian market to expand its operations. How far has it succeeded in that? We have created a niche product and a solution for banks in India to help them meet RBI’s compliance regulations and sold it to over 20 banks. We are also coming out with new features to include import and foreign exchange transaction-related compliance in addition to export regulations and compliance. We also saw that many of the banks need good master data management systems to handle single version of truth across lines of business such as credit cards, current accounts, loans and so on. This enables them to cross-sell effectively. Besides, we are focusing on government sector with eBAP, which is our open source-based ERP product. We have sold it to about 15 government institutions in Tamil Nadu and other states. Apart from this, SAP solutions are provided for tier-1 and tier-2 automotive companies, as well as non-automotive organisations across India. Our centres of excellence in emerging technologies such as mobility, IoT and big data are developing cutting edge solutions for healthcare and retail clients in India and APAC market.
- The company was keen to take forward its IP-led strategy. Can you elaborate? As I already said, we have developed products for the banks and financial sector. Some of the algorithms we developed help customers in fraud detection, security management and sentiment analysis.
- What are the future plans for the company in terms of growth and acquisition? The company will primarily be driven by organic growth. When it comes to acquisitions, any strategic opportunity, in terms of technology, geography or industry, will be looked at. Otherwise, primarily our focus will be on organic growth. We have a large presence in Chennai and Hyderabad in India. In Michigan, where the company is headquartered, we recently expanded our presence by adding a 300,000 sq ft facility. Our headcount is around 8,500 now, which could touch 20,000 by 2020.
- Major IT players are focusing more on digital services of late. What are the company's initiatives on that front? We are focussing on these disruptive technologies, especially in the areas of mobility, big data and social media. We take the mobile first approach and user experience takes the centrestage of our development. Since, we have a long-term relationship with our clients, we also advise them and help them bring in digital transformations to enhance their customer experience and increase market share.
- What are the major challenges for the IT industry in 2016? Some of the challenges are perennial. When we expand business, we look for resources. The gap between academics and industry has been steadily growing. Hence, we focus on world class training. We have state of the art infrastructure and projects in cutting edge technologies. This enables us to attract the best talent from the industry. We have very good human performance practices, which provide the best training to our employees on EQ and leadership skills. Our goal is to be the vendor, or more importantly, a partner of choice to our customers and an employer of choice to our employees. govardand@mydigitalfc.comSource: mydigitalfc.com
