EXTREME CLOSE-UP. Making the right calls

Raman Roy waves it off as just another trip to New York. After all, the Delhi-New York journey is almost a commuter run for a man who travels to the United States once and sometimes twice a month. But there was a small difference when he travelled there this April: He and his colleagues at Nasscom got to ring the famous closing bell at the Nasdaq stock exchange and moments later, the Nasscom team’s faces were flashed on the electronic tickertape outside the building.

For Roy, this year is likely to be even more hectic than the regular 24/7, always-switched-on routine that he normally follows. He’s taken the helm as the president of industry body Nasscom — just as the $154 billion IT sector faces rising US protectionist sentiment on jobs and trade and cost-cutting by customers on discretionary spending.

The result is there’s a lot of firefighting to be done and he frequently spends full days at Nasscom’s office in Noida, which is at the other end of town from his own Quatrro office in Gurgaon. “It can be excessive but who works on an eight-hour day basis nowadays? We work on a 12-15-hour basis that depends on when my last call finishes at night.”

Roy is the undisputed bearer of a big title as the father of the Indian business process outsourcing (BPO) industry. He laid claim to that crown more than 30 years ago when he set up India’s first outsourcing outfit for American Express, where he had to convince his sceptical bosses that Indians had the wherewithal to do back-office work. Now, he’s lost none of his hard-charging enthusiasm as he steers Quatrro, his fourth start-up, through the digital era.

Iin fact, now, more than ever before, Roy epitomises the constantly-on-the move, always-on-a-call 21st-century lifestyle in which time zones have been erased by video-conferences. “In our industry, there is no time. Our customers are in all time zones. There are Skype calls and there are video-calls. But when it’s an audio call, then I’ll be sitting in my pyjama kurta,” he says with a laugh, during a relaxed conversation with BusinessLine .

Quatrro’s now a decade old and has carved out its space in the BPO business handling banks and financial service companies and also smaller clients, mostly in the US. It also works with database companies and publishers. Roy dismisses rumours that bubble up every now and then that buyers are circling and making offers. He says: “We keep looking for money for acquisitions. Some people who knew we were talking to private equity guys for the money assumed it was for a sale.” He adds: “Even now, we are actively in discussions for acquisitions.”

Dealing with smaller clients has thrown up entirely new challenges. Global-sized multinationals would fly to India to closely check out their outsourcing firm. But Roy and his team have to travel across the world to their smaller customers. He says: “If they are not going to visit me, how do I sell to that market? If they don’t visit us, how do I show that I understand what they need? Also, small- and mid-sized customers tend to be on an entirely different wavelength. Says Roy: “They’re sitting on copper lines and we’re taking the most sophisticated mobile technology to them. Some customers say, ’I will do business with you because you bring the most sophisticated technology which I cannot afford to buy.”

You could say that Roy has seen it all and if at all he’s worried about the industry’s future, he doesn’t sound it. “We are going to keep growing,” he says. While Nasscom projects export revenue growth to be flat at 7-8 per cent for this financial year, it sees improvements in financial services and high potential in digital businesses

Roy’s bosses at American Express were taking a leap in the dark when he persuaded them to transfer back-office operations to India and he’s never looked back. Says Roy: “Starting the call centre was just one more assignment. Definitely, I was in the right place at the right time.” From there it was a smart move up to Gecis, the captive BPO arm of GE, then led by the legendary Jack Welch.

By the time Roy left in 2000, Gecis had grown beyond all expectations and had 10,000 employees. He then turned entrepreneur with financial backing from venture capital firm Chryscapital and started Spectramind, which was bought after just two years by billionaire Azim Premji. Roy stayed on for a few years and then moved on to kickstart Quatrro a decade ago.

Roy is proud of the fact that he’s inspired loyalty and that many in his team have followed him from one company to another. He says: “There are people here who were part of my team at Amex, GE and Spectramind and who are part of Quatrro. There are even people who’ve been part of two or more of these companies.”

One reason for such loyalty is he takes care to spread the wealth. When Spectramind was sold, some 650 employees received Esops. And at Quatrro, staffers holding shares have been able to reap benefits from new investors. Says Roy: “When we get investors, we say, ‘Take some shares from the staff.’ So, we create a monetisation event.”

If running Quatrro and being constantly on call at Nasscom isn’t enough, Roy also has a third string to his bow as a venture capitalist and mentor for start-ups via TiE (the Indus Entrepreneurs) and the Indian Angel Network.

He also has investments in over 40 new ventures. He says: “The investment may be minor but the point is I work directly with these companies to see where they can go. I get energised because they’re brimming with ideas and confidence.” He’s also on the board of the Data Security Council of India.

Inevitably, the long days don’t leave Roy much spare time. But he wouldn’t have it any other way. “I enjoy what I do. And you could even say that my hobby is start-ups,” he says.

His family, he says, is used to his frenetic schedules. His two daughters have now left the nest — one is working, the other is at university. His wife is a partner at Deloitte India and is also constantly on the go. “Our ultimate luxury is to have the whole family together,” he says.

Right now, Roy’s on a strict diet. But he admits it gets “very challenging” to keep counting calories when he’s on the road. “There are meetings, dinners, lunches and absurd timings. A good day starts with a breakfast meeting.”

But he wouldn’t change his lifestyle for anything. In the old days he would get onto an international flight armed to work all the way.

He’d even carry an extra battery for his laptop so he wouldn’t run out of juice midair. Now, he says, wifi’s a lifesaver and many flights even offer email facilities. “You need to be able to communicate real time,” he says enthusiastically.

What does the future hold for the BPO industry? Roy is optimistic and sees the future coming in India’s smaller towns and even larger villages.

Quatrro has already opened a centre in Salem and is looking at more such hubs. “Our Internet backbone penetrating into the smaller towns is an asset that needs to be leveraged,” he says, adding: “Creating the next million jobs. That could be fascinating.”