CXOToday has engaged in an exclusive interview with Sanjeev Singh, Chief Executive Officer & Managing Director CMS IT Services.
- Sanjeev, it has been 3 months since you joined CMS IT Services. Where are you on the organization’s transformation journey and what levers are you focussing on?
It has been quite a phenomenal journey so far at CMS IT Services, though I must confess that I didn’t know CMS IT that very well before I joined the organization. I have spent a disproportionate amount of time meeting customers and I’m really pleased with the credibility the brand CMS IT enjoys with customers and other stakeholders. I am also quite impressed about the quality of talent we have in the organization. From the overall transformation journey perspective, we are looking at the following levers. One, we have already made changes to the org structure and have organized ourselves into regional structure to ensure our teams are based close to the customers. We are building a stronger Governance of our engagements to improve the overall experience and business outcomes for our customers. Two, we are building a strong leadership team through a mix of promoting leaders internally and hiring a few leaders from outside. This is work in motion and will take next 3-4 months to get there. Three, we are taking a close look at each one of our contracts with an intent to make each engagement profitable. In this process, we are having to let go of some engagements if we believe we can’t make them profitable with best effort. Four, we are aggressively pursuing growth with new clients considering revenue growth will be a major lever to transform the business. Five, we are investing in building newer capabilities, with focus on capabilities in the adjacent areas to capture greater share of the customer’s wallet. And six, and most importantly, we are investing heavily in upskilling and growing our talent to ensure our business model pivots towards filling most positions through internal career growth as against hiring from outside. There are a few more levers that will come into play around inorganic growth opportunities, looking at markets outside of India and a few more that we will start working on a few quarters from now.
- Over last 3 months, what feedback are you getting from your customers?
I’m quite pleased with the quality of conversations I have had with my customers, including potential customers. We are clearly seen as a differentiated service provider in the areas we operate in. We also have an edge in terms of our reach through the extensive field coverage we have across the tier-2 & 3 towns of India. The biggest takeaway from my discussions with the customers is the credibility CMS IT enjoys with them and the kind of goodwill we enjoy in the marketplace. It goes without saying that in the area we operate in, things will not be always all smooth. It’s the way we respond to a concern that would decide what my customers think of us, and that’s the area we are strengthening further. We are seeing traction in customers engaging with us more qualitatively.
- Employees in IT sector are quite worried about the series of layoffs we are seeing across the sector. Is CMS IT also looking at laying off employees in the coming days?
The lay-off related developments we see around the industry obviously indicate the stress companies are experiencing. Fortunately, CMS IT will continue to hire talent at a healthy pace to support the business growth we are experiencing. Our hiring numbers over next few quarters are likely to be the highest the company has seen for a long time.
- What are some of the areas you are looking at in terms of strengthening capabilities and offerings?
We want to get to a point where we become a one stop shop for all IT related needs for our customers. Our strengths lie in Managed Services around networks, Data Centers, sustenance for cloud, security needs, end user support, field services, etc. To start with, we are investing in creating deeper expertise in these and adjacent areas, with specific focus on applications support, automation, cyber security, cloud, etc capabilities. As we create a stronger foundation, we will also be open to inorganic ways of growing revenues and building capabilities.
- What can we expect CMS IT Services to be over next 3 years?
As I mentioned before, we want to be a one stop shop for all IT services related needs of our customers. Without putting specific numbers at this point, all I can say is that in 3 years from now, we would be a company that would be significantly larger in revenues, healthier in profitability, and a partner of choice for our clients. We also expect that a part of our revenues would start coming from customers outside of India. Also, I’m not ruling out the possibility of having gone through the IPO in next 3 years.
