AS Murthy,Tech Mahindra's chief technology officer,the man who will lead the combined entity's charge towards its$5-billion target,tells FE's BV Mahalakshmi that the companys new positioning Connected World. Connected Solutions reflects a new era of business opportunity and reality. Excerpts: Following the merger,what will be the new initiatives taken by the combined entity? This is only a formal announcement and everything remains the same as it has been in the last two years. We are well positioned to meet the current requirements for services. We had already started joint go-to-market strategies and there is no duplication in our offerings. We will have new offerings along with a dedicated team and partners. The company will now be divided into three units telecom,enterprise and business process outsourcing. What will be your strategy on Networks,Mobility,Analytics,Cloud and Social (NMACS)? For the last six months,we have been seeing a lot of demand for digitisation by global enterprises. NMACS is a technology stack,or a unified business transformation platform (UBTP),that can enable digitisation. We have a broad-based NMACS concept and have added sensors and social computing to this initiative. Due to IT consumerisation,third-generation technologies,such as social,mobile,cloud,big data and analytics,are now fast moving to enterprises,governments and defense. We also see a change in customer behaviour due to third-generation technologies and this demands positive disruption in enterprises in the areas of business model,processes,operating model and ecosystem. How well is Tech Mahindra equipped to take on newer challenges with NMACS? The secret of NMACS-UBTP is the unified master IT architecture,which brings the power of third-generation technologies and also seamlessly integrates with first- and second-generation technologies. NMACS UBTP helps us in delivering new services and solutions,which adds tremendous business value. The digitisation of business processes,application and infrastructure rationalisation and modernisation using third-generation technologies would be the next wave of business. NMACS is a unified business transformation platform that prepares our customers to build future-ready smart business at a fast pace. How does Tech Mahindra plan to nurture startups and drive innovation? Mahindra Satyam,Tech Mahindra and mobile VAS providers CanvasM Technologies and Mahindra Comviva,along with a few companies,have come together to create an ecosystem to drive innovation. This programme is called i5Startnet,and it will have a common platform for developing innovative ideas in cloud,mobility,networking and other emerging technologies. The companies would also support start-ups that are into developing for verticals such as retail,consumer goods,infrastructure and construction among others. We have an incubation fund,a $50-million technology focused venture capital fund,set up jointly with Mahindra Satyam and Tokyo-based financial service firm SBI Holdings (SoftBank Investment Group),to nurture start-ups. In February last year,SBI Holdings entered into an agreement with Mahindra Satyam to set up the $50-million global fund,with equal commitments from partners. We will be looking for more such collaborations to nurture innovative ideas.
