ensar: The Future of Vision Communities (A) mo See ee caaenenen et et ne nerfs computes spur bythe iy of 9 young phy cae ia ee ae psould slew to 20% annually inthe next few years, with single-digit Noe ra tne wen plaguing tre industry. Mang Indion software companies were ooking ening isiness analysis, and system integration, which had ee res ea an aToon ; Tend bee the docisis af global ergulting companies such es TBM, Accenture, and Cap Gerninl Six players—Tech Mahindra (ater its acquisition of Satyam Computer Services), Wipro, Infosys ‘Technologies, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Cognizant Technology, and HCL—dominated the industry. They were known collectively as the SWITCH companies. Each of these firms had annual revenues in excess of $1 billion and managed to attract, because of scale and reputation, the best talent and win the largest deals. Most other players in the industry struggled to breach the $500 million revenue mark, even as they continued to benchmark themselves against the larger SWITCH firms. Some industry experts believed that these mid-sized companies were “too late” for the big leagues. Others believed that they could compete only through lower price or by focusing on niche segments.* Company Background Zensar was one such mid-sized company. In 2008, its market capitalization was about $150 million and ts profit after tx was 20%. Despite its size, Zensar was very much a global firm. Headquartered irene in Western India, it engaged with 324 customers in 18 countries and had delivery enters in SuU-K» China. and Poland. itty pereent ofits revenues were from the U.S, 25% from Europe, nd 25% from the rest of the world, Zensar’ largest customer, Cisco, contributed 25% of its revernne Positioning Natarajan realized that to survive and compete against the myriad Indian IT firms, Zensar had to focus on its positioning, He described the company’s strategy: “There is no way we want to be «me t00' player. We do not want to be a poor man’s Infosys. Our strategy is built en innovation.” 6, Balasubramaniam, Zensar's CFO, added: The bigger IT services companies have three advantages they get a price premium because of their brand, they benefit from scale economies and thus have lower unit costs, and they attract better talent. However, customers do not want to risk everything with one large vendor. They prefer a mix, and try to keep two big suppliers and one smaller one, Zensar's Objective is to be the preferred second-tier vendor. rely around ‘A manager described how Zensar differentiated itself: “Compared to the larger players, Zensar is ‘more nimble and has a higher level of executive involvement. People want to know that they can pick up the phone and call Ganesh if there isan issue. And they can,” Another manager added, “Ganesh is the Zensar brand ambassador. He is our spokesperson and has served as a leader of various industry forums, which has helped the company immensely.” A senior executive at Zensar’s largest customer noted, “Zensar is customer-centric, They listen to our perspective and act on it. They are also proactive and come to the table with their own ideas.” To gain a competitive edge, Zensar used 2 2 verze fr we nya Pot Athshk hum Tlane and Pol Pap Nas PPM 218-2921 Margng Pope and Peemance in rgonsaon/er lat nan Oo Irie of Management Thy IMT) ron Sep 20°10 Mar 2620,