Professional Documents
Culture Documents
After
all, it is your hard work that has made us who we are today. And it is your blessings that will take us
to greater heights tomorrow.
We would like to thank you – our unsung heroes – by bringing you into our Circle of Life. We know
you will be proud to learn about your children’s contribution to MindTree’s success.
Several years ago, as Vice Chairman of Wipro, I had called on the Chairman of
a large bank. After the meeting was over, the gentleman asked me if I happened
to be related to a Colonel Soota he used to know. I told him that, in fact, I was
his son. To this, the gentleman replied, "Well Mr. Soota, I am so glad to know
that. If you are half the man he used to be, you are a great man". That is
probably the highest honor I have ever received in my entire career! As son of
an Army man, I literally grew up across the country, moving from place to place
with the family. I learnt my values from the selflessness of my father who is no
more and my mother who, in spite of her physical frailty, remains the rock of
Gibraltar for me! As a family we are eagerly awaiting, God willing, the celebration
of her 90th birthday in about 18 months. I could not be who I am today, without
my parents. It occurs to me that MindTree would not be what it is today, without
all of you.
Your child is leading MindTree into its scorching growth. More importantly, your
child is helping build one of India's most respected companies. We were born
exactly six years ago with a vision to create a uniquely global organization. You
will be pleased to know that this financial year, MindTree is aspiring to become
the first IT services company out of India to reach the $100 Million revenue level within six years! In building this business
success, we have not forgotten the critical need to build an organization based on a strong value system. When we were a less
than five hundred people company, we went to each and every MindTree Mind and asked them, what kind of company they
wanted to build? Based on their inputs, we created a value system called CLASS – it stands for Caring, Learning, Achieving,
Sharing and Socially responsible. Today, we are a 2700 people organization that operates from San Jose to New York to London
to Gothenburg to Frankfurt to Dubai to Bangalore to Singapore to Tokyo. In each of these places and beyond, every day, your
children go to work with the mission to build a great organization that will be celebrated for its spirit of inclusion.
At MindTree, your
child is redefining
what India means to
the world.
We build great, complex software
projects that few Indian companies have
ever built. We create technologies that
get into the products of some
of the best known companies in the
world.
Ashok
Ashok Soota
Chairman and Managing Director
MindTree Consulting
2
At MindTree, it is our endeavor to
continually share some of our learnings
with the larger world. The initial months
that witnessed the birth of the concept
to the launch of MindTree Consulting,
constitute a body of knowledge that we
are happy to share with everyone. The
"Making of the MindTree" has been told
in the first person by Subroto Bagchi.
Here is the first in the series...
We met with venture capitalists, who were quite encouraging. Yet, we knew, beyond
initial interest, what we really needed was a well-documented business plan. We
needed a strong technology leader. We knew of an excellent application person,
and the other an acknowledged star in the technology domain. We wanted both.
3
I was the last child of a small-time government servant, in a
family of five brothers. My earliest memory of my father is as
that of a District Employment Officer at Koraput, Orissa. It
was and remains as back of beyond as you can imagine. There
was no electricity, no primary school nearby and water did
not flow out of a tap. As a result, I did not go to school until
the age of eight; I was home-schooled. My father used to get
transferred every year. The family belongings fitted into the
back of a jeep - so the family moved from place to place and,
without any trouble. My mother would set up an establishment
and get us going. Raised by a widow who had come as a
refugee from the then East Bengal, she was a matriculate when
she married my father. My parents set the foundation of my
life and the value system which makes me what I am today
and largely defines what success means to me today.
4
He was a man whose success was defined by his principles,
his frugality, his universalism and his sense of inclusion. Above
all, he taught me that success is your ability to rise above
your discomfort, whatever may be your current state. You
can, if you want, raise your consciousness above your
immediate surroundings. Success is not about building material
comforts - the transistor that he never could buy or the house
that he never owned. His success was about the legacy he
left, the memetic continuity of his ideals that grew beyond
the smallness of a ill-paid, unrecognized government servant's
world.
5
When the doctor prescribes medicines, have you noticed that
only the chemist understands his handwriting? Similarly, the
client also has no clue about software and technology. So in
short there has to be someone like the pharmacy guy who
can understand what the client wants and convey this to
the people who actually develop the software for him. This
is the job of the business analyst. So you see my job is
really crucial. If I miss out what the client says, then the
developers miss it out, and thus the client gets something
which he didn’t ask for.
You have come across LIC agents, right? This is similar but
has to do with IT, and has a lot of tailoring and customization.
Formerly, Indian software companies focused on solutions
for companies with problems, and not on their overall
business. It is we business analysts who study the client’s
business and problems, and try to find solutions. We might
either develop a product for them or advice them on using a
current product, and even assist them to do so. Our mission
emphasizes ‘business enabling’ solutions for our customers.
MindTree mind Neetha Menon, along with her parents
Viswam Menon and Lalitha Viswam
6
Volvo Group is a world-leading manufacturer of trucks, buses Known as the 'City of Gold', Dubai is the hub of commerce
and construction equipment. Founded in 1927, Volvo today and tourism in the Middle East. Based in Dubai is Emirates,
has approximately 81,000 employees, production in 25 one of the fastest growing airlines in the world. It is the
countries and operates in more than 185 markets. largest carrier in the Middle East and flies to 77 destinations
in 54 countries. Emirates has received more than 250
international awards for excellence since its launch in 1985.
From left to right: Saravanan K, Arun Nair, Jikku From left to right: Manoj Karanth, Vinay Dixit,
Jolly, Nirupa Iyer, Ratheesh M R Lomash Upadhyay, Ismail Sharrif, Naveen Patel,
Jaydeep Nargund, Sudheer Kotagiri, Ragupathi
Volvo IT (a subsidiary of Volvo) chose MindTree as its IT Palaniappan, Karthik Kalkur, Sivakumar Janarthanan
partner in 2001. Since then over 125 MindTree Minds have
been working on various projects, spread across Gothenburg Emirates chose MindTree as its IT partner in 2004. MindTree
in Sweden, Lyon in France, Greensborough in the US and in minds are assisting Emirates in a key project – in developing
Bangalore. MindTree, in close cooperation with Volvo IT, is a Cargo Management System. There are over 70 MindTree
involved in developing key business solutions for the Volvo minds working at Emirates, based in Dubai. They assist in
group companies in the areas of sales support, the design of the application, in its development using state-
manufacturing and after sales market. of-the-art technologies and in testing. Through them,
MindTree continues to gain valuable knowledge of the airlines
industry.
Anjan flew down from the US, and KK and I took our two
cars and four other friends to reach the Park Hotel on the
24 of December after staying overnight at Tirupati. Out of
the four friends, one had mediated in my discussion with the
first venture capitalist, the second was the applications
technology person to whom I had spoken to, the third was
a professional friend and a potential founder. The fourth was
the potential Head Nerd who had come up with 30 questions
- N. S. Parthasarathy, at that time, General Manager at
Wipro's Technology Solutions. He was the son of a railway
ticket collector, and had a brilliant academic career at Birla
Institute of Technology and Sciences, Pilani, and at IIT,
Kharagpur, where he did his Masters.
7
MindTree’s association with the Spastics Society of Karnataka dates back to our inception in 1999, when one of its children
designed MindTree’s logo. The relationship has become stronger over the years with the children becoming an integral part of
MindTree’s growth. No MindTree event is complete without the participation of the children and they are ever ready to create
those beautiful paintings that adorn the walls of MindTree buildings. In an interview with MindTree mind Nagaraj Kulkarni,
Rukmini Krishnaswamy, Director of Spastics Society of Karnataka shared glimpses of this deep bonding between the two
institutions.
What is the relation that MindTree shares with the Spastics Society and how has it benefited the society?
In simple words, MindTree has been our greatest friend. We look up to them for various aspects:
1) Filling the future for our children: There is a great partnership with MindTree for our children; MindTree helps them with
placement, employment or internship.
2) Socialistic attitude: MindTree considers all human beings equal. They come here with lot of sensitivity and humane attitude and
they want to do their best. That’s again a very sharing quality for both MindTree and the Spastics Society.
3) Philosophy: MindTree has a philosophy and practice which fit into our philosophy and practice. That is, you look at human beings
from various projections, beyond work force. Look at the child as human being. We look beyond what a child can do as a human
being and this is again a common sharing element we both have.
Above all, parents of these children are our partners. That is something that we are proud of.
This beautiful painting is a cherished present from the children of the Spastics Society
of Karnataka to MindTree.
If you would like to own a copy of the painting, please check the appropriate box in
the enclosed feedback form and send it back to us.
We invite all members of the MindTree family to our Circle of Life. Do send your articles, feedback and any other
contributions to circleoflife@mindtree.com or to Manoj Chandran, MindTree Consulting, #42, 27th Cross Road,
Banashankari Stage II, Bangalore - 560 070. We are sure with your enthusiasm, we can complete this circle and
make it larger than life.
All content, logos and pictures are copyrights of the respective companies and individuals. For Internal Circulation Only: Copyright MindTree 2005
Design and Content: Ekon Solution Editorial: Jayesh Chakravarthi and Manoj Chandran