Ramalinga Raju

Founder and Chairman of Satyam Computer Services, Hydrabad, India is a true global entrepreneur.

Since founding Satyam a decade ago, he has worked to build it into a global information technology solutions provider of over 4,000 IT professionals serving customers in over 20 countries and 4 continents, including over 100 Fortune 500 companies.

Satyam is organized into 6 business divisions. Each unit has an industry IT focus: Software Development Services, Systems Integration, Enterprise Resource Planning Solutions, Product Development, Electronic Commerce and Management Consulting. Satyam's newest product offering is Vision Compass, a Balanced Scorecard software application for companies seeking to become the best in their industry. Raju is a graduate of Harvard. Under his leadership, Satyam was conferred an award as "Global Growth Company" by the prestigious World Economic Forum.

A tete-a-tete with the man himself

The rapid growth of IT companies creates its own set of problems: firms which are in the infotech industry and provide solutions to industry as a whole have to innovate and manage to keep their far- flung wits in touch with each other. Apart from the physical networking between systems, it is ultimately the persons who count: one such Indian company, Satyam Infotech has grappled with the spread of its locations successfully. Mr B. Ramalinga Raju, Chairman, Satyam Group is a great believer in people communication.

"The spectacular growth of your company must have brought new challenges and problems. Geographically, Satyam is far-flung: the sheer numbers of people joining the company and not knowing each other too must have weighed on the company planners."

So how do they get to know each other?

Today we work in, what is called, a virtual world. Geographically, Cultural or Hierarchical barriers do not really exist anymore. At Satyam, we try to ensure that each one of our associates has access to all the relevant information about our company. One of our key initiatives has been the setting up of our own Intranet environment, including a Knowledge Repository. Every associate can visit this site and participate in an interactive fashion.

How important is internal communication for you in Satyam?

In many ways, for us at Satyam, internal communication plays a crucial role in bringing together all our associates. We try to ensure that the company's Objectives, Core Values and any other information is communicated to our people in the most effective and efficient way.

What steps have you taken, net-wise?

In fact our Intranet itself is part of this internal communication initiative. All our associates have access to a PC and connectivity has been provided for both email as well as access to our Intranet.

What are the key features of the initiative?

One of the key features of our Intranet is the Feedback mechanism, which allows associates to send in their suggestions concerning various company-related activities. Their feedback is given the utmost importance and we try to ensure that their concerns are addressed.

Tell us about the first large scale "meeting" of Satyam people.

As part of our 10th Anniversary Celebrations we held a Grand Finale at Hyderabad where almost 3000 members of the Satyam 'Family' were present. We felt that a program of this type plays a major role in team building and also brings a feeling of 'belonging' in the minds of our associates and their families. Similar programs were also held at our other centres, but of course on a smaller scale.