After spending over 30 years in Tata Consultancy Services
(TCS), S Ramadorai, CEO, has plans of making the company
a part of the global top 10 by 2010. Kavita Krishnamurthy
Madiyal lets you in on his growth path from the beginning
to his success story!
Subramaniam Ramadorai gave up a $12,000 dollar-a-year
job as a programmer in NCR, Los Angeles in the early 70s
and came to India to join a Rs 12,000-a-year assignment
with the Tatas in Mumbai. Today, he has taken TCS through
a successful listing and turned it into a $2-billion Asian
software leader.
The Beginning
Ramadorai belongs to a Tamil Bramin family and had a
typical childhood with Music, Maths and reading of the
scriptures as the family interests. He did his schooling
from Sardar Patel Vidyalaya, New Delhi. Since, he was
not keen on engineering, his father insisted that he
study at least basic science. So, at the age of 16,
he went to Delhi to do his Bachelor's degree in Physics.
A Bachelor of Engineering in Electronics and Telecommunications
from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore followed
this. His first job was at the Physical Research Laboratory
at Ahmedabad. The experience and his double degree qualified
him for a part scholarship in University of California
Los Angeles - UCLA, USA. Yet he had to take a loan for
his plane ticket from Syndicate Bank! He then went on
to do his Master's in Computer Science from the UCLA
following which he joined NCR in Los Angeles. At that
time, he faced a lot of family pressures to come back
to India. But, this was not against his personal inclinations,
as he wanted to return home and make a difference. Subsequently,
when A.H. Tobaccowala, the head of TATA Inc at the time,
made him an offer in LA to join one of the then small
and unknown technology units of TATA sons, he readily
agreed! After all, the TATA name was certainly a plus
point for him in the marriage market!
Under a Mentor
Today, that unknown small unit has transformed into
one of the leading software companies called TCS. A
year after joining TCS, Ramadorai was sent on his first
official business trip to Toronto for hardware training
on 'how to operate a Burroughs machine'. Later, it took
one year for him to bring the machine into our country,
leading to the formation of another separate entity
called Tata Burroughs in 1978. His portfolio was expanded
on his return to India and he was put in charge of the
North American region as well as for setting up development
centres abroad.
For most of his career with TCS, Ramadorai was not in
the limelight. He was under the auspices of Dr Fakir
Chand Kohli, the grandsire of the Indian technology
industry. Over the years, he influenced various facets
of the firm's growth - quality initiatives, off shoring
model, measurement models for people and processes,
signing up of big ticket clients, forging alliances
with global technology majors and institutions.
Building TCS
In 1996, he took over the wheel from Dr Kohli as CEO,
with his own distinct management style and personality.
It was his manner and approach that helped him manage
his personal and professional relationships well and
also take all the crucial turning point decisions of
the company.
The 'Tough Boss'
Ramadorai spends six months of the year on the road
visiting customers, clients and the offices across the
globe. Ram is known as the 'tough boss'-he is tough
on himself and that puts so much pressure on the others
as well. He is an early riser by habit. At 4:00 am he
is seen typing off emails to his colleagues across the
globe. He believes that morning is the best time to
think! An early morning puja and a walk by the sea are
part of his daily routine except on the days when he
travels.
As a tough boss, a fair player and a super performer,
Ramadorai certainly seems to be steering the TCS ship
towards the harbour of supersonic success by 2010!
Rewards and Honours
- 2006 - The Padma Bhushan on India's Republic Day
- 2003 - The Distinguished Achievement Award from
the IISc, Bangalore
- 2003 - Fellowship of the Institute of Management
Consultants of India
- 2003 - The Management Man of the Year award
- 2002- CNBC Asia-Pacific's prestigious Asia Business
Leader of the Year Award
- 2002- Named by Consulting Magazine (USA) as being
among the Top 25 Most Influential Consultants in the
world, the only Indian CEO on the list
- 2002- The People's Republic of China honoured him
with the position of IT Advisor to Qingdao City.
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Do you know that it was Ramadorai who was instrumental
in vital breakthroughs like securing the 25-crore
National Stock Exchange contract and in the acquisition
of CMC?
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Do you know?
Within the TATA group, Ramadorai is regarded very
highly. Commonly called as Ram, he is known as
'the CEO with the human touch'. He is also renowned
for his fair and just behaviour within the company.
Recently, when he learnt that some seniors had
oppressed one of the junior employees, he immediately
looked into the matter and sorted it out personally.
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The fastest growth for TCS occurred after Ramadorai
took over the reins. Within eight years, of his
appointment as CEO, the employees grew from a
mere 10,000 to 41,000 engineers. Today, TCS has
made its presence felt in 20 more countries since
1996. It is one of the world's largest global
software and services companies with 85,000 associates
working in 53 countries, operating out of over
151 offices worldwide, and with revenues of US$
3 billion.
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What People Say
"Ram doesn't believe in tom-tomming his achievements.
Everything about him is very understated"
- Ajay Piramal, Chairman, Piramal Enterprises"Ramadorai
is a great asset on the Lever's board" -
Manvinder Singh Banga, Chairman, HLL"Ram
is very customer-focussed and makes it a point
to stay in touch" - Scott Bayman, GE"Ram
epitomises the best in Indian culture as he is
quiet and soft-spoken but gets on with execution
and keeps all his promises on delivery"-
Al-Noor Ramji, British Telecom, UK.
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