CxO of the Week: Satish Kumar V, CEO, EverestIMS Technologies

CxO of the Week: Co-Founder and CEO of EverestIMS Technologies Pvt Ltd (Everest), V Satish Kumar is a highly-skilled and extremely self-motivating personage. With extensive leadership expertise and ability to develop strategies, Satish is the face of Everest.

Coming from a technical background himself, Satish takes a keen interest in molding Everest Suite of solutions into niche product equipped with the best-of-breed technologies. Responsible for directly supervising operational, financial as well as implementation, Satish is the sole decision-maker for accelerating the global footprint of Everest as a brand by itself. With a never say no attitude and a vision to create a brand difference, he not only drives the entire organization but at the same time inspires each employee to deliver their fullest.

Your top priority while making decisions to improve tech infra in your organization?

Being a software product and solution company, the technical infrastructure is a key enabler not only for our internal operations but also our core business - software development. When it comes to the improvement of technical infrastructure, decisions will be primarily driven by use case scenarios.

Beyond improved collaboration both within and across internal departments, the technology infrastructure should continue to boost our software R&D. With our core offering being in the Tech Infra Management software, the upcoming technologies in the IT infrastructure space both from vendors as well as our customer usage scenario influence what we equip ourselves with inside our organization.

Challenges you face in driving digital transformation?

While Digital Transformation has been a catchphrase and bandwagon that everyone wants to jump upon, few have actually made the transition/implementation smoothly. After different types of implementation at numerous enterprises, we have come to observe a few common issues. The first being employee pushback.

Quite often, Digital Transformation (DT) initiatives shake people out of a comfort zone stupor. They now have to engage with different elements that seem new and strange to them at the same time. In fact, many of them may feel that DT would slowly encroach on their jobs and careers so they impede rather than facilitate the implementation.

Another key aspect here is the level of visibility and tracking that is feasible with DT makes the employees feel their spaces are being invaded. To mitigate this, top management has to bring in greater levels of transparency and involvement of employees to the entire digital transformation process and lifecycle – especially on how this journey will enhance the overall work culture and also improve the efficacy of each division and the entire organization as a whole.

To enable the above, top management needs to have a clear and focused vision of the outcomes that they want to drive through digital transformation. Rather than simple short terms gains, they should look towards redefining their enterprises. From our experience, we have seen that clarity of vision is the prime driver of a successful digital transformation roadmap.

Do you feel that freshers in the industry come with only basic knowledge but don’t have right skills to fulfill job requirements? If yes, your suggestion to students and colleges?

We feel that a “one size fits all” approach is detrimental to a student’s future development. Right now there are a multitude of courses covering all and sundry. The first thing that they should be doing is assessing the actual interest of a student, blend that with the student’s aptitude and only then prescribe a course for him/her.

What we are doing now is to thrust a preset version of a syllabus onto them and then herd them in the direction of getting a certificate. The current syllabus system in most colleges and universities provides a very sketchy bare-bones approach to actual job needs. Quite often companies hire graduates that pass all tests across all parameters and you now have to put them to work.

But something strange then happens, they don’t seem to be familiar with cutting edge tools, coding capabilities and overall job-readiness. In short, they are too raw for you to work with and you don’t have all the time in the world or resources to get them on track.

Phased internships at good companies would help them. They would need to get work exposure in different phases starting from the basic and then moving on to mid-level and finally on to a full-fledged involvement in existing project implementation. They should also be involved across various departments to ensure that they gain a 360-degree perspective. We also feel that if a student were to proactively expand their learning scope on their own, it would benefit them tremendously. Most successful people take it upon themselves to stay ahead of the game.

What’s your mantra to become successful in life?

Well, it has almost become a cliché to say “hard work”, so perhaps what I would like to dwell on is “focused expertise”. The biggest asset you have is “YOURSELF”, smartly investing in yourself and focusing on how your self-investment can benefit 100 others is key to success. Rather than just looking at driving outcomes, I have set my sights on how these outcomes are driven.

Are they simply crafted by delivery inputs or are they the outcomes of excellence? I have discovered that by placing stress and balance on excellence and expertise one can reap multiple dividends. Not only are you always at the top of your game, but you can also be two steps ahead of the competition.

What would you like to give back to the society?

Without a doubt – “knowledge”. One can always make charitable contributions every now and then which instills a feel-good factor, but the best thing that one can pass on to those in need is the capability to elevate themselves, which is knowledge. For if you help people help themselves, that is the best “give back” that one can impart to society at large.

Your favorite book and what are you reading now?

I am currently reading: “12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos by Jordan B. Peterson”, it is a consummate book for those caught up in the chaotic world of today. It is really hard to pick an all-time favourite book, but “Jonathan Livingston Seagull” by Richard Bach would stay on my top of my list. It is an extraordinary book and something I relate to a lot. “Stay Hungry Stay Foolish” by Rashmi Bansal and “Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind” by Yuval Noah Harari have left a deep impression on me.

What do you enjoy doing in your spare time?

I am bitten with “wanderlust”. I just love travelling, so if there is any planned leave, you will find me typically dashing off to a new place, one that has something special about it in terms of architecture, heritage or history. I also enjoy reading spiritual books and just love playing with my little son.

Achievements (Awards & Recognitions)

EverestIMS Technologies was awarded the Go Global Award 2019 in the category of Information Technology Services, Asia Pacific by the International Trade Council in Chicago. EverestIMS was also selected amongst the most vibrant start-ups of the year 2019 by Startup City. We are consistently regularly featured in the top IT publications and magazines for our comments and observations on the technology and start-up landscape.

Experience

With 18+ years of rich market experience, Satish is an industry veteran and rightly knows how to quickly accelerate business growth and sustain a healthy brand position in the market. Being an accomplished executive with domestic and international experience in operations, P&L, multichannel product distribution, Satish maintains an impressive track record of increasing sales while spearheading operational improvements to drive productivity.

First job - My first job was at a company called Sofil.

Education

I have completed my BE in Computer Science in 2001.