[Part 1] The Fusion Discussion: Udaipur can make ‘IT’ Smile

Udaipur has evolved as a tourism city and marked a great presence worldwide. Even to my surprise, I came to know many facts about Udaipur, for it has many “WOW” factors apart from only tourism, after I became a part of UdaipurBlog.com Team. The rich Mewar Culture, the presence of mineral rich places, mines, of being a marble hub, as well as a booming IT city, the solar observatory, and many more. Wait! Yes, if you came across it for the first time like I did recently and can’t believe your eyes, you still got it right. Udaipur has also left a great impression globally in the IT industry. There’s a separate IT park too in the Mewar Industrial Area of Udaipur aka Madri. Once I came across this fact, believe me I became curious to know more about how could an IT industry grow, or to be honest with words, survive in a comparatively smaller and technologically unremarkable (as of then) city than big metros. Gathering all information I could, I came across the names of few big players which are successfully venturing, and a name among them was that of Fusion Outsourcing Pvt Ltd. On my request for an interview with “The Boss” with utmost curiosity and nervousness, I was granted an appointment with Mr. Madhukar Dubey, (Managing Director) at Fusion Outsourcing. Entering into the IT Park itself was a jaw dropping experience, being into a part of city that was earlier wasn’t thought to exist on the map, and being there felt like being somewhere out of the city entirely. The entire place has a separate calmness and ambiance. Then I happened to meet this ever smiling and inspiring person, whose warm and friendly gesture made me forget that it was my first ever interview, Mr. Madhukar Dubey aka Madhu Dube. Anyways, enough for the personal feelings sections, now here’s an interview based on series of discussions with him.

• First of all, thanks for the appointment. Being here has been a different experience. Coming to the main point, many people still believe that IT Industries don’t exist in Udaipur, as even I used to think few time back. For an icebreaking stuff, Please tell us how did Fusion evolve.

Fusion started out as a proprietorship concern in October 2005. We rented a small office space at Akruti Complex near Saheli Marg. Our very first projects were in the BPO space which helped us gain traction and keep the ball rolling. October 2006 saw us converting into a Private Limited Company from a proprietorship concern. We deliberately kept the company name starting it with the term “Fusion” which means combining many parties, entities or objects to form something new and thus Fusion Outsourcing Software Private Limited came into play. With our sustained efforts we grew very fast and soon rented out three additional office spaces in the same office complex. June 2008 again saw us shifting base to the I.T Park (Mewar Industrial Area Extension) wherein we managed to rent out a big space so that we could bring all of our different teams sitting in separate offices under one single roof with state of the art facilities and superior office infrastructure. With the grace of god, my parents blessings and above all real hard work by the team has pushed us forward wherein currently we are employing 100+ professionals. We are a proud member of NASSCOM, CII & TiE.

• That means more than six years? Wow! So what all spheres of IT does Fusion deal with?

We are essentially an integrated I.T Services Provider. Our business verticals include Social Media Research & Analytics, I.T Consulting & Development, Business Process Outsourcing services to name a few.

To elaborate on our business verticals, in Social Media Research & Analytics we are providing in-depth Research Reports and Strategy Consulting to many Fortune 500 companies. We make use of cutting edge technology to extract real-time data from different Social Media platforms like Blogs, Facebook, Twitter etc and analyze huge loads of data to arrive at a refined set of parameters to base our study on.

These research reports add tremendous value for our clients and enable them to understand the impact of their marketing efforts so they can make informed decisions going forward. We do not stop there. Based on our analysis we go a step further and provide consulting on how they should approach their product development, product launch and address the latent needs of their consumer base.

In a nutshell we provide our Fortune 500 clients end-to-end Research & Consulting Services based on the Social Media Sphere. It’s a niche service offering wherein we were ranked the 5th Best Service Provider in the entire world in Investment Research by the U.S based Data Monitor Group.

Our I.T Consulting & Development vertical has enabled clients spread all over the world in adding value to their operations. We have developed end-to-end solutions primarily for Healthcare & Banking, Financial Services and Insurance (also known as BFSI) Industry segments. Our web development vertical has created a niche of its own with aesthetically appealing web design and Web 2.0 solutions. With Mobile App development we have entered a sunrise industry segment. Our HTML 5 based solutions are powering our client’s future needs today.

Our Business Process Outsourcing offerings have done wonders to client’s operational efficiencies. We provide Virtual Staffing Solutions to Small and Medium sized businesses based in U.S, EU & Australia. It has contributed greatly towards minimizing their manpower costs and our virtual staff has succeeded in becoming an integral part of their overall process. We also provide Medical Billing solutions to U.S based Hospitalist groups.

• Everyone rushes out for big cities like Mumbai, Bangalore as they are big finance and IT capitals of the country. Why did you go against the stream and choose Udaipur?

India till the 90’s was considered a poor nation full of snake charmers and cows dotting the streets. This perception changed after liberalisation which unleashed the nation’s entrepreneurship and our Industry peers TCS, Infosys & Wipro gave credence to this changed image. We were suddenly shining on the world map. This is when Bangalore came up on the horizon which quite ironically till the 90’s was considered to be a heaven for Retirees. Udaipur which shines on the World’s tourist map sadly stood nowhere on the I.T map when I started the company. Though it may sound farfetched as of now but I will not be surprised if in a few years Udaipur becomes the Silicon Valley of the northern states. It has all the potential. The need is to “believe” that we can do it. I am proud to share that last year a study conducted by the Industry Association ASSOCHAM ranked Udaipur No.5 among the top tier II & III cities in terms of employment growth in the I.T Industry. This is welcome news among all the gloom that is surrounding the I.T Industry in the rest of India. I strongly believe in this dream of bringing Udaipur on the World I.T map and leaving no stone unturned to fulfill this dream.

• That accounts for the wonderful delights connected with this company. Speaking about the darker side, what all challenges did you have to face since the establishment phase?

As an individual I love my country and I love my town. But when it comes to establishing an enterprise there are numerous hurdles. Infrastructure bottlenecks such as absence of good quality bandwidth, uninterrupted supply of electricity, well set up I.T incubator facilities, friendly government agencies all frustrate an entrepreneur. As an entrepreneur all I need is infrastructure which matches the standards set in major I.T hubs, fast approval of regulatory compliance’s and continuous flow of good quality manpower. Unfortunately I find them all missing.

Come to the I.T Park where we are located. In fact it is not a I.T Park in the true sense of the word. The .T Park is just adjacent to a busy industrial area known as Madri where there are numerous chemical factories spewing toxic acids and gases in the air, soapstone factories throwing dust and powder in the vicinity, due to the presence of factories heavy vehicles ply in the I.T Park which have caused numerous accidents, pathetic roads, government agencies whose officials throw tantrums for simple paperwork in the expectation of getting their palms greased and what not. The quality of manpower sadly is below par. Out of every 100 candidates we interview, not even 6-7 are fit for employment.

I must admit these are sorry state of affairs.

• Okay, so who is to be blamed for this?

The whole ecosystem is flawed to start with. The education system which is responsible for producing the required manpower lacks quality teacher. The syllabus is primitive and what is taught is not what the Industry requires. A recent study pointed out that out of every 100 engineering students who pass out, only 17 are fit for further “training”. Mind you, I am not saying they are fit to be “employed”. Employment comes later, first the students need to be trained so that they can become “employable”. We end up doing the job which our education system should be doing. The mushrooming of new universities, colleges and institutions doesn’t mean we have also improved on the count of employable manpower. In fact the opposite is true. The institutes who do not have adequate infrastructure and quality teachers are producing “human robots” which are incapable of applying their own brain when it comes to practical thinking. This is injustice to the students who enroll themselves in colleges looking at the full page advertisements claiming 100% placements and when they pass out they find themselves unemployable in the industry stream they have got graduated from.

B.Tech(Mech. Engg) pass outs are applying for the posts of Data Entry Operators. Isn’t this injustice!!

I also find the students lacking in zeal and in clear focus. The race to earn a quick buck without putting in sustained and laborious efforts and the many worldly distractions hinder their employability and career growth.

• Any memorable incident that occurred to you till date?

Yes, something very memorable I would like to mention. I generally spend 10 days outside Udaipur every year, traveling alone. That’s the time I plan new strategies for the company. The incident occurred in 2006 when my life took few undesired turns and I had to undergo a bitter experience at both personal level (had a bad breakup) as well as professionally wherein I had suffered huge losses. I went to Goa for a change. On my way, I found this young foreigner – Tobias, who was looking to hitch hike to a hotel. I shared my auto rickshaw with him. On the way we became friends, and came to know he was from Norway, and has travelled 5 countries before India, and amazingly was just 19 years of age! When asked about budget, he said he came here with a plan of only Rs. 600 per day. For a place like Goa and for a foreigner, this is extremely low. He just told me one inspiring thing, “Anything can fit in any budget, provided it is planned perfectly”. For the entire time of about 10 days I was with him, I was amazed that this young guy, he was so enthusiastic and energetic; he never stopped for a moment, kept on doing something or the other, slept in a hut with just a bulb and fan, even on beach with a blanket only. I spoke to myself if he can stay happy, why can’t I? That was my life turning event. After my return, I worked really very hard for Fusion, redesigned the management, distributed work among my team members, gave them responsibilities, trusted them and that’s how we grew. Our stats speak for ourselves.

• That’s incredible. So how do you rate yourself as a boss?

The first and foremost thing, there is no word ‘employee’ at Fusion. Everyone is a team member. I am proud to have a huge loving team. My first team member, Dinesh Nagda, and the second to join me, Rohit Gupta, are both still around. A work friendly environment gives them a good boost. The attrition rate too has been low comparatively for the same reason. I don’t allow anyone to work for more than eight hours, and every Friday and Saturday, there are compulsory sports at our premises in the evening. I keep them saying and following one sentence “Your parents never gave birth to you to lose. They dreamt of you to be a winner, so be that and strive for it”

PS: That’s it for the 1^st part, stay tuned for the next. Till then, share your views, also if you like this post share it on Facebook, Twitter