emerging IT industries

In the previous part, we discussed about the IT sector, developments, requirements, and problems the IT Sector is facing in Udaipur. For those, who are new to this article, let me introduce to you a concerned Udaipurite, and one of the pioneers of the IT sector in Udaipur: Mr. Madhukar Dube, Managing Director, Fusion eSolutions LLC, USA. In this part, he speaks about the education system, regarding the necessary reforms it needs and what the IT sector needs out of it. Also, speaking about himself, sharing his views over the society, and our own City of Lakes. So not wasting a moment in the introduction, I’m continuing with the UB’s Gangs of Wasseypur Part 2 😀

NOTE: You can read the previous part of the discussion by clicking below:
Link: [Part 1] The Fusion Discussion: Udaipur can make ‘IT’ Smile

• We have been talking about the IT infrastructure, challenges and lots more. Major highlighted issue that came up was lack of efficient manpower. That in a way points to the current education system and society too. Isn’t it?

Absolutely, the education system has greatly deteriorated in the present time. The teaching profession too is suffering at large. Let’s take a simple calculation. Every year new colleges have been opening in our country. To teach so many students, we need teachers. But are we producing the required quantity of quality teachers too? Certainly not!! Once a person is qualified enough, good companies like us for example or companies based in I.T hubs like Bangalore, Hyderabad & Gurgaon will pull you out from your college itself with attractive packages and incentives. But there are scarcely any who wish to teach others. I still remember two guys who resigned from Fusion just because they wanted to teach, and I believe they are doing better in their teaching career than they could do in Fusion. My parents have been teachers so I do appreciate the feeling, as I know that teaching profession needs a class apart and a different temperament which sadly is lacking today.

• Mostly, the education sector is now focused on anyhow getting admissions into the IITs. How far you think it is right? Or it is simply becoming a rat race instead of a trend?

I think I may have answered this question above but let me go into greater detail. Getting into IIT is not a panacea in itself. If you are a student who lacks zeal and a clear focus then you simply cannot get quality education anywhere, leave alone admission into IIT’s. Our society has put so much pressure on the words “success” and “packages” that the vulnerable student fraternity gets “pushed” into this rat race. They won’t know it, but they would be in that race.

This is destroying creative thinking and the next generation. I would quote Forest Long of the Young & Rubicam ad agency who famously said in 1971 “A mind is a terrible thing to waste”. So true!!

I am not an engineer, neither I have been into IITs. I have completed my B.Sc in Computer Science from Jain Vishwa Bharti University, and I am an OCP (Oracle Certified Professional) and have done a three year course from Aptech. But I had the good fortune of having the support and blessings of great mentors who changed my life, taking a moment to acknowledge with respect, Mr. Mohan Lal Talesara, Swami Sir, and Rekha Jain Ma’m, they ignited the passion in me for computers and pushed it into a right direction. I already had a budding interest for computers, but wasn’t good at programming. On the other hand, I was good at system designing and database, so they pushed me in that direction. And the outcome is what I am today. I am proud having been blessed with great parents who never forced me for anything.

My message to youth is do what your heart says and follow your own instincts. If you do not understand my message at least watch the Aamir Khan starrer “3 Idiots”. I think that would drive home my point!!

Fusion Interview | UdaipurBlog — Mr. Madhukar Dube | Managing Director, Fusion eSolutions LLC, USA

• What do you feel about the City of Lakes?

Udaipur is a very beautiful city and has been a lucky charm for me of course. But like I said above, this city has the potential of getting catapult into a different league altogether. If the polity and policy makers put their head into preparing a vision for the year 2025, put their honest efforts into it and come out with the required ecosystem to drive growth, I am sure Udaipur would be shining on the world map.

We have to think ahead. Relying on tourism and mineral industry won’t get us into a different league. We have to develop the vision to include different industry segments, give them the required ecosystem to flourish backed by honest governance.

This in my view will be our fitting tribute to our ancestors who established Udaipur. One person can always bring a change to entire society. Despite of 100 driving carelessly, if one starts driving carefully with a helmet on or driving in a correct lane etc, rest of 99 can get a good example, and soon those 100 will influence the other 1000. Change is never instantaneous, its gradual, we must be patient.

• There have been myths/rumours of another recession coming up in near future. What would you like to say for the high school students or those who are stepping into college life from school for choosing IT as a profession?

Recession and Bullish-Bearish market will always be there at all times. To note, the maximum rise in Facebook was observed during 2009 to 2011, which was during the recession period itself. So stop following other’s footsteps or advice or rumours, there won’t be any recession for a talent ever.

• We have been talking about society, social awareness and reforms. What improvements or amendments in your views are needed in today’s hour in the society?

If I were to point out the top three things which are hindering the growth of India, they would be “lack of governance”, “corruption” and “lack of discipline”. Start with minor things, when you overtake a driving vehicle from the wrong side or when you cross the road when it is red signal, you are disturbing the whole system.

Government comes up with policies but due to poor governance, lack of accountability and corruption the fruits of development do not reach the lowest levels of the society. As a nation we end up squandering opportunities. Minor ego issues and leg pulling among us distort the larger vision.

During my recent visit to U.S, I found that people do consult psychiatrists, despite having an easier life (that’s what I think) compared to us Indians. But here these things fail, as we live a dual life. This is another great social problem. We never speak up what we like or dislike. We would rather complain to a third person than speaking directly to the concerned person. We have a policy here, “Jhooth toh hum bolte nahi, aur sach bola jaata nahi”. And thus, we daily lie to ourselves. We need to give a frank opinion about what we feel is wrong. We need to grow up and act mature as a society.

• What are your plans for the society for its betterments?

Like I said, society needs improvements that will gradually bring upon a change. I wish to do something for the education of poor children, as well as those who dropped out of their education due to reasons outside of their control. We have also adopted the ITI Mavli, and will be starting new courses for the vocational training of students to meet employment opportunities. Education is the only way for betterment, and achieving that will be my primary aim.

• Having talked about the incredible Madhukar Dubey at a professional level, can we get a sneak peak of him at a personal level?

I am passionate about music. Not many might know but not long ago I used to be a professional DJ (Disc Jockey) and mind you I was very good at it. I used to rank amongst the best DJ’s at one point of time. I am an avid sports lover and my favorite sports include Basketball, Hockey and Volleyball. I was awarded the Presidential medal for being a top scout when I was in school. I love mountains and was selected and participated in the Himalayan Base Camp when I was just 17 years old!! Every year I take time out to go for some kind of adventure sports like in June went for ‘rafting’ at Ton river in Uttarakhand. I am proud and lucky that I am blessed by true visionary parents who did their best making me realize my dreams. My father’s principles are mine and I follow them to last bit. My lovely wife Shweta has always motivated me to better myself. My son Yashovardhan is growing up and like me has a passion for electronics. Any toy I buy for him, he dismantles them within no time to understand their inner working. He is my heart. My brother, Himkar, is a pillar of strength for me and his lovely wife Anjali is someone I truly respect. My friends Siddharth Chouhan (DON Ji), Lakshyaraj Singh Mewar(Boss), Anuj, Manoj Dugar, Dheeraj Malhotra, Rohit Gupta & Raju Surana are very few people who have been with me in every up & down.

• Last, but not the least, your word for UdaipurBlog as well as its readers please

Honestly, I was waiting for such a news blog to come out from Udaipur created by Udaipurites. Your team which is full of young and creative minds is doing a fantastic job. I am glad you have a loyal base of avid readers who feel they are part of this endeavour. I wish the whole team of UdaipurBlog and its Readers all the success in the world!! While I work tirelessly towards achieving my dreams I would always solicit your prayers in helping me realizing them. Your blog is something non-political, non nepotism, aggressive, looking for new places to hangout and above all very pure from heart. Be that always…words go around. Jai Mewar!!

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Special Thanks: Mr. Himkar Dubey

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.

Mr. Madhukar Dube, Managing Director, Fusion eSolutions Pvt. Ltd. | UdaipurBlog — Mr. Madhukar Dube, Managing Director, Fusion eSolutions LLC, USA

• 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.

Problems Preaviling in the IT Park | UdaipurBlog — Chimneys emitting harmful fumes

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