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Ojas Innovative Technologies
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 * Entrepreneurship


HOW AN OFFICE BOY IN A DISTRICT COURT WENT ON TO BUILD A MULTICRORE IT SERVICES
COMPANY

By Jerlin Justus
{{monthName}} {{day}}, {{year}}
September 2, 2021

4.6k CLAPS
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Little did Phaniraj Jaligama (lovingly called Phani) know that 20+ years later
after starting his professional life and journey as an office boy in a district
court in Telangana, he would be the President and CEO of Ojas Innovative
Technology Pvt Ltd (Ojas) which today generates $5 million in annual revenue.

 Ojas is an IT solutions company that provides cost-effective services in
application development and support, identity management/governance, software
applications/solutions testing, mobile development and testing, staff
augmentation and staffing needs to its clients across the globe.

 In line with what William Shakespeare once said, “It is not in the stars to
hold our destiny but in ourselves", Phaniraj worked to create his destiny.

 As a quick learner with a determined mind and sheer will to succeed, Phaniraj
had already found his transformational journey from being an Office Boy to an
Executive Assistant in an IT company to a Senior Manager managing IT business
processes of retail vertical in one of the top IT companies in India.


HUMBLE BEGINNINGS IN PEDDAPALLI

Growing up in the small town of Peddapalli in Telangana, Phaniraj completed his
basic education till the 12th standard and also acquired the skills in using the
typewriter. He started his professional life at the Karimnagar District Court in
Telangana as an office boy. It would take him more than 20 years to get promoted
to the clerical cadre, but this was a dream he had harboured for long.  

"At that time, there were just 10 open positions for shorthand writers, and if I
had a professional certificate, I would get promoted easily. I found a trainer
in Secunderabad who agreed to teach me. I had to work as a security guard at the
court building at night, so that I could commute 195 km daily to learn from this
trainer," says Phani.

Within six months, he was able to pass the course with distinction and
approached the District Judge for a promotion. Out of his 28 colleagues, he
scored the highest in the internal test and got promoted to the post of Copyist
in 2003. But, his willingness to learn and grow didn't stop there.

Back then, Phani's wife Srilatha Kusumba, who was an MCA graduate, was working
as a lecturer in a college in Karimnagar. The couple realised that for them to
grow in their careers, Srilatha had to enter the IT industry to earn good money,
so that Phani could take a sabbatical from his government job to pursue an MBA
or a Law degree.

In 2006, Phani got the opportunity to work as an executive assistant in a
Pune-based IT services company and finally decided to resign from his job at the
district court. A few months later, his wife got an opportunity to join the same
company as a Software Engineer in Testing.

Despite facing criticism from relatives, friends, and colleagues for leaving a
secure government job, the couple decided to pursue their dreams undeterred.


TURNING HIS PASSION INTO A PROFESSION

Phani completed his Bachelor of Arts from Dr B R Ambedkar Open University,
Hyderabad and later acquired the PGDBM in Computer Science from the University
of Pune. 

In 2011, Phani reached the position of Senior Manager at Tata Consultancy
Services (TCS), managing the Business Finance of the retail vertical.

Around the same time in 2011, he reconnected with Arun Kumar Alampally
(currently - VP, Engineering), a colleague from BMC Software, and together they
laid the foundation of Ojas. However, Phani was unable to actively participate
in the day-to-day routines of Ojas as he was occupied with his work commitments
at TCS. After a year, he realised it was best to part ways with Ojas due to the
demanding nature of work at TCS.

In 2014, he applied for admission to the MBA programme offered by SP Jain School
of Global Management. While appearing for the final interview, he consulted
Manish Arora, an IIM Ahmedabad graduate in Pune to coach him. Manish told him,
"I understand you’ve worked in reputed organisations where they have
well-established systems, processes and resources and all you have to do is to
pull the right strings to be successful. But, have you ever built something from
scratch? Have you ever initiated something, where there is no ecosystem, but
you’ve envisioned and built it from the ground?”

In 2015, although Phani joined Cognizant as an Associate Director of Operations
in 2015, Manish's response was still stuck in his mind. The same year, he
happened to travel to Hyderabad only to find out that Ojas had not made any
significant progress in terms of business development and client acquisition. It
was about the time when Arun offered Phani the opportunity to build business
growth strategies for Ojas, and without any hesitation, he responded in the
affirmative.

Phani recalls, "I was working for other companies, helping them in strategy and
building their organisation. With my leadership experience and Arun's technical
expertise, I felt it was the right decision." 

In 2017, Phani finally decided to set himself free from all other commitments to
join Ojas as its full-time CEO.


TRUDGING THORNY PATHS TO SUCCESS

As with every startup, Ojas also had its fair share of challenges. The founders
had to restructure the organisation and bring in promoters who trusted Phani and
his experience, but not Ojas as a company. On the hiring front, no software
engineer trusted them enough to sign a two-year contract. Customers, on the
other hand, were reluctant to work with a small company. 

Phani says, "Ojas means ultimate power or energy or the Tejas of a Brahman. Arun
wanted this name as it reflects our customers, employees and stakeholders - the
ultimate power. It was tough to gain the confidence of this trio. But, the
tables did turn.

Over time, the founders wanted to establish themselves in the IT Services
industry and expand globally.

In 2019, Phani, along with Uday Satrasala (currently Director - Global Sales)
visited the US and managed to get into a staffing business. The same year, they
set up an office in the US and clocked a revenue of close to $1 million.

> "Our pool of skilled IT talent boasted of expertise in most highly demanded
> technologies that gave us an edge over our competitors. Also, we believe in
> the tagline 'cost-effective IT services partner'. Our in-house trained pool of
> engineers with hands-on technical skills are always available to be deployed
> on client’s projects, which gives us that winning edge," says Phani. 

He adds, "I always tell my leadership team that once upon a time coal was gold
and petrol was gold, but today multi-skilled technology resources are gold. As
long as we’ve skilled resources, our growth is assured."


CREATING AN ENVIRONMENT FOR UNSKILLED EMPLOYEES

At Ojas, they hire both freshers as well as experienced professionals. While the
laterals sometimes require cross-skilling or upskilling, the company has a
proven methodology and system in place for freshers called OILC — Ojas
Internship Life Cycle. The programme has five phases of training - Technology,
Process, Tools, PoC/Project and Communication Skills.

The interns get a chance to work very closely on Ojas' projects and after
internal assessments and rating, they are assigned to external or internal
projects.  

"We always have 40-50 percent of our overall headcount in OILC to make sure that
we have enough resources to meet our future needs," says Phani.


ACHIEVING YOY GROWTH AMIDST CHALLENGES

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Ojas' employees were stranded in different
customer locations and certain customers weren't paying on time. The company’s
monthly revenues fell from $0.27 million to $0.1 million.

With a highly committed leadership, Ojas could steer safely out of the pandemic
and by August 2020, the business was back on its feet. It quickly adopted
virtual training and utilised the lockdown period to help its employees
cross-skill and upskill. In September last year, it also boarded 200+ resources,
which is now reaping rich rewards for the company.

Today, Ojas has around 100+ clients that include major IT companies and
businesses like Cognizant, Tech Mahindra, Persistent, Mahindra Rise, Capgemini,
HDFC Life, Exide Life, among others. In the US, the company has five customers
in IT services. With a 700-member team, the company has offices in Hyderabad,
Los Angeles and London.

In 2020, the company registered an annual revenue of $3.19 million and has
already clocked $1.32 million in Q1. The Ojas team expects to close Q2 at $1.78
million. 

> "We’re confident that we’ll cross $6.85 million in annual revenue this fiscal
> year. This is possible because of the values we believe in and the leadership
> team we have on board. From our MD to our office assistants, we call our
> enablement teams 'Leaders of Ojas'," says Phani.


THINK BIG. DREAM 100.

Over the next few years, as part of its sustained growth, Ojas plans to touch
the $15 million mark in terms of annual revenue.

Despite having a presence in the UK, the company hasn’t been able to launch
operations due to the pandemic. Once the travel restrictions are eased, Ojas
plans to start operations and capture a sustainable market share in the UK and
Europe, while continuing its business growth in the US market. 

"In addition to the US market, with opportunities in the UK and Europe markets
and supported by earnings from the Indian market, we're optimistic that we'll
achieve our dream of becoming a $15 million company," says Phani.

From a software product perspective, Ojas is already working to create
Professional Services Automation (PSA) as part of its Business Suite Solution
that suits the needs of small and medium-sized businesses.


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