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Mastek

Mastek – An Indian Software Company That Was Founded By Three IIM Graduates.

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Founded in 1982, Mastek is a publicly-traded Indian company based in Mumbai, India. It is a multinational software technology company that mainly specializes in digital transformation services and cloud consulting. Mastek has served more than 1,500 customers successfully across 40 countries. It offers services in five leading industries, namely, public sector & government, healthcare & life science, retail & customer, manufacturing & industrial, and financial sector. Mastek offers services to both public and private organizations across different nations in the US, Middle East, Asia Pacific, Europe, and the UK, apart from India. In 2021, Mastek was featured in Forbes Asia Best Under a Billion list.

About Mastek

The three IIM Ahmedabad graduates, Ashank Desai, Ketan Mehta, and R Sundar founded Mastek in 1982. These three co-founders were batchmates of 1979 and they were later joined by Sudhakar Ram who is a very influential Indian business leader. Mastek helps various enterprises by harnessing the power of data to give them a digital advantage and stay in the competition. Focussing more on unleashing the power of data in the 21st century, Mastek has established a partnership with Lytics for Customer Data Activation and Personalization by enabling D2X (Direct to Stakeholder) transformation. The company is also recognized as one of the UK’s fastest-growing Indian companies in terms of revenue growth year on year.

Mastek
Image source: timesjobs.com

Management and Software Technology Private Limited

In 1982, three students of IIM Ahmedabad incorporated Management and Software Technology Private Limited and later brought Sudhakar Ram into the team. Sudhakar Ram also played his role as the CEO of the company until 2016. When the company was founded it aimed to design and deliver computer software to various types of businesses across diverse fields. In the same year of the establishment, the first project went lives which was a decision support system for Vicks Vaporub. The products were designed to generate production plans for the company in Indian in the most optimized way possible.

After a decade of incorporating the company, its name was changed to Mastek in 1992. In the same year, it acquired a UK IT company, Carter Cast Systems. This acquisition was made to enter the UK market in Theale. After changing its name the company decided to public in the same year and got listen in both Mumbai Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange in India. Soon it founded its UK subsidiary and it was named MajescoMastek. In 1995, Mastek bid for the London Congestion Charging Scheme which went live in February 2003. So the company got invited to join the consortium and Mastek became responsible for delivering several applications for the NHS Spine for a long time.

Growth and Expansion

In 2000, Mastek became the first IT solutions company in the entire world to be assessed at P-CMM Level 3. After a couple of years, the company established the Mastek Foundation which represented a corporate and social responsibility wing of both Mastek and Majesco. In 2003, as Mastek started working on SPINE projects, the company delivered over 130 such projects within the next ten years. Eventually, the company started making more acquisitions over the next years that include Entegram LLC, a Conneticut-based software company, and Vector Insurance Services, a tech company focusing insurance industry. Mastek acquired a few companies in the North American region like the Systems Task Group (STG) which also focused on the insurance industry.

In 2009 MastekMajesco entered the Canadian market. The demerger of MastekMajesco took place in 2014 and all the insurance businesses were consolidated under the brand name, Majesco. In 2015, after the demerger, Mastek acquired a UK-based consultancy firm, Indigo Blue. In the same year, Company launched a project called Deep Blue to encourage engineering students to solve various problems using coding skills. Mastek has recently acquired Evosys to fuel its digital transformation growth.

Hiral Chandrana – CEO of Mastek Group

Hiral Chandrana is the Global CEO of the Mastek Group. He has more than 25 years of experience in the IT sector and digital solutions for various industries. Working with Fortune 1000 global clients across various countries has made him a very experienced global leader. Mr. Chandrana is from an engineering background and later completed his MBA.

Software AG

Software AG – Story of One of the Largest Enterprise Software Company in Germany.

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Software AG is a German-based enterprise software company founded in 1969. The company was founded by six young enthusiastic employees of a consulting firm called AIV. The headquarters of the company is based in Darmstadt, Germany. Software AG has more than 10,000 enterprise customers spread across 70 countries. In India, the company has offices in Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, and Hyderabad. The strongest and broadest market of the company is in Europe with several subsidiaries and offices.

The main products of the company are digital transformation and internet of things software, integration and API management, and business analytics. Around 50 percent of the total Fortune 500 companies use the software of this company. Software AG is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and is the seventh-largest software company in Europe.

Origin of Software AG

In 1969, six employers of AIV decided to establish Software AG and help other enterprises with their business management by harnessing the power of tech. One of the team members was the famous mathematician Peter Schnell who later became the Chairman of the board. After two years, the first product of the company, ADABAS was launched. This product was a very high functional database management system (DBMS). Peter Page was also one of the co-founders of the company that launched Natural in 1979.

After the first product of the company rolled out in the market, the company started opening other offices in different regions. This includes North America in 1971 followed by Japan, UK, France, Spain, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium, and Saudi Arabia. By 1987, the company had a total of 500 employees working across 50 countries. In 1999, the company became a publicly-traded enterprise and after getting listed in the Frankfurt Stock Exchange released two new products, Tamino Information Server and Tamino XML Server.

Software AG
Image source: pbs.twimg.com

Expansion and Acquisitions

Software AG eventually started acquiring many companies and expanded into newer markets both tech-wise and geographically. In 2005, the company acquired Israeli-based legacy integration vendor Sabratech Ltd followed by SPL Software in March 2007. The same year, Software AG also bought a company called Jacada which was the foundation of AG’s R&D in Israel. The company also acquired one of its rivals in the US market, webMethods for $546 million. And, after this acquisition, Software AG became a leading company in the business process management sector. It also became a leader of the service-oriented architecture (SOA) product domain.

In 2009, Software AG acquired a German-based company called IDS Scheer which fully became a part of the Company in 2010. The company also bought a leading company of master data management, Data Foundations in October 2010. Next, Software AG strategically acquired companies that provided cloud services and mobile applications. For example, it acquired Terracotta Inc which was a leading provider of in-memory technology for both high-performing applications and cloud services. It also acquired Metismo Ltd which was known for building a very flexible and versatile platform that helped to build device-independent mobile applications. In April 2012, Software AG acquired a British company called My-Channels which helped it gain access to universal messaging technology.

Next, in 2013, Software AG acquired many companies. First, it acquired a US-based company called LongJump which was a cloud platform provider followed by a leading software provider called Alfabet. Alfabet specialized in “enterprise architecture” and “IT Portfolio Management” which broadened the IT landscape of the company. The same year, the company also invested in a mobile software company called Metaquark. In recent years, some of its acquisitions include CONNX Solution, Zementis, Cumulocity, Trendminer, and Built.io. The company’s last acquisition was in November 2018.

Sanjay Brahmawar – CEO of Software AG

Sanjay Brahmawar is an Indian-Belgium software and business executive. He was born in India and pursued his studies at Delhi College of Engineering and MBA from the University of Leeds. In 2003, he started his career at IBM and worked for several roles. Before he left IBM, he was the general manager for global revenue at IBM’s Watson IoT. In 2018, he joined Software AG as the CEO.

CGI Inc

CGI Inc- Journey to explore the range of IT and business consulting services through its unique strategies

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CGI Inc is one of the dominant firms that is known for its business consulting services. It gets started in 1976 by Serge Godin and André Imbeau. Under the policies of George D. Schindler, it is operating at different locations all around the world. The firm is best known for its services in system integration, IP/intellectual property, and business and IT consulting. As well, it manages processes in any business including the IT sector.

Presently, more than 75k plus consultants and professionals of the company are working to provide service in more than 10 industries. As well, it is active in 400+ locations globally.

George D. Schindler
Image Source: cgi.com

ABOUT CGI

It is an end to end consulting services provider in the marketplace, headquartered in Montreal in Canada. The firm has acquired trusted clients. Because it knows the requirements of clients, the need for digital transformation. Moreover, CGI stands for Consultants to Government and Industries.  Over the period, CGI Inc changed its strategies and changed the service as per the evolving clients.

The company enabled the range of services and solutions for IT and business consulting. Today, many businesses are enjoying the benefits of CGI services. In fact, it is safe for their pockets and uses applied innovation.

The backstory

It is set up in 1976. However, the firm went public after ten years that is in 1986. In 1998, CGI acquired Bell Sygma. With this acquisition, CGI doubled in size capturing the largest part of the market. Also, in 2001 it acquired IMRGlobal. Thus, enabling global delivery options.

The acquisition strategy of CGI

It has started as a small Canada based IT services provider. However, the firm used acquisition strategy from time to time and explore its area. The acquisition of the American Management system was one of the big steps in the history of the CGI acquisition strategy. With this, the firm showed its presence in America, Australia, and Europe. As well, marked the beginning to formed the CGI Federal division. In 2012, it captured Logica and became the fifth-largest independent business processes and IT services provider on the planet. Also, mentioned as the biggest tech firm in Canada.

Services and products

It provides services such as business consulting, business process services, IT infrastructure, and outsourcing services. As well, best known for its systems integration services. Furthermore, the firm has acquired clients in several industries and markets. Apart from that, it develops a range of products for telecom, health, oil, manufacturing, and other utilities.

Glimpse to founders life

Serge Godin

He is the founder and chairman of CGI. A well known Canadian tech firm. Serge was just 26 years old when he set up CGI along with Imbeau. Godin served as a CEO till 2006, guiding the firm in more than 70 acquisitions. In fact, most of the acquisition turned out as useful for the exploration of CGI’s business.

Personal life

He is one of the ninth children in the family having the business of sawmill. At the age of 12, he joined the family business. Though, he managed to study computer science. As well, he attended Quebec’s University Laval for MBA.

Andre Imbeau

He is one of the founding members of the largest business Consulting firm CGI, Inc. Presently, he is serving as President of Groupe Gestion G5, Inc. Apart from that, Andre is one of the board members of an lt CGI.

George D. Schindler

He is President and CEO of the firm. As well, one of the members of CGI’S Board of Directors. In 2016, George lead the Build and buy growth strategy of CGI. Schindler shares a great contribution to enable the transforming power of technology through the platform of CGI.

Early career and Education

He joined CGI through American Management Systems acquisition. Since then, he got the chance to served leading positions in the company. Such as being the president of CGI American business. As well, he led the Canadian operations of the firm. Moreover, he served as a CGI federal’s President. George guided CGI in the acquisition of over $1 billion. Thus, responsible for adding capabilities and scale to the overall U.S. business. Coming to his education, he attended  Purdue University to study a Bachelor of Science in computer science.

Bottom Line

CGI proved that if the exploration strategies are accurate, nothing comes in the way of business. Since the beginning, the firm focus on acquiring the businesses to explore its area of service. As well, changed the strategies as per the changing world. Thus, meeting the expectations of its customers. Today, it is based in more than forty countries all across the world.