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Tech Mahindra

Tech Mahindra – Story Of India’s Leading IT Consulting Company That Started 35 Years Ago.

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Founded in 1986, Tech Mahindra is one of the leading multinational tech companies born in India. It is a subsidiary of the Mahindra Group with its headquarters based in Pune, Maharashtra, India. Anand Mahindra is the founder of the company and he is also the present Chairman of the company. Currently, C.P. Gurnani is both the CEO and MD of Tech Mahindra.

Tech Mahindra is famous for providing IT and Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) services. It is a publicly-traded company and as of April 2020, its valuation is $5.2 billion. Tech Mahindra is a multinational company with customers across 90 countries. It has more than 125,000 employees and ranks fifth in the list of India’s top IT firms.

Early Days Of The Company

The origin of the Company dates back to the mid-1980s when Mahindra & Mahindra started a joint venture with British Telecom. This partnership was to start a technology outsourcing firm where British Telecom initially has a 30% stake in the Tech Mahindra company. In 2010, British Telecom decided to sell 5.5% of its stake in Tech Mahindra to Mahindra & Mahindra. The deal was closed for Rs 451 crore. After two years, British Telecom again sold 14.1% of its stake to the institutional investors for Rs 1,395 crore approximately. By the end of 2021, British Telecom was out of the joint venture as it sold the rest of its stake of Tech Mahindra to institutional investors.

In 2009, Satyam Computer Services faced a big scandal after which Tech Mahindra decided to bid for the company. It became one of the strong bidders as it beat Larsen & Toubro and emerged out with a 31% stake in the company. After the bidding, the Board of Directors of Satyam Computer was decided by Venturbay Consultants Private Limited. This company was a subsidiary of Tech Mahindra and it became the company with a controlling stake in Satyam Computer.

Tech Mahindra
Image source: brandfinance.com

Tech Mahindra and Mahindra Satyam

In 2012, Tech Mahindra merged with Mahindra Satyam and the merger created an IT company worth $2.5 billion. Both the first received a green signal from the Bombay Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange for the merger and after a year Andhra Pradesh High Court also approved. There were several technical approvals to be taken for this merger which were all completed in 2013. After the formation of this new organization, the executive team for the company was formed. Anand Mahindra led the company as its Chairman followed by Vineet Nayyar as Vice Chairman, and C.P. Gurnani as the CEO and Managing Director.

The merger was officially completed in June 2013 and it made Company the fifth largest software services company in India. After the merger took place, the company received approval for a scheme under which the shares of Mahindra Satyam could be swapped for Tech Mahindra. The share swapping was given a time limit of a month as from July, trading of Mahindra Satyam was suspended and the shareholders of this company were allocated shares of Tech Mahindra. This merger witnessed a high increase in profit (up by 27% in the first quarter as compared to that of the previous year).

Recent Days

In 2014, Tech Mahindra made a big acquisition as it bought Lightbridge Communication Corporation, the largest independent multinational telecom service company. Next year it acquired a Swiss IT firm called SOFGEN Holdings. It also purchased a controlling stake in an Italian automotive brand called Pininfarina S.p.A. In 2016, the company revealed its plan to acquire Target Group as it would boost its business in the banking sector.

After the merger of Tech Mahindra and Mahindra Satyam, the company focused on strengthening its international market, thus collaborating with various foreign brands. It also started a partnership with Huawei to sell its products and services across 44 countries. Earlier this year, Company started a joint venture with ThoughtSpot, a US-based analytics company.

About The Founder

Anand Gopal Mahindra is an Indian billionaire who was born into a family of industrialists. He completed his education at Harvard University followed by Harvard Business School. After graduating, he joined Mahindra Ugine Steel Company Ltd and eventually became the Chairman of Mahindra Group in 2016. He is a recipient of the prestigious Padma Bhushan Award.

Capgemini

Capgemini: A Big Name in the IT Consulting Services in the Digital World

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The most innovative discovery that the world has witnessed in the past 60-70 years is the discovery of computers and the internet. These two technologies have changed the face of the world and have brought humongous opportunities for people in every nook and corner of the world. The internet has made it easy for people sitting in a backward area to work with a company based miles and miles away from their place.

The scope of the internet and computers is not limited to providing jobs to people, but these have also encouraged the startups to provide their B2C and B2B services in the most innovative ways to make the business even easier. Such a company that has taken full advantage of digital innovation is Capgemini, a renowned name in the world of technology and innovation.

About the Company

Capgemini is a French company having its headquarters based in Paris. Serge Kampf founded Capgemini in 1967 in Paris and now the company has expanded to various foreign countries having multiple offices in each. Capgemini is a technology company with expertise in different services, including consulting, technology, professional, and outsourcing services.

Capgemini
Image Source: capgemini.com

The Foundational Story of Capgemini

Kampf founded Capgemini as SOGETI (Société pour la Gestion de l’Entreprise et le Traitement de l’Information) on 1 october, 1967. In the beginning, it started to work as an enterprise management and data processing company. As SOGETI, Capgemini, in 1974, acquired a New York-based company named Gemini Computer Systems. The next year, the company went on to acquire another technology company, named CAP (Centre d’Analyse et de Programmation), leading to a name change of SOGETI (Due to an international dispute on a similar name as CAP of another company), to Cap Gemini Sogeti.

In the next five years, Cap Gemini Sogeti started its international business by launching its US operations in 1981 and opened 20 new branches in the US only. By this time, the company had employed about 500 people and also made another acquisition of a data conversion company, named DASD Corporation. The company cut the Sogeti from its name and changed it to Cap Gemini. It also redesigned the company logo for every branch in the world. This way, Sogeti became a separate subsidiary of Cap Gemini that solely works as information technology consulting company.

In the year 2000, by acquiring Ernst & Young Consulting, Capgemini entered into the consulting business and started its consulting business as Cap Gemini Ernst & Young. In 2017, the company had another rebranding of its name, and from Cap Gemini, it became Capgemini.

The Founder Serge Kampf

Serge Kampf is one of the leaders who are known for their management and leadership skills and are the role-models for many budding entrepreneurs. Kampf was born on 13 October 1934 in Grenoble, France. He was born to a soldier father. Since Kampf’s father was in the army, he spent his school days at a boarding. After completing his school, Kampf passed the entrance exam of the French Telecom administration. He then obtained a double honors degree in Law and Economics. After completing his education, his first job was for an underground telephone exchange as a Telecom Inspector.

While working for the exchange, Kampf realized that he does not like his work and wanted to try something else. While looking for opportunities, he got to know about the newly emerging technology, which was IT. Kampf became curious about IT and computers and immediately applied for jobs in two companies working in IT, Bull and IBM. Though he got offers from both companies, he went on to join Bull. He started as a commercial engineer, and later, with one after another promotion, he became the regional manager of Bull.

After working for seven years with Bull, Kampf got motivated to start his own business. He wanted to have the freedom of a boss and did not want to serve anyone else than himself. So in 1967, he resigned from Bull and started Sogeti on 1 October 1967, from a two-room office in Grenoble, with a team of six people. The company wasn’t one of its kind, but it was the first French IT services company.

Kampf served Capgemini as its CEO till 2002, and in 2012, he resigned as the Chairman of the company too. He served the Board of Directors as the vice-president till 2016, when he died at the age of 81 in Grenoble.

Capgemini Today

Capgemini is dominating the IT consulting services in the world. It has multiple branches in different countries in the world, and as of 2020, more than 370,000 employees are working for the company across the globe. Currently, Aiman Ezzat is the serving CEO at Capgemini, and Paul Hermelin is the chairman of the Board of the company.