In Conversation with Vivek Gupta, Chief Executive, Global Infrastructure Management On Akibia, Inc now Zensar Technologies

Zensar Technologies, an India-based technology company, bought Westboro-based Akibia Inc. more than two years ago, and announced this spring it was officially dropping the Akibia name. Zensar has 7,000 employees worldwide, employing about 180 people in Westboro and Northboro. The local Zensar offices focus on hardware and software support for clients' computing networks and data storage. Mr. Gupta, a 27-year veteran of Zensar, said the company is actively hiring and could increase its local workforce to 200 employees by March 2014. Has the old Akibia company adjusted to the name change and become more fully integrated with the rest of the company? "We had plenty of planning time. We almost had an internal six-month lead time to get the branding change done. That involved changing our logos everywhere we have it in print and online. A lot of preparation was done. Everyone was waiting for it to happen, and there was actually a great deal of celebration when we announced the rebranding. So from that point onward, it has gone pretty well. The salespeople are telling us that the customers are no longer confused about two separate brands, two separate names out there. They can see one single entity, which is much larger in size, roughly a half billion dollars in revenue. So they are finding that is getting much better recognition in the marketplace." Besides the new name, has anything else changed with the company in the past few months? "There is a renewed emphasis on the services portfolio that we have. So we have given new push to network security solutions.
We have given new push to hardware maintenance. There is a new push toward cloud services and mobile virtualization, and the good news is we have quite a few irons in the fire right now. Customers are looking at these solutions. ... We have hired 22 associates in the last few months. The majority of them are in the Westboro, New England area. And even as we speak we are looking to add another 20 people. So there is more talent we are actively looking for in the marketplace to acquire, which I think is a good, positive sign." What else is new with the company? "Having completed the acquisition (of Akibia) in terms of the final name change, we are now actively looking for the next acquisition. As we speak, there are a few target companies we are looking at ... in M and A (mergers and acquisitions), we can't call it done until it's actually done. But if we are able to achieve what we want to achieve, hopefully in the next 12 months we should be able to announce the next acquisition, again hopefully in the East Coast area." What is the key to succeeding in the infrastructure management business? "We need to have total leadership in this area. So we can't just be 'me too' operating in the infrastructure management space. We should be able to intercept the new emerging technology and the trends, whether they are in cloud service, whether they are in mobile virtualization.
We should be able to predict what's happening in this industry, in this space, and we should have credible solutions for them. So the first one (key), I will call it thought leadership. "The second thing that is very important is to be able to retain the customers that we have and expand our footprint within the customers' organizations. So not just doing one part of infrastructure management services, but doing more. So if we are doing data services, is there a way we can do end-user services or security services or compliance services? Basically expand our footprint and go even beyond infrastructure management into software applications. "The third thing is to make sure we continue to have a balanced portfolio of service offerings. So we keep adding the new services that are needed by the market, by our customers. "The last, but not least — (what is) very important for success in this business is retaining the best talent and acquiring the best in the industry, the talent that is out there. So if we are able to do all of this — and as you can see this covers quite a bit in terms of people, in terms of technology, in terms of services, footprint, relationships with our customers — I think that is the only way we can be successful in this industry."