Bengaluru: Mid-size IT services firm CSS Corp has rolled out a high-single digit pay hike for its 7000 odd employees, at a time when the majority of its large tech services peers and BPM companies have decided to delay increments and promotions.

The company is planning to hire 1000 employees by the end of June across markets.

Companies such as Infosys, Wipro, TCS, WNS and others have delayed pay hikes and put promotions on hold as they see uncertainty over business growth in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak across key markets.

CSS Corp has also paid 100% of variable salary to the majority of its employees.

“We are in challenging times and the organization has responded with great resilience in moving to a 100% WFH model early in the cycle. So it was important for us to ensure they are certain about their future. At the lower bands, which constitute 70% of the workforce, the variable payout was 100% and at higher levels where metrics are a little more stringent, the payout was around 80%. We have also handed out promotions to all eligible employees,” said Nishikant Nigam, chief delivery officer and Head of HR, CSS Corp, adding that its appraisal cycle was not different than that of last year.

The company, which enabled 100% of its employees to deliver services remotely, has given special incentive for those employees who played a critical role in shifting work to homes in March.

CSS Corp will carry out virtual onboarding for fresh hiring meant for India and other countries.

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Maximising usage of digital collaboration tools, procurement and distribution of necessary hardware and networking equipment, delivering webinars and remote sessions on mental well-being, continuous contact with our employees are some of the initiatives that are helping us ensure business continues as usual, states Satyanarayanan Visvanathan- SVP, Head of HR (Global) and Corporate Quality, CSS Corp

CSS Corp has mature risk management and business continuity plans which are periodically reviewed and tested for robustness. With agility and nimbleness being our forte, we have deployed several measures leveraging our infrastructural capabilities and support frameworks. This intrinsic strength had enabled us to be among the early movers in the industry to transition to a 100% work-from-home model. Maximising usage of digital collaboration tools, procurement and distribution of necessary hardware and networking equipment, delivering webinars and remote sessions on mental well-being, continuous contact with our employees are some of the initiatives that are helping us ensure business continues as usual.

Key challenges faced

Balancing client needs, expectations and deliverables with central/state regulations and guidance on the aspect of working from home; Having the required infrastructure procured, tested and distributed; Preparing the workforce to embrace a 100% WFH, considering the culture shock; Evolving lean, virtual processes to keep different aspects of the organisation running seamlessly

Lessons Learnt

Organisations typically have well laid out disaster recovery and business continuity plans keeping geographical separation as an assured way of resilience. However, this pandemic has struck at the core of that belief and exposed the weaknesses therein. The scale, swiftness and impact of this crisis has been unprecedented to say the least.

The first and foremost lesson, is to revisit and review all practices and processes of DR and BCP, taking into cognizance that such a thing could strike in a very short time. Secondly, organisations should have crisis management teams and rapid action taskforces capable of assessing, preparing and responding to such situations. Lastly, the ability to raise awareness of the workforce and motivate them towards adopting the crisis responses is a crucial factor

As a tech support company, we already have a lot of collaboration tools and platforms. We are using many cloud-based solutions from leading players such as Microsoft, SAP, Industry standard collaboration tools like Zoom etc. One of the concerns while working from home is data security and we have installed DLP software (Data loss prevention) in all our systems to prevent any leakages. Our systems are encrypted, and with the help of screen capture, ongoing audits are done from time to time.

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In a connected economy, customer experience is the new currency. Digital is at the epicenter of the success of any customer experience program across industries. Digital can play a major role in building customer centric business models and help organizations to generate additional revenue.

IT services and solutions provider CSS Corp sees convergence of new age solutions like AI, Cloud, Automation, Analytics and IoT to empower organizations to infuse intelligence into their business processes and enable them to have smart and context led conversations with their customers.

Digital Tech are the building blocks for businesses:

Driven by the adoption of digital technology, the total addressable market for global technology and business services will likely expand to about USD 4 trillion by 2025 as per NASSCOM.

“We have invested significantly in AI, analytics and conversational commerce in platform solutions that can help companies understand their customer’s next best action and drive additional revenue. In the recent 2 quarters, more than 90 percent of CSS Corp’s investments were focused on building technology solutions around digital, cloud, analytics and automation. Both in regional and in international markets we see there are huge opportunities in enterprise adoption of digital and new age solutions,” said Manish Tandon, CEO of CSS Corp.

He added that the company has over 5,500 technology professionals across 16 global locations. “We provide IT Services and technology support solutions for over 140 clients, including Fortune 1000 companies, that count on our expertise,” he states.

One of the solution of CSS Corp is Active Insights, an AI led Customer Analytics Solution that streamlines customer data and infuses intelligence into operations. The solution proactively predicts customer needs and offers appropriate solutions even before the customers recognize their need.

“We extensively use AI to extract insights from the various touch-points and that help in identifying customer propensities, topics and issues resulting in new revenue opportunities for clients. These insights also help companies understand the customer journey, preferences and account entitlements,” he informed.

Technology adoption by India

According to a survey by PwC, in India, more than half (55 percent) of the companies view digital as technology innovation-related activities vs 53 percent globally. India has leapt far ahead with the progress it has made in technology innovation both from a creation and an adoption perspective. India is reaching an inflection point in technology adoption with mobile, cloud and analytics disrupting the market. Gartner, says IT spending in India is forecast to reach $72.4 billion in 2017, up 6.9 percent from 2016.

“Millennials are expected to enter the workforce in large numbers in the next few years. They, as consumers, expect personalized, user and persona based services for their connected devices. To engage effectively with this demographic group, organizations are increasingly adopting new age technologies to discover new efficiencies, new revenue streams and new sources of competitive differentiation,” Tandon remarked.

Head quartered in California, the company’s key industry focus is on,Telecommunication, Media and Technology (TMT), Retail and CPG, Healthcare and Life Sciences, Banking, Financial Services and Insurance and Manufacturing.

“We are aligned strategically with market need and are designing customer centric engagement models, solutions and business processes that recognize different customer segment needs,” he outlined.

Core strategies for Customer Engagements

The company follows a business roadmap based on a four pronged strategy, said Tandon. It enhances customer engagements through IoT, Analytics and Cloud transformation solutions. It then creates a revenue avenues through white-labelling, premium tech support, as-a-service model and marketplace. Also the company believes on focused solutions to enhance specialization and eliminate “me too” via automation, analytics and machine learning. And lastly it emphasizes on faster time-to-market through automation, infusing insights into operations through analytics and drive outcome based models, he summed up.

Preview: CXO Today

As the Covid-19 lockdown lifts gradually and people begin their return to workplaces, there are some pockets of hope for jobseekers.

Recruitment experts at Manpower, KellyOCG, PeopleStrong, and Xpheno predict that even as many sectors see widespread layoffs, there will be a silver lining in sectors like edtech, ecommerce/internet, transport and logistics, as well as pharma that continue to hire.

All of these sectors will need to hire talent for various roles, said experts, and skills in machine learning, data, AI will command a premium.

Supply is predominantly lower than demand in the transport and logistics sector, said Alok Kumar, senior director – Manpower.

“Logistics platforms are already revamping their concepts to match the new market circumstances by enabling retailers to scale home delivery fast. E-commerce companies will need to hire for last-mile delivery executives and warehouse profiles,” Kumar told ET.

Edtech platforms and office automation companies are expected to ramp up hiring plans, said Kamal Karanth, co-founder at Xpheno, a specialist staffing company. “Other sectors that will need to hire talent include pharma, medical devices and healthcare companies, which have seen a boom during the lockdown and will require talent in sales and marketing, engineering, research, as well as testing and customer support.”

Given that the lockdown is rolled back some time by the end of May or June in a phased manner (in the metro locations particularly), the annual absorption of top tech talent is likely to be around 75,000 (best case scenario), says Karanth.

The IT industry should see about half of the top ten IT services companies requiring fresh, top-rated tech talent, almost a third of the remaining services pool, and almost 15 to 18% of the high tech product / internet or GICs going for it.

The pharma sector will have jobs up for grabs in testing, research and sales, said Devashish Sharma, founding member at human resources solutions firm PeopleStrong.The new role of crisis manager will be in demand across sectors, said Francis Padamadan, senior director – RPO, KellyOCG. “Companies will want professionals who can help mitigate risks and losses from such similar global crises in future, and help coordinate smooth business continuity planning.”

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The specialized M.Tech work integrated learning program will be offered at BITS Pilani to upskill newly joining CSS Corp employees

CSS Corp, has announced the launch of its ‘Earn As You Learn’ program – a specialized M.Tech work integrated learning program, in association with BITS Pilani. The program is 100 percent sponsored by CSS Corp, and will help its employees in India to acquire knowledge and skills required for excelling in their careers with the added advantage of gaining a top-notch M.Tech. degree in software engineering from one of India’s most prestigious universities.

The course will be open to all CSS Corp employees, who meet the qualifying criteria, and have completed a minimum tenure of 6 months with the organization. The program offers a unique opportunity to employees to enhance their academic qualifications while gaining significant professional experience. The 4 year program is designed to create a pool of industry-ready technology professionals.

CSS Corp is a global provider of IT Services and technology support solutions similar to TCS, Infosys and Wipro. Founded in 1996, the company currently has 5,500 technology professionals across 16 global locations and have been looking to make it 10,000 strong team by 2017. With a bid to double its revenues by 2017, from 1050 crores in 2014, the company is likely to tap the leading universities across India.

Speaking about the association, Manish Tandon, chief executive officer, CSS Corp said, “CSS Corp believes in investing in its people, their learning and their development. Our ‘M.Tech Work Integrated Learning Program’ for B.Sc. / BCA Graduates from BITS Pilani is testimony to this. As a new-age company, we are strongly focused on innovation. Our clients are among the world’s top technology companies and there are interesting shifts happening in their ecosystem. Through this initiative, we see a great opportunity to bring our employees up to speed with the latest technologies. This would have a positive cascading effect on the services we can deliver to our clients.”

“Work integrated learning has been a core element of the educational philosophy at BITS Pilani, and it is our firm belief that life-long learning is key to achieving professional success and organizational development. We believe that organizations such as CSS Corp, which provide opportunities to their employees to enhance their academic qualifications and technical skills while gaining significant professional experience, will remain prepared to tackle business challenges of the future,” said Prof. G. Sundar, director for off campus programmes and industry engagement at BITS Pilani.

As a part of the program, the first set of B.Sc. and BCA graduates will be joining in May 2017. Initially, candidates will undergo 60 days of CSS Corp’s intensive New Hire Training. On successful completion of the course, successful candidates will be deployed for various projects. At the end of 6 months, all employees who have qualified from this lot, will join the BITS M.Tech program which will commence around January and February 2018. Once these candidates meet the relevant performance criteria set by CSS Corp and the M. Tech program, they will earn their final degree from BITS Pilani.

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COVID-19: Future of jobs in IT sector

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Social distancing norms are ensuring that recruiters turn towards virtual collaboration platforms that offer 100% mobile experiences.

The Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted almost every aspect of our lives. In our effort to combat it, there has inevitably been consequences to our lives, businesses, and the economy. It has been challenging for employees and employers alike. The changes in the worldwide job market paints an alarming picture of the work scenario for many who are stuck at homes with families to take care of. Business repercussions across industries are forcing leaders to re-think and adapt to ensure business continuity amidst this downturn. The IT and ITES sector which was once brimming with job opportunities and hiring activities has lost some sheen because of the widespread impact caused by Covid-19.

HR at the Forefront

Employees feel they are wading through murky waters with no clue on what is in store with every passing day. Stepping out of the house is a privilege and having a kitchen shelf stocked with groceries is in itself an achievement. Only time will tell if the days of frequenting prospective employers for evaluation tests and successive interviews are gone. Job seekers during these pandemic times are in for a surprise. Everything is going virtual. Remote meetings, virtual collaboration, and digital recruitment are the ways to get through these distressing days.

Across various industries, the HR function faces the brunt of sourcing and engaging talent amidst a disruption they have never experienced before. With all the gloomy news encasing us, it is invigorating to hear that the IT and ITES HR functions continue to provide seamless Employee Experience (EX) by leveraging the power of new-age tools.

Today, employers have greatly adopted the use of these tools to source, hire, and engage employees to ensure optimum staffing across functions. Undoubtedly, new age virtual hiring is playing an integral role in minimizing business disruption and making people dynamically adapt to changing needs. After all for an organization to successfully run the experiences of both employees and customers must be made seamless. With the temporary closure of the usual route to recruiting talent, organizations are taking the virtual highway to accelerate the hiring process with positive results despite remote working regulations in force.

Digital Recruitment Framework

Social distancing norms are ensuring that recruiters turn towards virtual collaboration platforms that offer 100% mobile experiences. Multi-device UX tools have redefined the recruitment processes through their efficiency and seamlessness at every phase of the recruiting process: screening, assessment, documentation, on-boarding, and engagement. After sourcing candidates from online sources and social media, recruiters communicate with candidates through new-age HR platforms for evaluation and screening. These platforms follow global data security norms and data compliance laws, and they integrate with existing HRMS applications. Subsequent interview phases happen via videoconferencing applications.

With a flurry of remote video profiling sessions underway, “trust but verify” is the policy employers follow. Bots, AI, NLP, and ML tools bolster existing applications and offer behavioral insights, test proctoring, web monitoring during interviews. Post the government restricting travel means the entire documentation phase happens online. Selected candidates need to sign specific clauses verifying their identity after which they receive the digital format of appointment letters. Virtual events such as orientation, technical and soft-skill training, and meet-the-leader sessions ensure a sense of connectivity and engagement for the millennial workforce. Quick processing, turnaround, and unflagging momentum overall has surged the number of new hires every month.

All organizations are frenetically racing to step up to the challenges of the pandemic, but of the whole lot, the new-age digital service providers are delivering on SLAs and productivity through 100% utilization of staff. Reports claiming that the pandemic has exposed the frailties of the outsourcing landscape has negligible truth to it; the fact is that IT and ITES firms are braving the storm quite well across various global delivery centers through robust frameworks built on automation, analytics, and AI. By automating routine tasks, HR leaders have more time to focus on core strategic aspects of the enterprise.

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CSS Corp, an IT services and technology support company, announced today that it received the 2018 Golden Globe Tigers Award in the Business Innovation category. The results were declared at Pullman Kuala Lumpur City Centre in Malaysia. CSS Corp was recognized for its novel adoption of AI in customer support operations through its digital customer engagement platform, Cognitive Customer Experience Platform.

CSS Corp’s digital platforms help simplify complex business processes and streamline customer life cycle management. The platforms provide omnichannel customer experiences and enable new revenue opportunities for organizations. In a customer support ecosystem, CSS Corp’s digital customer engagement framework provides a convenient digital engagement channel, uses AI and analytics to identify the best course of action, and guides customers and engineers through specific resolutions.

Manish Tandon, Chief Executive Officer, said, “Being a customer-obsessed organization, we realize that deep understanding of the customer’s intent and the problem is key to providing a better experience. CSS Corp is deeply invested in digital and we are honored to be recognized for our innovation in delivering stellar customer experiences.”

“CSS Corp reaffirms its commitment to using emerging technologies to create high-quality, personalized customer experiences. We continue to make significant investments in Cognitive Customer Experience Platform industry-specific solutions in telecom, media, technology, retail, and CPG industries. It has been very well-received by our clients, industry analysts, and thought leaders as a way to drive growth, agility, and enterprise transformation. It is indeed a proud moment for all of us to receive this award,” said Sunil Mittal, EVP, and Chief Sales and Marketing Officer.

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