Jehan Ara, President of P@SHA speaks with Anwar Kazi, the COO along with Sulaiman Farooqi, SVP and Head of Global Sales Ops at Sybrid. Take a listen!
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- Posted on 10.5.09
- Featured, In The Line of Wire
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28 Responses to “ITLOW Ep 58 with Sybrid”
Nadeem Ahsan,
In reply to your questions, the impressive aspects of Sybrid begin with their lifecycle approach to product/service planning and implementation. This includes identifying competitive advantages that they can bring to the market. It also includes leading from the front, which not all organizations are known for. Last but not least, they bring a strong focus on skills training and quality assurance.
It would not be true, as you asserted, to say that I gained exclusive access. I’ve arranged and run similar BPO and voice programs from facilities in India and currently manage IP (intellectual property) that directly competes with Sybrid’s offerings. When your competitors respect and endorse you – that is an achievement.
In reply to your question about headcount, I recall this being discussed in the video interview above.
For future queries, I would first recommend gaining a better understanding of the industry, so as to forestall the self-inflicted embarrassments suffered above. Gaining such understanding can be accomplished without engaging in an adversarial, confrontational or accusatory approach.
The other contributors to the discussion above, as with the Sybrid managers who appear in the video — we are all professionals. We deserve to be treated as such.
Okay, let me ask the questions in this way. What are the operations of Sybrid that have impressed you? How did you alone get exclusive access to their operations? Why not people like us?
If they cannot disclose revenues, why not at the least share the number of employees working in the company? It is a HR disclosure rather than a accounting disclosure and I don’t think that should be a problem.
Nadeem Ahsan,
In reply to your question about a relationship with Sybrid, the answer is ‘none.’ But I recognize a good operation when I see one.
In regard to disclosure of revenues, I stand by my previous statements that private companies do not normally disclose revenues publicly. Disclosures, if they occur, are often governed by confidentiality agreements.
There are two such agreements that I commonly employ to restrict disclosures of revenues, client/vendor identities and contract terms. One agreement contains heavy hammer provisions in the event that unauthorized releases of information are made.
Public companies often maintain similar disclosure prohibitions for revenue amounts, client relationships and contract terms.
The reason that publicly held companies disclose overall revenues is because their stocks (and often bonds too) are publicly traded. In the interest of reducing risks for investors and to promote equity in stock markets, governments maintain rules and accounting guidelines for releasing revenue numbers and revenue forecasts. Those rules still exist for private companies, minus the requirement that revenue numbers be released.
The absence of disclosures by private companies has spawned a niche industry in due diligence and credit ratings. Most due diligence and credit rating work is outsourced to third parties. The need for global talent for ratings work helped launch the outsourcing boom in India. The second commercial (merchant) call centre in that country undertook ratings service work as their primary specialty.
Some markets for outsourcing services are largely created by government requirements that businesses undertake certain activities. In the case of due diligence and credit rating services, these outsourcing specialties are fueled by the absence of government mandates.
It’s hard to argue your point in the face of an entire industry created and maintained to serve the opposite purpose. It earns good money for a lot of good people.
Suleiman, What is your email address? Let me contact you privately.
I never meant to say full time teachers and I apologize if I had not been clear with my words
Nadeem Sahab mentoring is what i meant and the more people can come up and offer to help young people the better.
Syed Talha Sahib,
I fully concur with Rabia Sahiba. We cannot be expected to create the right kind of environment for our youth. That is the role of Government, educational institutions, research institutes and the like. We may be able to volunteer our time for mentoring, but even that should be on a case by case basis. I have a full-time job and a family as well.
I did not mean to be rude.
@Talha – I think Nadeem sahab is just looking for a simple answer to a question he posed to Sybrid a few weeks ago – As for your conversation thread with him, I fear we’re quickly tumbling down the path of “bickering with no resolve in sight”. With all due respect to you, I don’t think you are the origin of his frustration in this specific thread..
But since you brought it up, perhaps you can explain to Nadeem sahab what ecosystem you feel will be sustainable without the benefit of being incubated within the four walls (and years) of an educational institution. Students interact amongst one another and with, what is hoped to be the guiding forces for any industry, within their universities. Intellectual capital that is fed to the students is actually the responsibility of the industry – the university is nothing more than an incubating ground..
Asking the industry to play full time teachers simply cannot be a sustainable model unless you involve the more pertinent stakeholders.. Mentors, as you must have also experienced, cannot be available full time.. The support system you are talking about has to be initiated with the assistance of the institution..
Keeping this in mind, what do you suggest?
@Nadeem Sahab: You sure do like to criticize..
Jehan – I have been screaming at the top of my voice for the past weeks to find out how much revenue this company earns and I am sorry to report that there are no answers. A gentleman by the name of Anthony Mitchell appears from nowhere and tells me that it is sin to report revenues because competitors can figure out the margins of Cybrid. And not only that, he showers effusive praise on the COO!. If the man deserves such praise, he should at least a degree of courage to answer these questions. I don’t know what to make of this. Why can’t these people answer these simple questions? Is it so difficult?
Is it not your job to ask these questions? When will you stop doing happy talk on your show?
There are management schools for these people to seek professional management skills and there are companies to gain experience. What environment can I create that cannot be created by institutions that already exist around us.
Just don’t waste my time. You are giving me the same folksy inanities that we often see spouted on ‘In the Line of Wire’.
Yes I can. If you know that there is a lacking in the Pakistani kids then you also know what is the lacking. This is where I suggested that you should get involved with other IT professionals to ensure that our young minds don’t lack the intellect. I am sure when you are criticizing such people, you definitely don’t criticize subjectively but you are being objective and that’s exactly what I want to see people doing.
Helping young passionate minds become better professionals. Once we are doing this, the environment will be built.
What do you mean by ‘create an environment’? What does it encompass? Can you be more specific?
@Nadeem Sahab,Eric Schmidt joined google once he saw potential in the company founded by two YOUNG boys. Point is either we provide our young middle class kids the same environment to grow their intellectual abilities similar to the kids in US as per you said or we encourage the kids in Pakistan who have the similar enthusiasm and passion.
Providing the same environment is not only the responsibility of the educationists but also the responsibility of people in this profession.
Instead of criticizing or comparing these young boys with others, why not coming forward and try and create an environment where you, myself and others can help young minds get nurtured. What do you say Nadeem Sahab? Up for it.
Mr.Mitchell, I don’t buy this argument that disclosing revenues somehow makes you uncompetitive. By the same token, why do we force public cos to disclose their quarterly financials.
Coming from America, you should know this. Even the smallest software company in the U.S. or India disclose revenues (even if they are private in many cases). If you cannot disclose what you do for your clients, it means one of two things. Either you do not have any clients or you are too shameful of disclosing the low end work you do for them. I am not asking for margins. Why can’t they disclose revenues, so I have some kind of a benchmark to evaluate these companies that are springing up dime by dozen everyday.
In the name of full disclosure, can you spell out the true nature of your current relationship with Sybird
Syed Sahib,
By the time they are 15 years old, most American middle class kids demonstrate enormous intellectual maturity. Our kids are nowhere close to exhibiting such maturity. Their folksy style of interacting with the host on this show is a testimony to their immature upbringing. What you say is right about Facebook and Google. But even the two founders of Google needed an Eric Schmidt from SUN to steer the ship after Google started on the growth path.
Regarding revenue numbers, there may be confidentiality agreements barring their release, along with identification of specific clients.
Why? You don’t want your clients knowing too much about your margins and other financial data because this can interfere with client relationships.
Conversely, smart outsourcing clients often bar the public disclosure of specific outsourcing arrangements in order to protect themselves and their competitive positions.
Regarding the management team at Sybrid, I’m not sure you could find a better COO than Anwar Kazi in any destination, onshore or offshore. He’s truly world class – and a great role model — at least for me. I’ve known him for five years and am continually being impressed.
His statements here about the need to understand quality delivery reflect tremendous efforts spent to build and maintain quality systems and total quality management.
Hopefully the Sybrid team can be featured again on CIO Pakistan, perhaps discussing the impacts of IT/ITeS corporate culture on workforce development and professionalism.
Sybrid and its larger corporate group are helping to usher in major changes in society as a whole. Let’s pause for a moment to reflect on those changes and their significance. As Anwar Kazi stated above, those changes include new approaches to time management, personal presentation, and an understanding of quality.
Nadeem Sahab just one objection, you said “I bother because many of the people who appear on the show as COOs and CEOs will not even qualify as managers in the USA.”
Do explain what do you mean by this? In US an 18 year old boy started facebook, two friends started google who definitely were not qualified to become managers in the US I believe. I can give 100 examples of people under 30 or under 25 who arent qualified to become managers but have been driven by their passion and have achieved more.
Suleiman,
When are you going to respond?
Hi Suleiman,
Thanks for the offer to ask questions. I appreciate that gesture very much. But taking a dig at me and commenting about my computer connection was quite unnecessary.
Anyway, here are a few questions that I hope are not too difficult or time consuming to answer.
1. How many employees do you have?
2. What are your yearly revenues?
3. How many clients do you have?
4. How many clients do you have in health care in the U.S.?
5. How long have you been in business?
6. How long did it take to start your business?
7. Does it help or hurt to be part of a large group with interests in businesses other than IT?
8. What are your future plans? (no specifics necessary)
@Nadeem Ahsan, Oh my God! That’s the first useful thing that your keyboard has probably typed onto the site. I’m thrilled you care and that you continue to make your way through the pages here.
Let me not be the smart ass and question whether you were referring to your own comments or mine as the ‘flippant’ ones, here’s my take off on your comment above:
Believe it or not, we all care. That’s why we’re here and take time to do whatever it is that each of us do. My only concern, which I voiced out in my previous comment to you, remains – rather than turning a company into the laughing stock of an already abbreviated industry, will it not make more sense to be a bit more “wholly” critical about it? These forums are public. Public means that there are plenty of people who come ONLY to read how we jump at each other’s throats and then sit back to watch and laugh at the failure of our colleagues.
As moderator of this portal, I have two choices: either I spam your comments and never publish them, which I consider to be a grave injustice or two, I poke you until I get a compassionate response as the one you have emitted.
A patriotic spirit is a little useless if we don’t emit the same spirit in our every whim. It’s certainly not just about singing a national song on the 14th of August. If you can’t be a team player and make your colleagues and your competition better in the other 364 days, we really need to rethink about priorities.
With all due respect Nadeem sahab, I would expect someone of your caliber to ask the tough questions to the interviewees in case Jehan Ara or other hosts don’t. It’s part of our responsibility to showcase the industry and bring it forward – the responsibility of the community is to hold companies accountable. Accountable for specifics and not call them idiots and morons just because they make a comment after being slightly nervous on camera.
The comment about CEOs, that, I’d imagine is the case for any country. We all know that the management is worth nothing unless they have the requisite talent to help them prove their mettle. Executives talk well and bring in some money and provide a bit of leadership. They aren’t supposed to be qualified as managers or anyone else. Our younger lot, however, has proved themselves consistently in more enabling ecosystems.
As for our neighbors, the ones who are slipping AND the ones who are growing, you know very well that the local landscape is a bit more complicated and unrelated to the business horizon. If you have solutions to offer, for God’s sakes, please share them.
Thank you and Godspeed
@Nadeem Ahsan, @ Nadeem, i think you need to watch this interview again to get your answers, i would highly recommend to use a better computer with fast internet connection
if you fail to get your answers, please email your questions and i am happy to answer them. Good Luck!
I bother because I care about Pakistan’s emerging and nascent IT industry. I bother because after years of promise amidst peril and astonishingly mindless missteps, we seem to be finally on the runway. I bother because while we are still struggling with 60 people IT shops, a neighbor of ours is prowling the world and growing at unbelievable rates in IT. (I actually meant China not the other country which is often in the news whose industry has actually been decelerating lately). I bother because many of the people who appear on the show as COOs and CEOs will not even qualify as managers in the USA. Finally, I bother because instead of making flippant remarks, I care about our country.
Point taken! So – Why DO you bother?
Your opinion about my lack of knowledge or expertise is certainly something you are entitled to. However, I suggest you listen to the interviews and comment on facts. The ‘idea’ for the company was something that the Lakson Group started talking about 2 years ago NOT 7 years ago. It was funded by the Lakson Group and they tested the market by outsourcing some of the internal functions of the Group companies to Sybrid.
Anwar is the COO. The CEO is Mr. Iqbal Lakhani who is an experienced entrepreneur and businessman. All this is in the interview if you listen to it.
If I can ask my questions to these companies, why should I even bother watching these interviews on Web Studio? And is it even practical for someone like me in the audience to pose questions individually to each one of these companies? I expect you and Jehan to ask those tough questions. Is that not the role of business reporters and journalists like you? Is that not why you are being paid for? We cannot be sitting ducks while people coming on the show ramble inanities without ever being challenged.
When a CEO talks candidly about taking 7 years to start a company, I would question if he is running a company at all. Shouldn’t the next logical questions be about how they funded the company during this period? Who funded them? How did they make a living? Why do they go unchallenged?
Let me be very frank and direct in my feedback. Unless we ask the tough questions to our CEOs, none of these interview sessions will mean much to anyone other than interludes in happy talk. Showing respect and showering encomiums on our CEOs is good, but flattery is plain wrong which is what goes on most of the time during Jehan’s interviews.
@Nadeem Ahsan, I think Jehan Ara is experienced enough to prepare for her own interviews – Judging from your comments, you seem very unfamiliar with a lot of the people and organizations featured here. Since I can’t think of someone who knows these companies better, I obviously don’t want to open my mouth and insert my foot in it more often than I already do.
The forums are open for you to ask all the pointed questions you want. Rather than putting Jehan Ara in the line of fire, you might want to try asking the company yourself.
Looking forward to the rebut!
Rabia – Do you work with Jehan to prepare her for these interviews? Do you have a list of prepared questions prior to the interview? More often than not, in the name of encouraging freewheeling discussions, people just ramble on and on… there is no head or tail to the overall interview. People never get challenged when they say ridiculous things like they spent 7 years to start a company?
I should say this was a pretty disappointing interview. These guys are too ‘raw’ to approach opportunities in the global outsourcing industry. They need more grown ups in their ranks.
What outsourcing are they doing in Baluchistan? Should they not be focused on their U.S. JV?
How much revenue comes from Healthcare focus? They never discussed that.
They took a lot of time starting their co?? 7 years to start a company??. My gosh! Can we all have that kind of time? 7 years to ensure Quality delivery!! Who funded them during this period? Does this qualify as a generic third world problem?
This company needs a more than seasoned CEO to scale up. I don’t think these kids can do it.
Can someone explain how industries boom during a recession?? Anwar, you owe us an explanation.
Suleiman, 10 Million people below the age of 5 have a Bachelor’s degree in Pakistan?
Anwar, please let Sulaiman complete his sentences. Also, why are you so obsessed with the concept of the third world?
Jehan and Rabia – Good work again!