Naresha Supramaniam – APAC Business Head and Sri Lanka Country Head of Virtusa – shares insights into successfully navigating a challenging economy, harnessing growth opportunities and building a secure future.
Virtusa is a leading global firm headquartered in the US and has roots in Sri Lanka. It boasts a team of over 40,000 highly skilled tech professionals possessing deep industry expertise. With a presence in over 25 offices across the globe, including the US, Europe, South and East Asia, and Australia, Virtusa is a strategic partner for global companies, providing digital strategy, digital engineering, and IT services and solutions to drive their growth and success in the ever-evolving business landscape. Its client base includes renowned companies listed on Forbes’ Global 2000, spanning sectors such as banking and financial services, communications, consumer packaged goods, healthcare, life sciences, manufacturing, media and entertainment, retail, transportation and logistics, and independent software vendors.
With Sri Lanka at a crossroads needing urgent shifts – in attitudes, policy and more – Supramaniam begins this interview by delving into the changes he would like to see, drawing from his experiences with Virtusa:
I believe Virtusa and other companies in the tech industry are a testament to the attitudes and vision needed to overcome challenges and achieve greatness; the ingredients – with collective effort – we need for Sri Lanka to turn around its fortunes.
Despite the challenging circumstances, Sri Lanka’s tech industry has performed remarkably well, demonstrating its depth and resilience. At Virtusa, for instance, we provide round-the-clock support to numerous Tier 1 institutions globally, ensuring the seamless operation of their business-critical platforms. Even in the face of numerous challenges, we have successfully maintained zero impact on these clients, an achievement made possible through proactive communication, stringent Business Continuity Planning, and the establishment of rapid response units.
The entire industry has experienced similar success stories. There was minimal-to-no disruption to clients operating out of Sri Lanka. This message has been extremely well-received, and our clients have explicitly expressed their increased confidence in placing work in Sri Lanka, thanks to how we effectively navigated the uncertainty, further bolstering the country’s reputation as a trusted outsourcing destination.
These achievements highlight the potential for Sri Lanka to transform itself into a hub for tech innovation and service excellence. By fostering a culture of resilience, adaptability, and proactive problem-solving, Sri Lanka can attract more businesses and opportunities in the tech industry, driving economic growth and positively impacting the development trajectory. I mentioned the importance of proactive communication to Virtusa. Similarly, Sri Lanka needs to establish policy certainty and clarity to engineer a robust economic transformation that would lead to greater investor confidence and growth, so that is another change I would like to see.
What are some of the factors and challenges shaping the future and how are you dealing with these and unlocking opportunities?
In response to the prevailing crisis, as a multinational organization with a presence in over 25 countries, we took decisive action to ensure operational continuity and prioritize the well-being of our employees. This involved implementing robust Business Continuity Plans, fostering open communication, and establishing sustainable remote work solutions. The company also supported employees’ psychological well-being through financial and relief packages, advisory services, outreach initiatives, and counselling when needed. Drawing on the expertise of our international board, we made informed decisions to sustain operations and maintain a strong foundation for growth and resilience. Through these proactive measures, Virtusa successfully navigated the challenges and remained committed to its employees and the sustainability of its operations.
What is the secret behind Virtusa’s successes in building, sustaining and growing a successful global tech company out of Sri Lanka?
At Virtusa, we firmly believe that our people are our greatest strength. As a multibillion-dollar organization, our workforce has the opportunity to engage in complex programs for Fortune 100/500 companies. This exposes them to high-quality interactions and work of a nature and complexity that smaller organizations typically do not encounter. Consequently, our workforce gains multifaceted talent through invaluable experience and mentorship. We further bolster this by placing a strong emphasis on training, certification, and upskilling. In the local context, it is rare to find as many opportunities to grow and gain international exposure as we provide.
We encourage our employees to prioritize personal investment in themselves, their experiences, and their skillsets over short-term monetary rewards. We liken building a career to constructing a house: the stronger and deeper the foundation, the higher the building can rise. Therefore, we insist that our employees focus on building a robust, multi-tenanted foundation.
Additionally, we strive to instil other key attributes in our people, such as confidence, fearlessness in the face of failure, and comfort with conflict. By focusing on developing our people and nurturing their confidence, resilience, and ability to embrace conflict, we create a workforce that is equipped to tackle challenges and innovation at a global scale and reach their full potential. It is this dedication to our people and their growth that sets Virtusa apart and contributes to our ongoing success as an organization.
What do you envision for the future, and what are your growth plans?
As a fast-growing company with nearly 40,000 employees, including 3,000+ based in Sri Lanka, we have always maintained an aggressive approach. Our vision is to accelerate the growth of our operations in Sri Lanka even faster than our overall corporate growth rate. To achieve this, our board has provided a clear mandate and is ready to invest the necessary resources.
We firmly believe that Sri Lanka is uniquely positioned to cater to the increasing digital demand, spanning areas such as Cloud computing, Data analytics, Data on Cloud, Artificial Intelligence, and more. These crucial skill sets will be incubated and fostered within the country, allowing us to leverage Sri Lanka’s strengths and capabilities to meet the evolving needs of the digital era.
By focusing on expanding our presence in Sri Lanka and capitalizing on the opportunities presented by digital transformation, we aim to position the country as a hub for cutting-edge digital services. Our commitment to nurturing talent, developing expertise, and investing in the necessary infrastructure aligns with our long-term vision for Sri Lanka’s growth and ambitions to become a global technological hub.