Making of the Complete CEO: Naseer Akhtar

Some roles suit certain people more than others. But seldom do you get the opportunity to watch a role become a person where when you, the casual observer, think of a specific designation, that professional comes to mind. Any company would be fortunate to have a CEO fit that kind of a profile. And that’s precisely the reason why Naseer Akhtar, President and CEO of InfoTech Group, is on the cover of the Feb 2010 issue of CEO Pakistan.

Established in 1995, InfoTech is a force to be reckoned with. A recognized market leader in Business & Information Management Consulting, Technology Solutions Provisioning, Systems Integration and Outsourcing Services, the company has aspirations to grow into a global company and has been working hard to streamline its operations and align its strategies with its long term objectives. For the past several years like a lot of companies, InfoTech has also been trying to break the barriers representing Pakistan in a number of regions and keep strengthening its track record. One of the biggest successes of the company was the landmark, World Bank funded project they were selected for: the Ghana Stock Exchange.

InfoTech was in the running with the likes of Tata Consulting and MIT from Sri Lanka and won. That was the first step in altering the perception the Enterprise space had for a Pakistani Systems Integrator. Their already underway with their e-Ghana project that has a total networth of $62million, spread across a consortium of three global companies. “This is a project that enables us to consolidate all taxes into one, single integrated tax system. It involves citizen services delivery through portals, business process reengineering and the works. My only disappointment here is this – we can do this for another country and have had no success in convincing the CBR to do the same project. And we’ve been submitting RFPs for the past 10 years on it.”

But as with every visionary that leads an entire community forward, Naseer expresses a sentiment shared by the others who have worked with Pakistan. “The potential in Pakistan is huge. If you can believe in the vision, you will work very hard to realize it and bring it to life.” But if you expect a tangible, realistic return on your intangible investment, then you need to develop a focus.

And he’d know something about being persistent and exercising patience. Naseer was the first in his family to not inherit his profession. Moving away from generations of Civil Service, Naseer wanted to make something of himself and take on the world. Through his understanding of business and infatuation with taking on challenges, he chose to walk down the road less traveled. “I don’t know why people don’t have faith in the Pakistani brand. There is a ready market of 170 million people to serve and generate talent from. It’s all here.” And all we lack, perhaps, is sustainable leadership to inspire an entire workforce.

Naseer readily taps into his experience of 22 years and shares when he made the shift in mindset. “When we started out, we were doing everything. And while that works while you are trying to find your ground, you need to pull in and start investing into focused areas. Doing a little bit of everything and little bit of everywhere simply doesn’t work in the long run. We needed clear focus into identifying our industry, along with focus on targeting market segments to get a better understand of the size, nature and type of our customers.”

A focused understanding of their market helped them to figure out how to deploy their resources to more effectively service the needs of their customers. “Like many companies, we were just spread out too thin. We did everything we could find in the first 10 years of business.” And then Naseer took a step back and spent two years conducting a critical self-assessment. “From 1995 to 1997, I began to plan what it would take if I wanted InfoTech to be an industry leader. I envisioned us to be a true system integrator. Not just a software development house, hardware retail shop or a network vendor but a System Integrator who could handle enterprise-level customers.”

Accountability in Growth

The speed at which technology helps businesses to operate, is a lot faster than time it takes to evolve into something significant. As the saying goes, ‘the revolution that IT brings is so much more fast-paced than the evolution it took to get the technology in place.’ And like most instances of Business Process Reengineering, it’s the quality of planning that will help to assess how good the eventual strategy is. After all, good strategies are created. Great strategies, however, are marinated and then created.

“Of course there have been road blocks that we’ve had to overcome like any other business but I think we picked up the Enterprise segment very early on. That helped us steer our course.”

Naseer’s goal, he says, is to do valuable work. “The kind of work that Enterprise-level companies roll out and do it for organizations in Pakistan, unfortunately local projects have an inherent problem of size. But given what exists, I think we have executed some of the largest projects available in Pakistan in terms of value, challenge and complexity. And servicing the local market becomes a confidence booster for any company.”

Along with vision, you need numbers. “I have seen some great companies come up and then fail because they tried to grow too quickly and on their own. Take an earlier System Integrator organization that failed. I thought it was brilliant, but if you take a closer look at one of their failings, it was that they didn’t collaborate.” True success and safety can only be realized in numbers. In Naseer’s experience, if you want to service larger customers, you have to be big. “Big doesn’t refer to only the size of your company – that’s where collaborative forces come into the picture.”

Very few service providers in Pakistan grow beyond a 200 person strength. The transition from small to medium is challenging enough in terms of capital and operating efficiency. Naseer points out the need for companies to merge resources in order to increase services, which will ultimately bring in more revenue. “There is a serious trust deficit that has to be dealt with. We’ve got too many small companies and there is great possibility and potential for sharing resources to increase operational capacity and outreach. Collaborations that enable client needs to be serviced in depth and breadth.”

Speaking of size, Naseer has been one of the biggest advocates of working to not just build capacity within organizations, but also expand the influence it has. While it might be a given that companies have limited IT spend, is it really driving the amount of business transaction an organization is capable of?

“That is a big problem and I don’t think it’s being addressed by enough people. There is an inherent gap between IT Budget versus IT Spend. Take a look at Government as an example. Government is a major spender whether it is technology or other development expenditure. There is always such discrepancy between reported figures and what is really being invested. The Ministry of IT, for example, had a budget of Rs.700 million for e-Government. That’s a little less than $10million. Three months later, the budget was revised to half where the figure stood at Rs.340 million, but actually only spent Rs.60million. That’s less than $1million in a year! Does a million dollars justify commitment of any organization to a longterm cause like e-Government?”

Naseer goes onto ask another set of pointed questions. “How can you create capacity unless you spend? The resultant output can only be as meaningful as the investment you make. In this case, if one of the largest institutions are not helping to stimulate the economy, then the result on this investment will be very stagnant. I think the same mindset is cultivated in private enterprise. The amount that is realistically budgeted is not the same that is spent.” He goes on to give examples of leading organizations. “The IT Budget for any of the leading banks, another large IT spender after Government and Telco. It’s shocking to see that the average IT Budget accounts for less than 10% of the bank’s total budget. If the realization that technology can actually improve the quality of service, time of delivery and optimize costs, then how can we expect to grow? People don’t realize the benefit of spending and the return that investment will bring.”

He recounts a time when he engaged with a financial institution CIO who negotiated their core banking system for less than a million dollars. “Negotiation is a great tactic, but when you throw peanuts, you attract monkeys.” But to be fair, it could also be argued that the enterprise space in Pakistan feels that they aren’t going to get the value from local service providers. Is, for example, the Pakistani enterprise service provider, mature enough to handle larger budgets and more complex work?

“I don’t agree. The market is mature and people are intelligent. The only thing we lack is the inability to reach a consensus and everyone enjoys working in isolation. But that is part of our social fabric and like many other things, will eventually change.

Yes! Size Does Matter!

One of the first stages of growing up is taking ownership of your actions. “If we’re not growing, we’re not thinking big enough, and we have nobody to blame but ourselves for that. We are too possessive with all that we run. If we keep holding onto what we make, how will we ever be able to share it with others?” Mergers and acquisitions are a regular part of business lifecycle. “If more than one person can dream the bigger picture, the growth will take place automatically.”

And while you’re thinking it, while we’re talking about visionary leadership and growing the resource base of organizations, we also dove into the discussion of who’s responsibility business incubation was. According to Naseer, companies need to play a more proactive role in the lives of students. “More than finances, students need support. Mentoring. The ability to confidently communicate an idea and resolve a difference. These real life skills are what CEOs need to help with.”

Incubation is not about giving someone seed money and waiting for them to grow. “They need to be nurtured and challenged. More than anything, they need to be trained. This ignorance that increases the void between the industry and academia is what is going to continue to be our lacking. Students should be required to spend at least one year at a company as part of their graduation requirement. How else will you manage the transition from university to workforce?

Looking Ahead

They’ve got a long way to go. Naseer is constantly evaluating success. “I calculate everything and the combined impact it has on every single person. I see a lot more growth providing we continue to focus on the fundamentals of business.” And the fundamentals Naseer is talking about include ensuring that his people are happy and he is able to partner with like-minded people. His growth plans include the ability to continue generating their own capital. “Companies like InfoTech needs work. We don’t take money or investments from others.”

The growth, he says, will remain organic in nature. “I am currently in discussions with a few companies to acquire them and reshape them into something bigger. Cumulatively, we should be crossing the $100million mark by 2015.”

Naseer Akhtar is a complete CEO. Not only does he have a vision, he has a plan to make it happen… completely.

For more details, please visit the company online at infotech.com.pk