|
WORK CULTURE
Keystone: dil hai Hindustani
Keystone Solutions is proud of its American working style,
but Sudipta Dev finds it still has an Indian heart
As an organisation, Keystone Solutions takes great pride in its typical American
culture—its informal atmosphere and lack of hierarchy. However, when it
comes to celebration time, the culture is as Indian as can be. Because a major
Indian festival comes along almost every month, the office often wears a festive
look complete with festoons, streamers and flowers. Employees come to office
wearing traditional clothes suited to the occasion, and celebrate with their
extended family in the office. The joie de vivre of the day makes them keenly
await the momentous occasion of the next month.
Keystone is a fully-owned subsidiary of the US-based Systems Task Group (STG).
“Our company operates high up the value chain in the IT services industry,
and is driven and recognised by the intellectual property that we own—Renaissance,
a P&C Insurance ERP product,” says Dilip Dongre, executive vice-president
of the company.
He adds that unlike a generic IT services company, STG/Keystone is recognised
by the value and insurance expertise that it brings to the table, not by low-cost
technical skills or the CMM quality tag.
Clear value system
Keystone has its value system clearly spelled out, and takes great pride in
it. The main features are:
- Respecting the individual
- Cohesive teamwork
- Integrity and honesty
- Knowledge sharing
- Enduring relationships
“We pick people with various competencies and form teams.
There is close networking within the teams, which are also flexible,” informs
Sandra Vijayendran, Keystone’s vice-president of HR. This flexibility is
also apparent in other areas. At Keystone the work is a typical mix of onsite
and offshore, with as many as 80 of its 360 employees working in the US at any
given point of time. However, the company makes an effort to ensure that people
are not away from their homes for long so that they get the best of both worlds.
Then there is the flexible working-hours policy—as long as the work gets
done.
The salaries offered by the organisation are high by industry standards. The
company has a major market in the US (24 clients), and is now targeting Europe.
Some of the big names of the American insurance sector use the Renaissance product,
including GMAC (General Motors Acceptance Corp), GAIC (Great American Insurance
Company), and the Ford Motor Company’s insurance division. One of the most
notable success stories is that almost the entire fleet of taxis in New York
runs its products. These clients provide the company revenue year after year
through the annual maintenance contract. The company operates in a product-led,
technology-driven and customer-focused paradigm.
Key group
The attrition rate in the company hovers around the industry average of 18-20
percent, but this is mostly at the junior level, with people who have not completed
a year in the organisation, or those who are not yet sure whether they want
a career in the insurance space. As far as the key human resources in the company
are concerned, the attrition level is very low. “We allocate our people
to specific groups based on their experience and expertise. We classify the
insurance/functional skills into categories such as ‘black belts’
and ‘brown belts’ based on criteria like domain knowledge, customer-facing
ability, gap analysis and estimation, ability to deliver with the least supervision,
teamwork and communication skills,” says Dongre. The company currently
has 11 ‘black belts’ and 20 ‘brown belts.’
This apart, a number of high-potential candidates are assigned to the ‘black
belts’ as understudies. This shadow level gets on-the-job training while
working with the crème de la crème in the organisation. “We
encourage the concept of mentoring, and it takes place across all parameters,
be it work-related or attitudinal or work-culture based. It’s all about
holistic mentoring,” adds Dongre.
Career tracks
The organisation offers a clear-cut career path to its staff. The two streams
are project management and the functional domain. Flexibility is allowed for
cross movement from functional to project management and visa versa. Informs
Dongre, “A functional resource could build his career path across competencies
such as billing, policy and claims, and later graduate to more holistic and
macro-level functional competencies in the insurance domain. Besides, one can
opt for a bi-continental career path and acquire skills such as customer-facing
as well as back-office delivery skills.”
Training focus
The training sessions range from advanced technical training
to high-end insurance domain knowledge, Renaissance product training, and soft
skills programmes. “Since ours is a niche product for the Property &
Casualty Insurance vertical, knowledge of the domain becomes important. Soft
skills training grooms Keystonians to work in overseas markets with the focus
being on etiquette, communication, personal grooming and ethnic alignment,”
states Vijayendran.
Unique HR initiatives
One of the highlights at Keystone is the month-end bash. Interactive events
are organised at these gatherings which are attended by all Keystonians. The
aim is to get newcomers into the thick of things by breaking the ice, bridging
hierarchies and bringing talent into the limelight.
Cultural events are celebrated in the organisation with great fanfare. “During
festivals such as Onam, the South Indians had decorated the office with the
traditional flower rangolis and wore their traditional outfits. During the recent
Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations, the office looked a lively place full of colour
and joy,” says Dongre. The men wore traditional turbans and kurtas, and
the ladies came decked up in beautiful sarees. A Keystonian couple performed
aarti of Lord Ganesh.
Clearly, while the company is quite American in its working style, at heart
it remains Indian.
sudipta@expresscomputeronline.com
|
