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Winning on the corporate battlefield

A merger is one of the toughest phases for an organisation. It has taken a battle-hardened Brigadier to handle four mergers in seven years with aplomb. Srinivasa Rao Dasari profiles Parmindar S Miglani, the managing director of Keane India Parmindar S Miglani was a Brigadier in the Indian Army who took part in two wars (between India and Pakistan), in 1965 and 1971. In the corporate world, however, he has won many more battles. The company has witnessed four mergers in the last seven years, with Miglani at the helm of affairs to successfully see it through each transition.

The soft-spoken Brigadier is a man of strong principles and has been the driving force behind Keane India. For a man who has seen success in the Army as well as the corporate world in equal measure, Miglani believes that discipline and planning are important factors when you are making a mark in the business world as well as while fighting for one’s country. “To find the solution to a problem it is first necessary to understand the problem, identify its reasons and then explore ways to address them. Finally, the solution we implement should totally be under our control, only then can we solve the problem,” he says. This is possibly the reason why there was little impact on the performance of the company during the mergers.

Miglani was born in Khurianwala village near Lahore and his family migrated to Punjab when he was four. At the age of 14, soon after he completed his matriculation, he joined the National Defence Academy (NDA) in 1958. He holds a Masters in Defence Studies and has also participated in a number of management programmes. His service of more than three decades in the army taught him everything about life, organising things and leading people. After serving the defence services for 32 years, he opted for premature retirement.

Handling mergers

On account of personal reasons, he had opted for premature retirement from the Army and went to the US in 1994 where he joined an IT company called Business Management Data (BMD). Here he handled international affairs as a vice president spearheading the company’s expansion plans that included setting up a centre in New Delhi. He initiated operations of the new centre in a record 40 days; it was later shifted to Noida. The Noida-based centre of BMD and Hyderabad-based Sriven, got merged with Metamor in 1997. The M&A activity continued as PSI Net acquired these units in 2000, followed by a merger with SignalTree Solutions in 2001, and with Keane Inc in 2002.

“Usually, mergers take a toll on the performance of any company, but there was no impact on us. We were growing and expanding during the merger. There was no change in management in the US and Indian operations. We have not lost a single customer. In fact we acquired new customers. There was no change in processes. This boosted confidence levels among employees. We had taken measure such as maintaining healthy relationships with employees, and ensuring proper communication with them. We shared every bit of information with them. Every merger was adding value to the company and further strengthening it, this automatically resulted in building confidence. We did not lose our focus during the mergers,” he says.

Leadership skills

Miglani started his corporate career as vice president in 1996 and quickly reached the top slot through his skills as a manager and leader. He became the deputy managing director (operations) in 1997 and managing director in 1999. Now, Keane India has three centres in India, at Hyderabad, Noida and Gurgaon. It has also set up a software training school called Keane School of Excellence at the International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) in Hyderabad.

“I learnt a lot from the army. It gave me discipline, determination, organisational management skills and leadership qualities. I was involved in every section irrespective of hierarchy in the system. I handled many programmes and training sessions, including competitive courses training. I used to think in both ways—from the staff angle and also the management side—so that planning and execution would be simpler. The corporate world is different from the army, where we have structured programmes. Wars are rare, but here [in the corporate world], we encounter challenging situations everyday. We get mails around the clock from different time zones. My plus point is that I could imbibe new culture and adapt quickly. That is the reason why I settled down within a short span of time. Since technology is an ever-changing factor, learning on-the-job is essential for everyone and it should be a continuous process,” says Miglani.

Other interests

Miglani has always believed in living life to the fullest. So. apart from work, he makes it a point to find time for things he enjoys the most. “I am a good racquet sports player and fond of music and watching TV. I play squash, badminton, and tennis whenever I find time. As part of our social responsibility, we help blind students. We look after children of employees and motivate employees to take part in social service. He gives equal importance to organisational growth and welfare of employees by driving Keane to move up the value chain and incorporating strong HR practices in the company.