It now handles 35% of work of US-based Sears Holdings Corporation.
United States-based Sears Holdings Corporation (SHC) is planning to move its entire information technology (IT)-related research and development activities to its Pune-based captive company, Sears India.
Sears India, which started its operations in December 2009, provides technology solutions and retail business process automation solutions to support all business units within SHC, which is ranked as the fourth-largest broadline retailer in North America and listed as a US Fortune 50 and Global Fortune 200 enterprise.
“At present Sears India handles 35% of the total IT needs of SHC, including application developments, support, testing facilities, proof-of-concept labs and software product development. SHC is now planning to have the entire development and research activities, along with support and maintenance activities, moved to Sears India within the next two years,” said the chief executive officer (CEO) of Sears India, Alok Kumar.
Kumar, a senior IT management expert who has worked with Reliance Industries, attributed the phenomenal success of Sears India to several factors. “We created a high degree of trust between US and India operations by means of regular visits by the stakeholders from the US and holding discussions that enabled us to meet targets. Unlike many other captives that charge on headcount, Sears India kept work content as the benchmark for making estimations,” Kumar said.
In just nine months after it began operations, Sears India management has been able to not only break even but also save 30% more than the target with a workforce of 30% less than that was required for its operations.
“Normally the benchmark of the captive companies in India of our size takes three to five years to break even since initially most of the captives start with low value work. But we in Sears India focused on high value work, which generates more business revenue and is core to the business success,” explained Kumar.
Sears India has 600 employees, which is likely to go up to 1,100 by the end of next year, said head of human resources and corporate communication, Santosh Panicker..
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