Gautam Aggarwal: Leading The Way Through Strategic & Innovative Leadership Techniques
Gautam Aggarwal
Chief HR Officer
Gautam stepped into the HR leadership role at a very early age. In the initial years of his career, he received exciting opportunities in leadership roles that demanded a lot of energy, knowledge, and agility. He has served HR leadership roles with large conglomerates like Reliance Group, Wrigley’s, and DSM before he joined BLS International. With a niche focus on the HR domain, Gautam today reminisces 20 years in the corporate world. Working across different industry verticals viz telecom, engineering/ power, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, and the services, has widened his horizon both as a professional and an individual.
Gautam has always practiced perseverance and endurance and believes in placing himself in the midst of challenges to drive the necessary change for the organization. He has been fostering the same values in the employees to inculcate their risk taking ability and result-driven mindset in them. “One always should keep the end goal in mind before delving into some thing”, says Gautam.
In an exclusive interview with ceoinsights magazine, gautam walks us through his professional journey along with the unique traits of the company. Let’s hear it from him.
How would you define BLS International Services as an organization and its current position in the market?
BLS International is a result oriented organization committed to offering services with utmost diligence and
morality. The organization has been reinventing itself to stay abreast of the market’s demand and serve clients with the highest quality standards. It works on a robust trust model, where every one is entrusted with the freedom to operate. BLS has been recognized as India’s Most Valuable Companies by Business Today Magazine, the Best under a Billion Company by Forbes Asia, and ranked amongst Fortune India’s Next 500 companies. Recently the company crossed the $1-billion market cap benchmark to become the latest unicorn in India. The company works with over 46 client governments including Diplomatic Missions, Embassies & Consulates and leverages technology.
The Company now has an extensive network of more than 27,000 centres globally with a robust strength of over 20,000 employees and associates that provides consular, bio metrics, and citizen services. BLS has processed over 62 million applications to date globally. We are present in 66+ countries across the globe and for domestic business, we have a strong presence in the states of Punjab, Karnataka, UP, Rajasthan, and West Bengal, where we are offering services on behalf of the respective governments. We also have a very strong base in the financial inclusion domain, where we partner with nationalized banks to help them operate mini banks in the rural parts of India. We are the largest banking correspondent for SBI in India.
Articulate the importance of HR’s Operations being in sync with an organization’s strategy.
HR has come a long way and has evolved as a business leading function. Today, modern HR is endeavoring to align organizational capabilities with organizational goals/aspirations. In my experience, weaving the entire organization with one thread has worked wonders. During my stint with DSM, we did a visioning exercise where we had set a five year growth roadmap for the organization to increase our revenues substantially by enhancing our product portfolio and geographical expansion.
To complement this, we did a similar exercise to set the people’s vision which was nothing but an
Skilling, upskilling, and reskilling the employees per the vision and mission of the organization is what brings home the success
The Company now has an extensive network of more than 27,000 centres globally with a robust strength of over 20,000 employees and associates that provides consular, bio metrics, and citizen services. BLS has processed over 62 million applications to date globally. We are present in 66+ countries across the globe and for domestic business, we have a strong presence in the states of Punjab, Karnataka, UP, Rajasthan, and West Bengal, where we are offering services on behalf of the respective governments. We also have a very strong base in the financial inclusion domain, where we partner with nationalized banks to help them operate mini banks in the rural parts of India. We are the largest banking correspondent for SBI in India.
Articulate the importance of HR’s Operations being in sync with an organization’s strategy.
HR has come a long way and has evolved as a business leading function. Today, modern HR is endeavoring to align organizational capabilities with organizational goals/aspirations. In my experience, weaving the entire organization with one thread has worked wonders. During my stint with DSM, we did a visioning exercise where we had set a five year growth roadmap for the organization to increase our revenues substantially by enhancing our product portfolio and geographical expansion.
To complement this, we did a similar exercise to set the people’s vision which was nothing but an
enabler to tie the entire organization together on the vision journey. Aligning HR metrics with the organization’s goals helped us immensely in achieving the vision way ahead of the projected time. Aligning the people’s objective of any organization with management's vision is imperative. I believe organizational strategy is meaningless until you have a perfect people strategy complementing it. Thus, skilling, upskilling, and reskilling the employees per the vision and mission of the organization is what will bring home success.
As the CHRO of BLS International, what drives you to constantly deliver positive outcomes?
The passion, agility and resilience that BLS nurtures in every employee make it a very exciting place to work and grow. Besides our hon’ble Chairman and management colleagues are very enthusiastic and entrepreneurial which keeps me motivated to give my best to the organization. We are a diverse organization in true sense having multiple nationalities working together across the globe for the common objective and we inspire each other, everyday.
What are the key technology trends changing HR Management today?
With the advancements in technologies, the HR domain has been remapping itself continuously to drive the needed innovation. HR professionals have been successfully leveraging advanced technologies such as AI/ML, Robotics to deal with various HR processes. Having said that, there always has to be a balance between technology and humans, as every thing cannot be replaced with automation. Though technologies/machines can help in increasing efficiency and productivity, the emotional connection which humans bring can never be replaced through technological intervention. Hence, a perfect balance between humans and technology is needed at all times.
Gautam Aggarwal, Chief Human Resource Officer, BLS International
A Human Resources strategist with diverse industry experience, Gautam, over the past two decades has had the opportunity of significant global exposure to all aspects of HR and organizational development, especially large scale transformations.
•Hobbies: Music, Travelling & Gaming
•Favorite Cuisine: Continental
•Favorite Travel Destination: Goa, Singapore, Chicago
•Favorite Book:Seven Habits of Highly Effective People
As the CHRO of BLS International, what drives you to constantly deliver positive outcomes?
The passion, agility and resilience that BLS nurtures in every employee make it a very exciting place to work and grow. Besides our hon’ble Chairman and management colleagues are very enthusiastic and entrepreneurial which keeps me motivated to give my best to the organization. We are a diverse organization in true sense having multiple nationalities working together across the globe for the common objective and we inspire each other, everyday.
What are the key technology trends changing HR Management today?
With the advancements in technologies, the HR domain has been remapping itself continuously to drive the needed innovation. HR professionals have been successfully leveraging advanced technologies such as AI/ML, Robotics to deal with various HR processes. Having said that, there always has to be a balance between technology and humans, as every thing cannot be replaced with automation. Though technologies/machines can help in increasing efficiency and productivity, the emotional connection which humans bring can never be replaced through technological intervention. Hence, a perfect balance between humans and technology is needed at all times.
Gautam Aggarwal, Chief Human Resource Officer, BLS International
A Human Resources strategist with diverse industry experience, Gautam, over the past two decades has had the opportunity of significant global exposure to all aspects of HR and organizational development, especially large scale transformations.
•Hobbies: Music, Travelling & Gaming
•Favorite Cuisine: Continental
•Favorite Travel Destination: Goa, Singapore, Chicago
•Favorite Book:Seven Habits of Highly Effective People