Kalyana Sundaram: Creating Superheroes Through Innovative Leadership Style
Kalyana Sundaram
CEO
“At BITS Pilani, I learned leading among the peers, delivering interesting presentations, project management space, mindset for innovation, and people skills. Today, I use these skills in day-to-day activities to make my mark as a new-age leader. It taught me to emphasize the need for a vision and mission that is centered towards the better future of the organization that I am a part of, rather than just focusing on money,” avers Kalyana Sundaram, when asked about his alma mater. Currently positioned as the CEO of his brainchild Great Innovus Solutions, Kalyana Sundaram is focused on crafting an exemplary ecosystem that is seamlessly oriented towards achieving the vision and mission of the organization.
Below is an excerpt of Kalyana Sundaram’s interview with CEO Insights.
What makes Great Innovus Solutions stand apart from its competitors?
As an IT service and Talent Management Company, we bring digital transformation through innovative technology solutions. So, we believe in a collaborative
approach, be it end-to-end technology service or enabling customers through talent on demand. We have different centers of excellence within the company, which is focusing on Microsoft, cloud, and quality assurance, and we are handling them with the help of our teams, providing customers to accelerate their vision through innovation.
The USP that makes us stand apart from our competitors is that we ensure the engagement of certified experts and subject matter experts with our customers to deliver an innovative solution, meanwhile accelerating the customer's mission through innovation. Apart from that, our entire company has undergone Stanford Graduate School of Business Seed Transformation Program, which gives the users to learn the best Silicon Valley methodologies to enable comprehensive customer deliveries. Regarded as one of the fastest growing companies in Asia, today we work with many Fortune 500 companies across multiple industry verticals.
What are the major challenges that you have experienced in your journey over the years?
The major challenges were about COVID-19 because it shaped the entire culture of the company that we have managed to build over 15 years. So, even if we were doing work from home, we tried to create a culture or an ecosystem within the company by bringing innovative engagement activities to reengage and build the conversations effectively. Though there was an ongoing wave of great resignations at that time, we were able to retain many of our employees. Even for those whom we couldn’t retain, we were able to replace them and maintained the balance across our organizational ecosystem during the crucial times of COVID.
Could you tell us about your leadership approach as well as your success mantra, which helps you to arrive at positive outcomes?
I follow a Democratic leadership style, where I employ my team to build a lot of super heroes within the company, and ensure that they deliver the best thing to our customers
The USP that makes us stand apart from our competitors is that we ensure the engagement of certified experts and subject matter experts with our customers to deliver an innovative solution, meanwhile accelerating the customer's mission through innovation. Apart from that, our entire company has undergone Stanford Graduate School of Business Seed Transformation Program, which gives the users to learn the best Silicon Valley methodologies to enable comprehensive customer deliveries. Regarded as one of the fastest growing companies in Asia, today we work with many Fortune 500 companies across multiple industry verticals.
What are the major challenges that you have experienced in your journey over the years?
The major challenges were about COVID-19 because it shaped the entire culture of the company that we have managed to build over 15 years. So, even if we were doing work from home, we tried to create a culture or an ecosystem within the company by bringing innovative engagement activities to reengage and build the conversations effectively. Though there was an ongoing wave of great resignations at that time, we were able to retain many of our employees. Even for those whom we couldn’t retain, we were able to replace them and maintained the balance across our organizational ecosystem during the crucial times of COVID.
Could you tell us about your leadership approach as well as your success mantra, which helps you to arrive at positive outcomes?
I follow a Democratic leadership style, where I employ my team to build a lot of superheroes within the company, and ensure that they deliver the best thing to our customers. So, whenever I interact with my team, I cite some examples from Ramayana and Mahabharata. In Ramayana, Lord Rama had to go and fight because he was leading a team of monkeys. But in the Mahabharata War, the hero was Krishna, who never picked up a weapon, but was only giving instructions and mentoring. By doing so, he led them to victory and it was because he was leading a team of superheroes. So, each of them just needed a little mentorship to get going and win the war. The same principle I follow to ensure a good outcome of my mentorship.
What is the future roadmap that you have envisioned for Great Innovus Solutions?
Our goal is to build 1000 happy families. We are currently standing at 150 and are growing aggressively. I think in the next three to five years, we should be heading towards the 1000 Happy Families leads. Once we achieve that, I want to replicate the success across different cities in India, because we don't want people to move to metro cities for building a better life. Rather we want to create an ecosystem, where people can find livelihoods across their cities. With this goal in mind, we are working towards achieving Sustainable Development Goals to ensure proper workplace balance, a better opportunity for everyone, and gender equality. We also want to provide job opportunities to physically handicapped people who can come to work seamlessly and this will be our way of returning to society.
Kalyana Sundaram, CEO, Great Innovus Solutions
After completing his Master of Engineering (M.E.) in Software Systems from BITS Pilani, Kalyana Sundaram started his professional career as a software intern at Reflexis India, followed by a short stint at Mantra Group. Throughout his illustrative career, he has ventured into Great Innovus Solutions and cemented his base as serial entrepreneur with PurpleTab Software Solutions. Kalyan has also undergone a certification program from Stanford University Graduate School of Business
What is the future roadmap that you have envisioned for Great Innovus Solutions?
Our goal is to build 1000 happy families. We are currently standing at 150 and are growing aggressively. I think in the next three to five years, we should be heading towards the 1000 Happy Families leads. Once we achieve that, I want to replicate the success across different cities in India, because we don't want people to move to metro cities for building a better life. Rather we want to create an ecosystem, where people can find livelihoods across their cities. With this goal in mind, we are working towards achieving Sustainable Development Goals to ensure proper workplace balance, a better opportunity for everyone, and gender equality. We also want to provide job opportunities to physically handicapped people who can come to work seamlessly and this will be our way of returning to society.
Kalyana Sundaram, CEO, Great Innovus Solutions
After completing his Master of Engineering (M.E.) in Software Systems from BITS Pilani, Kalyana Sundaram started his professional career as a software intern at Reflexis India, followed by a short stint at Mantra Group. Throughout his illustrative career, he has ventured into Great Innovus Solutions and cemented his base as serial entrepreneur with PurpleTab Software Solutions. Kalyan has also undergone a certification program from Stanford University Graduate School of Business