Startek to boost sales, management ranks to speed turnaround

BENGALURU: Startek, the US-listed customer service company, that acquired India-based Aegis is looking at boosting its salesforce and senior management decks, even as it cuts operating costs, to speed its turnaround.

Post its $1 billion merger with Aegis in 2018, the company struggled with profitability. Earlier this year, the company said its chairman Aparup Sengupta would take over as Chief Executive Officer. The company brought in Rajiv Ahuja as its chief operating officer and is planning a slew of other hires.

“I now feel very confident that we are set up for continued success in 2020 by building out what I refer to as our dream team, a team that is committed to defining the future,” Sengupta told ET in an interview.


The company has hired Rick Ferry, a former founding team member at Aegis, told head global sales and BS Reddy, a former Cognizant executive, as global chief technology officer. “We are creating the right team for our next sprint. We will be bringing in sales people in the US market, to expand over there,” COO Ahuja said.

Startek has been focusing on improving profitability. In the fourth-quarter, it did not renew an low-margin engagement with an Indian telco and has been closing a few centres in the US to move to a work-from-home-agent model. The company is also looking at acquisitions in the digital space to boost its business.