Quess sets up innovation unit to build solutions

Quess Corp has set up a new unit - Quessworks – to encourage employees to innovate and create business solutions that can be independently marketed to clients.

Q-Jobs, a blue-collar hiring platform, and Dash, an employee benefits platform, launched recently, were the result of ideas from this unit, said Sekhar Garisa, Chief of Emerging Businesses and Corporate Development at Quess Corp.

“It houses all of our tech, innovation, disruption and product development efforts,” Garisa said. “We have seen some interest from external investors and might consider getting investors for some of the platforms that come out of this.”


Quess is one of the largest private sector employers in the country.

It provides staff to companies such as Amazon and Samsung in India.

Quess operates and manages facilities for clients, including the Bengaluru International Airport. It also offers security services and runs IT operations for companies.

The company realised that while technology development was important, it also needed to do more to attract and retain talent amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

The innovation unit, which was formalised a few months ago, currently has over 100 people.

Garisa said the company intends to invest significantly in scaling up the unit.

During the pandemic, the company started focusing on cross-selling services to customers. This resulted in innovation in how it sells, especially virtually, Garisa said.
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The need to create the right incentives and atmosphere for innovation came because of this, eventually leading to the creation of Quessworks.

“We want this unit to have a life of its own – Quess is a strategic investor and an active customer,” he said.

Investors have expressed interest in some of the platforms created by the unit. The company will consider taking on external strategic and financial investors in future.

For instance, Q-Jobs is expected to be relevant for large-scale recruitment.

Already, 1,000 external customers have signed up to use the platform, Garisa said.