Quess working on a tech service strategy

BENGALURU: Quess Corp, the Prem Watsa-backed company offering managed services from people to maintenance of factories, is working to create a large technology services company after it hired veteran IT executive Pinaki Kar.

Kar, a long-time Wipro hand, joined Quess in mid-April from Zensar, where he headed the infrastructure management services business.

His new role as president of technology solutions will require him to craft a technology services company from Quess’ acquisitions including BPO company Tata Business Support Services, Comtel Solutions and the existing QtekSystems.


Kar said the strategy is still in the works but the end-goal is to accelerate growth, possibly through further acquisitions, to create a Quess-sized technology business.

In January, Quess reported overall third-quarter revenue of over Rs 1,500 crore, while its global technology solutions vertical reported revenue of Rs 480 crore.

“If I tell you that I have all the answers, I would be a liar. So, I’ll tell you what the thought process is. Because if we have all the answers, there’s no fun. I have the ingredients or the raw materials are there and even the secret sauce of Quess,” Kar told ET in an interview.

Part of the strategy will be to increase the synergies between its staffing brands — Magna Infotech, Brainhunter and Mindware — to be able to cross-sell to each other’s client bases in different areas. With Tata Business Support Services, which has since been renamed Conneqt, Kar said the company could look at buying front-end customer-facing companies in the developed markets to expand that business and then use that to cross-sell the rest of Quess’ technology services.

The company also plans to grow its Qtek business, which is currently at $6-8 million, and Heptagon, a native application startup.

Quess has been working on building a technology services unit for the past three years. When it was still Ikya, its technology services vertical was headed by former Wipro executive and Happiest Minds-founding CEO Vikram Gulati.

Vikram Gulati continues as the CEO,MFX, a Quess Company.