Role Model
Zest in time
Zest Systems’ Rajeev Mehta’s appetite for life is reflected in the way he conducts business. He has built his company into a leading corporate reseller through sheer passion and love for what he does
By Ramdas S
 “If there is no passion for life, there isn’t any fun living. If there’s no zest for business, then you’ll find it tiring,” says Rajeev Mehta, Managing Director of Delhi-based Zest Systems. Passion for life and business runs in his blood, and he asserts that he enjoys running his company just as much as he used to two decades ago.
Today Zest is regarded as a leading corporate reseller with a strong clientele including large PSUs and educational institutions. Over the last five years, the company has grown at an accelerated pace of over 40 percent CAGR to notch up an annual turnover of Rs 62 crore in FY 2008-09.
Humble beginnings
In 1989, Rajeev Mehta graduated as a Computer Engineer and joined HCL as a trainee. But after barely two months, he was bitten by the entrepreneurial bug and he started his own business.
In the autumn of 1989, he and his HCL colleague Breejesh Nirula, decided to set up a company called TPM (Third Party Maintenance).
“It was a novel idea. We were servicing the installed PC base of vendors. We were young, eager and energetic, and willing to go the extra mile for the customer,” he says.
Though both partners were first generation entrepreneurs, they had good family support. “There were no major financial responsibilities that we had to shoulder, hence we could take bigger risks,” says Mehta.
Three years later, as the business flourished, they converted TPM into a private limited company and rechristened it Zest. The company diversified into corporate reselling and became a preferred partner of Sterling Computers, selling their Siva branded PCs.
The company suffered a big jolt when in 1994 Sterling decided to wind up the PC business, leaving Zest high and dry.
But soon enough, Zest inked a deal with PCL—the other leading PC vendor—and emerged as their biggest partner. “In just one year’s time we became the largest PCL partner in the country, and bagged our first award called the Clean Sweep trophy,” recalls Mehta.
But as destiny would have it, PCL too shut shop in 1996-97. “It was like taking four steps forward, and then taking two steps back,” says Mehta. “We were going good and doing a healthy business with decent bottom lines then. The financial loss did set us back. But we eventually emerged stronger.”
Turning point
Luckily for Zest, the Indian IT market was just taking off in 1997, with several MNCs entering the market. Also, that was the year when HCL and HP broke their JV and HP India ventured directly into the PC business. Aware of Zest’s credentials, HP roped it in as their first partner in North India. This was the beginning of the most loyal and fruitful partnership. “After PCL, we had the choice of aligning with IBM, Compaq, Acer and Digital who were more established in the Indian market as compared to HP. But instead we chose to go along with HP. Thank god for that.”
Zest is regarded as one of the most loyal partners to HP. Every competing vendor has tried to lure the company away from HP, but Zest has stayed committed. “HP is like a family to me. Also, I believe that single vendor alignment is good for business as it helps plan the business better rather than working with multiple vendors,” he opines.
Business focus
Despite economic slowdown, Zest Systems expects to post a growth of 40 percent in the current fiscal over its turnover of Rs 62 crore in FY 2008-09.
“Though markets appear grim, I still see scope since we are adding complementary product lines that’ll increase our share of the customers’ wallet,” says Mehta. Zest makes around 65 percent of the turnover from corporate reselling, and about 35 percent comes from a mix of solutions and services. Going forward he sees pure solution-selling share going up.
“Sensing the slowdown, we have changed our focus from selling commercial PCs to aligning our sales force with HP’s other business units such as IPG for printers and plotters, and TSG for storage and Unix servers,” explains Mehta.
Another factor which is helping the company grow is the addition of telecom and connectivity solutions. “We tied up with Tata Teleservices to provide telecom solutions to existing customers. We also tied up with Aircel to provide bandwidth, leased line and WiMax solutions,” said Mehta.
The company has also ventured into IT outsourcing. “Here, the customer outsources his entire IT requirements to us, except for the infrastructure and equipment. We are then responsible for providing them with manpower and complete managed services including total IT procurement, helpdesk, support, implementation and even orientation toward new products. This service has been well-received in the education segment where IT hardware is bought in huge volumes as a learning tool, and the ownership of this tool is liquid in nature,” said Mehta.
One of the major projects recently executed by Zest, worth $4 million, was for providing infrastructure across 14 locations for an educational institute.
The company has also entered into a contract with a leading infrastructure company to provide the IT set-up for the toll plazas being deployed by the company. “Each project ranges between Rs 2 crore and Rs 5 crore, and we have to deploy hardware and software for the highway management system, as well as security and monitoring equipments. We have already set up the IT infrastructure at one such toll plaza in Noida, and are in the process of setting up the same at plazas in Rajasthan, Karnataka, Tamilnadu, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra,” explained Mehta.
In the current fiscal, the company has made a strong bid to win large government tenders and has assigned a dedicated team for that purpose. It is also planning to include software solutions to its portfolio, and strengthen its geographical reach in south India.
Key to success
Mehta regards that Zest’s key mantra to success is its customer centricity. “The evidence of this is the fact that many of the customers we sold to in 1989 are still with us giving healthy repeat business,” he says.
Zest currently manages 2,200 clients and according to Mehta, the key growth strategy is to increase their share of customers’ IT budgets every year.
One of innovative schemes Zest recently ran was a buy-back campaign for laptops. “Considering the slowdown, we sat with HP and worked out a buy-back scheme that would favor our customers. We grossed Rs 5-6 crore from this campaign and also acquired 46 new customers,” claims Mehta.
Zest has developed an in-house CRM-ERP solution which has become the lifeline of the company and generates reports that are critical to the business. “We have such detailed data that we have a single-window view of our customers’ present IT assets, history of their IT investments for the past years and their growth forecasts,” says Mehta.
Zest religiously conducts quarterly customer surveys, where customers are polled on all aspects from services to sales. “The strategy has paid rich dividends, as our forecasting has improved, and we are able to preempt potential issues and act upon them really fast. Also we have a clear understanding of what customers really plan to do in the coming quarters,” says Mehta.
In order to build team morale, Zest is working on a profit-sharing performance scheme for its employees and this new system is likely to be rolled out soon.
Life mantra
“I am in love with what I am doing. Even after two decades, I am excited about IT reselling and systems integration business—which is our core bread and butter,” explains Mehta. “I feel lucky to be running this business. The uncertainties, upheavals and unknown challenges of the IT trade still give me a high. The ever-changing technology landscape offers opportunities every day,” he stresses.
Mehta has a few passions outside his business. One of them is travel, and he has traveled across the world. But his favorite destination is Goa, and his favorite activity is angling and deep sea fishing.
He makes it a point to visit Goa at every chance, almost five to six times a year. He hasn’t thought of retirement yet, but he feels that he may one day retire in Goa.
His role models are Alfred Nobel and Winston Churchill. “Winston Churchill was the greatest leader, visionary and inspired millions to change the course of history,” he says.
His advice for fellow partners, “Enjoy what you’re doing and do what you enjoy. And if you follow this mantra, life and business will roll in the right direction.” |