Satyam's resurrection

IMT-Dubai, 3rd November, 2009

Satyam: The name of the company has itself become synonymous with one of the biggest financial and business frauds of this generation. When Ramalinga Raju sent out that infamous confession letter, a scandal erupted and consumed one of India’s biggest IT giants into a gaping hole. The company’s assets had been greatly overstated and the financial statements majorly tweaked, by the head of the company.
The question now arises is, what is happening with Satyam: the company? What are the after-effects of such a blow to a company that big? And what steps have been taken to possibly restore the IT company?
On Tuesday, IMT students got the privilege of an interactive session with the highly inspirational and practical person behind one of the biggest turnarounds in recent times. They got a first-hand insight into all the issues and got a chance to discuss the significant answers, with a person directly involved in the aftermath processes, Mr. T.N. Manoharan.
Mr. Manoharan commenced his discourse with some general information about Satyam, like the strength of 53,000 employees, around 650 clients (prior the crisis) and while mentioning the fact that the Satyam brand was one of the most recognised in India and the world, he quipped, “Satyam was like riding the white tiger”. It was followed by the mention of the very famous confession letter by Mr. Raju, due to which company fell into the crisis. Thereafter he started his tenure as a member of the government-appointed Board of Directors, for the revival of the company.
The esteemed guest went on to discuss the first three agenda that the board had to follow. The first task of the new board was to ensure contract continuity. Since the firm had almost no liquidity, the board decided to borrow from external sources like banks and financial institutions to sustain and generate enough funds to keep the business running. Second was to retain the employees, possibly one of the most demanding. For this, the team motivated the work-force and held all lines of communication open and started an e-newsletter, to keep the employees informed about the progress of the firm. Finally, the BOD had to ensure retaining customers. As Mr. Manoharan explained, Satyam’s clients were locked-in for at least a period of 3 months, within which they were able to retain around 90% of them.
The session was extremely interactive with some interesting questions about various facets of the company being asked to the speaker. Dr. Manoharan gave some precious advice while concluding that, “We succeeded because we worked with the noble intention of reviving Satyam. Took no remuneration, worked pro bono. Because, everything is not money. What you learn ethically is what you deserve.” Wise words, which really hit the nail on the head.
All that has been written and spoken about Satyam was nowhere compared to this interactive session which had all the management theories into the context of a real life scenario.

Team M.E.T.H...!!