15 Exciting Emerging Companies To Work For

NASSCOM recently announced the findings of its annual `Exciting Emerging Companies to work for survey. The list ranks top 15 best mid-sized IT and BPO organisations to work for. These are also the companies that provide the perfect platform for nurturing specialised talent and cross-functional skills, according to Nasscom. The survey assessed the companies based on the extent to which they are preferred by job seekers, the non-hierarchical work environment, innovation culture and commitment to employee empowerment within the organisation. The survey also takes into consideration factors such as employee training taken up by organisations for their current and future roles. Heres over to the winners of the Nasscom's `Exciting Emerging Companies to work for' survey. HeroITES The no. 1 on Nasscom's `15 Exciting Emerging Companies to work for' list is HeroITES, a member of the $3.1 billion Hero Group. Founded in 2000, HeroITES provides business process outsourcing (BPO) solutions and call center services. The company offers inbound and outbound voice support, email services, technical support, eCRM, contact centre, and finance and accounting BPO services. It serves financial services, insurance, telecom, and manufacturing industries in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Regarding its work culture, the company claims, "Our work culture promotes operational transparency, teamwork, mutual respect, total commitment to customer satisfaction through Open Door Policy and regular "Town Hall" and "Skip-Level" meetings which help in maintaining the feeling of a non-hierarchical, flat organizational structure that values ideas from any level." In September 2007, the company acquired Scotland's biggest call centre firm Telecom Service Centers (TSC) for an estimated $81 million. Following the deal, TSC, which had more than 3,000 employees, was merged with HeroITES and the new entity named TSC Hero. Corbus (India) Established in 1994, Corbus holds second position on the list. The company provides IT and Procurement outsourcing solutions to companies in finance and banking, consumer package goods (CPG), retail, manufacturing and entertainment sectors. Corbus is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Soin International LLC, a private multi-national holding company that provides strategic management, administrative systems and financial support to a diverse array of companies. Corbus has presence in US, Europe and Asia-Pacific markets, with its Global Delivery Centers in India and the US.

The company claims that its HR policy is driven by the belief that it is the employee development that leads companies towards growth. AgreeYa Solutions At no. 3 on the list is US-based technology and business provider AgreeYa Solutions. Founded in 1999, AgreeYa Solutions provides a blend of technology, business consulting and outsourcing services. Headquartered in Folsom, California, the company has a global delivery centre in Noida. The centre provides solutions to MNCs and Indian corporate houses with core focus on verticals like banking and finance, public utilities, healthcare and telecom. In December 2008, AgreeYa entered into a strategic consulting relationship with Meridian Systems, which offers construction project management and infrastructure lifecycle management solutions. AgreeYa will provide implementation, customisation and deployment services to Meridian customers using Prolog and Proliance software solutions. Nagarro Software For second year in a row, Nagarro Inc ranks at no. 4 in Nasscoms list. US-based Nagarro provides outsourced software development services. Founded in 1996, Nagarro has offices in the US, Germany, Sweden and India. According to Vikas Sehgal, CEO, Nagarro, Software, "In order to meet this goal, we have focused on creating an intellectually vigorous workplace that rewards innovation and nurtures every employee's talents." Some of Nagarro's best practices include: individual career meetings which produce actionable feedback and goals for employees; High success rate from early campus recruiting and a relationship with a top engineering coaching institute; and streamlined, effective, organization-wide issue resolution system with defined timelines and escalation criteria. In 2008, the company opened a new regional sales office in Atlanta, US. The company is eyeing to expand its market share in Europe. R-Systems Founded in 1993, Noida-based R Systems International is into outsourced product development and customer support services. The company has eight development and service centres and across US, Europe, South America, the Far East, the Middle East and Africa. Synygy India Pune-based Synygy India has been chosen for the second consecutive time among Nasscoms the '15 Exciting Emerging Company to Work for' . Synygy India is the development arm of the Philadelphia-based Synygy Inc, the leading provider of ICM solutions for the Fortune 100 companies in the US.

In an interview, the company's MD, Chetan Shah credited the recognition to Synygy's 'open door' culture, where any manager or executive can be contacted by anyone in the organization. Lately, Synygy India has been targeting the Indian pharma market with its on-demand development services in the Incentive Compensation Management (ICM) space.

Acclaris Business Solutions At no. 7 on the list is Acclaris Business Solutions, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Acclaris Inc of Tampa, Florida. Acclaris was founded in February 2001 to provide comprehensive benefit reimbursement services to TPAs, Health Plans, Financial Institutions and HROs. The company has tied up with the University of Burdwan for a knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) course. Infogain India A provider of CRM, ERP, integration and business intelligence solutions & services, Infogain India ranks at no. 8 on the list. The company jumped three positions to rank at no. 8 in 2009, from last year's no. 11. The company's strategic and technology partners include Amdocs/Clarify, Chordiant, BEA, Netezza, Oracle, Business Objects, SAP, TIBCO, and Segue. In 2008, Infogain announced an alliance with Haldiram Snacks. Haldiram engaged Infogain's services to develop and implement a dispatch management product to streamline its business processes. The company also entered into n enterprise reseller agreement with open source company Red Hat. In May 2008, Infogain expanded its services partnership with California-based Compiere. The company also opened new centres in UK and Middle East in 2008. Hytech Professionals Hytech Professionals India is a part of US-based software outsourcing company Hytech Professionals. The company's expertise includes .Net, C#, C/C++, Java/J2EE, JSP, ASP, XML, Servlets and many other solutions. The company calls itself an `employee owned company'. The employee policy on its website says, "Our people are our assets. We believe in bringing diverse, highly qualified individuals on board to ensure a work culture that fosters personal growth through our internal mentorship program. Our people provides years of software development experience, domain expertise and a desire to help you succeed in your business goal." In July 2008, HyTech Professionals were chosen by Microsoft as its Gold Certified Partner. Nucleus Software

Nucleus Software ranks at number 10 in Nasscom's annual listing. The company also received recognition for its performance management systems. Like other Indian outsourcing firms, Nucleus Software too has been hit by the global economic turmoil, which has companies worldwide freezing budgets. As BFSI firms look to reduce costs, Nucleus would sweeten deals by selling an entire range of services like setting up networks and providing hardware, rather than the traditional product offerings. The company's annual report and accounts for year ended March 31, 2008, were adjudged as the BEST under the category 'information technology, communication and entertainment enterp rises' of the ICAI awards for excellence in financial reporting by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI). Nucleus gets half of its revenue from Japan and the Middle East and India contribute about ten percent each. Two of its top three clients are in Japan and the other is in Singapore. Sopra India At no. 11 on Nasscom list is Sopra India. The company is a part of Sopra Group, one of the leading consulting and IT service providers in Europe. Sopra Group, with over 12,000 employees world over, achieved sales of over 1 billion Euros in 2007. In 2008, Sopra India also won the Certificate of Excellence at the Smart Workplace Awards organised by The Economic Times, Acer and Intel. The company claims that these awards are the result of its sharp focus on all round personal and professional development of each team member. Cactus Communications Cactus Communications ranks at no. 12 on Nasscom's `Exciting Emerging Company to work for' list. The company is dedicated to providing high-quality written English solutions to clients worldwide. Cactus Communications began operations in April 2002 with a team of five. The companys services span editing, transcription, education, research, and content development. InterGlobe Technologies At no. 13 on the list is InterGlobe Technologies (IGT), a globally-recognized leader in travel solutions and services. InterGlobe Technologies recognised in 2008 as the best travel company to work for in India, again scored high marks in the employee portion of the survey. InterGlobe Technologies' employee referral programme demonstrates what Nasscom reported in their annual survey More than 40 percent of all new hires in the companys BPO operations came from their employee referral programme.

InterGlobe Technology, which also operates the domestic airline IndiGo, has emerged as the front-runner for Air Indias ticketing and package booking services tender. National Aviation Company of India (Nacil), the merged entity that controls Air India, had floated a contact centre services tender for domestic and international callers last year. The tender will be opened this month. H5 Asia Pacific H5 is a wholly-owned subsidiary of H5, a leading provider of information retrieval services for the legal industry. The company provides automated document review and information risk management services. In October 2008, H5 was recognized as one of the fastest growing technology companies by Deloitte's Silicon Valley Technology Fast 50 Programme. Last year also saw the company open its New York office in midtown Manhattan. Saba Software Saba Software provides a software platform for enterprise learning, collaboration, performance and talent management. The Saba Enterprise Suite includes Saba Business Foundation that delivers a common view of employee skills, interests, and experience; and Saba Collaboration that allows organizations to build and manage communities of practice, and create repositories of institutional knowledge and leverage the collective intelligence of the workforce. It serves customers in the automotive, communications, computer software and hardware, electronics, consumer package goods, energy, financial services, health care, manufacturing, medical equipment, pharmaceutical, professional services, retail and transportation industries. The company sells its products worldwide through a direct sales force and a network of alliance partners. Saba Software was founded in 1997 and is headquartered in Redwood Shores, California.