Avinash Vashistha, Accenture?s new India chairman and managing director, is said to be a man for all tech seasons. The 49 year old, is a master outsourcing consultant, and one of the best in the business in India. Accenture is at an interesting phase in its operations in India and it needed someone like Avinash to take up its corner office. Not known to shy away from any big opportunity, Avinash has stepped in. ?It?s an honour,? he says, quite candidly.
After having worked with AT&T in the US, Nortel in the US, UK & India, and then giving wings to his entrepreneurial dreams by setting up consulting firms like neoIT and Tholons, Avinash has always been a man on the go. So it must have been a big call to step away from entrepreneurship and get back into a high profile corporate role, right?. ?It was a big decision, and both the company (Accenture) and myself spent some six months working this one out. By the end of the fourth month of negotiations, I knew Accenture was the company for me,? says Avinash, an engineering graduate from IIT Kanpur, who later went on do his master?s in Computer Science from the University of Alberta and an MBA. from Arizona.
Accenture?s CEO while announcing the new chairman for India, said Avinash had the skills and experience to take Accenture to the next level in India. Nanterme especially pointed out the man?s two decades of critical experience in the global outsourcing space.
The $24 billion Accenture, considered the world?s second largest technology consulting firm, is trying to peak in India. A good time for someone like Avinash to walk in. IBM is the top dog in India in this space and Avinash has some catching up to do. His appointment singles out one thing?Accenture is betting big on the local market here and want to be seen more as an outsourcing and services player and not just as a consulting giant.
Raised and bred in varied places like Rajasthan, Haryana and Guwahati, the man has never ever settled down anywhere. ?My grand father was a magistrate, while my father had a more entrepreneurial streak in him. He was a very big risk taker, though I am not one.?
He was always a topper in school and topped the CBSE board exams. But he was not automatically about to take the IIT route. ?My dad wanted me to become a doctor. I gave the IIT exam a try, but my dad did not think I will take it up. When I got a telegram about my selection, I told my dad that I wanted to join IIT.?
He then moved to the US for higher studies, and then joined AT&T. ?That was a great start. I remember rewriting the codes for some of the systems there. That was a great feeling. I then moved to Nortel, with whom I worked in the US, UK and then finally deciding to move back to India in 1996. That was a major decision at that time. It took my wife and kids some time to get adjusted.?He was able to work very closely with the Indian IT and BPO communities. Nortel?s early adoption of India?s IT capabilities paved the way for companies like GE, Amex, IBM and others to outsource much larger operations to India based suppliers.
After having worked through the various corporates, Avinash wanted to break out and start something of his own. ?I was seeing many opportunities around and wanted to take the plunge.? That?s how neoIT was born. The outsourcing advisory advised the likes of Siemens, JP Morgan Chase, ABN Amro, Stanford University on their offshoring strategies. While running neoIT, Avinash found time to co-author ?The Offshore Nation?, a fine book on offshoring. With Tholons, Avinash endeavoured to bring together the best-of-breed globalisation advisory and private equity to help companies maximise their returns using a risk-reward model.
Avinash says family support has been great through the years. ?My wife has been a big source of strength. In fact, I am such a person who like to see others happy. It?s never been about me; it was always about others. I don?t consider myself selfish at all, and I really like to see everyone around me happy.?
But he considers himself a poor investor. ?I think my wife does a better job of it. She is more of a risk taker. During leisure I indulge in collecting fine art, and I also love to spend a lot of time with my kids. I think I have led a very satisfying life,? says the man, who has just stepped into one of the biggest corporate assignments in the country.