Raj Mruthyunjayappa is an energiser. And unlike many of his counterparts, he was not raised in an urban setting. Raj grew up in a village outside Mysore where his father worked as a doctor and he attributes much of his success to that upbringing. Our conversation lights up almost immediately, with his contagious energy and he proceeds to explain why he values time.
?I feel there is very little time. The moment I wake up in the morning, I hit the gym and then I rush to office to start the day?s work,? he says. The managing director of Talisma, in APAC and Europe, wants to lose absolutely no time, and that?s very clear. ?When I work, I do not think of family issues and vice-versa.?
Raj is responsible for Talisma?s APAC and Europe operations including R&D, professional services, global delivery operations, and support. He says his mission at work is to enhance customer satisfaction, and he uses every bit of his vision and experience to achieve that goal at Talisma, a leading customer relationship management (CRM) software player.
His leadership skills were spotted early. He was an active student leader and his teachers believed he will one day make it to a leadership role. ?My leadership abilities have helped me grow. I also had good bosses to work with early in my career. It?s all about how one perceives his/her work, management and career. I have always tried to imbibe something from each and every experience and opportunity.?
Prior to his appointment as the managing director, Raj was the global vice-president for support and services at Talisma and was based in Seattle. He spent over a decade in the US, managing global services operations, including right shoring and datacentre operations. Previously, Raj functioned in organisations such as Aditi Technologies and Visual Commerce to give them the strategic direction required.
Raj, who holds a Bachelor?s degree in Electronics and a Masters degree in Computer Application from Mysore University, feels product companies like Talisma sometimes do not get the credit it deserves. ?Of course, all the IT services companies in India are doing well but there are great, exciting things happening in the product software space as well. It?s not like we have to invent the next big thing, that creates a big splash all over the world. It?s got to do with the India market. It?s all about creating a software product relevant for our markets. And several Indian software product firms are doing a good job of it.?
Talisma is known in the market for providing ?a best of breed?, flexible, and affordable CRM software, that helps customer lifecycle management across marketing, sales, and service functions. According to the company, Talisma?s solutions allow for businesses to create a 360 degree view of customer interactions and information across a company. The Talisma 5.0 solution, for instance, helps to block/trap to record all interactions with the customer be it over phone, email, Web forms, fax or face to face so that all customer conversations are trapped and are propagated to the various stake holders in the enterprise.
Talisma plans to shortly enter the Kenyan market, to tap into the huge opportunities in the African continent. Raj says the company will enter 12-13 countries in Africa eventually. The $100 million company is also proposing an IPO within 12-18 months or could go the inorganic route to drive further growth in the short term.
Personally, Raj does not think fate has anything to do with a company?s fortunes. ?I don?t want to give any credit to fate for the position I have reached or what my company has achieved. It?s not just about being at the right place at the right time.?
?One needs enormous discipline to achieve great deeds. The key is to bring out your entrepreneurial skills at the work place. I can easily make out who in my office is solution oriented and who is not. There are people in my organisation who come and meet me to offer multiple solutions to a problem. Those are the guys who will grow.?
Raj remembers the first big deal he cracked in his career.
?I was in the US at that time. We were working on a $500 million deal with News Corp. I remember we had to work extremely hard on it, but it was a very satisfying experience. Winning that deal changed the course of my career,? says Raj, who is a keen sportsman.
?I enjoy playing tennis and squash. At home I am always watching sports channels. In future, I would like to do something in the areas of education and sport. I want to open up academies and clubs where people can come and play without having to wait for a club membership for years. In the field of education, I would like to initiate something which could drive schools towards skill based learning.?
?I remember how my dad worked so passionately as a doctor in the village. He was so happy to serve society. I too want to give something back,? adds Raj.