Technology firm Pegasystems may not be a household name in India, but its founder Alan Trefler is kind of a rock star back in the United States, as a former world open chess champion. Back in 1975 in the World Open chess tournament, Trefler with an Elo rating of 2075 and ranked 115 th in the game, tied with grandmaster Pal Benko to finish first. That was a major upset back then, with analysts describing Trefler’s game as ?ferociously attacking?. He still retains some of that, which enables him to tide over the difficulties of a slowing technology world.

? I won some $2,250 for winning that championship,? says Trefler, as we settle down to discuss his life. ?It was not bad money at that time. But I knew I had to look elsewhere for a living. After all, I knew it would be tough to win a world championship every month! Plus, it was difficult for a youngster playing chess to find a girlfriend those days!!?

Trefler put some of that quick, logical thinking into setting up Pegasystems, after he graduated with distinction in Economics and Computer Science from Dartmouth College. ?Running a technology company is pretty similar to playing chess. Back in those days, when computers were taking its early steps it was a difficult task to set up and run a company successfully. In the beginning, customers found it difficult to trust us,? he says.

Today, he is one of the more successful CEOs in America, being named the Public Company CEO of the Year in 2011 by the Massachusetts Technology Leadership Council. He is also the holder of 5 US patents for Pegasystems’ inherited rule based architecture which provides for the framework for the company’s rules-based business process management solutions. In India its has centres in Hyderabad and Bangalore.

? India offers us great R&D talent. Since we are keen to employ the very best, India is a significant place for us. Suman Reddy who is the vice-president and managing director of Pegasystems Worldwide India is responsible for the overall R&D and operations of the Indian entity,? says Trefler, now taking big swigs from his beer glass.

Pegasystems ended the last fiscal with revenues of $416 million and has guided for $500 million this year. ?This has been a tough year for everyone globally, so one has to keep improving on the products all the time. Customer focus is very important.?

The company’s ?Build for change? technology is a software for customer centricity. Mega corporations around the globe use Pega to become customer centric and improve customer service. The company’s unified offering is recognised by industry analysts as a leader across a number of different software categories including predictive customer service, customer relationship management and business process management. Its customers include American Express, Barclays Group, Amgen, Baxter, Citi, HSBC, UBS, JP Morgan Chase etc.

?You know, I was an attacking chess player. The most important thing is knowing when to start an attack. This is very true for business. You should be aware of your moves, and should have the good sense to know when to go slow,? says Trefler. ?I also try to get everybody involved in a discussion. I don’t like to take decisions just on my own. It’s important to get people to deliberate before arriving at a decision.? Even today he is very closely linked to product development at the company. He knows everything that goes on. ?The excellence of your product is still the key.?

The Nasdaq listed firm on Thursday announced the setting up of a 55,000 sqft facility in Bangalore, that will specialise in R&D, engineering services and customer support. The facility in Hyderabad, which was opened in 2008, is spread over 1 lakh sqft. ?The talent that you find here is great. In the US, people are getting less interested in engineering.?

Aimed at providing better educational avenues for youngsters in Boston, Alan and his wife Pamela also established The Trefler Foundation in 1995.They donated $1 million to Dorchester High School to improve the school.

But near a chess board he still exhibits those attacking instincts. Gary Kasparov is a good friend. But it ends there, as he is not interested in competitions anymore, except those of the corporate type.