99x, an award-winning, high-quality digital product engineering company that specialises in delivering digital services to European markets, received two gold awards at the recently concluded NCE Export Awards Ceremony. Appearing below is an interview with 99x, Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Mano Sekaram on the success of the Company.
What does the award mean for the progress of your company?
99x has received gold in the ICT Services (Extra-Large Category) for five years now and been recognized as the Best Value Added Exporter – Services for two years. We see this as a continuous validation of our efforts in export markets as year-on-year; we strive to onboard new customers, launch new services and venture into new markets. In the last year alone, we onboarded more customers than in any other year so far, ventured into a new geography and received a USD $20 million investment from a Scandinavian private equity firm. Recognition from esteemed entities such as the National Chamber of Exporters of Sri Lanka support us in reaching such milestones as it assures external entities of the strength of our performance. Additionally, it’s a platform that allows us to benchmark ourselves against the best in the industry.
Software is an emerging industry with a certain shortage of human resources to keep up with the new trends. You are a company working with European clients as well. How do you cope with the challenge of human resource shortage?
99x’s approach to this is multifaceted. We follow a ‘people-first approach’ and focus heavily on creating an open and diverse workplace, in which innovation thrives. Our efforts have made us an employer of choice in Sri Lanka, which helps us attract top talent. Our customers from across the globe continue to be impressed by the talent and expertise shown by our people, who work closely with them on a day-to-day basis.
We also understand the importance of grooming young talent from an early stage. Our internships play a key role in infusing new talent into the 99x workforce. We also maintain strong relationships with over 20 universities and higher education Institutes Island wide and work closely with the academia to strengthen university syllabi. A dedicated team driven by our employees themselves conducts a multitude of workshops, hands-on trainings, mock interviews and more, reaching out to 3,000+ undergraduates annually, even during the pandemic. We recently concluded one of the largest hackathons in Sri Lanka, with over 600 undergraduates registering and participating virtually – with the winning team from UCSC walking away with MacBook Pros for the entire team. All these efforts and more help uplift and scale up talent, not just within 99x, but across the Sri Lankan IT industry.
The software industry is a rapidly advancing industry. As a company, how do you keep up with the rapidity of catering to the cliental needs?
Our research team actively works towards exploring how new technology and trends can be applied to business scenarios. Instead of waiting for our clients to come to us for solutions, we aim to approach them with ways of improving their existing products, services and processes. A recent example of this was the 99x research team’s work with Norway’s market leader in vehicle inspections to implement a Big Data-driven predictive service.
As you rightly said, the ICT industry is one that’s constantly evolving, and our employees need to constantly stay on top of global technological developments to succeed as IT professionals. Training and mentoring play a key role here. Mentoring happens at all levels in a structured way, from our internship programme to the lead level. In addition to leadership and soft skills development offered to all employees, development areas are identified during the 360-degree appraisal process to hone their technical skills. Our people have the freedom to directly approach our HR and technology departments to request trainings for themselves and colleagues they lead/mentor.
We have seen that the biggest drivers of our innovation are our people. While we create the avenues for them to explore new technological developments and implement these in global digital solutions, it is their passion and drive to learn new technologies and understand the latest trends that fuel the continuous new offerings and services to our international clientele.
What is the livewire behind establishing this company?
The success of 99x cannot be attributed to one person. ‘We’re tech team players’ is our motto and this rings true in everything we do. The company’s flat organizational structure and encouragement of our people to be ‘leaders without titles’ allows employees at all levels, from an intern to a technical lead, to actively contribute towards achieving 99x’s corporate goals. This level of empowerment means that we currently have over 400 ‘livewires’ contributing to the success of the company, not to mention many others who have been a part of our 15+ year journey.
Can you explain how the employee satisfaction is attained in the company?
99x focuses on creating a great workplace for all. It is the level of employee engagement is what makes a great workplace stand out. Employees should be able to challenge norms with efficient alternatives, without any fear of repercussion. Such an environment nurtures ‘leaders without titles’.
Secondly, employees need to feel a sense of belonging in a cultural context, to perform to the best of their abilities. Trust is the defining principle of a great workplace, which is created through the leadership’s credibility. The respect and fairness with which employees feel they are treated, appreciation and the levels of energy that bring about employee comradeship all form the essence of a great place to work.
Finally, an organization must convey transparency and trust, to offer employees a greater sense of control in their professional lives. It also motivates them to pursue their aspirations with confidence, and relate their personal goals with organizational growth and success.
These are all characteristics that resonate deeply with our employees and it is always exhilarating to see the results they can deliver in such an environment. The benefits are seen across the board – from the high levels of customer satisfaction to the resilience and dedication of all our people in during the challenges created by the pandemic.