EPAM leveraging its engineering DNA to lead the industry in digital and physical product development: Srinivas Reddy
CXOToday has engaged in an exclusive interview with Mr. Srinivas Reddy, Managing Director (India GDO Head) at EPAM Systems, Inc.
- Can you please tell our readers about EPAM and the India Chapter of the organization?
Since 1993, EPAM has leveraged its advanced software engineering heritage to become the foremost global digital transformation services provider – leading the industry in digital and physical product development and digital platform engineering services. Today, we are a global organization with nearly 60,000 employees and offices in more than 50 countries. EPAM is listed among the top 15 companies in Information Technology Services on the Fortune 1000 and ranked four times as the top IT services company on Fortune’s 100 Fastest Growing Companies list. In 2022, EPAM posted revenue of $4.825 billion, up 28.4% year-over-year.
At EPAM, we help our customers thrive and stay competitive in a market challenged by commercial, regulatory and digitization pressures. Our experts work collaboratively with our customers to achieve meaningful, sustained impact for their business, employees and consumers. Through our innovative strategy; integrated advisory, consulting and design capabilities; and unique ‘Engineering DNA,’ our globally deployed hybrid teams help make the future real for our customers and communities around the world.
EPAM entered the Indian market in 2015 with the objective of diversification but still focused on its engineering differentiation. We leverage our borderless delivery approach, and support our clients in driving digital transformation, operating within an on-demand environment with the added advantage of having access to engineering talent across the country. EPAM is present in five locations around India: Hyderabad, Pune, Bangalore, Gurgaon and Chennai.
2.What are the services provided by EPAM India and how are you helping your clients to achieve their targets?
We work across industries including banking, healthcare, life sciences, retail, software & hi-tech and media & entertainment. We are experts in building large platforms, e-commerce platforms and wealth management platforms, in addition to helping our clients modernize their operations. We have established practices across digital, data, cloud and quality engineering to deliver next-generation, integrated and smart run services.
3. What are your business plans for India going forward?
EPAM is currently present in five cities in India. As we expand, the plan is to open more offices and increase our leadership team in the region. On the horizontal side, EPAM India intends to add deeper technical capabilities in digital, cloud, data, and on the vertical slide, build consulting in industries like insurance, life-science, healthcare, payments, and retail. In 2021, we doubled our India employee number. Today, India represents over 12% of our total global headcount and is well positioned to be 20% in the next few years.
We are establishing data science and cloud transformation centers of excellence, life science & payment’s hub and design studio to assist our customers in innovating and transforming their businesses. Each of these is enabled to add new and deeper capabilities and bring in consulting lens that helps our customers become faster and more adaptive enterprises. As a group of consultants, designers, architects, engineers and trainers, we focus on building long-term partnerships with our customers, enabling them to reimagine their businesses through a digital lens.
4.Can you please talk in detail about Engineering Excellence?
To design, architect and provide high-quality solutions, the engineering community must be trained on the newest technologies and implementation frameworks. In this regard, the Engineering Excellence or EngX program of EPAM offers a methodologically developed model promoting best engineering practices and fostering a learning-centric culture. It has been formulated by carefully studying the changing workforce dynamics, industry trends and talent requirements of the market. EPAM’s EngX program provides an ecosystem that offers learning opportunities, tools to build engineering skills and avenues to grow. EngX focuses on every aspect of engineering life, promoting software craftsmanship, design thinking, problem-solving and an agile and product development mindset.
The learning modules and training programs of EngX are specifically designed for every job function in the company. Engineers at EPAM are encouraged to apply best engineering practices, like clean code and good programming fundamentals to their projects. Advanced tools and platforms enable professionals to sharpen their skills through practice. EngX events and communities offer a global platform for professionals to learn, network and share knowledge with like-minded tech enthusiasts.
5. How important is acquiring good talent and what has been your key focus while hiring?
At EPAM, we believe we select people differently and train them differently. Our central philosophy revolves around our Engineering DNA and therefore, we focus on bringing in high-quality talent. Our hiring processes are rigorous and our technical rounds are industry-leading. The candidates are evaluated based on EPAM’s competency framework for skill and seniority levels and our qualified interviewers are certified by global mentors.
We have dedicated candidate engagement and referral programs to attract the right kind of talent from the market that is culturally aligned to EPAM and be successful in a high-performance environment. Our continuous learning programs help our people upskill themselves and contribute to their career growth.
