Hexaware technologies will re-look its service lines to cater to the changing needs at the back of coronavirus outbreak. "This includes more focus on cloud and touchless technology," CEO R Srikrishna said.
Speaking to Moneycontrol after results announcement on April 28, Srikrishna, said that the prospect of recovery will be faster in areas such as cloud and touch-less technology. “These are not discretionary spending rather necessary for business continuity plans,” he added.
For instance, even if a flight takes off with less than half the strength, they need to invest in technology for issuing boarding passes. So investment in these technologies becomes necessary, he noted.
To cater to these changing demands, the company has reoriented itself to focus on four major areas – touchless and immersive technology, cloud, automation and anywhere employee concept, where entire lifecycle of employees is made online starting from on-boarding, evaluation and employee engagement. The company is working on these services, which will be app-based.
In terms of verticals, the company expects healthcare and retail to see faster recovery after a short-term impact at the back of the virus outbreak. “Travel and hospitality will take a while and might not even see 100 percent recovery,” he added.
Travel accounts for about 10 percent of overall revenue. Fitness, a sub-vertical under healthcare, has also taken the worst hit. The recovery depends on how fast fitness firms can rapidly shift online. They needs to invest in delivering services digitally, Srikrishna added.
The company registered revenue of $211 million, 1.7 percent decline quarter-on-quarter, at the end of March 31, 2020. Hexaware suspended the guidance of 15-17 percent it gave at the beginning of the year as the back of COVID-19. Growth in verticals declined barring banking and financial services, which grew 1.9 percent q-o-q.
Srikrishna said, “The second quarter will be the worst. We can expect some recovery in Q3. But it would be another three to four quarters before we go back to the current levels.”
In the meantime, 99 percent of the company’s 20,000 employees are working from home. Srikrishna said that at any point in time, not more than 50 percent of the employees will work from office, at least till the vaccine is in place. “Of course this is subject client permissions and regulatory approvals,” he added.
Srikrishna said that no calls have been taken, as yet, on employee related measures such as hikes and pay cuts.
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