Digital transformation in the recruitment sector
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Achieving and sustaining success in the midst of a digital transformation journey WRIT TEN BY
SE AN GA LE A-PACE PRODUCED BY
TOM VENTURO
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Atul Kumar, Global Chief Information Officer at Collabera, discusses how his company is embracing technology in the midst of the firm’s digital transformation journey
C
ompanies of all sizes are beginning to embrace technology in order to establish and maintain success. With
the aim of becoming more digitally advanced, Collabera is in the middle of a four-year digital transformation journey. Having been a leader 04
in IT staffing for over 25 years, the organization provides companies with comprehensive IT and professional staffing and services to help businesses achieve their goals. Atul Kumar, Global Chief Information Officer (CIO) at Collabera, believes his company’s digital journey has come a long way since beginning its transformation two years ago. “We have made significant progress in the last two years and I feel I helped accelerate this when I first joined the company,” he explains, reflecting back to September 2017 when he took the role. “We targeted the most impactful areas of the organization and looked for the opportunity to transform our business through digital technology.”
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“ It’s important to us that we ensure we have state of the art innovative applications which leverages the power of artificial intelligence,predictive analytics and smart automation to make recruiters smarter and efficient” — Atul Kumar, Global CIO, Collabera
07 In joining the company, Kumar was
80% of that is done. However, that
tasked with driving the firm forward
required a lot of change in our organi-
and created a digital transformation
zation and people don’t have much
roadmap to outline his targets. “Through
patience when things aren’t right.
my digital transformation roadmap,
Everyone wants to see a positive
I established the areas where I felt we
outcome immediately.”
could achieve the most impact. We started with three key goals: increase
EMBRACING NEW TECHNOLOGY
the revenue, improve the margin and
In order to obtain support and confi-
provide world class experience to its
dence before the beginning of Colla-
customers, candidates and employ-
bera’s transformation journey, Kumar
ees,” explains Kumar. “As a result of
delivered ‘quick wins’ in a bid to give his
that, I picked up all the big-ticket items
company confidence. Now, by intro-
for 2018 as well as some for 2019, and
ducing innovative business solutions,
I’m pleased to announce that at least
Collabera has geared to achieve w w w.c o l l a bera . com
profitable growth and digitalization
for employees, and integrated a service
is making it easier for the company to
desk chatbot,” explains Kumar. “We
improve customer experience, increase
have to fulfil the client’s requirements
efficiency and engage candidates in
faster and find the right candidate at
much more meaningful way.
all times. It’s important to us that we
“We rolled out an expense manage-
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ensure we have state of the art innovative
ment mobile app, automated our
applications which leverages the power
candidate screening process through
of artificial intelligence, predictive
AI-based parsing and matching tools,
analytics and smart automation to make
launched a new intranet which was
recruiters smarter and efficient. We are
a personalized integrated workspace
continuing to look for opportunities about
how we can provide that world class
substantial growth. For example, auto-
customer experience to our clients by
mated candidate outreach business
offering them quality candidates at
Glider.AI has proved an invaluable partner
a faster rate than our competition.”
to Collabera. “Glider.AI provided the most
By connecting talented professionals
advanced technical assessment and
to innovative companies, Collabera has
video interview platform which was
looked to form partnerships to help
integrated seamlessly into our system.
implement the new technology for
The platform helps internal recruiters
sustained success. Kumar affirms that
and hiring managers to quickly and easily
the collaboration of Collabera and its
discover great talent with demonstrat-
partners has been key to achieving
ed competency and engagement. This
E X E C U T I V E P R OF IL E
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Atul Kumar Atul is an accomplished IT leader with 21+ years of international and domestic experience in strategic planning, large scale IT transformations, business development and business operations gained through progressively more technological roles. He has successfully built and managed large diverse, cross functional high energy teams and has influenced positive outcomes in difficult situations through his collaborative leadership style. He has worked with clients in a wide variety of industries including Consumer Goods, Retail, Manufacturing, Logistics, Banking & Financial Services, High-Tech and Automobile Industries solving business problems by designing and structuring solutions for clients by involving business consulting and technology services. Currently, he is responsible for driving digital transformation initiatives at Collabera through new technology adoption and improving the customer experience across the organization.
w w w.c o l l a bera . com
has resulted in an increase in the quality of submissions by candidates to our clients and closing more positions successfully,” says Kumar. “Meanwhile, Sysfore Technologies provided the architectural consultancy services and API economy principles for the application. This helped us to integrate some of the functionalities of this application into other applications very quickly and easily.” The company has also teamed up with cloud-based a cloud-based knowledge automation, collaboration and communication platform from 10
Witty Parrot to help develop an AI-based digital assistant for Collabera’s sales team to be effective on the go.
TRANSFORMING THE ROLE OF A CIO With technology constantly evolving, the role of CIO has developed in order to keep up with the latest trends. Kumar believes a CIO’s job description has undergone a major transformation following the introduction of new technologies and innovations in the last decade. “I believe the position of a CIO has changed significantly who is now expected to be business technology leader with domain expertise. In the past, their most important skill was technology know-how
“ Glider.AI provided the most advanced technical assessment and video interview platform which was integrated seamlessly into our system” — Atul Kumar, Global CIO, Collabera
CLICK TO WATCH : ‘COLLABERA — FIND A JOB YOU LOVE’ 11 and deliver what business wants, primarily an order-taker kind of a role. You were just enabling the organization by automating some of the processes,” says Kumar. “Over the last 10 years, it has taken more of a front row seat in the organization and has begun to contribute to corporate strategy. Five years ago, people used to say, ‘technology has become the enabler’ – but in 2018, technology has become the driver for business. Now, the CIO role is to successfully formulate business solutions, create global capabilities, develop new revenue opportunities and foster innovation within their companies.” w w w.c o l l a bera . com
MAINTAINING SUCCESS For the last seven years, Collabera has consistently won the award of ‘Best Staffing Firm to Work For’ in the large firm category by Staffing Industry Analysts. “Now we want to be called most digitally advanced world’s leading staffing company which is taking
60+
Offices worldwide
15,000+ Pros worldwide
advantage of emerging technologies to make the company more efficient and drive revenue,” explains Kumar. He believes Collabera’s biggest achievement has been to increase 12
24/7
Staffing support
recruitment productivity through technology. “We have Fortune 500 clients and small clients, too. We get requirements from them and then match to the millions of candidates in our database. It then becomes our responsibility to submit their resumes and the client interviews, screens and finally selects them,” explains Kumar. “Through increasing the recruitment productivity and reducing the time and cost of filling the clients’ requirement, it has meant that the quality of candidate submission, as well as candidate experience, has been enhanced – and our Glassdoor rating has risen too.”
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Looking to the future, Kumar affirms
digital first mindset,” says Kumar. “The
that Collabera can continue to grow as
moment we begin to think we have
long as the company remembers its
arrived; our growth will stop. The only
core principles but remains primed to
constant is change and we have to live
adapt to the latest trends. “It’s vital that
with that. I think we’ll continue to grow
we continue to achieve what we have
as long as we adapt to change and
done in the same fashion as long as we
embrace new technology.”
remain focused on providing a great service to our client and candidate. We must continue to embrace the technology revolution and improve our processes and business models with w w w.c o l l a bera . com
T 201-966-1720 www.collabera.com