Special Edition: AUGUST, 2020
TS TiMES LOOKING BEYOND THE LOCKDOWN
CONTENTS Editor’s Note
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SPOTLIGHT: Unlock 3 - Looking Beyond the Lockdown
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Vadodara’s Back to Office Success Story: Interview with Prasanna Shukla
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SPECIAL: WE BID YOU ADIEU – Our Beloved CFO, PR
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IN SYNC: WFX App
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TECHGYAN: F.R.U.G.AL Manufacturing
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EXPLORE
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AURA
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YAMMER
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Your Stories… Our Stories…
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Caring for a Butterfly with a broken wing…
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Life Lessons from Behind the Lens
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The Silver Lining of the Pandemic: Strengthening of the Parenting Bond
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The Art of ZEN
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Meditation Session for Mental Wellbeing
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Ground Transportation Virtual Family Day Celebration
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TS TiMES, SPECIAL MONTHLY EDITION | L&T TECHNOLOGY SERVICES
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EDITOR'S MESSAGE Dear Colleagues, Hope all of you are safe and well! On behalf of TS TiMES, wishing you a glorious 74th Indian Independence Day. The Indian Independence Day marks the establishment of a free and independent Indian nation in 1947. The 74th Independence Day (celebrated on 15th August) has been unique to all ourcolleagues in India who celebrated the occasion from the confines of their homes or offices. Despite the many restrictions, this has been a memorable time as it has brought out the spirit of resilience and independence in all of us at LTTS. Whether it was breaking free of the restrictions of COVID or the lockdown and bouncing back with new customer programs, team LTTS has responded with rigour in the last few months. On that note, we are happy to announce that LTTS’ back to work campaign has seen good success with the Vadodara delivery center in India recording around 85 percent attendance. In this edition, we have interviewed Prasanna Shukla, Center Head, Vadodara and Global Head of Plant Engineering to learn how he has achieved this feat. You can watch his full interview in the viewpoint feature. LTTS' other India centers are also gearing up for the resumption of ‘Back to Office’ on a fairly large scale; as you know our Admin, HR & IT colleagues have left no stone unturned to welcome all our colleagues back and we look forward to more colleagues resuming in the coming weeks and month. The edition also encapsulates the virtual family day celebration hosted by our ground transportation team as well as anecdotes from our colleagues on the ‘art of parenting’ in the New Normal. Besides these, there are other interesting features that capture the ever enthusiastic and positive spirit of LTTS. Finally, our beloved CFO, P Ramakrishnan bid farewell to us earlier this month, to take up a new role in L&T group headquarters. While we had organized a rousing farewell for him, we will miss him, and in this edition, we have captured our best moments with PR. Do checkout glimpses of PR with us over the years. Stay Safe and watch this space as we will be coming up with more exciting stories in the coming month. Till then wishing you health, safety and happiness from all of us at TS Times. Best regards, Team TS TiMES Aniruddha Basu | Vijay Maha | Sheetal Ishwalkar | Prathamesh Jog | Sayanti Chakraborty Yashavantha Kumar | Seema Joshi TS TiMES, SPECIAL MONTHLY EDITION | L&T TECHNOLOGY SERVICES
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SPOTLIGHT
SPOTLIGHT
UNLOCK 3: LOOKING BEYOND THE LOCKDOWN As we enter the ‘Unlock 3’ phase, most of the restrictions on the movement of personnel and goods within and outside the city and rural borders have been relaxed or completely removed. This has provided an opportunity to all the employees who were stuck at their native towns to return to their base work locations. It is heartening to see the eagerness to return to office after a long period, evident from the sheer number of our colleagues returning to work across all our locations. Vadodara under the leadership of Prasanna Shukla has already resumed near complete operations. Other major centers in India including Bangalore, Chennai, Mysore and Hyderabad are on track to achieve higher numbers of people working from office. Mumbai too has seen a gradual uptick in attendance numbers in the past few weeks. These facts showcase the success of our WFX campaign that allows for flexible shifts, hotdesking and the freedom to work from any office center in one’s base location. The company is taking all possible measures to ensure a safe and sound workspace for all the employees returning to work. Here are a few glimpses:
VADODARA
TS TIMES, SPECIAL MONTHLY EDITION | L&T TECHNOLOGY SERVICES
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SPOTLIGHT
MUMBAI
BANGALORE
CHENNAI
MYSORE
TS TiMES, SPECIAL MONTHLY EDITION | L&T TECHNOLOGY SERVICES
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SUCCESS STORY
VADODARA’S BACK TO OFFICE SUCCESS STORY INTERVIEW WITH PRASANNA SHUKLA LTTS’ Vadodara Centre became close to fully operational in July, 2020. This was achieved by the brilliant collaborative effort of all the teams – Admin, HR, Delivery and most importantly a focused approach from the centre head – Prasanna Shukla. We interviewed Prasanna to learn more about the efforts that went into making the centre operational at such a fast pace– the motivation, the process, the challenges faced, and the success achieved. Prasanna says, “I can tell with confidence to all our colleagues, apart from your house, there is no safer place for you than our office. Our teams have taken all measures in line with global standards. And moreover, coming to office is way more engaging than working from home. I say this from personal experience! “
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SPECIAL
SPECIAL
WE BID YOU ADIEU – OUR BELOVED CFO, PR “We need to have firm principles but remain flexible in approach” P. Ramakrishnan, LTTS’ CFO from 2016, stands by this golden life mantra. Called PR by one and all, his contributions have been immense in building LTTS into the engineering services bellwether as it has come to be recognized by analysts and investors today. With clarity of thought, precise and consistent strategic vision, and a farsighted approach, PR has been a pillar of strength for LTTS. From LTTS’ IPO in 2016 to the acquisition of Orchestra Technology last quarter, PR’s leadership, commitment and energy has helped LTTS achieve many a milestone. PR bid adieu to LTTS in August to take up a new role in L&T corporate in Mumbai. Here are a few glimpses of the time he spent with us, helping us build this beautiful LTTS family.
LTTS WELCOMES Rajeev Gupta as CFO Rajeev joins LTTS from Birlasoft where he was CFO and part of the leadership team providing strategic direction. Rajeev comes with over 24 years of experience in Financial Management, of which 17 are in the technology industry. All of us at LTTS are excited to have Rajeev on-board and wish him a long and successful innings as our CFO! TS TiMES, SPECIAL MONTHLY EDITION | L&T TECHNOLOGY SERVICES
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IN SYNC
IN SYNC WFX APP
In the Work from Anywhere (WFX) model as conceptualized by LTTS, employees are provided with a flexible work environment that allows them to work from their homes, “hometowns”, base locations and their designated workstations. The WFX App, recently launched by LTTS, is designed to plan a Smart Roster for employees and enable a safe working environment for all those who are returning to the workplace. The WFX App can help you streamline the daily workflow while providing managers a complete dashboard for defining the work process for their teams and optimizing and executing the workflow. With just the click of a mouse, employees can assign WFX to themselves after discussion with respective Managers. Once the Plan is approved by the Reporting Manager, a monthly plan is then created and locked in the system. Any further amendments to this plan can be updated only by the designated Manager. The WFX Rostering landing page helps team leads with their monthly planning and tracking for reportees who are also kept in sync with the central database and in compliance with organizational guidelines. The most important aspect of LTTS’ WFX ideology is balancing situations and making the best out of the current circumstances. In this context, we interviewed Uday Mohandas, Sales lead for Japan and Korea region, on how he leveraged the WFX situation to his advantage.
How has your experience been during this WFX phase? I have always felt that disruptions are good for new ideas and opportunities to evolve. This one is up there – though I faced initial hiccups but got hold of the situation eventually.
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IN SYNC Can you elaborate on these challenges? There were two major challenges:
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Customer Meetings - Japan is quite conservative when it comes to business. In particular, the customer meetings. It is typical in Japanese culture to have face-to-face meetings. Initially it was quite difficult to convince them for virtual meetings – both existing and new customers. Operations were impacted initially owing to the pandemic and it was important to resume seamless delivery at the earliest
How did you address these challenges? Gaining Customer trust during Remote meetings – Proactive and pointed responses for all the customer queries went a long way in gaining customer confidence. New customers are key to our growth – Once clients were convinced for video conferencing, things started to roll. WFX ideology – We were able to explain the WFX benefits to the customer and acquired WFX approvals for our Engineers – LTTS’ robust security policies for data safety were key in securing the approvals. How did LTTS help solve this challenge?
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Being flexible to make amendments to suit the current situation specific to each client Accommodated the health concerns of our engineers Delivery readiness and flexibility in work modes Excellent IT & infrastructure support in quickly facilitating WFX
Is there anything you’re doing differently in comparison to your peers?
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Being available for any queries from the clients or their teams is always the key When the situation demanded, I ensured physical presence at customer location Anticipating international travel ban, preponed my meetings with Korean customers to assure them of efficient remote support
What are the key take-aways of your innovative methods? Readiness for video conferencing from clients has enabled me to reach out to different clients in a single day. This increased speed has helped drive more positive results. One line which best describes your experience? Be Patient, be cheerful and stay committed!
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TECHGYAN
F.R.U.G.AL MANUFACTURING The speed with which the world around us changed dramatically, initially confounded everybody. As things intensified, the world redefined its expectations of what could be done to work through it; how, from the perspective of sustaining national and global economies, as well as society and communities, we could not only adapt to the current challenges, but also lay foundations for the new normal. Manufacturers are faced with three core impact areas right now: Social distancing and contactless operations, Business continuity (for all brownfield projects) and Business sustainability. Lessons will be learned in dealing with these impacts that can be directed both to the current and a better future state of operations. LTTS calls this the ‘manufacturing reset’. In short, manufacturing organizations will succeed to the degree to which they have become FRUGAL: Flexible, Remote, Unconventional, Glocal, and Agile.
Know more: Download the Discussion Paper TS TiMES, SPECIAL MONTHLY EDITION | L&T TECHNOLOGY SERVICES
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EXPLORE: AURA AURA – an online platform to access the universe of best-of-the-breed reusable assets from the LTTS innovation engine was launched in mid-June. The portal hosts top-quality assets - solutions, frameworks, PoCs, labs, and much more across the vertical and horizontal functions.
A Universe of Reusable ASSETs
LTTSites across the world can use AURA to: - Showcase our assets to potential prospects and customers - Cross-leverage assets between verticals and business units - Learn about the best and the greatest innovations of LTTS Upcoming releases of AURA will contain live and virtual walkthrough of labs, a dedicated patents wall and much more. EXPLORE AURA TODAY!
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Visit https://aura.LTTS.com Login with your PS. Number and Outlook Password
Yammer
Yammer is gathering quite a following since its launch at LTTS. It is a LIVE hub of connection, conversation and collaboration. Almost all the verticals and horizontals have created their groups and communities on the Yammer and are already engaging in meaningful conversations as well as banter. If you are not on Yammer yet, you certainly are missing out… EXPLORE YAMMER TODAY! • Visit http://www.Yammer.com • Login with your Outlook Credentials
TS TiMES, Special MONTHLY EDITION | L&T TECHNOLOGY SERVICES
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YOUR STORIES… OUR STORIES… Last month, we sent out a communication inviting entries/contributions that we would feature in TS TiMES. We received an overwhelming response and we thank you all for it. Here are the first two stories for August. Keep sending us your entries at Aniruddha.Basu@LTTS.com and Sheetal.Ishwalkar@LTTS.com
Caring for a Butterfly with a broken wing… Pankaj Kumar Sharma, India I met my wife way back in 2009, we courted for about two years and got married in 2011. What seemed like a ‘happily ever after’ then, was not to be. As it mostly happens, we got a lot of questions from relatives on when we were planning for a family. We dodged that bullet for five years but one fine day when I was preparing to move out of the country to take up a new job, my wife announced that she was expecting our first child! I was on cloud nine – so much so that I was ready to refuse the new job and stay back in India. But my wife convinced me otherwise. The end of gestation period coincided with my holiday and lo and behold, our little Princess was born! I felt ineffable joy on seeing both a healthy baby and a happy mother! I thought we finally found our ‘happily ever after’.
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But again, it was not to be for long. Our baby turned 9 months and all her behavior was normal, except that she had not uttered a single word yet. We didn’t worry, as some children do take some time with speech development. Then one day she got fever and fits, but recovered in a few days. With passing time, almost all of our child’s cognitive skills developed well, but words were missing. On her 2nd birthday celebration our child felt uneasy and we consulted our pediatrician who said it was all normal. She had fever again and we took medical help but to no avail. She had another seizure and we rushed her back to the ICU. After seven days, we were told that our daughter may have Autism. We knew it is a developmental disorder, but couldn’t believe our child may have been Autistic. After thorough assessment, doctors confirmed that our child did have Autism Spectrum Disorder. Our little girl had become restless - she was afraid of sound, light, and other things. We were uncertain what triggered her meltdown and the endless crying for hours. As parents, this impacted both our lives. My wife decided to take a sabbatical from work for six months - here, I want to thank the LTTS family for the sabbatical and support as it gave her the time to spend with our child. She researched on Autism, joined various groups and found the right set of therapies and diet for our child. Our child’s health has improved in the past one year, but it is a long road ahead and the COVID-19 situation has also stopped all her activities. As the saying goes, “you learn something new every day”. For years now we have been waiting to hear the magical words ‘Mumma’ and ‘Papa’, and are sure one day our efforts will bear fruit. I believe ‘special children’ like my little angel are colorful butterflies with broken wings and people like us are entrusted with the responsibility, perseverance and patience to empower them so that these children too can fly high like others and achieve their dreams.
TS TiMES, Special MONTHLY EDITION | L&T TECHNOLOGY SERVICES
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LIFE LESSONS FROM BEHIND THE LENS
Abhijit Pattanayak, India My affair with the art of photography began 14 years ago when I bought my first camera. Since then I have been fascinated by the scope of various forms of photography. The love for this art-form has taught me to be patient, enabled an eye for different perspectives and áppreciate and admire the beauty in everything. By the time I got my first DSLR camera, wildlife photography was something that I had really started to explore. I had been following several Nat-Geo photographers for inspiration which made me curious about the scenarios and conditions they had to be in for one perfect shot. I started to click pictures of birds that visited my backyard posting them on Facebook and Instagram when one day a famous photographer from Odisha came across one of my posts and contacted me to collaborate for a joint project to visit a place named “Mangalajodi” where every year migratory birds visit. During this time, this place becomes one of the busiest tourist-spots. We had a 2-day schedule during which we had to be submerged in chest-deep back waters carrying our camera gears and scouting the areas for photos. Well, the trip was great, we got really nice pictures, some got published, some sold off to the Tourism Department, but this trip had something more in store for me. The night-sky of Mangalajodi was very clear and since it was a winter-night we could see a whole lot of stars which was simply impossible to witness for a city dweller like me. On the second night of our stay, I pointed my camera to the night sky and took my first long exposure photo, it was like a magic and love at first sight. Since then I have been travelling in search of clear, dark night skies, traveling to remote villages trying to capture Star Trails and Milky Way. TS TiMES, Special MONTHLY EDITION | L&T TECHNOLOGY SERVICES
Mangalajodi Swamp Land
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However, it was still more curiosity than skill involved in this photography. The actual learning started when I visited IIT Kharagpur during SpringFest. I accidentally attended a guest lecture, by Ajay Talwar – one of the most prominent Astrophotographers in the world, based in Gurgaon. His lecture opened my mind to possibilities of using my camera for capturing things beyond humans and wildlife. He conducts a workshop on the foothills of the Himalayas every December where he teaches how to use camera and other equipment for astrophotography. The 3-day workshop was held at a place called Ranikhet, a small town in Uttarakhand. This small town overlooks the mountain Nanda Devi. At an elevation of about 1.8km we were above any city lights or any surrounding light pollution, which is very much ideal for astrophotography. At night the sky feels like someone has poured a large packet of glitter on a black canvas. It’s so beautiful that it is indescribable.
Milky Way, spotted outside of Sariska
Ever since I came across the technology that the current digital camera possesses, it has been a steep learning curve for me with a lot of trial and error. Clicking pictures of night sky, one is not always sure of what and how good or bad the final image would turn out. It takes a lot of location scouting and imagination to frame a perfect shot. With the help of a couple of my friends and after 1 year of studying the theory behind spotting the Milky Way, clicking numerous Star trails and learning from my mistakes, I was able to capture the Milky Way on one winter night when we camped 50km away from Sariska National Park. All I would say about this hobby of mine is that it has made me a better person. Wildlife photography has taught me to inculcate. Night sky photography has taught me that there are variables beyond our control and the only way forward is to give my best without worrying about the outcomes. And, these are the learnings that I carry into my professional life from my hobby of 'Chasing the Stars'! TS TiMES, SPECIAL MONTHLY EDITION | L&T TECHNOLOGY SERVICES
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THE SILVER LINING OF THE PANDEMIC
STRENGTHENING OF THE PARENTING BOND One good outcome of the Pandemic is that all the working parents got an opportunity to spend more time or at least be around with their kids for a longer time than the usual as compared to the times when they had to follow the office routine. Let’s hear from LTTSites on how they are spending quality time with their kids these days… Aslam M. Shakir Sales and Business Development, Amsterdam Due to the pandemic situation, I was worried about my son’s physical activity owing to the restriction on outdoor sports and feared addiction and dependence on TV and video games. To avoid such issues, my wife and I are making sure we continue to work out individually and make sure the kids get exercise and play too. And I must say spending time with my child is the best feeling during this period. This has helped us to do all those things we have missed out on during our work routines in the past. Sheetal Bavi HR, Edison This extra time that I get to spend with my kid owing to the current situation is something that I have always longed for. Most of us have been witness and have to bear the unruly behavior of kids from time to time. This extra time gave me an opportunity to reflect why it happened. One must note that kids follow and imitate your behavior and the more frustrated and irritated you are, the more unruly your kid becomes. This realization and the extended time with our kid has really helped us to develop our child’s EQ as he sees his family eat, play and engage in activities together. I have seen him grow into a caring young child who cares for everybody from insects to plants. The curiosity gets the best out of him with each passing day. TS TiMES, SPECIAL MONTHLY EDITION | L&T TECHNOLOGY SERVICES
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Erin Murphy DOC Common, Peoria I have a slightly different view on this, since my little one is now just 7.5 months old, she's spent most of her life in pandemic. I think one of the biggest challenges in current times is having a baby who never sees anyone but jut the mom and dad. It makes for a very nervous and anxious baby when seeing other people. We have gotten very creative with introducing her to other people and socializing her virtually. It has given us a new perspective and appreciation for my family and the support that they have extended. Rahul Pawar Delivery, Peoria My daughter, Ovi, who just turned 3 in April, has adapted well to the 'New Normal' along with me. Although it's difficult to spend time with her during my working hours, she is very happy to get a hug from me every morning and during breaks. She tries to find every opportunity to sneak into the room and those moments are great stress busters! One of the benefits of this pandemic was saving commuting time to work which allowed me to take my daughter to bike ride every evening in the neighborhood and strengthen our father-daughter bond! Nitasha Koul Aerospace Delivery, Neuilly Children can adapt to difficult situations so much better than us adults and find creative ways to be happy. My daughter, Kaira loves drawing and coloring and to do something new every day. The time away from office has given me an opportunity to actively help her in her hobbies. I make it a point to fuel her curiosity and appetite for learning by introducing to her Do It Yourself (DIY) tutorials. Of course, I am satiating my curiosity too and have been equally involved in the projects. TS TiMES, SPECIAL MONTHLY EDITION | L&T TECHNOLOGY SERVICES
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THE ART OF ZEN
MEDITATION SESSION FOR MENTAL WELLBEING In North America, our HR team launched an 8-week meditation and stress management program, with wellness communication tips shared and practices to be followed at work in the current times. Additionally, a special virtual meditation session was organized, in collaboration with Heartfulness Institute for the employees to encourage the importance of daily wellness in creating a better every day. The session was themed around relaxation, heartfulness meditation practice and its benefits. It was an interactive session led by Heartfulness Meditation trainer – Satyajeet Shinde. The one-and-half hour session was extremely well-received by the employees and led to a demand for more such sessions.
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GROUND TRANSPORTATION VIRTUAL FAMILY DAY CELEBRATION BONDING THAT FOSTERS POSITIVITY
At LTTS, we believe that staying connected with your team and their families fosters a bond of togetherness. The ground transportation team hosted the virtual Family Day celebration, bringing together the teams and their respective families. From a ‘Photo contest’, to a ‘cook off’ the fun activities through the day made everyone cheerful and happy. The kids – ‘little stars’ of the team members were also encouraged to get creative and express themselves. The event commemorated work anniversaries and recognized employees with long service awards – with a notable mention of a team member who celebrated a milestone of being 20 years with LTTS. The team expressed that as they scale up, they aspire to continue having a positive impact on the lives of the team members and the communities with whom they engage.
TS TiMES, SPECIAL MONTHLY EDITION | L&T TECHNOLOGY SERVICES
Here are a few glimpses of the special moments from the virtual celebration.
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#EngineeringTheChange
BCP Teams India Ganesh Raghavan Ravi Kumar
USA Wilson A
Europe Vishal Khatri
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APAC Kamala Manohari
