In this interview, Practus CEO Deepak Narayanan sat down with TechGraph to talk about how the company is engaging decision-makers to address challenges in the supply chain, manufacturing, and human resources industry and how Practus is fostering relationships with clients to produce better ROI.
Read the complete interview:
TechGraph: Can you tell us about Practus’ range of services and how they compare to similar services in the market?
Deepak Narayanan: Practus helps clients improve profitability, free up cashflows and enhance enterprise valuations. ROI is at the core of Practus’ value proposition and a key differentiator. Practus commits and delivers ROI on all its projects by expressing it as a multiple of the fee that it charges its clients and also by linking a part of its fee to actual outcomes/impact that it delivers to clients.
Practus works with large corporations, PE-backed portfolio companies, family-owned and managed businesses, and funded start-ups across 10 countries and with offices in Mumbai, NCR, Bangalore, New York, Atlanta, and Dubai.
Practus engages with CEOs on growth and turnarounds, with CFOs on re-imagining the finance function, business process re-engineering, implementing systems, automation, and digital transformation, integrating acquisitions, with supply chain heads on optimization of the supply chain function, with manufacturing heads on implementing industry 4.0, digital factories amongst others.
TechGraph: In your opinion, what makes Practus services unique and beneficial to clients in today’s market?
Deepak Narayanan: We are focused on committing and delivering clear tangible ROI to clients with Implementation vs advisory services. Consulting by and large remains in the ‘industrial era’ where fee is expressed and billed in terms of the number of hours and rate per hour.
Even in cases where it is not expressed this way, it is still calculated in this manner. The onus of being efficient and linking it to outcomes is still a long way which is what makes Practus’ value proposition unique and differentiated.
TechGraph: How does Practus ensure that its services are compatible with the changing needs of the market and its clients?
Deepak Narayanan: Technology is at the cornerstone of Practus’ delivery model. We work extensively with both in-house developed tools as well as 3rd party solutions while engaging with clients. Practus has successfully worked with over 150 tools over some time.
Practus uses proprietary frameworks and methodologies which allows us to remain agile, implement solutions faster and avoid the need to reinvent the wheel (we call it the Practus way).
People are one of Practus’ key assets. Cultural fitment is a key attribute that differentiates our people. We are a Great Place to Work and were ranked #51 in the Great Midsized Workplaces last year. We don’t stop at Client Satisfaction; Client Delight is what is ingrained in our DNA.
TechGraph: Can you speak about any recent developments or updates to Practus services that reflect changes in the market or client demands?
Deepak Narayanan: Practus has in the last couple of years started engaging with decision-makers outside of the CFOs. Several of our projects today are about addressing problem statements in functions such as supply chain, manufacturing, and HR with technology and change management being a common theme.
Even in the past when we were focused on the CFOs, we often ended up working with other functional heads or the CEO since problems were largely in operations. This shift has helped Practus to stay even closer to our clients and align better with stakeholders
TechGraph: How does Practus measure the success and impact of its services in the market, and what strategies does it employ to stay competitive?
Deepak Narayanan: Practus has consistently delivered an ROI of 3X-12X of its fee to clients. We measure this consistently and this is embedded in all our internal as well as client discussions.
