Stephen Brobst, the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for Terradata is no stranger to Pakistan. Besides business trips, he has travelled extensively through the country and gathered intimate knowledge of local culture and customs. In terms of work experience, he has headed many high-end information technology related businesses, two of which are listed on the NASDAQ.
He joined Terradata after one of his companies engaged in high performance parallel processing was acquired by Terradata. Brobst met with a select group of journalists in Karachi during a recent trip here. The following transcript comprises selected excerpts from this interaction.
Terradata's major clientele in the country comprises telecommunications providers, banks and other large financial institutions. The Company's CTO pointed out that the majority of firms operating in these sectors in Pakistan are dependent on Terradata to meet their high-end data warehousing and processing needs. But does that mean that Terradata's business here has slowed as both sectors head into a consolidation phase? Stephen Brobst responded with a vociferous, "no".
"Don't confuse the revenue growth of banks and telecommunications companies, with ours" he warned adding that, "when times get tough and business is not growing as easily as it had for the telcos when they first launched in the country; that is when they need data analytics even more". Explaining further he drew attention to the global financial crisis which began in 2007. Banks, FI's and other companies across the globe have struggled to consolidate their businesses and weather the storm which is still sending shockwaves across economies. But Brobst pointed out that between 2007 and the outgoing year, Terradata has enjoyed unparalleled levels of new business from the financial sector.
"Even when a firm is consolidating its business, its management needs to be able to differentiate between good costs and bad costs. They need to be able to figure out where slack can be cut and where new investment opportunities are emerging that could position them well to grow when the economy does rebound," said Brobst. The CTO contended that businesses need data analytics to be able to ascertain who are their most valuable clients and what needs to be done to retain and augment this customer base.
"When everything is going well few firms try doing anything new and different. When the times get tough those companies are forced to operate more smartly; and to be wiser in your decision making you need data and the ability to analyse it. So the reality is that tough economic times are generally good for our business," he said.
Although the Company focuses on providing its services to banks and telcos in the country, Terradata's maiden project in Pakistan was delivered to the Government of Pakistan. "We provided the base for Nadra's database which allowed the issuance of computerised national identity cards here," explained Brobst. Drawing attention to the Government's intended plans to chase down tax dodgers, he revealed that the information tax authorities aim to gather; including international travel itineraries and the purchase of imported cars and other expensive assets, would all utilise Terradata technology.
While highlighting the potential benefits of the use of data in the social sector; Brobst said that developing countries like Pakistan are often stretched for resources when it comes to the provision of education, healthcare and basic amenities. He said that data analytics can help identify the unique needs of different geographical areas and socio-economic classes. This information can be used to provide targeted government assistance instead of operating relatively expensive and inefficient blanket government-sponsored programmes and drives.
Given the Company's global size, the proportion of business generated from Pakistan is quite small. The Company has about 2,600 projects under implementation at the moment out of which only about a dozen are in Pakistan. However, Stephen Brobst contended that Terradata has aggressive expansion plans here.
The Company has set up its country head office in Islamabad, while it also has other locations in Karachi and Lahore. The collective permanent workforce employed by the Company exceeds 500 employees. Additional human resources are tapped on contracts for specific project implementations. The significant presence in the country is not only employed to serve the domestic market; Terradata has chosen Pakistan as its regional head office.
Most IT firms establish their regional presence through India, with a view to tap cheap human resources from that country's network of India Institutes of Technology. But Brobst said that Terradata has chosen Pakistan to manage its operations in Afghanistan, Bangladesh and other regional markets. He highlighted that it is relatively easier to find top-quality human resources for the Company in Pakistan as the job market is less competitive here than it is in India's IT hub cities.