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This paperback annual report is a page-turner

Gagandeep Kaur

Not all paperbacks are page-turners. But Polaris Software's annual report is. Come again, you say? Well, this year Madras-based Polaris Software has brought out its annual report in the form of a paperback. And it definitely is unputdownable.

And why you may ask. Titled 'Power of Simplicity,' the 194-page book gives the reader fascinating insights into the way the company does business-on how it won deals and perhaps lost a few as well, experiences with clients, without holding anything back.

The financial information about the company's performance is tucked away in the last few chapters. If there was a management book needed which goes into the mechanics of how software companies really go about doing business, down to the nitty-gritty of it, Polaris has attempted to fill that need.

The paperback is peppered with case studies with one chapter on how the clients and Polaris together learnt from their mistakes.

The book narrates a case of how a retail banking system deployed for a leading MNC bank in India required moving to a new platform and technology.

"At the insistence of the client, the resources working on the project were replaced by those trained in the new skills. This was not so wise as the wealth of knowledge gained by the earlier team was lost to the project. The lesson was a good one in intelligent resource management."

There is even a chapter which carries excerpts from a panel discussion on the Polaris growth strategy, giving stock holders a peep into how their company is taking shape.

Taste this: "We are ready to create solutions on the fly, in front of the customer, even as he briefs." Though this may sound a little too presumptuous, it is what the company would like to call accelerated time to market for its clients.

A case study has an interesting anecdote (Why our client loved us when we said 'no') which relates a problem faced by a client for which Polaris was asked to suggest a solution. Polaris, instead of accepting the work, surprisingly turned down the project in the current form.

Company executives, ignoring the possibility that the work might get cancelled, went ahead and suggested an alternative, which was readily accepted by the client.

Polaris' work is not just limited to management book style annual reports. Like Infosys' leadership institute, it is also coming up with a university named after Nalanda, the renowned varsity of ancient India.

Conceptualised and driven by Ashok Korwar, one of India's eminent strategy thinkers and faculty at IIM-A, Nalanda is being planned as a fulcrum of Polaris' individual and organisational learning initiatives. The university is expected to come up on the IT highway near Madras soon.

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