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Vijay Gnanadesikan

Vijay Gnanadesikan

CEO
Haliscape Business Solutions Pvt Ltd

Short Description

Vijay Gnanadesikan is a CEO of Haliscape Business Solutions Pvt Ltd. He worked at GE consumer products and Industrial headquarters, KY, USA & Sigworth Technologies, Chennai, India

Company Profile

After working in the US for several years, I started Haliscape in Chennai in April 2006 as web technology consulting and outsourcing company. Our expertise has been in building tailor made solutions for complex business problems. Our strength lies in bridging the gap in facilitating business process knowledge transfer that many western companies face when they want an outsourcing partner. Most of our customers are small and medium sized enterprises who cannot afford huge expenses with travel for several face-to-face meetings to get the best results.

Product development is another major component of our business. Our fitness product is being used by more than 40 gyms in Australia. We are in the verge of launching our new product, GreeneDesk, a paperless solution for the recreation industry in Australia. Another product that we are working on is for the Indian consumers and will change the way Indians will shop. This is set to be launched in the first quarter of next year.

Leadership Qualities
My ex-boss at GE and mentor Don Dickerson always said and followed one principle- never lie. If you tell the truth you don’t have to remember it ever.

Once I went to my professor and mentor John Naber and told him that I don’t know programming and requested him to give the programming part to someone else. He gave me a book on programming and asked me to submit the product for demo in two days. I did. Lesson learnt- I never think I can’t learn something.

My dad always told me that you can take financial risks only to an extent you can come out without sinking.

As a business (and personal) policy, we keep our money very close to our chest. We always negotiate to get the best price and at the same time, balance it out to make sure our employees are well taken care of. We spend our money in a phased manner by setting specific goals to be attained before the next phase of spending is done for any initiative we take.
Experience with investors
In the past, we've always sourced our investment needs internally with family and friends. Even though we have not had an institutional investor, we've always considered any money brought in to the company as an investment and keep our accountability very high to all our stake holders. We do have some potential investors lined up for some of our future endeavours. Based on our meticulously planned business process and execution, it's been easier to convince them to invest with our company.
Company work Culture
Our biggest focus is our employees. We have always been treating  them as family. We hear their problems and help them whenever we can. There is only hierarchy for the projects and not to approach. Ours is very democratic. Every employee, even the ones just joined are  encouraged to question the reasoning or ask questions. As a culture we don’t micro manage our team. We believe that if they are involved in how a software product should be built, we can build a better product and we have. Our product is rated one of the best for retention management in Australia.
We only choose candidates with an attitude to learn and work with their heart. Academics is not our only criteria.
Company you admire
The company I admire is GE. Since I worked there, I have always admired their vision, their focus, and their importance to innovation. We only fancy electronic gadgets, but imagine a world without GE’s medical imaging systems. Jack Welsh has always been my hero. To keep a company so stable for so long is not easy. They always put their money on the right places.
Advice to employees
• Do not spend all the money upfront. Keep your money close. Think twice before spending every penny in the initial days.  
• There are needs and aspirations in this world. Solving every need is a business and aspiration is a bigger business. So opportunities are everywhere.
• Choose the right partners. Mutual trust and compatibility is what drives a company. I am  lucky to have partners like that. I believe in people than on paper and documentation.
• Designation under the name does not make you big or small. It is just to remind you of your responsibilities. Shed your egos and roll up your sleeves.