New Challenge Date:   Saturday , September 30, 2006 EDS completed its $380 million acquisition of MphasiS this June and stemming from this acquisition was the appointment of Deepak Patel as Chief Operating Officer at MphasiS BFL limited. Vice President, Best Shore Strategic Investments and Business Development at EDS until recently, this appointment entitles Patel the overall responsibility of close to 16,000 professionals at MphasiS (including its BPO arm). Patel has been with EDS since the start of his career and played an instrumental part in many of the new developments in the company, including the launch of the EDS Agility Alliance- a partnership with select third-party IT companies to optimize application of agile software into the market and also in the current merger between the two companies. While the rest of the organization is still acclimatizing to their new boss, Patel has his plans chalked out for creating what he endeavors as an ‘unmatched company’ over the next couple of years. He also added that he was looking at forming an innovative and empowering environment. “Success and failure are parts of one’s career. People in India often refuse to take risks due to the fear of failure. This is where I want to step in and create an assertive environment for the employees where they would feel empowered to take on new challenges,” he emphasizes. As Patel dons his new hat at MphasiS, only time will measure his success.