Hot Seat

Values make a man

He is a professional who lives by his principles without compromising on the fundamental rules of business or life. Meet Prakash Rane, Managing Director, ABM Knowledgeware, in a knowledge-sharing one-on-one with Renuka Vembu

“When you are in a business, you almost tend to blend your personal life with the business you are into,” he said starting off the conversation, and added, “There is no time for developing any other interest. Your business and work becomes your hobby and interest.”

The story of Prakash Rane, Managing Director, ABM Knowledgeware, represents the typical middle class family and its value system. Rane however immediately clarified, “Middle class is not a state of finance; it is a state of mind.” His father was a government employee and Rane was the youngest of four children. Every single day, he and his siblings used to walk from their home, the government quarters in Mahalaxmi to Mahalaxmi station, and then from Dadar station to their school, Balmohan Vidya Mandir, and then the same route back home. While other students were picked up by the school bus, his parents “could not afford any other luxury apart from payment of timely fees for their children’s education.” Rane did complete justice to his parents’ efforts to provide him basic schooling—a topper in the middle-school scholarship exam and a rank holder in SSC. Later, he went to Laxminarayan Institute of Technology (LIT), Nagpur to study Chemical Engineering.

Formative years

LIT opened the gates to the outside world for Rane. He took part in many extra-curricular activities, was a general secretary, fought and won elections and led important agitations as a student leader. More than 50 percent of the students came from outside the state of Maharas-htra. This experience of dealing with people with diverse backgrounds and varied viewpoints sowed the founding seeds for Rane’s future. He said, “What I learned in that entire period was to provide leadership to conflicting interests without failing in fundamental ethics. I converted my group into a vibrant and aggressive but also a well behaved one. This stint gave me tips on leadership, managing conflicting interests, controlling temptations that the hostel life lured one into, making independent decisions and being responsible for them.”

After completing his engineering, Rane joined his cousin brother’s business in poultry, floriculture, etc. “I lost a lot of money, but gained a lot of experience. Since engineering mainly teaches analytical and logical thought process, I wanted to learn business in a more formal manner. Initially, I sold hardware for Meltron in which the core competence called for was more finance and high volumes, but which gave lower margins. The government was buying a lot of hardware but was unable to put it to logical aid. The training given was not leading to the desired outcome, which is automation of their function. There was no lock-in and no customer loyalty. This did not excite or motivate me,” he said.

New horizons

Rane’s humble roots and strong values came to the forefront at this stage. At this point in time when he was contemplating on his future career options, there was a boom in the export industry. But here Rane would have just been one among the many other players in the industry. There would be no lock-ins or customer loyalty in spite of revenues and profits because the customers would go to the person who offered them goods for lesser money.

The government as a customer

Rane’s sharp mind noticed that the government was the single largest buyer of any commodity in any given industry and thus, he went on to set up his own e-governance company, ABM Knowledgeware. The establishment of this venture had its share of hiccups—right from procuring finance to convincing and motivating people to use a solution that they themselves were not particularly interested in. But with strong determination, he pursued his goal without ever compromising on the fundamental rules of business or life. He explained, “When you accept a consideration from any customer, make sure you have given them value. Making profits is not bad in business as long as you give your customers value for their money. I have undergone challenging situations—computerization in government business eliminated a lot of malpractices and I made a lot of enemies, but did not buckle down under pressure or competition tactics.”

Rane’s business plans are firmly in place, so are his principles. He never takes any decision under the influence of temporary monetary gains. Aiming for customer satisfaction, reciprocating the trust they have placed on him and building long-term relationships are his main focus. He felt that the government is a faceless organization, which can be used either to encourage malpractices or build a value system. He stated, “Even tough the times were challenging and the decisions debatable, I chose to stay by my way and stick to my thinking and philosophy. I may not always be right, but that is what I have chosen.” One of the moments of testing times he faced was during the dotcom buzz. While every software company wanted to go the dotcom way, Rane made sure that he was not tempted by any short-term offering, which could not give him a sustaining revenue model in the long run.

ABM Knowledgeware has grown from 10 people in 1998-99, to over 400 employees now. It started off as a Rs 5 crore company, which has grown to Rs 40 crore this year and will be a Rs 100 crore business in the next three years. Rane insisted on following the standards and processes. Over these decades of work experience, he has learnt that if the majority of the taskforce does not follow the line of action and adhere to processes, the organization cannot survive in the long run. He ensured that his workforce diligently follows the process of feeding the work they have done into templates, even if this means losing out on half an hour of production hours.

This expert on e-governance reads only to keep himself updated. Rane likes reading the works of Azim Premji as he feels that Premji is different from the rest in the way he conducts his business, as also his candid nature. To this he added, “This gives me confidence that you do not have to compromise substantially to do business and be successful.” Rane is not into socializing, he rather prefers to spend time with his family which he thinks is the ‘best rejuvenation.’ He attends national and international conferences when required and gives lectures when called for. He feels that the best way not to get tempted from one’s focus is not to do anything but work loyally. Truly, as he mentions, ‘Reputation is the result of performance.’