Making of Mastek
The word Mastek has evolved out of ‘best of management practices and software technology’. We engage with our clients in delivering strategic IT programs and platforms that enable their business innovation and transformation.
Mastek was formed in 1982 by four IIM graduates fresh out of collage . Those were the early days, and our focus was on multinationals and domestic companies in India that were going through their first wave of computerization. This gave us a great opportunity to architect and deliver greenfield applications for different functional areas across various industries.
Taking ownership of the entire lifecycle – requirements analysis, application envisioning, architecture, design, development, delivery and implementation – gave us an enormous depth of experience. We used this wealth of knowledge to build our own products – initially PC-based applications for small businesses (FINAC and STRAC) and later enterprise-class systems. In fact, we secured VC funding in 1989 to build MAMIS – an ERP system, way before the term ERP was coined.
Mastek really started doing business internationally in the 90s. Our initial forays were into the Asia-Pacific region, where most of our business was projects – starting off with small engagements, growing into major enterprise applications for insurance companies, brokerages etc. The first version of Elixir, an enterprise platform for insurance, emerged on the back of one such engagement.
In the US, however, establishing a solutions business was a struggle. In line with the market, we had to deliver onsite consulting services – initially around client-server technologies and later around CRM and web applications. We started delivering projects on a turnkey basis well after 2000 and later in the decade when we bagged large enterprise solution deals around Elixir as well as in other areas.
It was our UK business that helped shape us into a global solutions player. Our successes in offshore product engineering for Academy and CES, as well as building complex applications for companies like Lex, helped build our confidence as a company. The successful delivery of the London Congestion Charging project changed our self-image and created our large program capability. The NHS Spine program was the glorious icing on the cake.
The mid-90s saw the emergence of India as a credible destination for offshore development and maintenance. While the industry was growing through this route, we decided to stick to our solutions DNA, changing from a horizontal to a vertical industry focus. And this decision, as well as the investment we made around building IP, especially Elixir, has really paid off for us as a company.
In the next four-five years, we will see the emergence of Wave 3 as a phenomenon in India, when Indian IT services matures and sees lower levels of growth than earlier. We will see the rise of several new players in India, people with specialized capabilities and IP and solution offerings addressing different segments of the market.
Mastek has sometimes been described as a Wave 3 company waiting for Wave 3 to happen. We really found our feet as the world started looking at India as a credible provider of strategic, enterprise solutions. Our business model of combining our own IP in the form of enterprise platforms with the ability to co-create highly differentiated applications for our customers, and the robustness of our program and project management processes have made us stand out globally.