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Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality – Warren Bennis
If there was a person who personifies this quote, we firmly believe it is Sunil Mittal, CEO, CSS Corp. Just 3-4 years ago, CSS Corp's revenues were stagnating, the attrition was at an all-time high, employee morale was sagging, and the client portfolio disintegrated. In walks Sunil, first as CRO and then as CEO. And as they say, the rest is history! Sunil translated board room vision into reality making CSS Corp one of the fastest growing IT services organizations and doubling headcount from 5,500 to 11,500 in the last 3 years.
And his hunger didn’t stop there. After almost a decade, the company recently made an acquisition which has been lauded as a game-changer in our industry. We acquired a gig expert services platform and now nurture a network of ~8,000 gig experts across 60 countries speaking over 100 languages. We have launched new delivery centers in countries like Romania and Colombia. And as we speak, CSS Corp is a couple of months away from rebranding, for the first time in its 26-year history. These positive developments drew attention of PE firms. Morgan Stanley and Onex Falcon invested in CSS Corp in 2021. We also grew our partnerships by 4X in the last 2 years. And Sunil says, he’s just getting warmed up.
Having worked in different parts of the world during his illustrious career of over 2 decades, Sunil emphasizes that it’s not about being ‘in-charge’ but about taking care of the ‘people’ that are in charge. When the pandemic struck, his empathy, acceptance for change, and ability to make quick decisions compassionately, led CSS Corp to become the first service provider in the IT services industry to achieve a 100% productive WFH model within March 2020 itself for over 8,000 employees across 18 locations then. This needed tremendous operational rigor, passion, and planning, and this was covered by several industry analysts. Our clients were overwhelmed to see such prompt action with zero SLA impact, 100% data security, regulatory compliance and more, and awarded us with additional business. As a result, CSS Corp grew its revenues in the pandemic year by 25%, something not achieved in the previous decade. In 2021, we grew at over 29%, again a leading growth rate in the services industry.
With his astute people-first approach, Sunil prioritized employee well-being above all during the pandemic. While most bellwethers retrenched their workforce, or cut compensation, we rolled out healthy annual increments, variable pay, and promotions. We were featured on the front page of the Economic Times for this, as an employer that cares. Our industry-acclaimed CHEER and SAFE framework, developed for Covid times, has been instrumental in driving high employee morale. Employees loved the care and empathy, and attrition plummeted to a multi-year low in 2020. These proactive initiatives have been well utilized and appreciated by employees, media, and industry peers.
Sunil has invested tremendous effort in building an ecosystem that encourages DEI & ESG values, no-door policy and flat hierarchy, where individuals can freely voice their opinions. We have rolled out policies for the specially-abled, LGBTQIA+ community, women employees, etc. to create a diverse workforce. In the last couple of years, we have won over 10 reputed international awards, including the Stevie for workplace excellence, and for being an exemplary employer of choice across geographies. We have also won over 60 international awards and 200 analyst recognitions from firms like ISG, Forrester, Everest and NelsonHall in the last 3 years. Sunil has also been recognized with prestigious industry awards for his transformational work.
With Sunil at the helm, CSS Corp has emerged as a credible and robust player that’s disrupting the industry with its premium IT services, differentiated value propositions, and disruptive AI-led platforms, and is well-positioned to sustain the growth momentum in the coming years.
Nomination Title: The Turnaround Titan of CSS Corp - Sunil Mittal, CEO
