0 to 60 thousand employees in 15 years – Tiger “NV” CEO of Genpact Shares Lessons

Summary

In this insightful CEO Show interview, Tiger Tyagarajan, CEO of Genpact, shares the remarkable evolution of the company from its origins as a back-office process outsourcing unit for GE Capital in 1997 to a global leader in digital transformation and business process management. Tiger elaborates on how Genpact has diversified beyond simple data analytics and back-office processes to embrace complex, multi-industry services that include technology implementation and advanced analytics. He emphasizes the company’s unique positioning—not purely a consulting firm or IT vendor—but as an organization grounded in process excellence, technology enablement, and data-driven insights.

Tiger explains the strategic shift from cost arbitrage to value creation through enhanced process management supported by technology and analytics. He discusses the importance of fixing business processes before automating them and the challenges midmarket companies face in adopting such services without the scale or expertise of larger corporations. The conversation also highlights the role of intellectual property developed through analytics and shared services in delivering scalable and predictive solutions, such as equipment maintenance with predictive analytics.

He shares his views on the ongoing “war for talent” in analytics and domain expertise, underscoring the necessity for corporations to invest in continuous learning and talent development to keep pace with rapid technological changes. Tiger draws on his early career experience at Unilever to illustrate the deep human and motivational skills needed to lead diverse, complex teams effectively. The interview closes with reflections on how behavioral processes can be managed to drive performance improvements, reinforcing the central theme of process as a foundation for business success.

Highlights

• Genpact evolved from a simple back-office service provider for GE Capital to a global digital transformation leader with 62,000 employees and 75+ delivery centers in 20 countries.
• The company’s core strength lies in process management, supported by technology and analytics, emphasizing “fix the process, then automate.”
• Genpact’s model integrates running client operations, technology maintenance, and advanced analytics, creating a unique hybrid service beyond traditional consulting or IT services.
• Predictive analytics and shared services enable clients to optimize complex operations like equipment maintenance, reducing downtime and inventory costs.
• Midmarket companies represent a significant growth opportunity but lack scale and expertise, requiring specialized service providers to access and serve them effectively.
• Continuous talent development and learning are critical to addressing the global shortage of skilled analytics and domain experts amid rapid technological change.
• Leadership lessons from Tiger’s early career highlight the importance of managing diverse teams and driving motivation through behaviorally informed processes.

Key Insights

The Evolution from Back-Office to Digital Transformation: Tiger details how Genpact transitioned from basic data processing and mortgage application handling to complex, multi-industry process ownership. This evolution shows how companies can adapt and innovate by deepening their service complexity and industry reach, leveraging early client relationships to expand capabilities. The journey underscores the importance of agility and continuous reinvention in the outsourcing industry.

Process as the Core Competency Over Technology: Unlike many companies that prioritize technology first, Genpact’s philosophy is to “fix the process, then bring in technology.” This approach reduces operational defects and enables automation to be more effective. It acknowledges that technology without process discipline can institutionalize flaws, leading to systematic errors. This insight is crucial for companies embarking on digital transformation to avoid costly pitfalls.

Hybrid Service Model Creating Competitive Advantage: Genpact operates in a space that is neither pure consulting nor pure IT services. Instead, it combines running client operations (“run things”), technology management, and analytics. This integrated model allows clients not only to receive recommendations but also to have those recommendations implemented and managed continuously, thereby delivering measurable outcomes rather than just strategic advice.

Intellectual Property Through Scale and Shared Services: By managing processes across many clients and geographies, Genpact builds proprietary knowledge and analytics capabilities that individual companies cannot develop alone. For example, predictive maintenance for equipment parts is optimized through aggregated data and analytics, creating cost savings and performance improvements that benefit all clients. This highlights how scale and shared services can foster innovation and value creation beyond one-off projects.

Challenges and Opportunities in Serving the Midmarket: Tiger identifies the midmarket as an underserved segment with significant potential. However, midmarket firms often lack the capital, scale, and management bandwidth to develop or procure sophisticated process and analytics capabilities. This gap presents an opportunity for specialized service providers to offer tailored, scalable solutions, possibly distinct from those serving large enterprises, indicating a segmentation in the outsourcing and analytics market.

The War for Talent and Continuous Learning as Strategic Imperatives: The shortage of skilled talent in analytics and domain expertise remains acute globally. Tiger stresses that organizations must take responsibility for ongoing employee education, as traditional education quickly becomes outdated. Continuous learning cycles—periods of work alternating with learning—are necessary to stay competitive. This insight implies a cultural and operational shift in workforce development, crucial for industries reliant on advanced analytics and process management.

Leadership Through Behavioral Process Management: Tiger’s early career experience in managing diverse sales teams reveals that motivating human behavior is akin to managing a process. Simple but strategic interventions—like daily sales reports with personalized feedback—influence performance significantly. This example illustrates that managing people effectively requires understanding behavioral processes, which parallels the process-centric approach Genpact applies to business operations, reinforcing the universality of process thinking in leadership and management.

Conclusion

Tiger Tyagarajan’s reflections offer a comprehensive view of how Genpact navigated the complex transitions in business process outsourcing to become a frontrunner in the digital and analytics-driven services landscape. The company’s emphasis on process excellence, combined with technology and analytics, provides a valuable blueprint for organizations aiming to create sustainable competitive advantages. Furthermore, Tiger’s insights into talent development, market segmentation, and leadership highlight critical success factors for enterprises and entrepreneurs navigating today’s fast-evolving global business environment.