Perfect formula for success

HCL Technologies started from humble beginnings as part of one of India's original garage start-ups. Find out how this company became a leading global Information Technology services enterprise and an important resource for Rockwell Collins.

By Anne Wiskerchen

At Rockwell Collins, working in close proximity to our customers offers us the ability to meet in person and hear exactly the needs of our customers. However, once the requirements are understood and the architecture established, not all the design work needs to be done in one location.

Globalization and information technology (IT) have changed the way we work, allowing for more and more distributed engineering development. This allows us to tap into the engineering talent pools at all of our locations, as well as leverage other offshore and domestic talent. This combination of strong customer focus and distributed engineering development can be a perfect formula for success.

Our company has been successful at achieving this formula by building strategic partnerships with many of our suppliers and subcontractors. One of these subcontractors, HCL Technologies, has recently become an even more integral part of our engineering community – as an extension of Rockwell Collins' engineering centers. The company will deliver services such as software, hardware and mechanical engineering for full product lifecycle development. 

"To meet our business growth objectives and the resultant need for a larger engineering workforce, it is critical to expand our resource pools," said Nan Mattai, senior vice president of Engineering and Technology. "By taking our relationship with HCL Technologies to the next level, we are shifting from a single project focus to a more strategic alliance. This ensures that we have continued access to resources that are already familiar with our processes and tools." 

Rockwell Collins has entered into an agreement with HCL Technologies to open an engineering design center offshore in Chennai and Bangalore, India. The new offshore design and development center will employ approximately 300 of HCL's engineering resources that will be dedicated to work for our company.  

"Working on Rockwell Collins' subsystems is considered to be a privilege at our company. Now, to work as an extension of your engineering department is certainly a motivational factor for many of our employees," said Ramesh Pillai, head of HCL Technologies' Aerospace Division.  

Humble beginnings

Founded in 1976, HCL Technologies started from humble beginnings as part of one of India's original garage start-ups in the information technology industry – HCL Enterprise. Today, HCL Technologies has grown to become a leading global IT services company providing software-led IT solutions, as well as remote infrastructure management services and business process outsourcing.

"As one of the first aerospace companies to look to India as a strategic sourcing destination, Rockwell Collins has been a pioneer and leader in aerospace global sourcing and we're thrilled to have a contributed to the company's success," said Pillai.  

With headquarters in India, HCL Technologies boasts a staff of more than 40,000 employees located around the world. The company has an extensive global offshore infrastructure and a network of offices in 16 countries. With a focus on transformational outsourcing, HCL Technologies works with clients in areas that redefine the core of their businesses.

Its global presence helps employees deliver solutions in eight main industries: financial services, retail and consumer, life sciences, aerospace, automotive, semiconductors, telecom, and media publishing and entertainment. HCL Technologies has global partnerships with several leading Fortune 1000 firms, including leading IT and technology firms.

Pillai's leadership has been instrumental in the development of the company's aerospace division, leading and guiding its growth from 70 to 100 percent and expanding its client portfolio from two to 40 clients.

"Our employees are genuinely excited to work with Rockwell Collins, given the company's leadership and recognition in the aerospace industry," said Pillai.

Cultural synchronization

Although technology helps us make business relationships easier and more efficient, understanding different values and expectations of each company remains a constant challenge when you work with an outside vendor. However, HCL Technologies has been striving to overcome this challenge with new and innovative programs.

"Cultural synchronization is the most significant challenge our company faces when working with businesses headquartered in the U.S., but is something each employee is trained and educated on prior to engaging with a client," said Pillai.

Employees are trained and educated by HCL Technologies' Talent Transformation division prior to interacting with any client. Cultural sensitization seminars and training workshops for both employees and clients are organized to ensure that cultural differences are explained and understood by all parties.

According to Roger French, principal engineering manager for our Design Support Engineering Department, making sure our strategic partners understand our company's vision and culture is something Rockwell Collins takes very seriously.

"The men and women at HCL, for instance, will be trained on how we do business at Rockwell Collins," said French. "They will know our processes and our quality assurance requirements, and when a project is finished the engineers will be available to start on the next one."

Our recent agreement with HCL Technologies ensures that the solid foundation we have built with HCL will continue for years to come.

"We are very proud of the strong relationship we have with Rockwell Collins, which has spanned the past six years," said Pillai. "Our work together began with a verification and validation project and has grown substantially in size and strategic relevance."