See Beyond, Rise Above

But Persistent’s customer base of technology companies was affected by the dot-com bust in 2001. To succeed it was imperative we focus on a market segment we could lead. So, while the competition was intense in IT outsourcing, Persistent focused on Outsourced Product Development, establishing processes to build distributed agile teams and partnering with the world’s leading product companies to build software contributing across the entire product lifecycle.

The company and its team grew from strength to strength, building and delivering major software products. Investments were made in research and in strengthening the company’s infrastructure, with new development centers added in Pune, Goa and Nagpur.

Our rapid growth during this time caught the attention of Norwest Venture Partners and Gabriel Venture Partners, two leading Silicon Valley venture capital firms who invested in Persistent.

Dr. Promod Haque joined the Board and Persistent began to adopt international business best practices.

By now all the major technology companies were customers, working on technologies that would define the future of computing — Persistent was one of the first companies implementing cloud technology and big data solutions. By 2008, we saw cloud, analytics, collaboration and mobility as the disrupting technology trends of the coming decade.

With high-quality work plus high standards of ethics and integrity came the ability to attract the best people. Business continued to grow rapidly as Persistent was recognized for its innovation and creativity.

As Persistent was setting up for a potential initial public offering, the global financial crisis hit.

The meetings also helped us highlight the role we played as product development partners and extend our role to become implementation partners. This helped broaden our footprint from product development to implementing technology solutions. Persistent, now as a strategic partner, entered into revenue share agreements, as well as taking responsibility for all phases of the product lifecycle.

In 2010, as the global economy slowly recovered, Persistent became one of the first IPOs in the Indian market. It was an overwhelming success, helping to establish Persistent as a global brand.

Persistent was now a listed company. We were getting noticed and this was a period of global expansion, setting up centers around the world and ushering in a global outlook and work policies branded Life@Persistent.

We also continued our commitment to social causes. Persistent Foundation, created in 2009, introduced programs across education, healthcare and community development.

By now, digital disruption forced every business to re-evaluate their business models and evolve to become robust and agile. Digital transformation was about becoming a software-driven business.

Persistent’s unique proposition of building products for technology companies and implementing technology solutions for their customers put us in a unique position to respond to the market’s needs as customers began the journey of digital transformation.

Today, we have a strong balance of enterprise and ISV clients with a growing set in Europe and Asia. Our blended client base uniquely positions us in the market to address our clients’ common needs.

The world is now digital, which is inclusive of the rapidly growing ecosystem of modular software technology and the multi-cloud reality. In this environment, we are helping many leading ISVs accelerate their move to the cloud. And in a post COVID-19 recessionary world, we are working with enterprises to build solutions to streamline operations, enable new revenue streams and create seamless digital experiences.

Our work in previous eras has enabled us to become expert in constructing modern digital solutions. To do so, we leverage what we call a digital mosaic to help clients navigate the complexity of choice and integration required to maximize value from their solution investments and legacy infrastructure.

Clear methodologies, use cases and partners have emerged as we’ve scaled this approach for solutioning across industries. For example, we are delivering digital banking solutions for our clients with AWS and Mambu. In addition, our work with Salesforce has helped healthcare clients quickly establish a digital front door for their business and respond to the demands of COVID-19.

As we enter 2020, we face an unprecedented opportunity to help our clients, employees and society thrive amidst one of the toughest global crises faced in the last century. Complete with our new management team, we are well positioned to capture the opportunity in this new environment.