From startup to 1,200 staff & IPO in 14 years – with Dr Sachin Paithankar of Imperative Business Ventures

In this episode of the Outsource Accelerator Podcast, Derek speaks with Dr. Sachin Paithankar, Managing Director of Imperative Business Ventures Ltd. 

Dr. Sachin and his wife founded the company nearly 14 years ago and have grown it to hundreds of staff in multiple locations worldwide. He shares his experience running the business and what he plans going forward. 

Imperative Business Ventures 

Dr. Sachin starts with a brief history of Imperative Business Ventures. 

“My wife and me, we started this company way back in 2011. [We] started with 10 people [in] a small 250 sq.ft. premise. 

Now we have our own offices as well as 12 locations in India, and we are approximately using 125,000 sq.ft. premises pan-India.” 

Additionally, Imperative maintains office presence in Canada and the UK, while also serving clients in six other countries, with sales partners in five more.  

As for their service, Dr. Sachin describes what they do as a “hybrid of people and technology.” 

Imperative covers most verticals, but they began in banking, financial services, and accounting. They also focused first on non-voice, but have since branched out to call center operations and lead generation. 

Technology adoption and its impact

Dr. Sachin and his company enable technology services by means of a “legacy system.” 

“With existing customers, we replace their humans with our humans, and during the process, we understand all the business processes and use the latest technology platforms as well as our proprietary tools. 

We automate the process to bring good quality and save OpEx.” 

He gives specific measures of how they improve systems, noting that 30-40% of the operating cost is saved, turnaround time is faster by 70-90%, and onboarding customers only takes three minutes as opposed to 45. 

When asked if he’s worried that it will come to a point where tech optimization will run out their jobs, he remains optimistic. 

“I don’t feel there is a big risk by optimizing processes using AI, because ultimately it complements the people as well as the business. 

It’ll not remain the number game; it’ll remain the quality game, and people will also improve their skills.” 

He recalls that people used to be wary, but it changed for the better. 

“People were having reservations on using technology because they had doubts on data security and compliance issues. But now [they] realize the potential to control their costs.” 

Nowadays, he says that clients look for a hybrid model. 

“They don’t want to depend purely on the people. And we’re multicultural. We maintain the work-life balance using the technology.” 

Future outlook 

Dr. Sachin has big plans for Imperative Business Ventures, especially in terms of growth and expansion. 

“We are expanding our services pan-India, [but] India is still there as it is an immense market. We would like to scale our technology and offer it to global customers and set up our presence in other countries.” 

Specifically, he mentions Africa and the APAC region as targets. 

He relies a lot on the experience they gained from their 14 years in business. He’s also been able to see the market evolve and adjust to changes for the better. 

“Now it’s much more mature and there are immense opportunities for the back-office kind of thing, shared services, as well as customer support requirements.” 

He’s excited to bring Imperative to a bigger stage.

“The international market is really attracting us because we have the capabilities to deliver what the market is looking for.”   

You can visit Imperative Business Ventures’s website to get a glimpse of their technology and outsourcing services. You can also get in touch directly with Dr. Sachin through his LinkedIn profile or email at [email protected]. 

For questions about Outsource Accelerator, drop us a line at [email protected].