Folks,
I am back from China. I would like to share a few thoughts.
April 27. Morning: The second and last day of SEPG China.
A bold and admittedly risky event will soon come to an end. An event in which, perhaps we at QAI learnt more than the attendees; no, this isn’t a comment on the quality of the conference content, rather our experiences in China.
China. The world is talking about it. We decided to take it on - unfortunately with no legal status there, no office, no databases, no permanent employee, no knowledge of the language, little idea of the cost structures, no sense of protocol or knowledge of political correctness. Most of all we were unaware of their integrity, or rather the lack of it. All we had were cell phones, email accounts and the temerity, and perhaps a foolish will. As one looks back one feels we were ill equipped, what the heck, it didn’t kill us…not yet. Finally, what was important was that Team QAI just did it. I congratulate ALL of you.
April 27 Afternoon: We read the big coverage that we have received in the Shanghai daily. China is obsessed with India stealing a march over them in software. It is arguably the only area we are better off and they are determined to correct that. Hence the red carpet welcome that QAI gets everywhere. After all this is the company that “facilitated India’s global leadership in software.” Sounds familiar?!
I meet representatives from their largest technical publication company and propose to have Rajesh’s and Swapna’s book in Chinese…
Several phone calls are exchanged with the equivalent of the “Ambanis” of China. Their IT Group Chief is willing to fly anywhere to meet with us. We agree on Beijing. Big opportunity, big risk. Let’s see.
I continue interviewing Chinese people since we want to have local consultants…. Salaries are very affordable and upon asking what they know about QAI….one gets really flattering answers. We have built a brand there. Thanks also largely to all the satisfied customers. (I read a mail from Indradeb who is on this first and whirlwind trip of China. His mail starts “Customers continue to be impressed with me….”! That’s passionate Indradeb as he is!
The last meeting in Shanghai comes to an end…19 of them….5 back to back ones have been fixed for Beijing for the day I am there before the evening flight. (Ashish does not let up…my goodness he has blasted away in the last six months and now he is making the most of my presence there. I ask him for more) Stepping out of the office at Ansal Towers makes a lot of sense.
I call Delhi and believe that the new found QAI water polo team did great (the five players in the pool also did as well as all our cheering team.) The most amazing thing is I heard about how we built brand at the tournament. Keep it up folks!) Special mention of sporting Nina for getting us two points. Nikhil, the new found shark of qai, I believe, was more aggressive than ever. I missed it. I might even trade it for being at SEPG China.
April 27, Evening: The conference is finally over. We get ready to head our own ways…to get on with it. I am to leave for Beijing the next day (for some meetings and to get back to Delhi), Vishal for Shenzen (two very important customers and to proceed to Taiwan and then to Singapore), Vikram to Tianjin (to collect dollars since customer hadn’t been managing to remit our fees) and Ashish to stay back in Shanghai to meet even more customers.
Over a few beers, Vikram tells about the Chinese, to whom we had given one registration free with one paid. During registration, the bloke from this Chinese company, with a straight face and tilted eyes (which they all have) argues about how he is the free person and the paid registrant has sent his regrets and can’t make it. Why should we charge him?
Vikram also tells about how he took the laptop to the loo. To make every moment count. Vikram, lets just keep it at making every day count, huh?
We decide to call some QAI SEPG team members from China. Amrita is elated to get our congratulatory call. Kumar is worried it’s about some fire. Priyanka, predictably bursts into tears (assuming a crying person also sheds tears…we couldn’t see her.) Unable to talk to Rachna. Kunal wants to spend an extra day in Hong Kong) after his harrowing time time the partner in Gz where he ran the tutes to great results. Nina, Arindam, Nikhil, Kumar, Shyam, Sandeep, Dhwnit, Pradeep, Naveen….and so many more… (Please…it’s not an exhaustive list) (Ok Ok Priyanka…also Rocky and Co)
Aril 27 Night: Vishal still hasn’t arrived so we can get on with a small celebration. We can sit and discuss before we part ways. I have a checklist of precisely 53 items…no joking. Vishal who really ran the conference days, calls saying that he wants to spend more time because the Chinese hosts of the conference ( they collected the revenues) are upto abs no good. He decides to stay back, send Ashsish to Shenzen. Wants to discuss strategy…or else we lose lakhs. Every one said you couldn’t trust them. Now we were saying it too.
April 27 Night plus five hours: It still seemed like April 27. We realized that we had worked through the night. Ashish, Vishal and I stand at the huge glass wall of my room at the magnificent hotel Oriental Riverside on the WhampHo River and watched the sky turn from grey to blue to orange. It was dawn. Who would have thought a year ago that here we would be peering at the magnificent skyline of Shanghai, the new center of the world. Who would have thought that we would work through the night the SEPG concluded. Who would have thought that QAI‘s (six years experience) Singapore manager, and (three year experienced) China manager would have brought us this far in the international arena. We wondered what was to come next. Which skyline of which metropolis, where QAI and its team would next do something…where was the next sunrise to be?
April 27 night plus eight hours: Vishal decides to leave the hotel and delight DanRoy by taking him to the airport at 6.30 in the morning. Needless to say Dan Roy is amazed at the service. Funny he should be surprised because the previous day he told me how great a team I had. And Judy as always hugged before going sending a special thanks to Amrita.
One notices that in every other meeting they want a photo with CEO of QAI. Several people, from a leading publisher to a student, to a government dept Center head…took a photo with me. And since I look just as not pretty in photos as in real life it’s only because we have a pretty great company. We all are making it happen folks. Can you imagine what’s in store for next year. I can.
