Meet the extremely eloquent and fabulously fit country head of Mexico for Ascendion, Ravi Arcot. He has lived across continents and been residing in Mexico for more than 2 decades. Originally a Bangalore boy, he completed his engineering from BMS College in Bangalore and then went on to get, not one but three MS degrees in engineering from the United States. People always asked him why three? Most people are happy with just one specialization. But Ravi has his sights set on a wider horizon. He wanted to capture the big picture and see the holistic picture from a business-technology-financial perspective. Something that has held him in good stead all through his professional life and his current role at Ascendion.
Today Ravi calls himself a native of Mexico, he is fluent in Spanish and is learning Portuguese. According to him Spanish is a very romantic, beautiful, and easy language to learn, he adds. After all, a happy wife is a happy life. Now that his fledgling girls have gone away to college, his wife and he are rediscovering each other and find themselves going on treks in mountains and canyons surrounding Monterrey, which is open to the public. He has also taken up triathlon again. Running, swimming, cycling, trekking, the rich culture of Mexico and the warmth of the people, get him up and going every single day.
He is pretty much a westerner when it comes to his tastes in cuisine but can’t miss his masala onion uttapam and the delectable chicken vindaloo, every time he is in India.
The man, the machine and Mexico
¿Hola, cómo estás? (Hello, how are you?) I am Ravi Arcot and am really glad to be a part of this initiative called Ascendion and I. Well, it’s been a great journey for me. Back in time as an engineer in India, I used to view everything in a set manner — black or white. But after interacting with people from three different backgrounds, from India to the United States and then to Latin America, I have realized that what has made me really fit in, is not my education or my three master’s degrees, but my cultural understanding of each place and acquired ability to value different perspectives.
You have to truly embrace cultures for what they are and therein lies the success of any multinational organization and that for me will be my key contribution to Ascendion. We are a great engineering firm, solid in capabilities, solid in the way we do things, but what sets us apart is the right empathy and the way that we interact both with our employees and clients.
In Mexico the culture and the equations between relationships is similar to India. It’s same-same, yet different as they say. The three things that I have learnt about Mexico and the Mexican way is that they have a great ‘Can Do’ attitude. They know that they have to broaden their horizons, learn new things to survive, given the past and how the country has come up. The second thing is their ability to be more creative. Even though data and structure seem very left brained, the engineers here are very, very creative. They always have a way of addressing a problem that takes you by surprise. And they sure can let their hair down when it comes to a party. The third thing is that they are very hardworking. If they are given a task, then they will get the job done without looking at the clock. I never have to push people to work harder. It’s a good well-oiled machine, with a creative flair to it.
Monterrey – Neatly nestled for success
Why Monterrey? You ask. Well, that’s because Monterrey is in the northeast of Mexico and is very close to the United States both in terms of proximity and culture. So, it has a great nearshore advantage. When my erstwhile company set up shop here, we had to get project managers from the US to get the job done for us. But today that has changed from what it was in the mid-90s and early 2000, where the language of code was Cobol and Fortran. Mexico has the same technological capabilities both in terms of infrastructure and people as that in the US or India, if not better. Plus, it is in the same time zone as the US, which is a big advantage. The other thing is cost arbitrage; 50% less than that in the US. Another advantage is the Trade NAFTA visa that enables on demand travel to the USA; only Mexico and Canada enjoy this status.
But like I always say, for a company to be truly multinational its operations on shore, nearshore and offshore have to work seamlessly, even if the arbitrage may vary. It’s all about striking that fine balance and giving each of them an opportunity to thrive. It’s all about bridging the gap between all the shores.
Having said that, ultimately it boils down to the culture. Mexico has given me a warm welcome, as they do for every foreigner that comes to their shore. Mexico is a very warm and hospitable country — with great family values and the relationships that people have. It is a pleasure working with them. No multinational can be immune to the culture of a place and its employees and we at Ascendion welcome and respect that in every way.
The Ascend of Ascendion
Ascendion is primed for growth in Latin America. We have a robust recruitment engine, with offer-acceptance rate of over eighty percent. We have also invested in leading local universities to equip graduates with industry practices and the latest learnings in data and generative AI.
Today, we are setting up software studios versus software factories. Where people from the analytics side are coming together with data science guides, software developers and testers to put together a studio for our clients, creating what is called an MVP – Minimum Viable Product and rapidly crunching out these prototypes for our clients. It becomes more of a value-added concept and is also attractive to the employees who don’t want to get stuck in writing code from scratch or supporting an old code but instead this mundane job gets crunched by using advanced technologies like generative AI, which Ascendion is already applying.
We closed the first year of operation in Mexico with 127 personnel, projected to reach 250 personnel in the second year, 450 in in three years; just in Mexico itself. Once we have paved the way for this, we will be embarking expansion in LATAM, one country at a time.
So, folks as I sign out, here is a saying for all you future Ascenders: “Aprende del pasado, vive el presente y trabaja para el future”; which means – Learn from the past, live in the present and work for the future.
With love from Mexico,
Ravi Arcot