Ani Khandekar heads print and digital division at CMS Infosystems

Khandekar who has an engineering degree in print technology followed by a Masters in Imaging Science and Technology from the USA, is a certified Lean Six-Sigma BlackBelt and has a 14+ years international work experience spread across USA, China, Thailand and UK.

While speaking exclusively to PrintWeek India, he said, "I moved back to India in 2010 with the main intention of contributing to the Indian print sector though professionalism, expertise and leadership." Khandekar had a brief stint in India within the publication sector where he was instrumental in setting a foundation of print-on-demand business model at Repro India.

He said, "The main challenges at CMS will be spread across regaining market position, talent acquisition, engaging in e-platforms for the transactional sector, upgrading infrastructure, bringing professionalism and fact based approach to the overall day-to-day running of the business to name the major ones. Not to forget building a work environment that engages and motivates people to add value to their task keeping customer needs in mind."

CMS Infosystems is a leading IT and outsourced business services provider with extensive reach across India. The firm offers an array of services across the value chain, focusing on retail banks, insurance, telecom, retail, PSU and government segment which serves 700 large customers in India. These customers are supported by 21,000+ team members, spread across over 100 offices across India.

Khandekar said, "CMS is currently in the process of leveraging its enormous scale and wide reach to expand its offerings of high value and innovative end-to-end solutions in the IT and outsourced business segments."

The print operations at CMS is spread over 17 centres across India offering print-on-demand solutions for the transactional segment. With over 450 employees dedicated to the print business, it has an impressive reach across the country with committed support from their main technology partners – Canon. With a history of more than 11 years in the VDP services, offering an end-to-end Printing and fulfillment services to segments like BFSI, insurance, telecom, utility, government and the service industry, CMS can boast of having a majority print volume in the industry - close to 70 million A4 size documents every month!

It's not yet a month since Khandekar joined CMS. He has visited the main print sites, met his team members and understand the profile of the customer base. Khandekar has divided CMS challenges into "four main buckets: brand image, sales focus, operations directives and strategy, in the long-term and short-term."

Khandekar has a refreshing attitude to print.

He said, "one must have a vision and plan to counter-balance competition. Not competition as in other companies, but competition of technology, thought and customer to the main business segment. For example, all over the world all printing products will be challenged with digital technology (e-format or non print solutions). No point sitting in denial. Hence business vision for CMS’s print division must be build around non-print solutions as well."