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WORKCULTURE:
Aztec Software and Technology Services
Aztec
Software and Technology Services is a Santa Clara-based company
whose primary development centre is located in Bangalore. The company’s
core expertise lies in the areas of e-business, Internet middleware,
wireless, data management, business intelligence and enterprise
application integration domains. Founded in 1996, today the company
has offices in Los Angeles, New York, Seattle and Bangalore. Aztec’s
core strength is in the understanding and quality application of
Internet and database technologies.
 What
makes Aztec different from other software companies, is the way
in which it interacts with its employees. Aztec was among the first
companies to go to the press when it gave pink slips to some of
its staff members. Employees are hard core techies and some of them
have worked with big technology companies like Oracle, Digital,
IBM and Verifone before joining Aztec. Goranka Medhi, a senior software
engineer says, “Before joining Aztec I worked for Oracle India.
The problem we developers were facing while working with a big company
was that there was no direct interaction with the clients and the
level of learning was limited, as a result of which there is no
job satisfaction. With Aztec job satisfaction is almost one hundred
percent. The company offers me plenty of room for growth within
the organisation with one-to-one interaction.”
The
hiring mechanism at Aztec is based on a detailed manpower planning
exercise. TK Anand, general manager-human resources says, “Based
on our requirements, our pool of manpower comprises a mix of freshers
from engineering institutes across the country as well as campus
recruitments. The focus is to pick intelligent students with a ‘go-getting’
attitude.”
Since
Aztec is a technology-based company, most of its employees are techies.
Fifty-five percent of Aztec’s 260 employees are graduates while
42 percent are post-graduates. The remaining three percent come
from varying educational backgrounds. There are 217 people working
in the technology area and 35 “Aztecians” take care of
marketing, sales and support. A top management team of eight drives
this organisation. About half the employees are graduates with an
average age of 28.
The
company has a combination of short-term and long-term training programmes
for its employees. The training mode is a combination of computer-based
training (CBT), classroom and case studies.
Ramesh
Sriniv-asaraghavan, software architect, says, “The motivation
and informal atmosphere at Aztec makes a big difference. There are
no bounds for creative imagination here. We have a definite process
wherein we identify employees as Critical Value Adders (CVAs) and
High Value Adders (HVAs). The management ensures that people falling
in either of the categories are handsomely rewarded in terms of
additional stocks, compensation and additional responsibilities.
The idea is to give opportunity to its people to become future leaders
of Aztec. The top management like our CTO is easily accessible.
We call them by their nick- names.”
KB
Chandrasekhar (co-founder & chairman of Exodus Communications)
is on the board of Aztec and is one of the first investors.
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