SBL KNOWLEDGE SERVICES

A Successful Venture by Gopakumar Pillai Offering New-Age Tailored IT Solutions

Gopakumar Pillai, the visionary, shared the unique idea behind SBL Knowledge Services ensuring “Success through Partnership” as he laid the foundation in 2005. The global Information Technology Company, SBL is one of India’s prominent tech service providers with a presence in diverse industry verticals and has emerged as the most sought-after knowledge organization in the world. Since its inception, the employees and the highly qualified technocrats in top management are working passionately to spearhead digital transformation across the B2B, B2C, and government sectors.

Offering best-in-class technology solutions and services to businesses across the globe, SBL has positioned itself as a leading IT Service and Solution Company specialized in geospatial science, virtual reality, smart technology solutions, eCommerce solutions, mobile applications, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and business transformation services to meet specific business needs of its clients. A strong leader aligning technology with business, SBL is seamlessly delivering greater business value since inception and strives to be a leading knowledge organization that upholds the values of trust and integrity and fosters a culture of continuous innovation.

THE MAN BEHIND THE IDEA
Gopakumar Pillai, Managing Director, SBL is a visionary entrepreneur and a results-oriented leader. He holds over 25 years of rich experience in executing turn-key projects and developing sustainable business strategies. He is enthusiastic about developing tech innovations and is a creative thinker who is always looking for new ways to contribute to the success of any organisation.

He believes that leadership is all about mentoring the employees to be leaders themselves than followers. In the key position of MD at SBL, Mr Pillai empowers the team to utilize their fullest potential always and encourages them to take risks without any fear of failure. He keeps experimenting with new tools and strategies to find what works best. He is constantly working to provide exceptional value to the customers by innovating the services continuously and delivering the best. Gopakumar Pillai is a follower of Sadguru Shirdi Sai. Sadguru’s life and teachings have always inspired the leader and helped him to be a better personality.

THE TALE OF INCEPTION
Back in the early 2000s, India was emerging as a preferred global outsourcing destination. During his decade long career at Vardhman Group and as a business consultant, the visionary was eagerly looking to join India’s IT boom and bring technological growth to the nation’s remote areas.

Considering the way, in which the emerging technological growth opportunities were getting constrained to the Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities, he was inspired to venture into the IT and BPO segment with an innovative business model that leverages the untapped potential in Tier 3 and Tier 4 cities. He believed that this could transform the lives of the rural youth and increase their standard of living. Motivated by this vision, Gopakumar Pillai started SBL Knowledge Services 17 years back.

The story began as a small business venture with 30 employees, it has grown into an established digital transformation leader catering to diverse verticals. Today it is a global leader in digital transformation and a pioneer in building eco-friendly parliaments with historic achievements like the implementation of India’s first high-tech legislative assembly (eVidhan) and India’s first NeVA to its credit.

SBL’S WORK CULTURE – A HAPPY FAMILY
Unlike most IT consulting firms, SBL is a happy family built on the foundations of trust and cooperation. Here, employees are considered as the biggest assets. SBL’s focus is always on promoting a culture of teamwork, innovation, and employee empowerment with unlimited growth opportunities for the performers. The equal opportunity policy allows each employee to get recognized entirely based on merit. The continuous rewards and recognition program and employee benefits scheme establishes a result-oriented culture ensuring maximum employee satisfaction. There are many ongoing learning and development programs to enhance the functional and behavioral skills of the team.

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WORKING TOWARDS INNOVATION
SBL is constantly investing in research to be at the forefront of technological developments and deliver the best products and services to customers. Through continuous R&D for developing end-to-end digitalization solutions for the government, the tech solution provider has supported the implementation of India’s first eVidhan and NeVA. It holds the credit for the proprietary eParliament, eLegislator, and eMunicipality solutions. The SBL the team is actively accelerating digital transformation and working to innovate and redefine these solutions to meet evolving market needs.

WORK-LIFE BALANCE DURING THE PANDEMIC
During COVID-19, the management took firm steps to ensure that every employee is equipped with all the required tools to work from home. They encouraged the employees to get involved in different motivational and learning activities. But at the same time, the management ensured a healthy work-life balance for employees by supporting them in setting clear boundaries between their professional and personal life.

INCLUSION OF TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCEMENTS
“The incredible growth of SBL can certainly be attributed to our foresight in embracing technological innovations and delivering customer-centric solutions for redesigning business processes. We follow a well-defined training plan to upskill our team and ensure that they are updated with the latest advances in technology,” the inspiring leader shared. “Our research division continuously focuses on identifying critical business challenges and resolving them through advanced technologies like artificial intelligence, machine learning, mobile communications, robotics, and eCommerce,” he further explained.

SBL’S INSIGHTS ON SWOT ANALYSIS
In this unpredictable era where social, political, and economic conditions are fluid and evolving rapidly, businesses have the flexibility to adapt to these changes and respond accordingly. The key to success is to make decisions based on what might happen in the future and not based on what has already happened. At SBL, the team actively focuses on SWOT analysis to support their decisions during challenging times as it is a great tool to identify opportunities and threats. They base their decision on data and facts rather than feelings or intuition.

JEWELS IN THE CROWN
• SBL’s biggest achievement is the positive feedback it has been getting because of the exceptional value it delivers and its partnership approach to business.
• Another noteworthy achievement is creating India’s first high-tech legislative assembly by implementing eVidhan in Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly.
• The firm has also created history by operationalizing India’s first NeVA in record time in Nagaland Legislative Assembly.
• Recently, SBL completed the 1921 Census in record time irrespective of the COVID-19 pandemic and received appreciation from the stakeholders including the British Government.

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
With a strong commitment to make a difference and change lives for a brighter tomorrow, SBL runs a nonprofit organisation named SBL Human foundation, focused on providing needy people with a better and healthier life. Through the foundation, the team extends health care and education to economically backward children and provides housing and access to quality medical facilities for the needy. They also provide job training for the youth and run old age homes for the senior citizens.

EXTENDING THE SUCCESS
SBL is planning to launch innovative products and services in the IT and ITeS verticals with a strong emphasis on digital transformation initiatives. Being a champion of green technology, the firm aims to spread awareness about the need for digitalizing not only the business sector but also the government institutions. Moreover, it is on its way to positioning itself as the industry leader in the end-to-end digitalization of businesses and legislative bodies across the globe. Sharing his words of motivation for budding entrepreneurs, Gopakumar said:

“Success comes from repeated arduous work. There are no shortcuts. Do not be disheartened by setbacks, train yourself to see an opportunity in every challenge. Be innovative and open to change, as it is imperative for survival in the digital era.”