I recently attended the heart-thumping, adrenaline-pumping 133rd Passing Out Parade of India’s prestigious National Defense Academy (NDA), the iconic institute responsible for transforming our men to gentlemen. The NDA is an institute with a global brand of excellence in the sphere of military education across India’s armed forces—the Army, Navy, and Air Force.
The DNA of every single cadet spells out, loud and clear, Seva Paramo Dharma (Service before Self). And it translates into action by their serving and securing the everyday life of 1.3 billion citizens; by their serving to defend all shapes and sizes of clients; by their countering of every single threat; by ensuring our independence – and yet, not personally meeting the majority of the beneficiaries of their service. Everything at the expense of self!
For me, a purebred born and brought up in Armed Forces Cantonments, I have seen my father, a Colonel, head to the battleground with no assurance of seeing him alive again. The only thing that mattered to him was Service Before Self. He always left for the battlefield, simulations, and trainings with a smile, citing that he joined the most noble profession of serving the nation. I was always in awe of his valor and never a dissent of anything, but always a sense of accomplishment, euphoria, and satisfaction.
For over 20 years, I have been in the corporate world. One of the core principles that I grew up with and what I saw embodied in everyday life—Service Before Self.
Marshal Phillip Chetwode, IMA has put it beautifully in the following words:
- The safety, honor and welfare of your country come first, always and every tim
- The honor, welfare and comfort of the men you command come next
- Your own ease, comfort and safety come last, always and every time
BMC is symbolic of a transformed organization that has an energized, disciplined, and passionate workforce marching towards a common goal with the principle of Service Before Self.
- Innovating and leading customer’s / stakeholder’s success comes first, always and every time
- Business units, individual functions, teams that we lead come next
- Interest of self, personal needs, desires comes last, always and every time
Phases of BMC India’s transformation
Established in Pune in 2001 as a global in-house center, BMC India has been a cornerstone in BMC, and it has enjoyed a 37-year journey that can be classified into five distinct phases of maturity, each aligned to achievement of a specific goal in the given time-span:
BMC India marched towards and achieved the one goal targeted in each phase. Let’s take a closer look at the first three phases:
Inception
The inception phase traces back to 2001, when Bob Beauchamp, Chairman and CEO of BMC Software, took the decision to establish a low-cost R&D center in Pune.
Growth and scale
The inception phase concluded with Growth & Scale phase starting in 2005. This phase saw many milestones…two important being the establishment of the Bengaluru Office and the BMC Board of Directors holding their meeting in India. In this phase, Pune grew to become the largest worldwide R&D center.
Value and innovation
In 2009, BMC India’s natural progression was towards providing more value and innovation to differentiate ourselves not only as an R&D Centre, but also as an Innovation Centre. From 2009 to 2013, BMC India incubated products and built stronger teams with product management and architects.
“BMC India is the strategic competitive differentiator for us,” said Bob Beauchamp, Chairman of the Board describing the last 16 years since it was established. The key principle behind transforming BMC’s India Operations, a.k.a. Global In-House Center, a.k.a. Captive Center, as our Innovation Hub has been “Service Before Self”.
Watch this space for details on BMC India’s 4th Phase – Customer Centricity – and 5th Phase – Digital Acceleration!
