My Trip to India - Brendan Farrand

This past month, I was fortunate enough to spend a week at one of our offshore facilities in Thane, India. It was an incredible experience and I was honored to be given the opportunity to visit our team and host one of our clients, an American worldwide financial services company. I have always wanted to visit India since my career in IT began almost a decade ago, and MRCC finally gave me that chance. 

When this trip was first planned I had a certain understanding of what to expect. Some of my colleagues had traveled before and I heard stories previously about how to be prepared for the culture shock. What I found was different from what I had expected and my experience was very pleasant!

On my first day of arrival, after 16 hours of travel, I got to spend the day getting to know some Indian culture and history. I travelled through downtown Mumbai and visited several shops and restaurants, trying some street food (I am watching too much Anthony Bourdain). I took some great pics at the Gateway of India and visited a museum that was in an old palace from the early 1900’s. My tour guide for the day was Mandar, an MRCC employee who was gracious enough to sacrifice his Sunday to show me around. I have some great pictures below of our day.

MRCC first started their offshore practice in the early 2000s, so we have a long tenured team and a beautiful facility located outside of Mumbai in the suburb of Thane. A big perk of visiting our offshore campus is the guest house, which is available to employees and visiting clients. It is a great place to unwind at the end of your usual 14 hour day, with great views and a meditation room if you are really stressed!

Coming from Boston in the middle of March, the weather in Thane was a nice change of pace. It is amazing how much better of a mood you are in when your commute to work is in 80 degree, sunny weather, instead of sideways snow. The office attire on my first day was something I was not expecting, but it was the beginning of the Hindu New Year and people were all dressed in traditional clothing, quite a colorful sight.

For the next 5 days I spent getting to know everyone, either by lunches, dinners, drinks, and group sessions where I told them all about what we are trying to achieve here in the US. Getting to know the employees and hearing them facing the same struggles we do was a welcoming sign of a strong relationship moving forward. During these long days I got to see the real difference with MRCC, something I had been hearing since I joined from the Staff and owner, Anil Shah. I met people who had been with the company for 10+ years, who joined when there was a staff of less than 20, and we are now closer to 500. My experience with other vendors with offshore facilities was the opposite of this, lots of turnover, no long term relationship building, and no confidence that the person on the other side of the phone is truly committed to your project in the long run.

My main reason for visiting our facility was to host one of our strongest clients, who we are in the process of building a brand new platform for. It was my first overseas trip with a client, so a great opportunity for me to showcase all that MRCC has to offer. We had a great time in downtown Mumbai the night before, getting heckled by an Indian comedian who clearly knew we were from the States, and accidentally hopped onto a Bollywood movie set when trying to find our last drink of the evening. 

Our presentation to our client the following day went great, and it was because of our experienced and dedicated team, who spent hours building samples and branded applications to showcase what we could offer. I believe our client left knowing these people who presented today and showed genuine interest in the project, would be the same people who would be there upon completion to thank her for the opportunity she had given us.

I spent my last day in India doing some social activities with our recruiting team, heading to a real Indian buffet and proceeding to try everything on the menu possible. My sales team relies on this team so it was one of the most important parts of my trip to get to know each of them. I ate way too much that night, but I couldn’t leave India without trying as many different types of food as possible. The next morning I hit the shops in Thane where I bought some gifts for the family and had to check out the Pearls everyone had been talking about (my fiancé had hinted she wanted something). I had two more great hosts that day, Ashwini and Devendra, in addition to Mandar.

Overall I had an incredible experience with our offshore team and couldn’t say enough about the hard work and talent that we have in India. One person I can’t leave out is Jayanta Sen, our COO of the India Operations and the hardest working guy on the planet (besides The Rock). He spends countless hours working with my team and being our communication center, but works a normal India shift everyday on top of the US hours. His hard work and dedication is what makes that office run so smooth. He made my stay an easy one and I would travel back there in a second, this time with better cricket skills, so I can try to claim the inter-office trophy. 

If anyone has the chance to visit I would recommend it, the people are very welcoming and are always gracious hosts.

Thanks for hosting me MRCC India.

-Brendan