SONATA'S MELODY FOR SUCCESS

SONATA SOFTWARE, WHICH HAS BEEN AROUND FOR OVER 30 YEARS, IS PLANNING FOR THE NEXT LEVEL OF GROWTH IN THE NEXT FIVE YEARS, POWERED BY ITS ‘PLATFORMATION’ STRATEGY.

- ABHIK SEN

When P. Srikar Reddy took over as CEO of Sonata Software in 2012, the Bengaluru-based IT firm needed direction. Set up in the 1980s, the company listed on the bourses in 1999, and “stayed horizontal”, as Reddy puts it, for about 12 years, at which point its market value was around $20 million. Today, a decade later, Sonata’s stock has soared by a multiple of 40-45, while the firm has gone from a loss-making entity to posting multiple years of profit.

The company veteran’s initial focus was on stabilising the organisation and then building Sonata’s areas of strength. “So, it was really doubling down and investing heavily in areas where we believed in because, for a company of our size, we didn’t have the luxury of spreading ourselves very broadly,” says Reddy. “And fortunately, I think we made the right bets.” One such bet was its relationship with Microsoft, which is now more than 30 years old and, according to a recent HDFC Securities report, accounts for around 50% of the company’s IT services revenue.