Raj Radhakrishnan is a distinguished business leader with three decades of global technology industry experience. In April 2023, Raj became the CEO of Ciklum and has been instrumental in transforming it from traditional product engineering into a global Digital Experience Engineering firm.
Raj’s journey began in India as a hands-on young engineer before he transitioned to managing global operations in the United Kingdom, Continental Europe, and the USA. As a people-oriented person with a passion for technology, Raj leveraged both his people and technical skills, building a successful career in which he has also mentored and nurtured multiple leaders along the way.
“I am privileged to be the leader with the vision, setting the North Star and leading from the front,” Raj says. “I have over 4,000 Ciklumers to inspire to pull together as #OneCiklum, to elevate the brand and deliver high-quality engineering to our clients”.
As the leader of Ciklum, Raj is setting the broader five-year strategy to drive the Digital Experience Engineering vision forward; bring next-gen offerings to market and elevate the way people live and experience the world; expand into new markets; and diversify delivery globally to enhance international scale. Additionally, Raj serves as the brand ambassador for Ciklum, representing the company’s values and mission to clients, analysts, and advisors across various markets. His leadership extends beyond the boardroom, shaping the company’s identity and fostering a culture of excellence both internally and externally.
Raj’s Professional Journey
● Named ‘Partner of the Year’ while at Cognizant by Ford Automotive , Toyota Motors NA , Express Scripts, Emdeon, and 3M.
● Successful building of businesses through greenfield development, and resurrection of failing businesses through brownfield transformation, across decades.
● Built a new independent testing practice for a top American technology service provider, and scaled it to 10% of the firm’s $1B revenue within 18 months receiving ‘New Venture of the Year’ award.
● Strategized and built Cognizant’s Pharmacy Benefit Management & Provider Business Units, scaling them to $400M over five years.
● Transformed Cognizant’s underperforming Manufacturing Business Unit ($250M) into its fastest growing Unit, delivering $1.8B annually and contributing a substantial portion of incremental EBITDA.
Ciklum: an Experience Engineering leader
Ciklum was founded in Denmark in 2002, initially providing near-shore delivery services for European clients by tapping into the substantial tech talent pool in Ukraine. Over the past two decades, the company has become a trusted partner for global enterprises and digital disruptors, engineering digital solutions that address complex corporate challenges and drive accelerated growth.
Ciklum has therefore evolved into a global enterprise, operating across the USA, UK, and Europe, with delivery centers in Eastern Europe, Spain, Asia and America. Among its recent notable accreditations, it was named a Disruptor in the First-Generative Enterprise™ Services Horizons report by HFS Research at the end of 2023, and was named in Gartner’s first-ever Magic Quadrant for Custom Software Development in 2022. Furthermore, Ciklum has been featured in Avasant’s prestigious Tech Innovators Report (Dec 2023), and have won or been finalists in the DevOps Industry Awards every year since 2020.
“We’ve created a niche category in the digital engineering world, called Experience Engineering,” Raj explains. “Experience Engineering intersects product engineering with customer experience and AI to create advanced technology solutions for our clients’ most complex business challenges. At Ciklum, we pride ourselves on partnering with our clients to engineer the experiences of tomorrow, together.”
Client-centric to the core
Together with its clients, Ciklum continuously discovers and delivers solutions that not only challenge the status quo, but reimagine and reshape the future of how people work and live. A prime example of this transformative approach is demonstrated through Ciklum’s partnership with a prominent food delivery service client.
“We started working with this client very early on,” Raj recalls. “We conducted the user research, product discovery, experience design and finally engineered the food ordering platform for this leading food delivery services company. This Platform & App transformed the way customers experience food take away services, enabling them to order food at their fingertips and receive it at their convenience.”
Ciklum’s client focus extends to its “Co/Labs” initiative, where cross-functional squads are deployed to businesses and support them in a wide range of areas, including Experience Design, MVP build, Engineering, Digital Assurance, and Product Management.
“Our client experience lives at the heart of everything that Ciklum does,” Raj explains. “Through Co/Labs our squads integrate directly into our client’s business to solve complex challenges. They become part of clients’ teams and embrace their culture, offering the focus and accountability needed to turn the bold visions of our clients into impactful business outcomes.”
Advancing with innovation and technology
Currently, Ciklum’s focus is on harnessing the power of generative AI to maintain a competitive edge and drive its business forward. The company sees this as a strategic advantage, not just to stay ahead of the competition but also to propel its clients’ businesses into new realms of innovation and success.
This comes in tandem with MyCiklum, an innovative data platform allowing clients to gain expert insights, make informed decisions based on real-time, actionable data, all accessible via a digital portal and mobile app.
Thanks to innovations such as these, Ciklum prides itself on being able to partner with clients from start to finish, through an integrated engineering lifecycle that constantly develops and deploys solutions for its clients based on real user feedback.
“For example, one of our clients in the education sector with 100+ private schools was under pressure to improve global engagement with their stakeholders, including students, parents and teachers,” Raj says. “Through our Product Discovery approach, we tested and built a digital concierge service by training an AI model, which has solved challenges and accentuated gains throughout the academic journey for parents.”
Leading and empowering from the top
Through his decades of executive and leadership experience, Raj firmly believes in leading from the front, instilling a sense of purpose, and empowering his team to navigate challenges with confidence to achieve their objectives. Rooted in the principles of Transformational Leadership, Raj’s leadership philosophy extends beyond organizational success to fostering positive change within individuals and society at large.
His energy, enthusiasm, passion for the work, and unwavering focus on people have recharged and energized the teams he has led. He has inspired growth, promoted trust and loyalty amongst the workforce, and instilled confidence in them. At both GlobalLogic and Ciklum, he has instituted quarterly awards to encourage his teams to perform at their best and leverage their friendly internal competitive spirit. And from his days at Cognizant, each of the team members whom he mentored is now either running large businesses inside Cognizant, or has moved to CXO positions in other firms.
“I believe in identifying individual strengths and enhancing the confidence and performance of my team members by connecting them to a broader mission, and by being a role model for them to look up to,” he says. “I challenge each of my team members to explore new boundaries, step out of their comfort zones with confidence, and evolve themselves into leaders.”
Raj considers people as an asset and as the cornerstone of Ciklum’s success. He is an ardent supporter of his team, encouraging each member at every step of their journey. His role extends beyond management; it involves mentorship, nurturing talent, and implementing a systematic process for identifying the right individuals to grow within the business. Indeed, every single person within Ciklum’s Executive Leadership and Senior Leadership teams, including Raj himself, is actively engaged in mentoring a select group of individuals.
Ciklum has recently identified a group of 40 upcoming leaders and commenced a formal six-month leadership development program, with a combination of external trainers and internal leaders to nurture next-gen talent to take on higher roles as the business grows. At the same time, Ciklum’s structured career architecture allows for each individual at every level to tailor their career trajectory together with their line manager. This program is ably supported by its People Partners team which focuses on the growth of every individual across the company. The company’s overarching goal is to establish a robust talent architecture that ensures it nurtures and mentors individuals effectively, aligning with their career aspirations and the business’ organizational objectives.
However, Raj regards work-life balance as an extremely important part of modern business – both for his workforce, and himself. “From my personal side, we enjoy every milestone and celebrate the success of our family members,” he says. “We take regular short family breaks to travel to newer places and enjoy watching nature. I’m a big believer in giving to people in need and educating children in need, and I’m also a supporter of women in technology. My wife and I have established a trust dedicated to these endeavors. This dual focus on personal and philanthropic aspects underscores my dedication to fostering a fulfilling life, both professionally and personally.”
Three core horizons to maintain stability and profitability
Raj has developed and honed a number of management practices and strategies over the years, including the concept of ‘three core horizons’ when it comes to strategy.
“Horizon 1 revolves around the present, up to 12-18 months, where I allocate 80% of SG&A to sustain current successes, and empower my direct reports to manage day-to-day operations effectively,” he explains. “Horizon 2 spans 12-24 months and looks towards anticipating and building for the future, allocating around 12-15% of SG&A. This involves initiatives like exploring new markets, establishing delivery centers, engaging in M&A activities, and expanding service offerings.
“Finally, Horizon 3 is about future-proofing the organization three years down the line. I collaborate closely with the strategy team and invest around 5-8% of SG&A. This horizon involves visionary moonshots, recognizing that some may succeed while others may not, but it’s a crucial step in ensuring the long-term competitiveness and resilience of the organization.”
Central to Raj’s wider approach is the implementation of a structured framework that mitigates risks and safeguards clients’ interests. At Ciklum, this is achieved through a dedicated leader tasked with overseeing unconventional ideas as part of the company’s Horizons charter, ensuring that any experimentation is conducted within a safe and controlled environment.
“In the fast-paced world of business, staying ahead of the competition requires visionary leadership that continually sets new benchmarks and goals to raise the bar,” he says. “I like to foster an environment where innovation thrives and new frontiers are explored without the fear of failure.”
Acknowledging that risk is an inherent aspect of business, Raj relies on a strong Executive Leadership Team (ELT) to collaboratively navigate challenges. Ciklum’s consultative approach involves valuing insights from every team member and input from clients, enabling the company to make well-informed decisions. By fostering a culture of inclusivity and shared responsibility, there is a collective commitment to mitigating risks and safeguarding the company’s interests, even in the face of significant external challenges such as the recent conflicts in Ukraine and Israel.
Looking forward to a prosperous future
Ciklum remains focused on transforming the way people experience the world through ground-breaking technology. The company is expanding in the North American market and will accelerate digital transformation in industries such as manufacturing, automotive, and energy, all of which are ripe for disruption.
“Our commitment to pioneering the future of technology ensures that it not only stays at the forefront of innovation, but also takes the lead in reshaping experiences across diverse industries,” Raj enthuses. “We will be bringing a new era of possibilities to the end users of its customers’ products, worldwide. Alongside our clients, who we consider to be our partners, Ciklum will reshape, reimagine, and redefine how people work and live through technology.”
Raj’s advice for entrepreneurs
● Think like you’re an end customer and be obsessed with their needs and experiences.
● Start with a narrow focus and ‘just do it’ as Nike puts it – even if the plan is not perfect, as you can learn and fine-tune along the way.
● Trust your team. Coach, motivate, and empower them to deliver beyond their abilities.
● Continuous innovation is key, so foster an environment that encourages new ideas.
● Always keep moving forward, adapting to changes, maintaining a dynamic approach to ensure sustained growth and success in the ever-evolving entrepreneurial landscape.
