Pecon Infotech : Leading The Way In Solutions

Having left a mark in the trade of IT solutions, Mahesh Shah, Director of
Kolkata-based Pecon Infotech was a mediocre student in the primary class level.
Having interest in science subjects, he aspired to be a doctor thereby, taking
up biology and chemistry seriously. However, destiny had something else in store
for Shah.

"One day, I went to a medical camp here in Siliguri where eye surgeries were
going on. The view was so shabby that I fainted at the sight after looking into
the operations and surgeries. After that experience, I forever gave up my dream
of becoming a doctor," Shah chuckled.

Still not realising his ambition, he went to pursue law, specialising on
company and commercial law and obtained a LLB degree with another gold medal.
Following his family trend, he later studied Chartered Accountancy and there
also, he ranked 39th in the national level. Therafter, he took chartered
accountancy as his interim career practising at his brother's chartered firm for
a short duration.

Again, the wheels of fate turned and he left his profession in chartered
accountacy for good to enter the field of IT. Realising that he is doing little
value addition to his brother's firm, he thought of entering the IT industry.
Having completed a computer crash course, he found it easy to understand the
tricks involved in the computers but had little knowledge about the market in
Siliguri.

"The CA business was not doing well and I realised that except relieving the
stress from my brother, I was not bringing in new business to the CA firm.
Interested in IT, I thought of entering the industry in Siliguri and made my
solo appearance in 1984, by founding the first data processing center in the
area," he recollected.

Soon, he took Wipro hardware products dealership and made his breakthrough in
the market by being selected as one of the five Wipro Council members from 1984
to 2004. Accredating his proffessor in his college Prof. B Majhi for making him
understand the tricks of the IT business, Shah gained momentum on entering the
Kolkata market at the behest of Wipro to bag government deals.

According to Shah, before one considers entering into a specialized segment,
and that too in the field of computers, they should have thorough knowledge
about the product. Shah opines that the whole process of dealing in computers is
not only selling a particular brand, but it is selling a whole concept to the
customers and help them ease their work.

"Life has always been a learning process. There are three people from whom I
have learnt a lot till day. First is my father, then my brother and then is Azim
Premji, who has taught me everything about the IT market," Shah emotionally
said.

Apart from concentrating on his IT business, Shah is a voracious reader about
personnel management and leadership with his all-time favourite book being
'Go...Kiss the World' by Subroto Bagchi. Interested in social and meritous
services, Shah is a member of the Rotary Club of Calcutta. He undertakes keen
interest in serving the under-privileged children and has launched a programme
for the education of children of the prisoners in Kolkata.

Taking an innovating initiative to launch a blood-group database web-portal,
Shah has already started collecting the database through his BPO and call center
services and will be launching the portal shortly.

Having a picture-perfect family, Shah is content about his achievements in
his personal life.

"My wife, Saroj Shah has always stood by my side and even in Pecon, she plays
a pivotal role. She takes care of the administration and the management part and
this releives pressure on me. My elder son, Pratek is in California in nVidia as
a research engineer, and my younger son, Abhaas is in Class XII," Shah said.

On his professional front, Shah has plans in store to revise its customer
base and create a whole new dedicated team for customer engagement through
customer feedback and satisfaction.

"Despite the rumours about the stagnation in the IT market, I am sure that
this business will grow by giving the right kind of boost in company policies
and customer satisfaction," said an optimistic Shah. "It is my belief in myself
that motivates me to perform. Pecon is not a profit-driven company. It is our
endeavour to give the best kind of services to our customers and in this aspect,
I am quite happy with the performance till day," he added.

With gross revenue of Rs 15 lakh in 1984, the company now earns an average
gross revenue of Rs 16 crore as in FY 09-10.

Avishek Rakshit

avishekr@cybermedia.co.in