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Get to Know Prashant Kamat, VP of Aptos India


Editor’s Note: In October 2021, Aptos launched Aptos India, a new entity in Bengaluru, to enable Aptos’ further expansion in the strategic Asia-Pacific market and to augment development and delivery capabilities globally. To lead this initiative, Prashant Kamat joined the business, serving as VP and Managing Director of Aptos India. In this Q&A, we get to know Prashant and learn more about Aptos’ growing operations in the Indian market.

Q: Prashant, welcome to Aptos. Tell us a little bit about your background.

For the last 25+ years, I’ve made my professional ‘home’ in the IT industry, working at global product and services companies, such as SAP, IBM and Capgemini.

Most recently, I was the India Country Manager for Bristlecone, a U.S.-based supply chain consulting services firm with global operations. In this role, I oversaw solution creation, presales, delivery management, capability management, resource management and talent engagement.

My passion lies in creating best-in-class organizations that provide an opportunity for employees to learn, grow and strive for excellence. I have a long track record of helping global firms to successfully expand into the Indian market in a way that creates maximum value for the business, its customers and its colleagues.

Q: What interested you in joining Aptos?

While the global software market is vast, at the same time, it’s a very interconnected space, where it’s relatively easy to follow vendor trajectories. The momentum Aptos has experienced in recent years has garnered a lot of attention. With its customer base of 1,000 retail brands, deployments in 65 countries, and high-profile acquisitions, such as Revionics and LS Retail, Aptos has been on my radar for awhile. 

Of course, Aptos’ strategic capital commitment from Goldman Sachs - and the surging demand for unified commerce solutions, which Aptos is uniquely positioned to deliver - is highly attractive to me. From a corporate culture standpoint, I also appreciate Aptos’ motto, “Every customer. Every colleague. Every day.” 

Treating people right - customers, colleagues, partners - and the willingness to engage on an individual level, that’s so important. Aptos as an organization understands this, and brings to each situation a significant level of authenticity and transparency. I feel fortunate to join Aptos at such an exciting time in its journey.

Q: Why do you think the time is right for Aptos to expand its presence in India?

A convergence of factors - including Aptos’ expanding customer base in Asia-Pacific, accelerated funding for R&D investments and maturing global infrastructure - all made the decision to launch an Aptos-owned entity in India a relatively easy one.

Several years ago, Aptos began its investment in the Indian market primarily through partnerships. Those partnerships helped us to establish our India-based operations, giving us the opportunity to tap into India’s vibrant ecosystem of highly skilled software talent.

We already have a strong foundation in India to expand from, and expand we will. We’ve made nearly a dozen direct hires in India already and expect our total number of colleagues in India to increase to over 150 by this time next year. 

What our colleagues and customers find particularly exciting about Aptos’ expansion in India is that it's an investment in the future, as opposed to a cost-reduction measure. Our robust hiring in India and globally is designed to help Aptos accelerate on all strategic fronts - product innovation, delivery excellence, and customer delight.

Q: Can you expand further on how Aptos India will support Aptos’ overall strategic objectives?

When Aptos was acquired by Goldman Sachs in 2020, our vision to be the leader in technologically-advanced unified commerce solutions didn’t change. We were, however, provided with the opportunity to go faster in executing on that vision, during what is a critical period in retailers’ transformation and technology modernization journeys. 

As Aptos ramps up investment in Aptos ONE, our unified commerce platform, as well as in our Revionics and LS Retail businesses, and in solutions such as order management, merchandising and others, Aptos India will help us meet our fast-tracked product commitments and more broadly service our customers. Aptos India also allows us to better support global deployments with an additional presence in Asia-Pacific.

Q: As the Aptos India vision comes to life, recruitment in India is a top priority. How do you position the Aptos career opportunity for potential candidates?

First and foremost, I emphasize that by joining Aptos India, a colleague can experience the fulfillment of being part of something new, fast moving and meaningful, where they can see their impact day to day, while enjoying the confidence that comes from being employed at one of the largest global technology providers servicing the retail sector, a sector that has over $25 trillion in annual sales. 

I also highlight the opportunity to spend your days doing truly ground-breaking work - exploring areas such as cloud native and mobile-first technologies, data-science and machine learning algorithms, microservices-based architectures, etc.

Aptos is not creating a center of excellence in India to deliver on the status quo. The intent here is to incubate and bring to market cutting edge technologies that can have a meaningful impact on our customers’ organizations - and our customers happen to be some of the most recognizable retail brands in the world. 

If someone is looking to make a change to a company that's highest priorities are customer and colleague satisfaction, and enjoys the collaboration of being part of a global team, Aptos is a great place to invest your career.

 
If you are interested in learning more about Aptos India and the employment opportunities available in Bengaluru, reach out to Prashant on LinkedIn.