Investing in Infra

It is that time of the year when nature brings out varied feelings in everyone. Some of delight, like in a farmer awaiting rains or a student wanting to spend more comfort at home. Or of frustration in an office goer or a business that gets conducted in the open like theme parks, infrastructure and many engineering industries.

But one trait that has always caught my eye is how much our physical infra is designed to take the monsoon downpours. As I saw a lot of NCR parts getting flooded this season, I wondered if it has learnings for our business at @OfBusiness and @Oxyzo. Should one be designing business infra ahead of its average requirements?

We have seen 3 business infrastructures that this question is relevant to.

First is human capital infra. Should one have more people in a growing organization, factoring in growth, if yes then how much? We have always designed our human capital 5-10% less than what is needed in a quarter. This ensures one critical aspect – most people stretch and hence they unlock newer capabilities in themselves. Also, the overall organizational productivity gets enhanced. It’s for us to reward it in the most suitable way.

[Also, we are gifted with a fairly mobile job environment when attracting young talent and that helps us to expand at will when needed. I have always debated of late if business functions (responsible for revenue) should have 5-10% slack, but have always experienced that the slack takes down overall productivity of the total.]

2nd is physical infrastructure: office space, factory capacity, etc. Our strong belief here is that if the geography or business model of the factory is proven, its best to design 2-3 years out, but not if otherwise. If one can be prudent that you build these capacities in locations where there is potential for annexes later like neighboring land, offices where we can expand when needed, its best.

3rd is investing in culture. No amount of over investment is enough. Be it for team bonding, motivation, skill building, values’ cascading – all are underdone howsoever done. Takes relatively less, yields fast, more and lasts.

lifeatbusiness
lifeatoxyzo