The Technopreneur Behind Zone24x7 - Llavan Fernando

When we entered the Sri Lankan IT industry in 1999, we were revolutionary in offering higher than the market remuneration to our engineers, and that trend continues to date. Where the IT engineers are some of the highest-paid communities on the island, it may be one of the factors to motivate the younger generations to focus on IT studies.

CEO Llavan Fernando co-founded Zone24x7, along with his wife Saw-Chin Fernando in 2004. He was a focal point in establishing other technology companies in Sri Lanka with his expertise and guidance in developing innovative technology solutions for some of the world’s foremost organizations.

Tell us a little bit about yourself.
 I was born in Colombo however I’m originally from Negombo Kochchikade a coastal town which is about 26 miles from Colombo. I did my initial studies at De Mazenod College Kandana and completed my A-levels in Croydon UK at John Ruskin’s grammar school. I also achieved a MSc in Physical Instrumentation from London.
Thereafter, I entered Reading University in England where I did Electrical engineering, and feedback control systems were my favorite. I believe there is some form of feedback mechanism that exists everywhere in the world whether it is technology, sociology, politics, medical systems, or even the ecosystem. Therefore, I believe that control engineering which I learned has been extremely useful for me in my life to date.
My first job was working as an R&D engineer for a company that developed standards for the National Physics Laboratory in England. I received very little pay but enjoyed what I did. Most importantly was the invaluable knowledge that I gained. I was not afraid of trying things out.
After a while, I joined a company that produced fire protection equipment for the defense industry. Following which in 1979 I went to the Bay Area in California, USA. Worked in different organizations before spending 13 years working for a company that manufactured products for the blind where I could enhance my knowledge further. Then I wanted to test my technopreneurship skills and co-founded a company that produced transaction devices where I was also the VP of engineering.

How was Zone24x7 founded and what were some of the key highlights of your career in establishing Zone24x7?
 My late mother who was a teacher and a committed social worker was very much instrumental in motivating my two brothers and me to give back to our country of origin. She was able to create a great desire in me to do an impactful service to Sri Lanka and I waited for the right opportunity.
 Towards the latter part of the COM industry era, I happened to attend a forum where the investors from Sandhill capital in Silicon Valley told us to go to India to seek talent. Then I and one of the co-founders of the company went to Pune, India in late 1998, and while in India during one weekend we decided to pop into Sri Lanka.
 We were treated very well by some prominent people in the industry and the Chamber of Commerce as well as some politicians. That prompted my partner Aziz Valliani who happened to be the CEO of the company to start operations in Sri Lanka to do embedded technology development
 Within a short period, we were able to make a real breakthrough technology in the payments terminal industry and most of the development was done by some of the Sri Lankan engineers. Aziz Valliani after seeing the talents of Sri Lankan engineers developed a great liking towards Sri Lanka’s unprecedented talents and even started his own company in Sri Lanka which is doing very well now though the ownership has changed over time.
 In regards to Zone24x7, I must also give due recognition to someone who has been a major driving force staying behind the screen but who was one of our critical success factors. That’s none other than my wife Saw-Chin Fernando. She has an inborn business talent inherited from her parents. Being the CFO of the company, she looks at things from a much broader perspective and has the talent to predict where things are moving and take all necessary corrective actions.
 Then there is one more person who helped us to bring our previous company, which is Zebra Technologies now and Zone24x7 to where they are today. We were fortunate to recruit Anuradha Tennakoon, a well-respected award-winning Senior Executive as our first General Manager.

In the video technology area, we are quite advanced and I intend to create Top class engineering talents and for them to understand the fundamentals. We generate part of our revenue with software outsourcing while concentrating on developing tomorrow’s products through cutting-edge technologies. As I said before, there is no end or stop to our innovation. We are not scared to test waters that others are scared of. My R&D expenditure is quite high and it will continue to be high as I encourage our engineers to always try out new things.

You have been recognized as an advocate and change agent for the Sri Lankan IT industry. In your view, what were some of your key contributions in shifting the sector’s focus towards innovation and engineering?
 When we entered the Sri Lankan IT industry in 1999, we were revolutionary in offering higher than the market remuneration to our engineers, and that trend continues to date. Where the IT engineers are some of the highest-paid communities on the island, it may be one of the factors to motivate the younger generations to focus on IT studies.
 As you know Sri Lanka is relatively a small player in the global IT industry and to show the potential of Sri Lankan talent one has to think outside the box. We got to be ready to understand where the world is moving towards. Robotics, analytics, AI & ML technologies are some niche areas where Sri Lanka can do well. One has to keep an eye on all avenues. Innovation and engineering are in our bloodstream.
 My real dream is to create a robot that can help and do the day-to-day chores for people.
Won’t it be nice if your robot could make a cup of tea, and prepare some simple meals such as heating some food in the microwave for example? Doing some washing ‘drying and folding clothes. In addition, if it can communicate and make sure one can take care of people in their old age would be great. I believe there’s a huge demand for such a robot everywhere in the world. Asimo from Honda should be an example. However, the prices should go down considerably.
Do not try to compete with countries like China and India. Instead, we should put more value add and come up with those ingenious ideas, and partner with others to make the world a better place to live. It is essential that we always keep an ear to the ground not only for today’s technologies but also for future technologies and try to acquire the knowledge and make that differentiation.
 Always encourage innovation.

What are the main operations of Zone24x7 as one of Sri Lanka’s key innovation hubs?
 I always think that we should create expertise in certain niche areas. In our company, we have some real industry experts who have over 40+ years of experience to teach and nurture the talent in the organization.
 In the video technology area, we are quite advanced and I intend to create Top class engineering talents and for them to understand the fundamentals. We generate part of our revenue with software outsourcing while concentrating on developing tomorrow’s products through cutting-edge technologies. As I said before, there is no end or stop to our innovation. We are not scared to test waters that others are scared of. My R&D expenditure is quite high and it will continue to be high as I encourage our engineers to always try out new things.

What are your thoughts on securing the required talent in Sri Lanka and in which segments do you see gaps in demand and supply? 
 Securing talent is challenging but sometimes poaching from others for short-term gain by some unethical companies is going to be a major problem. When you embark on new technologies it is not easy to find people from anywhere in the world. You have to nurture them, cultivate that talent and work with them.
 Certainly, there is a sizeable gap between supply and demand when it comes to talent in the IT industry. For that argument, it is not only in Sri Lanka but all over the world. As a contribution to bridging the gap, we have been working very closely with Sri Lankan Universities and other higher educational institutes to make industry ready engineers when they come out from universities. At any given time, we have 30 - 40 undergraduates from different universities in our company as industrial placements being trained by our experienced engineers.
 I’m all for any of our employees to go and learn and do well in the industry. I’m proud to say that there are some of our former employees are now heading large teams of engineers in the United States for very large organizations.
On the other hand, there are prominent individuals Who are very bright and who continued to work in academia. For instance, Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon praised one Sri Lankan.
 It is up to the senior management and the company owners to make sure that we provide the necessary ingredients to stimulate those differences in talent.

How has Zone24x7 adjusted its business technology strategy to face new challenges and to capitalize from emerging opportunities with the current Pandemic environment?
From day one, we have been a customer-focused company and that approach has helped us to serve some of the world-renowned Fortune 500 companies. We have been instrumental in our customer’s digital journey. Our expertise and experience in digital transformation have helped our customers face the current pandemic environment. Those companies who had not thought or who had little thoughts in digital transformation have moved it to their high priority agenda as a result of the current pandemic which is an opportunity for all digital organizations like ours.

 
At Zone24x7, what were some of the key challenges that you faced in continuing operations in this ongoing pandemic period, and what were some of the measures you have taken to overcome them?
 Ever since we started our first company back in 1998, we had the telecommuting or work from the home culture in our company to help our employees who had domestic issues, partially ill health, elderly parents needing care, and so on so forth. We already had the experience in managing remote work. Of course, not at this level.  But that experience and readiness helped us to face the current pandemic on the employee’s front.
 When the first wave of the pandemic started and even to date, our office remains closed, and only during most essential times did our staff attend the office for short periods taking all health precautions. We facilitated our staff with the required infrastructure to work from home. We have a Covid-19 steering committee that meets on a virtual basis regularly to monitor the condition of the area, the country, our employees, and their families and extend the best support that we can to our employees.
 For our customers, we provide the services that we promised them and meet their expectations. Though they are global customers we manage everything in the virtual environment.
 Like all others, we too had a business downturn but it is now on an upward path.
 As you may know, Sri Lanka is a small country trying to compete with global giants like India is not going to be too easy. We had to cultivate and nurture the talents we needed, Zone24x7 treats our employees as our own family

What are some of the recent initiatives launched by Zone24x7?
 As an organization, WE ARE STILL BACK TO BASICS. We will invest and nurture technology as well as processes and ethical behavior and business practices for all our associates and partners.
 We have initiated some important research work in collaboration with Sri Lankan universities and if successful, it will be a major breakthrough supporting Sri Lanka and similar developing countries in the medical field.
 Furthermore, we have taken major steps towards educating individuals about AI, machine learning, and specifically video analytics. We have some of the prominent leaders in the company who will continue to promote our high standards by nurturing technology and individuals for them to move to the next level.
 For an employee at Zone24x7, I feel it is essential that family values are important.
 I like to create some interesting environments besides just work and technical matters. For example, Art and music. Taking the music to the next level using MIDI and encouraging our employees to take a break and play music and enjoy. I believe that will relax individuals and will become highly creative. And I would like to create that music club highly specialized based on making instruments as I think that is the future. I feel the famous artist Yanni is a great model to emulate.
 This should go not only among the employees of Zone but it has to extend to their own families.
 We also have a photography club, toastmasters club, and a team of young very talented individuals serving in “Club Zone” which comes out with highly innovative, creative, and very interesting ideas to keep the Zone family active and energized.

As a leading professional in the country’s tech sector, what’s your advice to anyone who’s looking to build a career in the tech sector?
 

• Work with ethical people
• avoid bad actors!
• Family is important.
• It is okay to make mistakes but don’t repeat them!

It is okay to leave the company for you for your own career advancement but don’t kill the goose that laid the golden egg.
Be humble and polite and smile!

About Zone24x7
Established in 2004 and headquartered in San Jose, California, Zone24x7 Pvt Ltd is an advanced Technology and Research Centre located and operating in Colombo, Sri Lanka for over 17 years. Specialized in offering end-to-end technology consulting and engineering services encompassing both hardware and software.
Our sound research and development background means that we are constantly developing leading-edge technology solutions ahead of market needs. Our ability to meld hardware and software solutions places us among a handful of companies in the world with the ability to do so. Possessing over a decade of experience in handling over 50+ enterprise customers in a multitude of industries including Retail, Hi-tech, Banking and Financial Services, Telecommunications, Logistics and Manufacturing.