Successful prescription

"It started as a pet project. I had prepared the business plan as part of my entrepreneurship class while I was still in college in the UK. I have always been interested in entrepreneurship, even as a child,” says 27-year-old Rustom Lawyer of Bombay. "My partner Shiraz Austin, who is based in the UK, and I set up the company on August 15, 2001 while I was in college.”

Their company Scribetech is a healthcare BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) providing medical transcription and software services to the National Health Service (NHS) of the UK. "We currently have two transcription centers in Bangalore with 150 people working for us and a sales and clients servicing office in London. Our company is expanding rapidly with four NHS Trusts as our clients,” he keys in the details. Lawyer, who returned to India three years ago, looks after the business in Bangalore; Austin sees to client management and other front-end operations.

"We think of ourselves as pioneers in medical transcription for the NHS. Initially it was very challenging. The outsourcing culture had not been established. There was an awful lot of resistance to outsourcing,” Austin browses through the past. The NHS is the third largest employer in the world, he asserts, after the Chinese army and the Indian railways. With its huge budget and bureaucratic procedures, the wheels of the NHS grind slowly, with tenders taking months to be approved. "You need patience while dealing with government bodies,” he smiles. "He has plenty of patience and is very much a people’s person,” says Lawyer of his friend and business partner.

They won their first NHS contract in 2005. "Outsourcing enhances efficiency within a hospital. It saves costs. It enables secretaries, for example, to attend to things other than typing letters/reports, etc. They have more time to liaise with patients and consultants or even answer the phone promptly,” Austin monitors the upgrades.

(Top) Rustom Lawyer (left) and Shiraz Austin; medical transcription center in Bangalore

Dedicated to high quality voice-to-text transcription services, their window to a borderless world is their 4,000 sq ft center in Bangalore, located in a quiet neighborhood, 15 minutes from town center. It operates 24 hours, 365 days of the year, with flexible shift patterns. In a healthcare business where the crucial processor is time and the margin for error is nano, they have invested heavily in top range server technology for the speedy transfer and retrieval of files. "With DVR (Digital Voice Recorder) you get the data within seconds,” Lawyer explains. They guarantee a turnaround time of 24 hours; urgent reports can be transcribed in four hours if required. Transcriptionists are trained as per AAMT (American Association of Medical Transcription) standards and the use of SNOMED (Systemized Nomenclature of Medicine) clinical terms ensures that "we deliver an accuracy rating of 98 percent. If the transcribed report does not meet our promise of quality and turnaround time, we will cancel the charge for the report or re-transcribe it without additional charge,” states their website www. scribetech.co.uk

The partners believe the password to success is scalability. "This is an exciting time. There is no slowdown in the healthcare industry so our business fortunately is proving to be recession proof. The key is to grow and achieve economies of scale. Work is so much fun. We have very good software people in the UK and India. We have a highly innovative team which turns ideas into action quickly,” Lawyer describes the ever-evolving field. "We are a service provider. We offer tailor-made software and solutions to clients to make their life easier. We provide the software as a tool for free. This is what sets you apart from competitors,” Austin outlines their operating system.

Attrition rates, the notorious bugs of the Information Technology industry, are a problem but have been overcome by incentive schemes, which drive people towards higher quality, accuracy and reward. The volatility of the rupee against the British pound also affects the balance sheet. "When the pound strengthens, we will reap the benefit. Retaining control over all aspects of operations (end-to-end) makes us more flexible. On the client side we hire people with NHS experience who can network effectively, who are not brash or arrogant,” Austin scans the big picture. His father Dr Ruby Austin is an eminent dental surgeon who has held senior posts and has been honored by Queen Elizabeth II with an MBE (Member of the British Empire) for his services to dentistry and the NHS. Shiraz’s mother Maureen is Irish and ran her own successful chain of health and beauty centers in London for 20 years.

Lawyer joined Dulwich College (a school for boys in Dulwich, a suburb of London) when he was 12. "Our families have been good friends for long. In fact we were guardians for him when he was here,” says Austin who is 10 years his senior. Also an alumnus of Dulwich College, Austin recalls that it was Lawyer’s maternal grandmother, Mehroo Noshir Irani, who had wanted to put the lad there. Lawyer later did his Bachelor in Business Administration from the American Intercontinental University in London. Austin worked for the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, making quick progress in the very first year. Reluctant, however, to commit to a long-term contract, he took up his uncle Keki Panthaki’s offer in England to work for his textiles company, supplying export goods to fashion houses and High Street retailers. Business stints in India made Shiraz familiar with the country and he ventured also into website hosting. "India is a huge force to reckon with. I come here twice a year,” he says.

Returning home after 12 years abroad, Lawyer is happy to be back: "I have no regrets at all. This is the place to be. India will come out fastest from the economic downturn. Indians have great entrepreneurial spirit. It is an easy environ for business. There is always so much action! In Mum’s time however, things were so difficult. There was so much government control!” (particularly in the beer industry). Rustom presently also helps his mother, well-known entrepreneur Zinia Lawyer, run Bakhta­war Construction Company Private Limited, a closely held family firm. Rustom says his mother has been "a huge influence.” (The family owned and ran Associated Breweries and Distilleries Limited, whose flagship brand London Pilsner won many awards.) "I am very proud of what my son and Shiraz have achieved …I always wanted to encourage both of them as young entrepreneurs and I am so happy they have successfully built an impressive company with a prosperous future,” Zinia remarks. "My father Sohrab was the first person who stimulated my interest in entrepreneurship... He is a great inspiration to me,” states Rustom.

Living in England, Shiraz says his family tries to retain as much as they can of Parsi heritage and culture. "It was my mother who encouraged my navjote to be performed,” he asserts. "I have a lot of Parsi friends in India and am proud to be part of the community.” Rustom nods his agreement, adding that Lord Karan Bilimoria, Ratan Tata, Dr Villoo Morawala Patell are among his business role models. Shiraz admires, among others, the achievements and values of the Godrej story. "We are focused on work and feel positive and optimistic. It is fun to work with friends,” he declares.