It’s been said that a healthy work environment is the most important factor for organizational productivity. In the current context of organizations which are also great places to work, employees expect their leaders to continuously acknowledge their efforts, provide regular feedback, and foster an inclusive culture with open communication. This is apart from the usual expectations of remuneration and benefits. This is where a well-defined organizational culture comes into the fore. It acts as a bridge between the employers and employees while binding the varied parts of organization together. Building a strong company culture doesn’t just help employers to attract and retain top talent, but also improves employee engagement, which directly impacts their productivity, and in the end, the desired results.

Standing apart with its unique yet strong culture is Blue Yonder, a leader in four Gartner Magic Quadrants, focused on supply chain and retail merchandising solutions. Blue Yonder as an organization puts the needs of its associates first, leading to open communication and positive relationships between the leadership and the workforce. Further, the ‘BY Nation’ strives to ensure its associates across all levels understand their job role, responsibilities and how it ties into the larger organizational goals, which leads to better performance and results overall. In integrating both associate and organizational effectiveness, Blue Yonder endeavors to create a great workplace environment for its associates.

A Strong Culture
With a presence covering more than three decades in the industry, Blue Yonder has cemented its hold in the supply chain domain as one of the leading organizations operating as an expert consulting partner for all supply chain and retail solutions. The company takes pride in its in-house expertise covering the breadth of the supply chain domain with software products, SaaS solutions, automation techniques, and many other facets, including solutions driven by artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML).

Apart from our core expertise, Blue Yonder is renowned for its strong communication, both internal and external. In line with this, Blue Yonder articulates its defined vision clearly and regularly. The company has a vision statement that outlines its purpose of sustainability, and this creates a strong purpose for its associates. Year 2020 is consequential to the organization, and there is focused communication around making the company strategy visible and linked to every associate’s workstream. This year, Blue Yonder’s OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) is to make the organization ‘Top 50 companies to work for’ which would underline and assert everything Blue Yonder is striving towards from a culture and associate career perspective. The other equally crucial objective for the company is to hit the $2 billion revenue mark by 2022. “There is a lot of emphasis on connecting the dots on where we are heading, and we do it by having conversations with various cohorts on a continuous basis. That is the spirit in which we do our communication, and that helps in the development of the culture,” states Umesh Gaur, Managing Director, Centers of Excellence, India.

Besides, Blue Yonder’s culture is entrenched in its ‘Sonoran Spirit’ defined by grit, resilience, and a vast, interconnected ecosystem. The Sonoran Spirit encompasses Blue Yonder’s unwavering commitment to lifelong learning, collaborating with respect, operating with integrity and always putting people at the centre of everything. This has also helped attract and retain top talent. Today, young and aspiring professionals like to embark on their career journey at Blue Yonder.

Additionally, Blue Yonder’s culture emphasizes on its core values – Results, Relentless and Teamwork, and a spirit of strength through diversity, proliferated across the company. “The ‘Results’ is focused on bringing and delivering value to our customers; ‘Relentless’ is focused not just on learning, but on new learning and innovation; and ‘Teamwork’ is around the culture of respectful collaboration. The culture of Blue Yonder is built on these three core values,” states Vinok Sequeira, Senior Vice President - Associate Success, APAC.


Vinok Sequeira, Senior VP-Associate Success, APAC

The Wow Factor
Visually appealing and thoughtfully designed workspaces can give a definite boost to evoke responsiveness in the competitive employees of today, and Blue Yonder completely understands this. The organization takes extra care on space branding, which is visible in its infrastructure. Blue Yonder’s Bangalore and Hyderabad facilities have 2400 associates and counting. The newly established Hyderabad facility at HITEC city provides 160,000 square feet of floor space with a generous seating capacity for 1260 associates. It also holds the eco-friendly LEED Gold-certified status in sync with its ‘Go Green’ mission. Besides, the vibrant ambience featuring open-plan workspaces offer an environment for Gen Y’ers and others at Blue Yonder. Apart from the thoughtful ambience, the ecosystem that Blue Yonder provides is easily accessible to all its associates. For instance, on Diwali, the Managing Director and the leadership team walk up to each associate’s workstation and greet them in person with a gift hamper. This is followed by a traditional lunch on a banana leaf served by these executives. This is one way of personalizing the festive experience for the associates.

The Sonoran Spirit encompasses Blue Yonder’s unwavering commitment to lifelong learning, collaborating with respect, operating with integrity and always putting people at the centre of everything

Highly Supportive Organization
Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) is a key pillar of Blue Yonder culture, as it strives to create an engaging work environment for women associates. This is driven by many global initiatives and programs, including Women’s Interest Network (WIN), which is a win-win for everyone. This is not driven by leadership, but by the women employees themselves. However, WIN members include men and women across the organization who collaborate to drive innovation, foster creativity, guide business strategy and realize results, all the while building lasting relationships, networking, learning, and having fun.

Urmila Boyanapally, a Blue Yonder Product Quality Engineer, had this to say. “I joined this organization in 2016, and undoubtedly as a fresher then, I was instantly impressed by these leaders who were amongst the best supply chain gurus in the world and yet so humble. Over the years, I have had the opportunity to work in inter-department teams and community reach-out programs. Being a core member of WIN only helped me find my strengths and use them in a better way. Now, four years down the line, these first impressions still hold true for me. It’s not just the opportunities that I can create for myself that keep me going here, but also the fact that I know how am I contributing to the world of supply chain in my own way, and because I know I am valued here by everyone around.
As a Blue Yonder associate, I wouldn’t ask for anything more”. No wonder, despite the industry’s attrition rates hovering around 15 percent, Blue Yonder prides itself in its ability to maintain a high retention rate of over 90 percent across the organization.

Key Management

Umesh Gaur, Managing Director, Centers of Excellence, India
With close to 20 years in the organisation, Umesh is known for his global customer transformation project expertise across retail, manufacturing and transportation with experience in strategy, planning, execution and operations. Umesh champions innovation everywhere as an integral component of Blue Yonder’s diverse and vibrant culture.

Vinok Sequeira, Senior Vice President - Associate Success, APAC
With a proven track record of strong leadership, Vinok is known for his expertise in managing Associate Success responsibilities. He has provided broad leadership to APAC including India, facilitated cross-functional collaboration, and championed a deep community engagement programs.

Offices: Scottsdale, Phoenix, Arizona (Headquarter), Bangalore & Hyderabad (India) and other global offices.

Offerings: Supply chain & retail solutions.