Knowledge Foundry

About Us

We started our journey in 2008.

Outsourcing of analytics and research to India had started in the early part of the decade. Many small analytics/research firms were acquired by large service providers. In the race for scale, most firms focused on outsourcing existing knowledge processes from clients -- this gave rise to 'knowledge process outsourcing (KPO)'. Many KPOs compete on process efficiency and low cost.

As KPOs became process 'factories', we felt the need for a firm that would focus on innovative, domain-driven business solutions -- a provider that creates value for clients through innovation rather than through cost-cutting by off-shoring an existing process. It is in this context that we started Knowledge Foundry -- a firm that seeks to transform its clients' business through knowledge.

Our team (click here) has several years of experience in analytics and management consulting with companies like Booz & Co, Citibank, SAS, Marketics.

We have a four-stage engagement model (click here ), which begins with a free, no-obligation diagnostic exercise.

Raj Bhatt, CEO

Raj focuses on the retail, financial services, and telecoms verticals. His areas of interest include direct campaign design, retail promotional optimization, attrition analytics, channel partner analytics, and inventory management.

Raj has more than 15 years of experience in analytics and management consulting. Before KF, he led CRM Analytics at Marketics (now WNS). He was instrumental in starting the retail and financial services practices.

Raj has held senior positions at Booz & Co. (New York) and Adventis (New York) where he advised several global companies in telecoms and financial services.

He holds an MBA degree from IIM Ahmedabad, and a B.Tech. degree from IIT Bombay. He has completed the requirements for a CFA charter.

Follow @r_bhatt

Girish Ramachandra, PhD, Manager

Girish has been with us since inception. He specializes in the Financial Services and Industrials verticals. His areas of interest include forecasting, pricing sensitivity analysis, customer segmentation, optimization, scheduling, and inventory management.

Before KF, he worked for Citibank's Global Decision Management team. He was responsible for customer portfolio analytics, rule based segmentation and branch location analytics. He has a Masters degree and a Ph.D. degree from the North Carolina State University in Industrial Engineering & Operations Research. During his Ph.D., he worked for the R&D team at the SAS Institute in Cary, NC.

Girish worked in the area of vendor development, process management and inventory management for Larsen & Toubro after his undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering from NIT, Surathkal.

Our Engagement Model

We launch client relationships with a no-obligation 'Diagnostic', such as:

Analysis of data availability for a specific business problem
A jointly created 'analytics/ research roadmap' with timeline and milestones
Study of industry best practices in analytics/ research

After the diagnostic, we jointly identify a 'pilot project' which addresses a specific business problem for a product/region/ BU. We develop a proposal with a detailed workplan and budget to develop an innovative solution.

We use the 'Scale-up Phase' to automate the solution and expand its scope across geographies and products/divisions. We document the code and the process to maximize productivity by minimizing senior team involvement.

As we deliver the solution multiple times, our relationship evolves to the 'Knowledge Center phase'. The team is engaged using a retainer contract to ensure retention of learning. The team thinks of new ways to improve the solution process and embark on newer problems.