Vineet Nayar, CEO of HCL Technologies

This is one in a series of articles leading up to Fortune Brainstorm Tech, which started today in Aspen, Colo. The articles look back at the progress of companies that presented at Brainstorm in 2009 as well as look forward to those that will present this year.

By Benjamin Snyder, contributor

HCL Technologies, an offshore IT and software development company, handles everything from setting up a company's cloud computing services and performing research and development to software engineering. Founded in 1976 and headquartered in Noida, India, HCL employs about 60,000 workers in over 20 countries around the world.

During the recession, HCL adopted an unconventional business structure under CEO Vineet Nayar, who took the helm in 2005. The company puts its focus on employees first, with the idea that creative employees lead to better innovation, which results in customer satisfaction.

So far it seems to be working. In 2009, the company's revenue grew by 23.5% and in April it reported better than expected growth during its third quarter. HCL is expected to report fourth quarter and fiscal 2010 results on Friday. More