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2008 promises bigger opportunities for IT industry
The Economic Times
Jan 01, 2008
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2008 promises to ring in newer growth opportunities, potentially billion dollar ones, for the Indian IT industry. The export-driven Indian IT/ITeS industry — which has been dominated by application development and maintenance (ADM), voice-based BPO services and BFSI vertical — could see new and niche areas scaling up rapidly.
NeoIT senior director Sabyasachi S says, "In the next 5 years, I see areas like infrastructure management (IM) and product development becoming big." Besides, revenue cycle management in healthcare sector, KPO, financial package testing and game development are showing signs of opening up towards outsourcing and offshoring. Tholons CEO Avinash Vasishtha says there is a strong potential for companies to build a leadership position in niche areas.
For example, in infrastructure management (IM) services, it will not be just a question of providing these services remotely in a location like India but also bringing in other value added offerings like managed services. Mr Sabyasachi says, "There is lot of opportunity in product development for IT companies. OPD currently is restricted to software firms outsourcing their R&D but we shall see non-IT sectors like healthcare outsourcing their development."
However, analysts feel that the entry into services or sectors may not be easy as the barriers are slightly higher. This could also prove to be an ideal opportunity for small and mid-tier IT companies to venture into it as is a greenfield territory. |
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"Indian IT companies need to take their services to higher level of sophistication like creating technology frameworks and IPs."
Sudha Kumar, CEO - Prayag Consulting |
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Industry observers feel that Indian firms have to now look beyond just providing services to becoming more of a partner to clients. "The success story so far has been India-centric or a US-India model. The companies now need to look at global sourcing or services globalisation model in a big way to be successful in posing a challenge to the IBMs and EDS' of the world. Global sourcing is the way to counter challenges like sub-prime crisis and changing needs of customers," Sabyasachi says.
As Sudha Kumar of Prayag Consulting says, "Indian IT companies need to take their services to higher level of sophistication like creating technology frameworks and IPs."
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What's in a name?
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We chose the name Prayag as it connotes confluence - of disciplines, ideas, and implementation, and minds. |
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Sound Bytes |
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"The need of the hour for offshore IT companies is a well-crafted sales and marketing strategy. With the external market realities changing
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dramatically and irreversibly, IT companies need to reinvent and reposition themselves, identify the right target segments, and put in place the necessary systems and resources to go after the identified market.
I firmly believe that the planning and conceptualization has to be complemented by relentless execution and this is where consulting companies like Prayag, which bring in a strong industry understanding coupled with an implementation focus, can create a niche for themselves." |
-Nandan M. Nilekani, industry thought leader and
Co-Chairman, Infosys Technologies |
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