India, today, is poised to get into a higher growth curve – which makes us uniquely positioned with respect to our global colleagues. However, as well consolidated our position as the global back office, we also invested in ourselves and developed technology and business competence which could add more value to the customers The mantra for Developed India is simple – constant innovation to provide value to end customer. The ones who finish the loop earlier will be the leaders for tomorrow.
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India, today, is poised to get into a higher growth curve – which makes us uniquely positioned with respect to our global colleagues. We are one of the very few growing economics today, which was though stalled a little because of the global meltdown, but is gearing up to get into the next level of equilibrium. With FDI opening up in key sectors such as insurance, telecom and education, the domestic market is all set to grow and would result in more employment opportunities. If anything, global recession which is making the western world bleed can prove to be a good opportunity for economies like us.
IT outsourcing created the industry in India which was the sunshine sector in the decade of 1990s. Although it created a unique positioning for us and put us on the map of the global business, we found ourselves in the lower end of the spectrum. What started out as a workforce augmentation model, gradated to more routine maintenance and backend management office. However, as well consolidated our position as the global back office, we also invested in ourselves and developed technology and business competence which could add more value to the customers. Today, corporations across the global are setting up captive centers in India or working through partners to deliver core business and technology solutions. Organizations are now looking at India as a co-located geographical location where core functions such as product conceptualization, R&D and architecture and design and operations are carried out. This is position of major strength which puts India as a front runner in the race with the other BRIC countries.
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One another interesting trend which has come out the prevailing economic condition is that a lot of functions which were previously not outsourced are today delivered out of India infrastructure management, technical writing and documentation, professional services and business analytics. Captives and outsourcing partners have developed a high level of maturity in outsourced delivery of the IT infrastructure, technical writing and business analytics. Traditionally, flavors of professional services have been delivered through India centers over a decade now. However in the current context, we are witnessing a surge in the mount of work that is getting outsourced to India. The maturity index of the professional services in the Indian organizations is getting higher by the day as skilled force is now available to be deployed. In order to service the demand of skilled manpower in these emerging sectors, the academic landscape is shaping to provide the workforce. Several finishing schools/ academic institutions have now sprung into action by providing specialized training to entry level people thereby providing a shot in the arm to companies which are looking to attract the requisite talent.
Another important aspect is that in the current global business context, India, amongst other developing nations, is being looked at as an important emerging market. Though this premise has taken a hit due the prevailing economic scenarios; however, the idea of India as a market is fundamentally correct. India is one of the most exciting emerging markets globally and this has created a new set of opportunities both for global as well as domestic players. Today, we are witnessing a lot of state-of-the-art technology start-ups which are emerging out of India with the Indian-based enterprises as customers. A lot of western firms are setting up operation delivery centers here to cater to domestic demand. Our innovation and R&D will pave way for global products – something which will be a reality in times to come. There will be a slew of global products and services which will emerge from India in times to come. A brilliant example is Tata Nano, which couldn’t have been developed anywhere except India will be one which will be marketed the world over. Several industries such as telecom, education and manufacturing are gearing up for next of product innovation which will take the world by storm.
This is the start of a great movement which will help create India as a consumer and our export-led industry will start serving the domestic needs. The challenges of developing business in India comes with its own set of nuances and the companies in this space are innovating their business models and delivery mechanism to deliver quality, while maintaining profitability. The Indian customer is quality and cost-conscious which makes it difficult to cater to us. However, all the major Indian companies today are more open towards outsourcing non-core functions to competent partners. The Bharti-IBM deal is proof enough in itself that Indian companies have an appetite to outsource non-core functions and that with proper oversight and governance; it can be very profitable for the enterprise. The market is ripe for more such deals to follow and is a question of when and not why any longer.
All in all, we are entering a very exciting phase where a lot of new business will scale up or be built to cater new emerging sectors and markets. This will herald the emergence of a whole new set of technology platforms which will be built to deliver scalable business. In here lies significant business opportunity and tremendous employment potential. Make no mistake, the customer outlook from now on will be much tougher, but companies providing quality of service and proper customer focus will receive unprecedented success. The mantra is simple – constant innovation to provide value to end customer. The ones who finish the loop earlier will be the leaders for tomorrow.