“The pace of economic growth in India with a mild, by global standards, dip during the worldwide recession in late 2008 and 2009 has brought the role of IT into sharp focus within many enterprises,” said Derry Finkeldey, principal research analyst at Gartner.

She continued, “Business is increasingly looking to IT to help support the challenges of rapid growth for customer support, supply chain management, optimizing business processes or helping to drive innovation in the business.

According to her, these demands are being placed while the IT infrastructure within many enterprises may not be entirely in place. IT is also in transition from being viewed as a back-office support function to a frontline business-focused function.

The Indian enterprise market is quite distinct from other markets in Asia/Pacific. The retail industry is expected to achieve the strongest growth in percentage terms in 2012, where IT spending is forecast to grow 11.8 per cent, she went on.

“Recent decisions to allow 100 per cent foreign direct investment (FDI) in single brand retail, and up to 51percent in multi brand retail, are expected to provide the sector with a significant boost in terms of IT usage and adoption. Selection of partners with deep vertical expertise will be crucial to success.”

The best growth opportunities in terms of actual dollars will remain within the large manufacturing, government- and state-owned enterprises, communications and financial services sectors.

Gartner recommends that vendors identify specific industry target markets, and prioritize these for the allocation of needed resources. This will drive greater project success and the creation of more value to those customers.

“Given the emergence of IT as an enabler in industries beyond manufacturing, government and financial services, now is a good time for IT providers to invest more in their channel partners. Convert them from ‘generalists’ to ‘specific industry product specialists,’ with beyond Tier 1 city capabilities,” Finkeldey pointed out.

Software and hardware vendors need to engage with the Indian Big Four (TCS, Infosys, Wipro and HCL) and eventually build deep go-to-market strategies with them, she concluded.