NEW DELHI, INDIA: Small and Medium players are starving for IT & ITeS services in order to streamline their business operations. IT industry has the capability to translate customer insight into value preposition, for each segment of business. Indian IT industry should therefore embrace Indian enterprises, said Dr Jai Menon, Group chief information officer, Bharti Enterprises.

He was speaking at the “Conference on Future of India’s IT & ITeS Sector; Evolving Business Models for Sustained Growth” organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in partnership with Punjab Infotech.
 
Dr. Menon further added that one of the ways that service providers can look to move beyond contractual relationships would be to evolve service/pricing models like outcome based pricing. This would mean that both client as well as service provider would have substantial stake in the success of the solution and would enable service provider get clearer insight into client operations and therefore be solution partner in growth.
 
The event also marked the release of CII-PwC Report on Indian IT & ITeS Industry – ‘Evolving Business Models for Sustained Growth’, said a press release.

The report covers a few emerging trends which would drive the growth of the sector. With high potential for expansion in demand for IT/ITeS, the need of the hour is increased agility and differentiation.

End-to-End Offerings would dominate the industry in the years to come. With the emerging of cloud technologies,  we  see  a  levelling  of  the  playing  field  where Indian companies,  irrespective  of  size,  would be able to compete / collaborate with  bigger  players  to  bid  for  and  win  large scale transformational projects, said the report.

However, in order to do so, Indian IT/ITeS players need to focus on  developing  non-linear  business  models,  creating  thought leadership through   value  based  IP  development,  branding,  sales  excellence  and innovation.
 
The report also outlines that Northern India region is aggressively taking steps to become viable hubs for the IT/ITeS industry and views more and more companies setting up their delivery centers and in liason offices in these locations in order to take advantage of high quality infrastructure, manpower, real estate and supportive government policies. Software exports from Chandigarh and its adjoining towns of Panchkula and Mohali grew 31 per cent to cross Rs.. 1,050 crore in 2008-09 compared to Rs.. 800 crore an year before. 
 
Robert L Lattimore, partner, Advisory Services, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) said that India is positioned at a significant IT landscape with the emergence of new global market, opening up of domestic urban market and untapped potential of vast rural market. This is supplemented by aggressive marketing and branding, innovation in sales and delivery mechanism, expanding delivery reach and focus on end-to-end solutions.

“ New growth drivers, clientèle, verticals, and geographical advantage for the sector will continue. As per a three dimensional model of growth,” said Partap K Aggarwal, Conference Chairman & Chairman CII Chandigarh Council & Managing Director IDS Infotech Ltd,

Aggarwal stressed the emergence of Small and Medium Players, offering value addition to enterprises. Niche players will come-up with extensible R&D, engineering services.
 
India’s regulatory environment was relatively successful in insulating the Indian economy from unfavorable international developments over the last 12-18 months. However, export oriented industries like IT and BPO which are globally integrated saw a considerable impact on their business resulting in declining growth, job losses, margin reductions, etc.

While we have started hearing voices of optimism, it is clear that the sector is still not out of the woods. As the industry emerges from the downturn, it is increasingly felt that post recovery, the nature of the industry may undergo fundamental changes – be it non-linear contracts, new service offerings or bundling of services.

At this watershed moment, the next steps might be the deciding factor for maintaining brand India’s long-term competitive standing in the IT/ITES sector. Further, as India’s services in the IT/ITeS space are being perceived as commoditized, it is imperative to explore new frontiers of excellence that would allow the sector to maintain a strategic differentiation and premium.