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| Let's not panic |
| Industry leaders debate on new business models and competitiveness |
Pratima Harigunani
MUMBAI: Panic definitely was the last word on their radars, but confidence and prudence ruled the roost as IT honchos delved on The Changing Rules of Competition in Global Tech in 2008 at a plenary session on the opening day of the Nasscom Leadership Forum 2007.
The question: What new business models will emerge tomorrow? The answer, however, was another volley of questions - Do we really need new models? Are we courageous enough? Are our premises right?
Steve Hamm, senior writer of BusinessWeek set the ball rolling by introducing India’s strong vantage points so far and how service automation, consultative approach to customers, research, SOA, etc. would be areas of an upper hand for incumbents. While his viewpoint on incumbency served as a polemic fodder for other panelists, disagreements over multi-sourcing gaining prominence surfaced too.
Vineet Nayar, president, HCL Technologies for instance, felt, “As we move ahead we will see single end-to-end contracts, collaboration with customers in value-creation as well as between vendors.”
Dennis McGuire, chairman of TPI, followed by words of warning, “Often, our greatest threats are from within. The Indian industry’s very strengths like a penchant for processes might be potential weaknesses as we move from bananas to fruit salads up the value chain.”
He also pointed out India’s growing might on the deal tables and contract sizes.
Rajendra Pawar, chairman, NIIT, traced the journey of Indian IT industry since the dotcom bust from mindless and careless stance to selective, circumspect and a far more demanding market today. For the future, Alistair Cox, CEO, Xansa pointed out that while no radical technology change would impact business models ahead, subtle trends like shift from IT to business services and evolving service delivery models would happen.
Pramod Bhasin, CEO, Genpact, spruced up the debate and challenged the very idea of changing rules. “Let’s not panic. We have barely scratched the surface of the industry. The challenges, in fact, are issues like bigger silos, best practices and tighter controls as incumbents scale up to match bigger counterparts.”
As to the question of who would win the ultimate race, Bhasin ended with a thought-provoking answer. “To win, incumbents will have to make wrenching changes. Would they be courageous enough is another question? The answer will emerge when the dust settles.”
© CyberMedia News |
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