C-Change '09: New directions for sourcing industry

KATHMANDU, NEPAL: Ganesh Natarajan, chairman, Nasscom, said: "There are opportunities for all of us in the room. We need to look at what the world is doing, and how can we get more from IT." He was delivering the keynote: 'New directions for the outourcing industry: capitalising on the economic slowdown', on day two of the C-Change 2009 event in the city.

He said that over the past 12 hours, he had picked up at least four lessons. These are:

1. Women are smarter than men.

2. There is still a lot of pressure on IT budgets.

3. If, as CIOs, we are able to make that difference in understanding the pain points of the organisation, there is enough purchase for all.

4. Are there examples that companies have been taking advantages of opportunities? What are CIOs doing to make IT the key driving force?

"The addressable market will triple in size by 2020. The BRIC countries will become larger addressable markets. Moreover, there are no dangers of IT drying up. There will be demographic shifts and the emergence of new markets.  Also, new business models will emerge. About $500 million will be generated by 2020 through innovation. The emergence of several young companies has been quite encouraging for the industry," Natarajan said.

"Market opportunities would also emerge because of broadband proliferation, and there will be an opportunity to include 20-30 million citizens every year through domestic servicces in healthcare, financial services and education," he added.

CIO concerns

What about CIO concerns in India? These could be:

1. How can we immediately optimise costs and resources?

2. Are we cutting cost at the expense of future growth?

3. Are people aware of the current reality?

4. How much overhead are we carrying?

5. What are the gaps between our operations and business imperatives?

Can we address all of these concerns immediately, without interrupting businesses?

* What if IT is able to identify your 'cost culprits'?

* You could benchmark yourself with the industry?

* Someone took ownership for implementation of your plans?

* And, assured productive impact on your P&L?

*Are the CIOs geared for optimising business processes without disrupting businesses

These were some of the thought put forth during the session.