BANGALORE: Domain knowledge of the industry for which the solution is
intended and international business interaction skills are the two major areas
of concern for the US customers viz-a-viz Indian software development companies.
These were the result of a preliminary report of a study jointly conducted by
STPI and Stanford University, on the impact of the IT slowdown on the Indian IT
industry. In fact, it was the first study to be conducted post September 11 US
crisis.
Stanford University's Professor Ram Akella informed that the Indian industry
should adopt to move up the value chain and realize its potential of increasing
the growth rate to 200 per cent. He listed 4 major steps that can be taken
immediately: Indian industry and individual organizations should work more
closely with the universities, hire more domain experts with international
experience, substantially enhance their marketing efforts and a start for this
can be made by setting up an incubator in the US which could then provide
marketing support to SMEs who cannot afford to set up independent offices. He
also recommended to set up a specialized chamber that provides vetting,
identification and skill matching services to overseas organizations that are
looking for outsourcing partners.
IDC India managing director Pradeep Gupta, highlighted the subsequent growth
potential that the previous recession had. His recommendation for the Indian IT
industry is: Help the clients in the here-and now format, stay close to the
customers and understand their needs better, and plan to invest during the
rebound. With the help of IDC analysis, Gupta forecasts the application
development tool area to take a dip, while security changing the software mix.
He also predicts that the spending will vary widely for segments and there will
be a steady growth in communication infrastructure.
These were some of the results of the panel presentation and discussion
during the Bangalore TiEcon 2001 as part of the BangaloreIT.COM event.
S N Zindal, director general of Software Technology Parks of India (STPI),
called for a partnership for mutual benefit, between people of Indian origin in
the US and the Indian IT industry, to emulate the strategy adopted by the
south-east Asian countries during the recession of the mid 80s. At that time,
taking advantage of the cost reduction needs of the recession hit US industry;
they had managed to shift a lot of manufacturing business to countries like
Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia and China. This resulted in an economic boom in this
region. Similarly, now all companies are feeling the need to reduce costs and
increase productivity through better utilization of the IT investments.
"This opens a vast opportunity for India to increase its share in worldwide
technology market from the current level of 2 per cent ," he commented.
Nandan M Nilekani, president of Bangalore TiE commented that the current
economic climate was ideal for starting new ventures. The sentiment was also
echoed at the CEO Conclave held last night. Three major positive factors are
conducive to new entrepreneurial ventures: VCs are no longer inundated by
on-the-fly dotcoms, have more time and resources for serious business ventures;
talent: both technical and managerial are available at affordable cost; and
customers: who have more time to spend with their service providers sharing
their concerns and areas of pain, which enables the new ventures to focus on an
actual business need.