Karnik beckons 'Winds of Change' in IT

CHENNAI: Emphasizing the need for the Indian software industry to think differently in order to sustain global leadership, Nasscom president, Kiran Karnik called for the use of IT as a tool for creating an equitable society.

He was expressing his views at the launch of the book 'Winds of Change' - An Insider's View, authored by Zensar Technologies' chief executive officer, Ganesh Natarajan at a function held in Pune.

Natarajan's book captures the essence of the journey of the Indian IT industry over the past four years from its boom time, encapsulating the various trends that have been a part of the industry. Many articles written by Natarajan have appeared in 'Dataquest' magazine through his regular column.

Karnik made a strong case for encouraging companies to build products and fostering innovation. "The challenge is to create incubators where ideas are supported and sustained instead of letting them die a natural death," he said. "This was being achieved through the establishment of the SME forum by Nasscom, where 'soon to be big' companies are identified for innovations, mentored, guided and finally the technologies are showcased for the market," he added.

Karnik also opined that India's USP is its creative ability to think differently and come up with innovative solutions. Ganesh Natarajan believes that IT was all about people, projects, programs, processes and partnerships. "The strength of the industry is the process that is hammered into the development systems. But sometimes, these strengths can become our weakness," he explained, adding that sometimes, we are so process driven that we forget that the customers are not as process driven.

Earlier in his presentation, CyberMedia business magazines group president and chief editor, Prasanto K Roy reiterated that the year 2004-05 would be the year of the Wireless. Tracing the growth of the industry from the wireline to the wireless era, he felt that the domestic market has woken up to the major need for change, and will witness major growth in all segments. The training industry is down while BPO has picked up, he said, adding that the telecom industry has witnessed a huge boom in shift to mobiles over fixed lines.