The French market’s rapidly growing appetite for engineering offshoring in embedded systems segment is a clear case in point.

This is the outcome of a study done by Pierre Audoin Consultants (PAC), a leading market research and strategic consulting firm in the domain of software and IT services industry in Europe.

The research was conducted at a time when the global economic crisis that has hit the EU the hardest seems to have opened doors of newer opportunities for Indian Information Technology in certain high value and high-end solutions that had so far remained closed for the Indian companies.

According to the PAC study it’s the very same French companies, which had been suspicious about the capacity of the Indian companies to lead and deliver projects in this key segment, that are beginning to change their opinions.

Previously, the benefits of any engineering offshoring went exclusively to North African and Eastern European countries, favoured by the French given their geographic proximity and cultural as well as linguistic compatibilities.

However, French companies began to look for alternative and more cost-efficient destinations in part due to the rising costs –a trend accentuated by economic downturn – and in part due to the lack of specialised engineers for embedded services in Europe.

The survey, carried out among 50 CIOs of big-, medium- and small-sized companies manufacturing embedded systems, found that two-thirds of the respondents admitted to using offshore services.

Similarly, the study discovered that while most French companies prefer to either refer to an expert or develop the embedded system internally; very few offshore the project in its entirety. Indeed, in most cases, it is the conception, the development, the test or the maintenance that is offshored.

But while the survey established that French companies take a lot of time in deciding whether to offshore to India, Indian IT companies have also failed to established strategies aimed at the French market.

Nevertheless, the trend is evolving. Some of the Indian companies such as HCL Technologies, have recently began increasing their visibility in and understanding of the French market.