For those who have not visited India recently the pace of change is amazing. Europe has a lot to learn from India's aviation industry. The planes are clean and cheap, a bus (not a five mile walk) takes you to the plane, and new terminals are replacing the crumbling buildings of only five years ago. But I am not trying to romanticise India because squalor and opulence lives side by side with this rapidly growing economy.
My reason for being in India on this occasion is to attend NASSCOM 2010 (National Association of Software and Services Companies) – an event that I have seen grow from an offshoring trade show to one of the largest global conferences, sponsored by the likes of CSC and Accenture, now with as many as 1600 delegates, 120 speakers, 130 suppliers and 22 trade delegations promoting their country as an offshore destination.
Over the course of the three days of the conference, starting today, I will be interviewing various notable personalities in the outsourcing space, including some of the event speakers, and each day presenting a summary of their thoughts and the apparent industry trends.
To start with, compared to last year the atmosphere is upbeat. Last year the recession was politely ignored but still the elephant in the corner, Mumbai was still reeling from the terrorist bomb attack and the Satyam debacle was in danger of wrecking the Indian Outsourcing industry. This year these issues have been forgotten but there is still a sense of realism that the days of 30-40 per cent growth are ancient history.
Norman Pitman and Michale Bieler, respectively the VP EMEA Business Development and the Director of Sourcing Advisor Relations of CSC (a global IT and Business Process Outsourcing consultancy, and event sponsor), agreed today that there is an air of optimism. Indeed, Pitman intimated that the pipeline for the forthcoming financial year will be one of their strongest yet, particularly on account of UK public sector opportunities.
Meanwhile, KK Natarajan, CEO of Mindtree (a global IT solutions company) explains that this increased optimism and market change has largely been driven by customer needs as much as market forces. Customers are, he claims, becoming far more selective in terms of their outsourcing partners, and far more demanding in how fast the return on investment arrives, which has in return prompted a market for specialist service providers. Indeed, this message was echoed in the day’s presentations as sourcing is appearing to be more about providing business value than cutting wage bills.
Also throughout today’s discussions, both with individuals and in the speaker slots, it has become apparent that cloud computing is going to dramatically change the industry. But Pitman was keen to emphasise that cloud computing should not be seen as a fresh new technology, but instead as a concept that has been available for some time and is now enjoying a refreshed market.
Nonetheless, Pitman and Bieler added that on-demand computer power has been a major part of many sourcing contracts recently, even a requirement by many customers, and the supposed advent of cloud computing has been a perfect way to fulfil this.
Tomorrow, I will be interviewing more delegates and trying to answer the question of how 2010 will compare to 2009, what will the major trend changes be, and how sourcing contracts have been, are and will be changing.
