Alex Blues, IT sourcing specialist, PA Consulting Group, states how the Nasscom Forum 2011 has changed from a large Indian conference to a large global conference in India.

It would appear from the twenty senior IT industry representatives we interviewed - including ten CEOs - that the recession in the outsourcing industry is over. The industry is expecting growth to increase from 16 to18 per cent in 2010 to in excess of 23 per cent in 2011 for IT, with BPO being just slightly lower.

The key to many of our discussions has been focus, by both domain and geography. There is a need to be consistent - a big change from three to five years ago when the offerings were very generic.

The market is no longer interested in the inputs. What the market is interested in is the business output. As a result, the economic buyer is moving from the application owner, often found in the IT department, to the service owner, who is often outside the IT department.

In 2010 innovation was driven by cost. In 2011, innovation is being driven by many reasons. Cloud has sparked many debates, and while there is a majority verdict that it will change the shape of the industry, people still want to know 'when will this happen?'. Other discussions have included; whether the cloud will add to revenues or cannibalise existing income, whether it will be used more widely - with new systems and in new geographies - or whether it will actually have an impact on the current systems of end users.

Consolidation has been and will continue to be a trend, particularly between the smaller suppliers. This will allow them to provide the focus I mentioned earlier in this blog, and makes my concluding thought a promising one - the market is definitely maturing.