It’s one of the paradoxes of our time. India is the go-to country for the world’s IT requirements, but Indian companies are among the least IT-enabled. Why is this the case?

To start with, demand lagged the global market for a long time. While the world transformed its processes and invested in technology, Indian businesses were happy to rely on manual processes and shunned investments in technology. Forced to look outwards, Indian professionals discovered a world hungry for their talent. The industry grew rapidly and software became the career of choice for a generation. Ironically, this created new opportunities for Indian businesses — which started benefiting from the world’s rediscovery of India and the potential of a growing domestic market. Meanwhile, they were plagued by a shortage of quality manpower and needed to move towards system-driven organisations. Here’s where the happy story ends.

When domestic companies start looking for IT talent, they struggle. Most of the talent is drawn by the large IT service providers or the back-ends of global technology players. These companies offer a brand, global exposure, career growth and skill up-gradation. A domestic company struggles to offer any of these — and certainly not the overall package. Unfortunately, even services firms focused on the Indian market struggle to attract talent for similar reasons.

An Indian company has a difficult choice when it embarks on the technology journey. Attempt to create its own IT capabilities — a battle it will almost certainly lose — or outsource the work to a domestic-focused IT provider. Many companies oscillate between the two models. Few companies are able to build their own IT capabilities. Even those that manage this task are often grossly inefficient. In our experience, they function at 25-50 per cent of the efficiency of a top-line IT services provider. Most companies have the Hobson’s choice of going with an outsourced service provider. But which one? The top Indian IT firms do not really serve the domestic market — at least not the SMEs. So, one has to choose amongst a bunch of smaller providers — who are typically struggling with organisational issues themselves, and offer very variable quality.

Make the best of it

As an Indian SME, one’s options may appear limited. However, there are several practices that can be used to make the best of this situation. Some of these may seem obvious, but it is surprising how many companies try to do it differently.

A company must strategically distinguish between IT infrastructure management and application development. Today, it is almost impossible to internally develop a high-quality, scalable application development organisation. One has no choice but to outsource. Infrastructure management is different. Even though several outsourced providers exist, it may be possible to manage this internally.

While outsourcing, spend a lot of time on vendor evaluation — this is a partnership, not just a contract. Opt for companies that have overcome the basic scalability challenges — and are no longer one-person dependent. Many companies prefer to work with smaller vendors as they are easier to “control”. In reality, however, such companies face too many growth challenges of their own to be long-term partners.

Look for the crucial middle-management layer and the quality management systems that allow a company to scale effectively. (“Rocket Singh” kind of companies are good for the short term, but are too dependent on one person). If needed, hire trained vendor management people for the job. Importantly, don’t be swayed by the sales pitches or personal relationships — buy what you need and not what is being sold.

Approach costs differently — think of the sustainability of the relationship and the health of your vendor. Unless the vendor makes reasonable profits, he will find it hard to invest in his people and will be hit by attrition — and his service standards will lower themselves over time. It may be a little counter-intuitive, but sometimes it may be better to be soft in the negotiations.

Think of your IT strategy as one that involves a series of interlinking blocks — rather than a universal solution. It is easier and faster to build the blocks, and any problems can be localised. Universal solutions are hard to find, and very difficult to create.

Avoid re-inventing the wheel for products that are already available in the marketplace. One can get multiple vendors to service an established product — and cannot be held to ransom by a developer. In general, a global product may provide better value than a home-grown solution. The initial cost may appear high, but the long-term cost and, more crucially, reliability is almost always lower.

For companies that are in the process of moving to an ERP, start with plain-vanilla implementations. First get the processes automated, and then find ways to improve them. Trying both things at once rarely works.

Build a programme management layer within the company, or ally with companies that can manage IT projects with outsourced vendors. Even with the best-of-breed vendors, it is critical to have the right programme management capabilities.

It’s still a rocky road, but following these practices can significantly improve the chances of implementation success for an IT buyer. However, if this market is to truly improve, IT suppliers must find a way to crack the Indian market. More on that subject in another column.

Source:http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/ew/2010/06/28/stories/2010062850110300.htm

Trianz, a global Consulting, IT and Business Process Outsourcing Services Company, announced today that Sunil Ranka, Oracle ACE and OBIEE Architect at Trianz, has received US Patent Approval for the invention on “National language query construction using purpose-driven template”. The invention mainly deals with data processing systems, and more particularly query construction in a database management system.

With a decade long experience with the under our belt, Trianz’s Oracle practice offers comprehensive Oracle consulting practices which covers all the aspects of Operations Consulting Practice. Over the past several years, Trianz has successfully executed on scores of Oracle engagements as a true business and IT partner for our clients.

Sunil and his team submitted their work for patent approval in 2004, during their tenure at Oracle. Sunil has since continued his efforts to innovate in this area. After waiting for 6 long years they received approval from “United States Patent Trademark Office” (USPTO). The abstract of the invention says: “Constructing a query in a natural-language format using a purpose-driven query template. A user is prompted to select one of a plurality of query purposes.

User-input is received indicating a selected one of the plurality of query purposes. A first list of conditions is selected from a plurality of lists of conditions based on the selected one of the plurality of query purposes, then displayed in a format in which each of a plurality of conditions in the first list is grammatically joined to at least one other condition in the first list to form a query sentence, and wherein each of the plurality of conditions in the first list is associated with a respective set of user-selectable values”.

Commenting on this achievement, Sri Manchala, President and CEO of Trianz, said “My heartiest congratulations to Sunil and his team for their patent approval. This is an illustration of our consultants constantly seeking opportunities to abstract from their experiences to create innovative solutions for the industry”.

Kamlesh Desai, Vice President of Trianz, said “Firstly my congratulations to Sunil on this achievement. In our decade long partnership with Oracle, we have always sought to differentiate Trianz as a true partner for clients. This is the second time in three years that Trianz has received recognition of this magnitude, the first being the Oracle Titan award presented earlier. We are proud to support our consultants in their endeavors to reach greater heights professionally. We are also proud that these achievements will help the industry at large. ”

Source:http://pr-usa.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=424625&Itemid=33

Sitting at the boardroom table in his Dublin city centre office, Philip Maguire attempted to explain exactly what it was that his company did.

Unlike most chief executives, Maguire was happy to admit that the business model at his firm, IT Alliance, was complicated and it would never be a household name.

But with 400 workers and sales likely to hit €24 million this year, Maguire has reason to be happy.

‘‘We are chameleon-like, and we are happy to work under someone’s else brand.

That is why most people have not heard of us,” said Maguire, an engineer and Trinity MBA graduate. He founded IT Alliance 13 years ago and is well used to explaining the company’s offering to outsiders, from prospective clients to n006Fn-technical journalists.

As Maguire put it, IT Alliance is essentially the outsourcers’ outsourcer. Large IT outsourcing companies, the so-called ‘tier one’ operators in the industry, often outsource smaller elements of their work to other companies, rather than do it all themselves.

This is where IT Alliance slots in, with a model it calls the Tier Two Service Alliance (T2SA). In simple terms, the company works exclusively with large IT companies, performing a range of IT functions on their behalf.

That can be anything from managing large-scale IT projects to designing a piece of technical infrastructure, or even testing a new product.

The company goes a step further than the physical grunt-work – under the T2SA model, it also acts as a sales agent for a number of its clients.

Each morning, Maguire has a team of staff on the road attempting to drum up business for the world’s leading IT outsourcing companies.

Because all of the agents operate under the client’s brand and name, rather than ITAlliance, Maguire’s firm gets little public exposure.

He could not reveal the names of his clients, citing confidentiality agreements, but said they were all well-known companies.

‘‘We work with all the large players in the IT sector. You would know them all,” he said.

ITAlliance has eight clients in Ireland and six in Britain, and Maguire said further big deals were in the pipeline. In fact, the company expects to benefit from the economic downturn, with many companies outsourcing to cut costs, according to Maguire.

‘‘You will always need IT infrastructure going forward. Even if you want to cut back, you have to put in IT to make it happen,” he said.

ITAlliance is in expansion mode. Maguire said he expected sales to rise by €4 million to around €24 million this year, but that was just the start.

He has set a target of increasing sales to €100million within five years, with much of that growth expected to come from Britain. ‘‘Ireland is a good market, but it is a small and a finite market also,” said Maguire.

‘‘The British market is ten times the size and the projects are ten times the size.

The bulk of the expansion will be over there, because that is where the business is.”

With 200 staff in Britain already, IT Alliance is no novice when it comes to investing abroad. Maguire said he had recently beefed up his management team in Britain, and was investing €1 million expanding the British operation.

The company is eyeing up a number of other markets. It already has staff working in Austria and Denmark, after being invited by clients to service contracts in their countries.

Over the coming few years, Maguire said it was likely it would expand elsewhere.

‘‘It is very difficult to say no to clients, especially if they are offering you new business,” he said.

However, he would not be opening anymore offices to facilitate expansion, preferring to maintain a no-frills approach that kept costs down and profits up.

With the exception of the Dublin headquarters, the company does not have any physical offices – not even in its growth market of Britain. Instead, the majority of the company’s 400 staff either work from home or on-site with clients.

‘‘I want people on site. We have the head office, but everything else is virtual,” he said.

‘‘If you look at our resourcing team, that is led by a person who lives in Scotland. Her team is based in Ennis, Mullingar and Dublin. All virtual. They work from home.”

About half of the company’s staff were permanent employees while the rest were contract staff. Depending on the work available, Maguire could adjust his workforce up or down.

‘‘We are in the outsourcing business, so we always have to get our pricing right,” he said. ‘‘How do you get your pricing right? You strip out your infrastructure, you strip out your marketing.

You watch the costs. You slim the whole thing down. That is the services approach. You concentrate on people, skills and capability.

That is the nature of the business.” Maguire knows all about the vagaries of the technology business.

While IT Alliance was never an internet venture, it got sucked into the dotcom bust simply because it was in the tech sector. It survived, but it was forced to restructure and reinvent itself.

Over the years, revenues and staff numbers at the firm have bounced up and down. But, while many of its original contemporaries have either shut down or been auctioned off, ITAlliance is still open for business, privately owned and profitable.

Maguire had a simple explanation for how he has pulled it off: ‘‘I always embrace change because, if you are static, you die. The only thing that has been constant with this company is change.”

He may be an advocate for change, but he also has a stubborn streak.

Over the years, various state agencies told him to open overseas offices if he wanted to crack international markets. Maguire decided he could do it from Dublin.

Financiers told him that he needed investment if he wanted to scale up, while marketing gurus warned him about the need to boost his company’s public profile.

Maguire again held his ground, and decided to keep the company low-profile and privately owned.

‘‘We are low-profile because we only deal with our customers, and they already know us.

We are privately-owned, because I like to be able to set the direction of the company myself.

I can look long-term, rather than short-term. It is a massive advantage,” he said.

‘‘It means we can be nimble and quick on our feet.

We can change direction, like we did after the dot bomb.

We can decide when it is time to expand, and we can move quickly when it is time to strip down costs.”

For example, it took time and investment to find and refine the right business model after the dotcom bubble burst.

As part of the process, Maguire brought in specialists from the School of Management at Cranfield University in Britain to assess the T2SA model.

‘‘We evaluate it and we look at it every year.

We navel gaze, we carry out reviews. The results are even more emphatic. It is a good model,” he said. Maguire was also optimistic about the economic outlook and said Ireland would emerge from the recession sooner, rather than later. ‘‘Ireland is a good country for beating itself up, but the fundamentals of the country are sound,” he said.

‘‘We have a much better infrastructure. I can now get to Cork or Galway or Belfast in a couple of hours.

We are going to have some pain for a few years, but it is such a better place compared to when I qualified as an engineer in 1986 and my class disappeared and went overseas. We have the skills. We have the knowledge. We need to keep them here and leverage it.”

While there have been difficult times over the past 13 years, he said he wouldn’t change a thing. ‘‘It has been challenging. There have been times when I pulled my hair out and went grey. Friends joke that I look much older than 46.

Running a tech company will do that to you, but it has certainly been good fun and I love it.”

Source:http://www.sbpost.ie/newsfeatures/firm-with-the-it-factor-50123.html

Mr. L Suresh was accompanied by Mr. JA Chowdary (Past President, ITsAP), Mr. V Rajanna (Vice President, ITsAP), Mr. Bipin Chandra (Secretary, ITsAP) and Brig. Hari Kumar (Executive Director, ITsAP). Also present at the meeting were the Minister of IT Mr. K Venkat Reddy and Mrs. Ratnaprabha, Principal Secretary – Information Technology in the Chief Minister’s chamber.

The key issues that were brought to the notice of Honorable Chief Minister were:

• Small-Medium Businesses (SMB) contributes to 21% of IT & ITES revenues in AP & 33.6% of Employment. SMBs are not able to bid for government projects due to stringent terms and conditions. In order to promote SMB businesses further, ITsAP proposed that 10% of government business should be awarded to SMBs. This will attract companies from other states to come and set-up operations in AP. Mrs. Ratnaprabha, Principal Secretary – Information Technology indicated that she received a similar note from Government of India and she promised to identify mechanisms on how this can be implemented.

• Levy of Value Added Tax (VAT) on services provided for domestic customers and hence the Industry is paying double tax, i.e., VAT & Service Tax which is an issue only in Andhra Pradesh. VAT should be levied on licensed software and service tax should be levied on services. The Chief Minister directed Chief Secretary to get this issue resolved immediately.

• Because the tax benefits under the STPI scheme are ending in March 2011, there will be no level playing field between SMBs and large companies as large companies can move into SEZs while SMBs cannot due to the high rentals in SEZs. ITsAP requested GoAP to build a facility in SEZs that can be earmarked for SMBs at subsidized rentals. ITsAP also requested Honorable CM to send a recommendation for favorable extension of STPI scheme beyond March 2011. Honorable CM promised to send a note immediately and also discuss this issue during PM’s visit to AP in July. Pending creating new facilities for SMBs in existing SEZs, government has agreed to provide space at subsidized rentals in existing SEZs.

• Though AP today is one of the most preferred destinations for IT & ITES outsourcing, the cost is increasing day-by-day in Hyderabad and hence the Industry needs to look at Tier II cities including Warangal, Vizag, Vijayawada, Kakinada, Tirupati, etc in order to attract companies to set-up shops in Tier II cities. ITsAP strongly recommended coming up with aggressive preferential policies for Tier II cities. Honorable CM assured that this will be addressed as part of forthcoming IT Policy in July.

Commenting on the outcome of this meeting, Mr. L Suresh, President, ITsAP said “Honorary Chief Minister was very responsive to the suggestions made by ITsAP and we are very much hopeful that these issues would be addressed at the earliest. Andhra Pradesh must be aggressive and leverage the great momentum of growth opportunities in IT & ITES sectors”, added Suresh.

Source:http://www.onlineprnews.com/news/43377-1277558317-itsap-proposes-allocation-of-government-projects-to-smbs-to-honorable-chief-minister.html