BANGALORE: The Big Blue's global services entity is also looking at cities other than its existing development centres in Bangalore, Pune, Kolkata and Gurgaon to expand, a top company official has said. "In no other country is there such growth. We are seeing huge growth, particularly in the package, financial and distribution sectors as well as data warehousing. Just now I cannot talk numbers, but we are set to record huge growth this year," Amitabh Ray, director, exports, IGSI, told IANS here. "We will be going for experienced hands as well as freshers. We will also require people in process management. At least 30 percent of the hires would be from the campus," he added. "We are also going to launch business transformation outsourcing or BTO, which is unlike business process outsourcing (BPO). In BPO, the processes of the customer company are followed. In BTO we benchmark the processes against the best and provide consultancy," Ray said. His statements are significant in the context of the protectionism that has come to the foreground in Europe and the U.S. because of the downturn in economies across the globe, bringing Indian IT and its professionals under the spotlight of envy. "It depends on how you see the glass -- as half full or half empty. If we become cost effective we gain market share. Outsourcing is not going to slow down. That is certain. But so far as we are concerned, we are totally customer driven," Ray said. "And, at the end of the day, it is the market economy that will decide. That is the best way for large corporations to do business, by cutting costs. We offer quality services at Indian cost. If the customer says not here but elsewhere, we go by the customer's choice," he said. "But there are projects that are not done entirely in India. One customer, for instance, wants work done in seven European languages. Obviously we cannot do it in India. So we are getting the development work in India and the rest is being done at IBM's other centres in different countries. That is how our global delivery model works and that is our key differentiator." Ray was the leader of the technology and offshore practice of erstwhile PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Consulting in India before its merger with IBM Corporation globally to form IBM Business Consulting Services (IBM BCS), the new consulting arm of IBM Corporation. IGSI has been recognised as the "Top MNC Software Services Exporter" and "Top Foreign Equity Company" in Karnataka for 2001-02 by the Software Technology Parks of India (STPI), Bangalore chapter. Karnataka contributes nearly one-third of India's software exports.
Source: IANS