Nasscom outlines steps for continuing outsourcing boom

By agencies   |   Monday, 28 March 2005, 20:30 IST
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BANGALORE: As the applications development and management (ADM) space begins to shrink, Indian vendors must build a global delivery model, a vertically aligned sales force and offer solution capabilities to stay ahead in the emerging outsourcing landscape, IT industry body Nasscom has said. Indian IT-ITeS has successfully ridden the first wave of offshore outsourcing. ''To take this success to the next level of achievement, the industry needs to ruthlessly focus on four key issues -- build a truly global delivery model, build consultative selling capabilities, offer solution capabilities and create multi-cultural organizations,'' Nasscom said in its Strategic Review 2005. The companies that are able to do this will emerge as leading global players. ''The challenge is particularly acute for SME companies. As the ADM market begins to shrink, the players will have to focus either on building domain skills and offer SI services or build delivery capabilities in other geographies,'' it said. As of 2004, all Indian vendors have an overwhelmingly large proportion of their workforce in India. ''They need to focus on building delivery capabilities in other low-cost geographies as well and must build operational excellence at the activity, function and business level.'' Secondly, a low-cost generalist sales force was appropriate when selling to sophisticated customers with decentralized procurement by IT managers. ''Today, offshoring has become strategic and purchasing is now centralized. There exists an opportunity to mine strategic accounts, thereby underlining the need for a vertically aligned sales force,'' it added. Thirdly, Nasscom said Indian vendors must offer solution capabilities by building partnerships with hardware and software providers and building a sales force with domain skills. Further, they should build a multi-cultural organization with unifying values but a global workforce and global career tracks, Nasscom added.