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India on track to reach $60 Billion in Software Revenues: Som Mittal, President of NASSCOM February 13, 2008
At the inaugural session of the NASSCOM Leadership Forum, Som Mittal, President of NASSCOM, said the words that must’ve induced a lot of confidence amongst the predominantly high IT audience. He said that India is well on its way to reach the projected target of $60 Billion dollars in revenues by 2010.
He said that that this will happen in spite of the touch challenges that the industry is facing. The weakening of the dollar, rising salaries, poor infrastructure have been posing a challenge and the industry is adapting fast by diversification. Not only are companies diversifying into other services and vertical specializations, they are also diversifying geographically. No longer is the US the dominant revenue source. Europe and Asia is being actively scouted. Companies have also started to realize the potential of the domestic market. This helps the companies cushion from the impact of downturn in the economy.
Are Blogs, Web 2.0 & Mobile applications Heating Up Marketing Communications? February 13, 2008
The central threads of Web 2.0 - blogs, wikis, user generated content, bookmarking, social networking groups – are not just providing the wiring for the social web – they are beginning to make their presence felt within the business web too, with some good results. Companies are now beginning to use these tools to infuse new life into marketing plans, intranets and corporate websites. We strongly believe that the use of these tools is increasingly relevant for IT businesses given that they are so knowledge centric.
The key difference here from an earlier approach is that while traditional media relies on specialist Intermediaries – PR firms/PR departments, Customer Relationship departments, corporate communication teams – to spread the message (you may still need them to create the message), in the web 2.0 world disintermediation is itself a powerful strategy.
Another key point is mobility – with networks reaching penetration maturity – its natural that that mobility forms an important part of the new change. We think that mobility can be grouped along with other 2.0 tool elements. With more phones running full feature web browsers and mobile networks faster than before, web 2.0 applications and elements translate quickly and effectively into this new medium
The important thing about a web 2.0 strategy is that it needs to be seen as an approach rather than as individual elements. While a press release is a self contained universe – it tells you about the announcement, what the CEO has to say plus it often has a brief corporate profile – a web 2.0 element or “webot” is different. A webot – which may be a blog post, a user group discussion thread, customer forum – individually does not communicate much. To a user who is not part of the user community/forum, the context may seem less complete. To make an impact and deliver on the promise of the medium, companies need to set in place a strategy and reflect that in a sustained program to get results. So, one blog a quarter, a customer forum that’s updated only every few months, just won’t work. If your marketing communication is going to be sporadic, a traditional approach may work much better.
If you are interested in these issues and want to hear other viewpoints, it may be a good idea to drop by today at the NASSCOM P2P Connect forum at the Networking Lounge between 3.45- 4.30. The topic for debate is How Blogs, Web 2.0 &
Mobile applications are Heating Up Marketing Communications?
The Leadership Forum is off the blocks. Registration Underway. February 12, 2008
NASSCOM’s flagship event and one of the most important leadership events in India, the NASSCOM India Leadership Forum, got off to a spirited start this morning. The lobby hall at the impressive Grand Hyatt Hotel at SantaCruz, Mumbai is abuzz with activity as delegates get done with the registering process.
One of the things that really caught my attention was the sufficient registration time provided. The registration booths opened a little before the scheduled time of 9:30 AM and next program won’t start until 11:30. It’s a good thing that the organizers had taken into account the morning rush hour traffic.
Whats even better is that it’s a wonderful networking opportunity for delegates who had come in early. At the lobby and the coffee shops, I saw a healthy number of delegates meeting up and introducing themselves. There were familiar smiles, handshakes and even a few hugs as well as business acquaintanses caught up with each other again.
Separate registration desks for Speakers, Sponsors, Media, Paid Delegates, On Spot registrations and a general help desk really helped easen the registration process which is usually the most chaotic part in any conference. Subhasis Chatterjee, Editor & CEO of IndiaOutsourceWatch.com said the process was smooth. He however felt that the online registration form was a tad too long and could be made more concise. Mr.Vipin Malik, Deputy General Manager at Unitech, said he was happy with the arrangements.
The delegate kit is one of the classiest I have seen. The rich mahagony textured leather bag contained what many consider to be the bible of the Indian IT industry, the book on the ‘Strategic Review on the IT-BPO Sector 2008′. The kit also has the complete list of the ‘NASSCOM 100 IT Innovators’, and the sponsor collateral smartly packaged inside two thumb drives. (the most useful giveaway for IT guys, as one delegate put it). The surpise element was a Khadhi Kurta instead of the usual Tshirt!
Here’s a quick sneak preview of one of the halls. The crowd will only be let in around 11:30 am and here’s a look at it before they filled it up.
Keeping the Innovation meter running! February 6, 2008
Innovation will continue to be the underlying theme at the NASSCOM India Leadership Forum 2008. It will reiterate the necessity of building an eco-system of innovation in the country. The fact that the Indian IT-BPO sector has weathered some of the challenges they faced during 2007 successfully, the tool of Innovation, has only emphasized the fact that Innovation will drive the next wave of growth of the industry.
In order to spotlight the extensive innovation that took place during 2007 and applaud the companies, especially, SMEs that used out of the box thinking to combat pain points, at the event we will be hosting the fourth Innovation Awards.
As in the past, using a rigorous selection process, NASSCOM has identified eight Innovators within the Indian IT-BPO industry—organizations that have created new benchmarks in the area of Innovation in the last year.
Eight of the special organizations, short-listed for the Innovation Awards, will be recognized at the NASSCOM India Leadership Forum 2008 at an exclusive ceremony. The winners include Comat Technologies (P) Ltd., Financial Technologies India Ltd., Mango Technologies Pvt. Ltd., MediaLab Asia, Mindtree Consulting, Mistral Solutions Pvt. Ltd., MeritTrac Services Private Ltd. and Texas Instruments.
Opportunity to discover the undiscovered February 5, 2008
Being a part of the industry ecosystem, I have had the opportunity to interact with several hundred “emerging” IT and BPO companies over the last few years. Personally and for Prayag, it has been an enriching experience and an eye opener of sorts to realize that there is a whole bunch of not so visible, but really exciting companies, below the radar screen!
One clear pattern we have seen is an increasing focus on IP led products and solutions. I think most next generation companies have realized that the pure play services game is over with the “big boys” dominating. However, the playing field is still wide open when it comes to fashioning innovative offerings, especially for the now hot local market.
I think emerging companies have a great opportunity here to outsmart the “pioneers”. Their size, or lack of it, is actually an advantage as it encourages unfettered and bold thinking, an urge to tread the unexplored path, and create interesting products or business models.
Be it an Orangescape, trying to make the idea of “do it yourself” software a reality, or a heymath, devising a truly technology enabled math tutoring model, or a Lifetree Convergence trying to chart under-explored markets like Africa, , a webdunia laying its bets on multi-lingual software, or a shaadi.com that adds an interesting new dimension to match-making, it is the unsung companies that have taken the lead in innovating and experimenting with new ideas.
At Prayag, we firmly believe that industry is interestingly poised. While the Infosys’, Wipro’s TCS’ and Satyam’s pursue their goals of becoming global players to reckon with, we will definitely see some of today’s emerging companies grow into power players of the next decade.
This is one reason I am really looking forward to the NASSCOM India Leadership Forum 2008- it will give me yet another opportunity to discover the undiscovered……….
The Innovation engine – firing on all cylinders February 4, 2008
Speaking at the launch of the NASSCOM-Boston Consulting Group report on the Innovation plans for the Indian IT and ITES sector, eminent scientist and administrator Dr Mashelkar rightly pointed out that the biggest mistake people make is not when they aim too high and fail but when they aim too low and succeed. While this altruism applies to all fields of human endeavour, it could really be appropriate in the third wave that the knowledge sector is now embarking on. Innovation has the potential to add over fifty billion dollars of revenue to the industry by the year 2012 and it would be a shame if all the partners in the Innovation eco-system do not pull their weight in enabling this to happen.
Who are these partners and what are they really contributing to the movement at this point of time? Unlike in Cuba and Singapore, where innovation is almost entirely Government led and funded, it is now a matter of folklore that Indian IT has had very little dependence on the Government. NASSCOM has done yeoman work in the last few years with the well received and publicized Innovation awards attracting the attention even of President Kalam and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and attracting participations from a wide cross section of multinationals, large medium and small firms and even entrepreneurial startups. Other associations like the CII have also done their bit in promoting the cause of innovation across all industry sectors. The real weak link continues to be the academic and research institutions that have been mired in their own red tape and in the case of private education, in their need to make money by holding out promises to more and more classroom and distance learning students. And of course for a very long time the availability of finance for innovative startups in the form of angel or VC money has been a small trickle resulting in the innovative ideas in the minds of many entrepreneurs not seeing the light of day.
At the firm level too, the focus on innovation has been more in the form of continuous improvement, necessitated by operational excellence and quality initiatives rather than conscious search for discontinuous benefits. As James Abraham BCG partner pointed out at the presentation to the industry in Bangalore, the fear of failure and short term profit concerns in many listed firms has inhibited their entrepreneurial or intrapreneurial initiatives and while some process innovation has happened, the focus on new product innovation and business model innovation has not been at the pace that many industry analysts would like to see. New product creation in intellectual property oriented firms and process innovation to look at new delivery methods and collaboration with customers and partners should be attempted in all services firms. To start the activity, diagnostic exercises on the present state of innovation activity and the path to reaching a desired state of extensive innovation need to be undertaken so that serious projects are planned and executed.
The other key recommendation of the study concerns all the participants in the eco-system – the Government, Research and Academic institutions, financing agencies in addition to the firms and the association need to work in concern to build an enabling environment for innovation. The formation of innovation clusters – IT for automotive innovation in Pune and IT for Telecom innovation in Chennai for example – could be one step in the right direction where the ability to multiple the velocity of innovation can be demonstrated and then proliferation through chosen clusters in a variety of locations and industries. The focus on engineering services has already demonstrated that there are new vistas of opportunity that hold great potential and the best way to build significant domain understanding could well be to partner with traditional incumbent industries to build new value propositions for the domestic and global market. The outstanding work done recently by Professor Michael Porter of the Harvard Business School has amply demonstrated that the cluster approach could transform the fortunes of any industry or country and needs to be embraced in a collaborative format in our own industry to see breakthrough success!
Where does the future lie for the innovation movement and what are the solutions to the malaise that seems to pervade the eco-system? The hundred crore innovation fund announced by NASSCOM is one step that will surely boost the confidence of innovator wannabes in the industry and we can seriously expect that companies – new and old in IT and BPO will embrace innovation as their new mantra for profitable growth in the months to come.
Post your questions for Think Tank! February 4, 2008
A must attend session on the agenda of the NASSCOM India Leadership Forum 2008, one that is expected to draw the biggest audience, is the Valedictory Session featuring a high-powered Panel of industry thought and business leaders. A battery of well known speakers from the IT-BPO and VC sectors, will hold forth on a host of issues such as Sustaining IT leadership, Capturing the BPO space, Funding the growth story and Finding the people. The aim will be to cover all the key challenges and areas of concern for the IT-BPO industry and how these can be dealt with.
NASSCOM is inviting delegates of the event to send in their questions for this Think Tank. The 20 best questions will be selected for the final day, and attendees will pose them to the experts. This most action packed of all sessions at the conference will be chaired by IT industry veteran, Ganesh Natarajan.
NASSCOM : India Leadership Forum 2008 – Valedictory Session February 1, 2008
Date: 15 February 2008
Time: 4.30 pm – 5.30 pm
Theme: “Taking India to the next level of global leadership – An Open Forum”
After three days of keynote sessions, panel discussions and networking opportunities, the Valedictory Session at the India Leadership Forum 2008 will provide a platform wherein delegates will get an opportunity to raise thought provoking questions on `Taking India to the next level of global leadership’. Issues around leadership, emerging opportunities, talent, country, competitiveness, innovation will be addressed by industry leaders through a mix of recorded responses and an interactive leadership panel.
The forum gives the privilege to all the delegates who have registered online to connect with our leadership Panel from 1st February, 2008 to 14th February 2008. The delegates can post their questions and a Special committee shall select Top 20 questions which will be answered in the valedictory session at the event.
MNCs and their teams at the event January 21, 2008
Unlike the previous years, when the focus was predominantly on individual participation, this time around we are expecting to see large MNCs come down to India, with their high-powered global leadership and decision-making teams. In that sense, the delegate profile during 2008 will witness a change. Global managers of companies will be present at the show along with their influencers, besides Indian CXOs. The Indian CEOs brigade—representing the big names of business such as Mahindra & Mahindra, Headstrong, BT, Wipro, Aricent, Satyam Computer Services, Infotech Enterprises, Siemens, Zensar, IBM, Accenture, Mphasis, Perot, Vertex, Cognizant, Infosys, Genpact, Yahoo, TCS, HCL, NIIT Technologies—will of course be present in full strength, alongside leading Government functionaries such as former President of India, Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam, and Kamal Nath, Minister for Commerce and Industry.
Taking off from NASSCOM India Leadership Forum 2007 December 11, 2007
The India Leadership Forum 2008 will build on the successes and achievements of the 2007 Summit, which also drew unparalleled attention from the IT-BPO industry, analysts, academicians and the Government and customer communities. In February this year, the NASSCOM global conclave played host to some of the most reputed names from the world of business and governance, including the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, Dayanidhi Maran, Union Minister of Communications & IT (who delivered keynotes) and Kapil Sibal, Union Minister of State for Science and Technology and Ocean Development, who was the chief guest at the Global Leadership Awards. Other leading lights that shone on the NASSCOM platform included Nobel Laureate, Professor Amartya Sen, B. Ramalinga Raju, Kiran Karnik. There were also a host of presentations by business leaders including Steve Ham, Senior Writer, BusinessWeek, Bob Welch, Group Vice President and General Manager, Worldwide Services Research, IDC, Professor Deepak Malhotra, Harvard Business School, John Hagel, Management Consultant (Business Strategy and Performance), Richard Collins, President, Individual Line of Business, United Healthcare & CEO, Golden Rule Insurance. (Click here for the presentations)
