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Systems Continuum 2005 held at SJMSOM, IIT Bombay Taking forward the argument to the second day, Milind Padalkar, Vice-president of Patni Computer Systems, spoke at length about tapping new services lines and emphasized that tapping new services lines help organizations to keep the competitive edge and also would help in escaping commoditization. He quipped that while engineers answer questions, which others usually don't, managers ask questions which others usually don't. He stressed that such line of thought and questioning is instrumental in developing the central idea for developing new services lines. Mr. Padalkar made it clear that, to qualify as a new services line, it should be a proper business entity in itself in the sense that customers for that services line should be distinctly identifiable and the focus should be different with a distinct buyer behavior. Bimal Bhavanani, Senior Manager, KPMG, reiterated that India should leverage on out-sourcing, and should further push into the uncontested market space. He opined that India offers a unique value proposition to service providers in a scalable, established and well positioned global delivery model. It can mobilize the graduate work force in the country, and take advantage of a 24*7 service model with a faster turnaround using the time zone differences. Since the scope of development is large, quality and productivity of skill pools must be stressed upon, at the same time, addressing strategic, operational, financial, regulatory, technological, reputation concerns. Jessie Paul, Head of marketing, I Gate Global Solutions, held the audience in rapt attention with her lecture on the transformation of the manufacturing industry into a services industry. The market dynamics have changed the way manufacturing was done and what has been witnessed is the commoditization of electronics, globalization of outsourcing to the extent of design being outsourced as well. She quoted examples of Virgin electronics, Dell, etc. none of which manufactures but are service firms maintaining low inventories to minimize their risk and devoting their time and effort to respond to customer requirements. A new market model of transaction based pricing (pay by the drink model) has emerged with IBM already in the process of adopting this model and others are expected to follow suit. Shifting focus to explain the evolution of the BPO industry, she commented that markets in developed countries are saturated and they need to tap into newer markets like Brazil and India, but to do so they need to set up base in these markets to drive down costs. The BPO market is estimated at 1.6 trillion in the future as compared to the 1.5 billion I.T. services market as the BPO industry gives greater cost reduction. She went on to say that consistently investing in process improvement; one can overcome labor arbitrage as has been done by ADP in America. Contributed by - |
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