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Part - V

Where do the Indian IT firms/ vendors fit in?

As of now, most of the Indian IT vendors have focused around the implementation and post- implementation services. While doing the pre-implementation analysis, the client organizations typically rope in higher-level consultants from the Big Four firms or from other firms.

The primary reason why the Indian IT firms have not been able to generate as much business in the pre-implementation phase as in the other phases is because when it comes to quality consulting, the Indian firms are normally not perceived by the client organizations to be of as high standards as the Big Four firms.

The pre-implementation stage consists of a detailed study of the existing business processes of the client, understanding his business requirements and finding a match between those processes and a suitable HRIS package. Traditionally, this has remained a domain for the big consultants. However, the top Indian software companies claim to have consultants in these areas too, but the foreign clients typically do not employ consultants from Indian IT firms for such activities. It is only in the implementation and post- implementation stages that the Indian firms have been able to make a mark for themselves.

The business that the Indian firms generate from HRIS or any enterprise application can be classified into two categories discussed below.

The first way, in which the companies generate business for themselves, is through a formal process of bidding where the company that outbids the others gets the project. In such cases, the companies take up tasks such as customizing or configuring the chosen HRIS product to align it with the client's requirements. In such cases, the project can be carried out either offshore or on client locations or through an offshore/ onsite model.

The companies can also generate business by carrying out a specific part of the HRIS implementation, for example, testing. Some of the smaller Indian companies in fact generate a major chunk of their enterprise applications services revenue by providing testing services to their clients.

For carrying out such tasks, the companies need to have a pool of resources that have expertise on the specific HRIS product that the client has chosen. To ensure this, the companies train their resources on the most widely used platforms such as SAP, PeopleSoft, Navision, Oracle etc. In case of an urgent requirement for a project, if the companies have exhausted their pool of resources on a particular product, these companies hire resources on contract from other companies to meet the client requirements.

Some of the Indian companies have also established partnerships at various levels with the major ERP product manufacturers. These manufacturers have a wide network of partners spread around the globe that deploy and customize their products whenever a client selects to use one.

For example, SAP has a partnership program that is divided into different partnership levels. These partnership levels are based on certain quantifiable criteria such as size, revenue and investment commitments of the partner towards the partnership. Some of the big Indian IT companies such as TCS, Infosys, Wipro, HCL and some mid-sized companies have become partners of SAP, PeopleSoft, JD Edwards and Oracle. Being partners to these giants help those to gain credibility in the eyes of their clients as such partnerships are indicators of the fact that these companies indeed have the expertise to carry out a project on SAP or Oracle or PeopleSoft or other products.

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* Contributed by -
Rupam Das,
The Media Cell.
XIM Bhubaneswar.