2010 is drawing to a close. Mark Zuckerberg has just been named Time’s Person of the Year. We’ve been covering various tech companies and entrepreneurs since 2005, and this year, here is a quick synthesis of what look like the major trends from where I sit: Read the full article »
By guest author Tony Scott
The outsourcing series makes its return with this ninth interview, in which I am talking with Naresh Lakhanpal, executive VP and president, Americas, and Hiro Notaney, VP of marketing, of Patni Computer Systems. Patni offers IT services, product engineering services, customer interaction services (CIS), business process outsourcing (BPO), and infrastructure management services. From its headquarters in Mumbai and its more than 33 offices and 22 delivery centers around the world, the company works with clients in industries ranging from insurance to manufacturing to media & entertainment. The interview begins with a discussion of Patni’s history and its plans to grow.
Tony: Hello, Hiro and Naresh. Let me give you some context for this interview. A couple of years ago Sramana Mitra wrote an article called “The Death of Indian Outsourcing.”
Naresh: I read it, yes.
Tony: It got a lot of knee-jerk reactions, but I think the point was well made that if you look at pure labor arbitrage . . .
Naresh: It doesn’t work.
Tony: Yes, exactly. The question is, how can the outsourcing industry continue if that is the only model? At a certain point you just run out of lower-cost labor. I wanted to find out how leaders in the industry have seen it change over the last few years, and how they see it evolving over the next few years. I pointed out to Sramana that for a number of companies I’ve worked with, they evolved into a solution-based approach, and those that did were able to continue to grow dramatically. Read the full article »
“Anybody can go offshore and find somebody for four bucks an hour. But to find somebody who understands your culture and speaks your language, and knows where you’re coming from, that’s one step up,” says Josh Last, CEO and founder of GlobeTask, of his company’s approach. How important is the cultural factor? Tony Scott’s interviews with CEOs from around the world are just one of the blog’s attempts to gain a sense of how managers and workers view the role of national cultures in business. Opinions and models vary greatly, as we have seen in recent posts. On the one hand, onshoring, where U.S. companies outsource work not overseas but to U.S. workers in lower-cost rural locations, is on the rise. A recent Deal Radar profile featured Greytip, an Indian company committed to serving India-based clients. On the other hand, my interview with Gary Swart of oDesk shows that the virtual assistant market is becoming more popular, with an increasing number of opportunities for offshore workers. With GlobeTask, Last aims to avoid some of the disadvantages of cross-cultural teams yet allow clients to reap the benefits of outsourcing and off-shoring. Read the full article »
At a Senate roll call on Tuesday, all forty Republican senators, joined by four Democrats and one independent, voted against advancing to a full debate on legislation that proposed tax benefits to companies that did not outsource jobs and brought jobs back to the United States. Fifty-three senators voted in favor of advancing the proposed bill and 45 against; 60 votes were need for it to advance. While many had been expecting this outcome, outsourcing companies were still waiting anxiously for the result. Meanwhile, the global consulting and outsourcing giant Accenture (NYSE:ACN) continued to deliver a performance far exceeding market expectations. Read the full article »
By guest author Tony Scott
Introduction and Background to GlobalLogic
I recently had a conversation with Peter Harrison, the CEO of GlobalLogic. GlobalLogic provides research and development (R&D) services for software products through their team of over 3,000 software engineers based in the U.S., India, China, Ukraine, and Argentina. Their value proposition is to work as a collaborative partner with their clients on both context and core product engineering through a range of R&D services, including advisory, customer research, ideation, product engineering, QA/IVT, support and maintenance, and product line management. The company has ongoing partnerships with more than 150 clients in markets such as digital media, electronics, finance, healthcare, infrastructure, retail, and telecom. GlobalLogic’s investors include New Enterprise Associates, Sequoia Capital, Goldman Sachs, and Draper Atlantic/New Atlantic Ventures.
My discussion with Peter touched on how the technology and outsourcing industries are changing; his perspectives on perceived wage inflation in emerging economies; and his insights on the challenges of building a global organization with a consistent culture that encourages innovation. Read the full article »
By guest author Tony Scott
History of Freeborders
Earlier this year I interviewed Jean Cholka, president and CEO of Freeborders, an outsourcing company with most of its delivery team based in China. Jean joined Freeboarders in 2007 after seven years at Kanbay, where she held various executive positions including president – North America, executive vice president – global client relationships, and chief people officer. Her accomplishments at Kanbay included helping the company achieve a 200% increase in revenue within four years, while increasing profitability by 15%. Kanbay was named among the top 100 (55th) information technology employers in 2004 and top 10 IPOs in 2004. Prior to Kanbay, Jean held a variety of executive positions at Sears, Roebuck and Company and Ameritech (now part of AT&T).
Tony: Jean, can you start by give me a bit of your background in the outsourcing world? How did you come to Kanbay, and what made you decide to join them – and then how did you get to Freeborders? Read the full article »
By guest author Tony Scott
From Intel to Outsourcing
Tony Scott: Before we talk about where you are today, can you tell me a little about how you came to found Sierra Atlantic?
Raju Reddy: Sure. I spent about ten years at Intel in a variety of engineering and marketing management roles before I started Sierra Atlantic. My background is engineering, and I later moved into marketing. I helped to start marketing programs for the first generation of Pentium processors. Read the full article »
Recent research reports by Forrester predict 9.3% growth in IT spending for the current year. The improved market conditions are resulting in stiffer competition among the Indian players for quality resources. Attrition in the segment has increased despite most companies offering 12%–14% offshore and 2%–4% onsite salary increments. Companies are trying to retain their staff by offering equity-based incentives, offcycle increments and bonuses, retention bonuses, and promotions. To add to their concerns, the rupee remained strong against the dollar, Europe’s recovery is slower than anticipated, and the ten-year tax holiday is coming to an end. The Indian IT players are in for a tough season ahead. Read the full article »
