Outsourcing: Naresh Lakhanpal And Hiro Notaney Of Patni Computer Systems (Part 2)

By guest author Tony Scott

Tony: Size is a phenomenon that is not only related to outsourcing companies. When I was at A.T. Kearney, we did a marketing survey on the perception of clients and potential clients around consulting services organizations. One of the key things we found is that because clients have a very hard time distinguishing differences between services organizations, the primary way they judge is scale. That’s the first and only attribute that has any kind of real significance among the people who don’t know the companies that they’re dealing with. >>>

Outsourcing: Naresh Lakhanpal And Hiro Notaney Of Patni Computer Systems (Part 1)

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. >>>

1Mby1M Deal Radar 2010: GlobeTask

“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. >>>

Accenture Should Lead Near-Shore Trend

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. >>>

Outsourcing: Peter Harrison, CEO Of GlobalLogic (Part 9)

By guest author Tony Scott

Silos Are Out, Specialization Is In

Tony: I’ve done a lot of work with service business, and they are typically either aligned around geography or around a service solution, and there’s always some matrix of the two; you can’t get away from that. But if you’re doing innovation-related work in the digital domain, location becomes a little less critical than it would be if you’re doing something that requires making something with your hands. >>>

Outsourcing: Peter Harrison, CEO Of GlobalLogic (Part 7)

By guest author Tony Scott

Creating a Culture of Innovation

Tony: Going back to your comment earlier about the cultural differences between an R&D-driven organization and an IT organization, the kinds of people that are needed in those kinds of organizations do have to think pretty differently. So, there’s a big cultural difference for the R&D versus the internal IT approach. >>>

Outsourcing: Peter Harrison, CEO Of GlobalLogic (Part 6)

By guest author Tony Scott

The Challenge of Finding Strong Middle Management

Tony: Are you finding it more difficult to attract and retain the kind of people you need? The services GlobalLogic provides clearly require the high end of the skill set compared to outsourced call center services, for example. >>>

Outsourcing: Peter Harrison, CEO Of GlobalLogic (Part 5)

By guest author Tony Scott

The IT Pyramid in the United States and India

Tony: People don’t like to be changed or face change – it’s a scary proposition for many – but the technology sector is built on the fundamental concept that change must happen – ever better, ever faster, ever more capable technological capabilities that can transform the rest of the world. >>>