By guest author Tony Scott
Tony: What do you think are going to be the big changes? Obviously, the pure labor arbitrage model is not going to go away entirely; it is going to continue to move to whatever locale is the lowest cost. The fact is that the “flattening” of the world means I can put people anywhere. From a pure labor arbitrage point, it doesn’t matter where the people are located as long as you can manage the process. >>>
By guest author Tony Scott
This interview, the ninth in Tony’s series, is with Dr. Shami Khorana, who is the president of HCL America, the subsidiary of HCL Technologies, a $3.1 billion business and IT services company with more than 72,000 employees worldwide.
Tony Scott: Shami, thanks for taking the time to talk to me about the future of outsourcing. Before we go into it, would you give me an overview of your past and how you became involved in outsourcing services? >>>
By Sramana Mitra and Tony Scott
Next in line, after the Top 10 Tech Trends and the Top 10 Cloud Computing Trends, are the Top 10 Outsourcing Trends for the decade. >>>
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: >>>
Hiro: I think this concept of empowerment is a really good point. I have not been here so long, but I think that now we are moving toward a more collaborate management style. It’s something that I’ve noticed quite a bit. The leadership takes input, and then they encourage people and try to build consensus. This one of the things that I have noticed even in the short time that I’ve been here. The hierarchy of the past is being eroded now. >>>
By guest author Tony Scott
Tony: Do you think [this idea of being more about the human touch] is happening now? Because that also changes the way you sell and deliver services overall. Five years in the future, will the mix of delivery people and customer interface people going to change in terms of where they’re located, or do you think it will be similar to what are you looking at now? Most of your delivery capability is still in India, right? >>>
By guest author Tony Scott
Hiro: The dual nature of the cloud is where we spend a lot of time with the customers, saying, Okay, we can deliver in the cloud. Yes, that will create greater efficiency, but there’s also this other side where the technology itself can make you more efficient – it can make a particular process, not just the delivery of it – work in a way that has inherent advantages. So, when we talk to our customers, we try to make it as explicit as possible what they need and how it all works, as opposed to just saying, “Oh, the cloud, we’re right there.” >>>
By guest author Tony Scott
Tony: In terms of the percentage of the business that you have right now, I assume that some is driven primarily by labor rate arbitrage. Obviously, labor rate arbitrage is a component of everything, but how much do you think of your business now is still more pure labor arbitrage versus the value-added services with value-added pricing, and how has that shifted over the past ten years? >>>