Outsourcing: Vivek Chopra of Computer Sciences Corp. (Part 1)

By guest author Tony Scott

I recently interviewed Vivek Chopra, one of the early employees of Wipro, former head of IBM’s Daksh services business in India, and now president of CSC’s India operations. Vivek has a long and deep history in the IT industry in India and in the global outsourcing and off-shoring arena. His insights into how this market has evolved and is still evolving are fascinating. >>>

Outsourcing: Tata Communications Interview (Part 7)

By guest author Tony Scott

Human Capital Challenges and the Future

Tony: So if you look at this in terms of your the core challenges for the future and what’s going to keep you differentiated and keep you on the top, there are going to be technology challenges that we are going to assume you can figure out how to meet. And then there are going to be human capital challenges. What do you think are the biggest human capital challenges that you are going to face from the top of the organization, the bottom, or anywhere in between, and how are you going to address those challenges? >>>

Outsourcing: Tata Communications Interview (Part 6)

By guest author Tony Scott

Operating Across Cultures

Tony: You are working around the globe, dealing with enterprises and carriers around the globe. What are the issues that you have faced within your internal culture in terms of being able to deliver products and services on a global basis? Has that been a challenge for you? >>>

Outsourcing: Tata Communications Interview (Part 5)

By guest author Tony Scott

“Always On” around the Globe

Tony: So you are talking about creating your own IP – how has that impacted the kind of services you provide? Is this also part of the drive toward what some have said is pushing even more of the services off the CIO’s plate? >>>

Outsourcing: Tata Communications Interview (Part 4)

By guest author Tony Scott

Building Competency

Tony: How has the relationship with your parent Tata Communications helped you beyond brand recognition?

Shirdhar: Given that we have trust at Tata Communications, they would always support our trying to position ourselves higher up the chain.  But I can’t constantly make fresh demands on our parent company saying, I need 50 or 100 or 200 people for this particular opportunity to manage a new third-party customer.   >>>

Outsourcing: Tata Communications Interview (Part 3)

By guest author Tony Scott

Labor Arbitrage or Value-Added Services?

Tony: So if you look at these businesses overall, what percentage today is value-added services vs. labor arbitrage compared to five years ago, and what do you expect it to be five years from now?

David: I think, taking TCTS as example, the first thing with any customer when you look at off-shoring activity is that traditionally it is based around labor arbitrage, which is least disruptive. I have found that to be the case with every customer The second thing is to work with customers in more of a partnership mode. To do that you need to change the way you operate, because eventually labor arbitrage is going to go away, so it’s really how you work with them from an IP standpoint. Clients will talk to you about to do their business, which is critical.  So labor arbitrage happens in the initial stages, but if you stay stagnant like that, eventually you go out of business. To stay in business you have to move to more of a knowledge-shop capability. >>>

Outsourcing: Tata Communications Interview (Part 2)

By guest author Tony Scott

Evolution from Infrastructure to the Desktop

Tony: Shridhar, since you have obviously been with the company for a long time, let me ask you, how did the original piece of the company get started, and how have you evolved from that point to what you are providing today?

Shridhar: When the Tata Group acquired the long-distance carrier VSNL [formerly Teleglobe] in 2005, it was largely a wholesale voice provider to Indian companies for various carriers globally on a bilateral basis. What was promised as a monopoly for the Tata Group actually only lasted a little bit longer than two months. In two months’ time, our call rates dropped from 78 rupees to about 24 rupees a minute, so we lost a lot of value there. Our company went through turbulent times where even our revenues came down to almost 40% of what they were when we acquired the company. That gave us the incentive to start looking at new customer segments, products, and services. That’s how the enterprise business was created – to start focusing on the growing infrastructure needs of the telecoms and of the BPO industries that were being created in India. >>>

Outsourcing: Tata Communications Interview (Part 1)

By guest author Tony Scott

Introduction and History

So, after reading a few of my previous interviews, do you still think that “outsourcing” is just about labor arbitrage of low-level tasks?

I recently interviewed David Wert, global head of managed services at Tata Communications, and Niraj Sridhar, who leads Tata Communications Transformation Services (TCTS). They provide outsourced network and communications infrastructure services to global telecommunications companies and global enterprises such as Microsoft, Google, and Yahoo! – definitely not “low-level” activities to “basic industries.” The question is: Why do sophisticated, well-established companies at the cutting edge of technology choose to use companies like Tata Communications to handle very complex technological tasks? >>>