Dataquest Domestic Outsourcing Summit 2009 : Be My Host

Every slowdown and recession makes the businesses far more efficient. This

one is no exception. With cash becoming scarcer, the tendency on part of each

enterprise worth its name is to reduce capital expenditure and variablize cost.

The on-demand/hosted model seems a godsend in that context. Suddenly, the

interest level of CIOs in this model has grown manifold.

So, when we presented the two-city Dataquest Domestic Outsourcing Summit

2009: Opportunities & Challenges in Customer Service & IT Outsourcing, in

association with Tata Communications, a leading player in the area, to look at

the various challenges and opportunities that are associated with the

hosted/on-demand model in IT, with special focus infrastructure management, CRM,

and contact centers, we saw participation of leading CIOs.

If the Delhi round saw the dominance of BPO CTOs (with five leading CIOs from

the sector), Mumbai round was more diverse. The forum saw the participation of

leading CIOs: Rajendra Sawant, CIO, Adventity; Anwer Bagdadi, CIO, CFC India

Services; Shirish Gariba, CIO, Elbee Express; Vikas Prabhu, CIO, Essar Telecom

Retail; Subodh Dubey, CIO, K Raheja Group; Yateen Chodnekar, CIO, Mangal Keshav

Group; Dhiren Savla, CIO, Kuoni Travels; J Ramesh, CIO, MIRC Electronics; Vinay

Hinge, GM, IT, Raymonds; Arun Gupta, CIO, Shoppers Stop; and Pradeep Kalra, CTO,

Yes Bank.

The entire galaxy of CIOs present in the Mumbai Tata Com event wholeheartedly endorsed the on-demand/hosted services model for outsourcing their IT requirements

It was preceded by presentation from Tata Communications.

Said Arun Gupta of Shoppers Stop, We started outsourcing as early as 2007.

The impetus is more towards IT investment that will be cost effective as well as

enhance our business operation to serve our customers, employees and

stakeholders more effectively.

Yazad Boga of Tata Com elaborated on the value added benefits vendors could offer to CIOs for the on-demand model

Echoed Pradeep Kalra of Yes Bank, We always prefer an opex model. All our IT

infrastructure is outsourced. This has enable us to get a very cost effective

system. Based on the outsourced model, we have launched several new things by

use of technology that were also new in the domestic BFSI sector. He said he

was evaluating for SaaS model as well as contact center based on hosted model.

Arun Gupta of Shoppers Stop stressed on cost effective IT investments, while Shirish Gariba of Elbee Express advised vendors to develop solutions based on user needs	Tata Com representatives Yazad Boga and Simon Robin are all ears as Dataquest editor Shyamanuja Das expounds on outsourcing dynamics

Yateen Chodnekar of Mangal Keshav Group and Rajendra Sawant of Adventity listen attentively to the challenges enterprises face in outsourcing their services	J Ramesh of MIRC advocates outsourcing only the managing part of IT infrastructure, Vikas Prabhu of Essar Telecom Retail advises vendors to focus on micro-verticals while Pradeep Kalra of YES Bank agrees

Most participating CIOs agree that the on-demand model provides a covenient way to scale up IT	Anwer Bagdadi of CFC India suggested how enterprises should go for either complete outsourcing or adopt a partial outsourcing model

Said Anwer Bagdadi of CFC India Services, Based on the inner ability of the

organization, the way it operates and requirements, it can decide whether to go

for complete outsourcing model or partial model. Complexities increases once

businesses operates from multiple locations. Therefore, solutions that can offer

simplicity of implementation, closer cycle time are needed.

Many panelists also challenged the service providers to offer something

unique. The service provider should offer some extra benefit to customers,

said Dhiren Savla of Kuoni. He said customers should be given some loyalty

bonus.

Shirish Gariba of Elbee Express said that the vendors should build solutions

based on the users needs and understand real on-the-ground challenges. Vikas

Prabu of Essar Telecom Retail said that he is yet to see someone offering him a

solution for his exact needs, hinting that vendors should focus on

micro-verticals to understand the ground realities better.

We are now trying to consolidate our call center operations and may be

evaluate to outsource. As far as our IT infrastructure is concerned, we have

outsourced only the managing part and not the entire thing, said J Ramesh of

MIRC.

Tata Com representative Simon Robin, Yazad Boga, and Indreaneel Fuke tried to

explain their offerings while addressing some of the concerns and queries of the

participating CIOs.

Most CIOs agreed that going forward with the on-demand model that provides a

convenient way to scale up IT would pick up rapidly.

Piyali Guha



piyalig@cybermedia.co.in