Emerging From a Whirlpool

While the global economy is limping back to normalcy, the quick turnaround of
the Indian economy has left many baffled. The IMF has raised Indias growth
forecast to 5.4% for 2009; the Indian economy is projected to expand at a rate
of 6.5% in 2010 while the world GDP is anticipated to grow by 2-5%. The IT
industry, with its export focus, is expected to play a major role in this
revival. IT industry CEOs throw light on the Indian IT recovery trail. Their
unanimous conensus: change is always for the better, and the IT industry now
looks more at holistic solutions than just technology

Vivekanand Venugopal, vice president and general manager, India,
Hitachi Data Systems

How do you foresee 2010?

We have to be prepared for the rebound.

By when do you think the recovery will begin?

By the first half of 2010.

Will India lead or lag the global recovery?

It will lead.

Has the industry changed in any significant way in this slowdown?

Doing more with less (capex), and optimize (opex) cost of postponing
projects was far more costly than the investments.

What are the areas that you expect to be hot in 2010?

Economically superior storage architectures will dominate. Ex storage
virtualization, dynamic provisioning, tiered storage architectures, integrated
file and content Services will be hot in 2010.

In India, which are the user segments that will lead the spending in 2010?

Telecom, banking, government, IT services, and manufacturing.

Ravi Venkatesan, chairman, Microsoft India



How do you look at 2010?

Optimism and impatience.

Do you think the recovery has begun?

The recovery process is already underway.

Will India lead or lag the global recovery?

India will definitely lead the recovery.

Has the industry changed in any significant way in this slowdown?

The IT industry is looking more at holistic solutions, rather than just
technology. It is devising models which will enable affordable access to
computing through subscription or pay-as-you-go models. Evolving technology and
the potential of hosted business models through cloud computing is resulting in
more choice for the customer.

What are the areas that you expect to be hot in 2010?

The Software + Services modelthe increasing prevalence of the cloud gives
customers the flexibility to choose between traditional on-premise
implementations or hosted services. For revenue sensitive small businesses, this
also means the choice to pay-per-use.

Netbooks are changing the way computing is perceived by user segments like
housewives, senior citizens, travelers, social networking enthusiasts,
teenagers, and for people who desire an extra PC for basic computing
applications, listening to music, e-mailing, and surfing the Internet.

India is fast moving into a new era of mobile computing, one that promises a
greater variety in applications, highly improved usability, and speedier
networking; there is an immense opportunity for ICT to contribute in this space.

Unified communications will become a hot technology, since businesses today
are looking to simplify and integrate all forms of communications with an aim to
optimize business processes, reduce the response time, and eliminate device
dependencies.

Ninad Karpe, CEO & MD, Aptech

What is the kind of feeling with which you look at 2010?

I am upbeat and optimistic for 2010.

Do you think the recovery has begun ?

I think the recovery process has already started.

Will India lead or lag the global recovery?

India will lead.

Has the industry changed in any significant way in this slowdown?

The industry has become more agile and receptive to changes.

What are the areas that you expect to be hot in 2010?

Cloud computing.

Which are the user segments that will lead spending in 2010?

Telecom and the government.

Any new year message for 2010?

2010 will prove that the recession has been now been confined to the history
books.

Sagar Chandna, country manager, India, Opera Software

How do you look at 2010?

One web. Infinite possibilities.

By when do you think the recovery will begin?

The recovery will start in the first quarter of 2010.

Will India lead or lag the global recovery?

It will be at the same time as every other country.

Has the industry changed in any significant way in this slowdown?

Companies have matured to become smarter in delivering products, to meet the
markets demand despite cutting costs.

What are the areas that you expect to be hot in 2010?

Internet on mobile and media devices are already a reality, but will be the
the key focus of the industry in 2010. This will also drive 3G and broadband
penetration immensely. Media spending and advertising on the Internet will also
be very positive.

In India, which are the user segments that will lead the spending in 2010?

There should be a lot of demand for consumer electronic devices, such as
feature phones and notebooks. More users will want to come online, and stay
connected using their device, and on their own terms. Spending is therefore,
likely to increase in the user segments such as youngsterswho want to be
constantly connected with their peers and friendswill drive the growth of the
user segment.

Any other new year message for 2010?

A global movement of netizens is forming the protection of the nets basic
philosophy of being a medium accessible to all; independent of creed, culture,
language, or social class. We believe that the Internet should stay open and
free to all users, regardless of which browser-application they are using.

Dr Naresh Gupta, senior vice president, print & publishing business
unit and managing director, India Research and Development, Adobe Systems

How do you see 2010?

Optimistic and encouraging, but at the same time cautious

Will India lead or lag the global recovery?

India will lead the recovery, and I am going with the GDP growth figures on
this one.

Has the industry changed in any significant way in this slowdown?

At least in the short run, the virtues of austerity and judicious corporate
spending have been reaffirmed.

Which are the areas that you expect to be hot in 2010?

Technology in the entire entity (including telecom, digital education,
e-commerce, biotechnology, etc,) and retail, pharmaceuticals, infrastructure
will be the hot areas.

In India, which are the user segments that will lead the spending in 2010?

Education, consumer electronics, infrastructure, telephony, auto, retail.

Any new year message for 2010 ?

Hope it turns out to be the marquee year for technology.

Naresh Wadhwa, president and country manager, Cisco India & SAARC

How do you foresee 2010?

Cautiously optimistic.

Do you think the recovery has begun?

Most certainly, however, industry is cautious.

Will India lead or lag the global recovery?

India will lead, hopefully.

Has the industry changed in any significant way in this slowdown?

Companies have become more prudent in the way they approach running their
business.

What are the areas that you expect to be hot in 2010?

Public sector, infrastructure, and energy.

Any other new year message?

The new year will be an opportune time to focus and ponder on market
adjacencies.

Sudip Nandy, CEO, Aricent

How do you foresee 2010?

Cautiously optimistic.

By when do you think the recovery will begin?

Already on.

Will India lead or lag the global recovery?

It will lead.

Has the industry changed in any significant way in this slowdown?

Utility has given way to usability; innovation has become more important,
expense management has been replaced by experience management. Business model
challenges have become as important as technology challenges. Value has become
more important that volume.

Which are the areas that you expect to be hot in 2010?

Cloud computing, new cloud devices, android, 3G, LTE, WiMax, and mobile VAS.

In India, which are the user segments that will lead the spending in 2010?

In India, the spending will be led by users looking for a richer experience
on their mobile devices. These will be the people spending on devices with
enhanced capabilities, such as rich Internet browsing, high definition video
playback, hi-resolution camera, and more. These users are also going to spend on
data plans to power this experience.

Any other new year message for 2010?

Probably for the first time in India, consumer adoption of technology will
be ahead of enterprise adoption.

Krishnan Thyagarajan, MD, Quest Software India

How do you look at 2010?

Cautiously optimistic.

By when do you think the recovery will begin?

By the first quarter of 2010.

Will India lead or lag the global recovery?

It will lead.

Has the industry changed in any significant way in this slowdown?

The industry has changed overall by gaining more operational efficiency.
Newcomers have become more realistic about growth and salary; and customers who
had become accustomed to astronomical discounts and unrealistic prices, this
needed a reset.

Which are the areas that you expect to be hot in 2010?

Virtualization, especially VDI is going to see good uptake mainly in
segments like BPO; SaaS will certainly move closer to mainstream with more
clarity and more players will join in; green computing will be every players
talking point, but little action will be taken at the ground level; cloud
computing will be what SOA was five years back. On the hardware front, netbooks
will get interesting and sales volumes will only gather momentum after a year
or so; and PCs and servers will be back in the growth mode.

In India, which are the user segments that will lead the spending in 2010?

PSUs will continue to be good spenders; and with the possibilities of high
disinvestment, there will be an added incentive to accelerate, especially for
the PSUs in the market. The telecom sector will see growth, owing to the entry
of new players and an expanded customer base with the expectations of new
value-added services, etc. The financial service sector will see some growth in
the first half of the fiscal, essentially due to the delayed projects from the
last year. IT will continue to grow at a lower rate, because of the still
prevailing slowness in the western markets; while all other segments will spend
only in the second half, after the market shows clear signs of growth.

Any other new year message for 2010 ?

Get ready for the growth, but dont forget the lessons of the slow down, and
dont fritter away the gains in operational efficiencies.

Dr Mukesh Aghi, chairman and CEO, Steria India

How do you foresee 2010?

Cautiously optimistic.

By when will the recovery start?

I believe that there are signs of an economic recovery underway. We are
seeing signs of stability in the macro environment, as a result of measures
taken by the governments and businesses the world over.

Will India lead or lag the global recovery?

As per IMF findings, emerging and developing countries, led by China and
India, are clearly the front runners in the recovery. The Indian economy,
projected to grow by 6.1% in 2009-10 and 7.1% in the next year will lead the
recovery. Emerging economies are at the forefront of growth, and will be the key
drivers for the global economy.

Has the industry changed in any significant way in this slowdown?

Clients are asking for more value on their investments. This market
environment has worked to Indias advantage, with companies turning to the
country to realize maximum operational efficiencies, and mitigate the burden on
margins.

What are the areas that you expect to be hot in 2010?

Financial services including accounting and compliance is expected to lead,
when it comes to IT spending; HR outsourcing will see the maximum expansion;
outsourcing will be a strategic priority for most companies, and will continue
to remain hot. On the technology front, software and serviceswhich companies
can use to save moneywill be much in demand along with cloud computing and
virtualization, which will be the two leading technologies.

Karandeep Singh, managing director, Sapient India

How do you foresee 2010?

Cautiously optimistic

By when will the recovery begin?

I think its already on. I feel that the companies are still cautious, but
their sentiment overall has improved. Its not back to business as usual, though
they are beginning to invest in their customer experience, which in turn will
improve customer acquisition and retention.

Will India lead or lag the global recovery?

It will lead. Intrinsically, the domestic economy wasnt majorly impacted,
though it did have a slower pace of growth given the global sentiment. However,
with the improvement in the global sentiment, the Indian economy will witness an
accelerated growth rate, especially in the export sector.

Has the industry changed in any significant way in this slowdown?

Corporate India has become more cautious with relation to investment in
expansion. There is a lot more focus to sweat the existing assets, and get
better returns from them. The primary focus lies in enhancing customer
experience. Another trend noticed is that companies want to get better returns
on their marketing dollars.

What are the areas that you expect to be hot in 2010?

Multi-channel marketing and multi-channel commerce.

In India, which are the user segments that will lead the spending in 2010?

Apart from the government sector, the automotive sector will also witness
some spending with the new reforms on clean technology, electric vehicles, and
small cars taking the lime light. Real estate companies are now coming back with
more readjusted pricing, which in turn will drive the growth.

Sandeep Dhar, CEO, Tesco Hindustan Service Center

How do you foresee 2010?

Excitement.

By when do you think the recovery will begin?

I think that the recovery process has already begun.

Will India lead or lag the global recovery?

India obviously will lead.

Has the industry changed in any significant way in this slowdown?

Certainly, the industry has sobered down, and become more sensitive to the
long term sustainability of what they are building.

What are the areas that you expect to be hot in 2010?

People practices and innovation.

Any other New Year message?

The New Year should be a year when the industry should further consolidate
its leadership position in the global economy.