Learnings from a Tiny, Distant Land

Sitting in a cozy pub in chilly Dublin, a pint

of Guinness draft in hand, I again marvel at how small Ireland is. Four million

people-smaller than South Delhi. You can drive the length and breadth of the

country in a day.

And yet it's a software giant. A top software exporter,

number one at product development. It's a study in focus-on high-value work.

Now, I don't believe in an all-pervading 'value

chain', a book you live by, working your way up the chapters. China has shown

that you can choose and dominate any niche. A nut for the wheel of a bicycle, or

a cheap keyboard: excel, target the world market, dominate it. If there's a

need for data entry or digitization, and you can provide the best service at the

lowest cost, you win. You aren't damned just for occupying a low rung of the

value ladder. You can choose your services space, the type of work, people.

That's a sound proposition. You can find people in India to answer phone

calls, or design and validate a CPU.

But this Celtic tiger showed how quickly you can adapt when

forced to. Ireland, too, started off with tech services: for UK, USA, Europe.

But as the industry developed, it began to run out of people. And with a

galloping economy, Ireland was a victim of its own success: prosperity, jumping

wages... Dublin became one of the most expensive of cities. Services? Ireland

just wasn't competitive any more.

And so their tech industry rapidly evolved. It shifted

toward products and IP work. It spawned strong companies with just a few dozen

staff. The entire industry recruits in a year less than what some Indian

companies would.

The culture-flexible, disciplined, allowing even working

from home-is backed by an environment that encourages, even funds, innovation

and high-value work. Universities encourage staff and students to turn their

ideas into commercial ventures, with funding and support, especially in infotech

and biotech. (And a 10% corporate tax for manufacturing has helped Intel grow

its factory there to 5,000 people-chip fabs aren't the people-intensive ops

that software and services are.

In Dublin I asked Ireland's Prime Minister what Indian

tech meant to him: friend, potential partner, competitor, role model? A bit of

all of that, he said. As he leads a large Irish trade and education delegation

to India in January, it would be worthwhile for Indian tech companies to also

consider Ireland: as partner, and perhaps even role model for those who wish to

walk that route. Especially as the HR demand-supply situation worsens and wages

spiral.

The full spectrum of the value chain still lives. But a lot

more companies may need to look at including high value work in their portfolio,

to grow-or just to stay alive.

Prasanto K Roy



pkr@cybermedia.co.in