Nasscom 2004: BPO Still Hot

The three-day Nasscom 2004, the only global IT conference was no run-of-the
mill IT event. It was the one occasion for top IT practitioners, academics,
consultants, suppliers and law enforcement agencies to come together to share
knowledge. The event drew around 900 delegates from across the country and the
only issue that dominated the event was the high potential outsourcing segment.

Various State IT Secretaries argue over the BPO readiness of various cities during a lively panel discussion

Though it was the same old wine in a new bottle, some of the prominent
activities during Nasscom 2004 included a CEO Conclave, International Analyst
Summit, Customer Speak (International CIOs), Country Forum and CIO roundtables
followed by networking events.

BPO issue dominated the discussions. It was followed by country forum, where
a large number of Indian companies were looking forward for information on
issues such as visa, taxation, business opportunities, etc. The Technology
sessions had few takers, as the sessions were mediocre in terms of attendance,
according to Kiran Karnik, president, Nasscom.

Maharashtra CM Sushil Kumar Shinde with British Minister Stephen Timms, Nasscom president Kiran Karnik and Digital GlobalSoft CEO Som Mittal at the opening ceremony

The IT chieftains of the industry were very bullish and in a single voice
ascertained the optimistic outlook for the year. They were bullish while
stressing the point that the market has reached the next level of maturity.
"The roadmap is clear and India can be a global leader by companies
focusing on globalization and get ready to compete with the world leaders in
their peer group," said a visibly happy Karnik. "Last year the focus
was on the customer, this year it is clearly on the overall market," he
said.

Stephen Timms, British Minister for e-commerce, allays Indian fears that Britain would ban outsourcing

Another encouraging factor, according to the head honchos of the industry,
was the growth of the domestic industry. "The government’s move on giving
hardware tax sops and e-governance has been an encouraging move towards the
growth of the domestic IT industry," added Karnik. However, on the other
hand, Nasscom security forums aimed to promote security consciousness to enhance
international competitiveness of the Indian IT industry.

"Nasscom will coordinate and identify five areas deemed critical to IS.
These include consumer awareness, early warning systems, corporate governance,
technical standards and security across software development," said Jerry
Rao, chairman Nasscom. He emphasized on the fact that security concerns must be
addressed at the CEO and boardroom level of every company and by political
leaders at all levels.

Kiran Karnik inks new MoU with Dr GJ Huan, vice-president, Institute of Information Industry (III), Taiwan

Rao lamented that although India compared well with competing destinations on
the security matrix, awareness about security issues was still low.

Nasscom this time gave top priority to Information Security (IS).

With the launch of the Security Forum, Nasscom hopes to alter the low
awareness on security issues and promote security consciousness to enhance
international competitiveness of the Indian IT industry.

Kerala IT Secretary Aruna Sundarajan with incumbent Nasscom Chairman Jerry Rao discussing investment plans in Kerala

The panel discussions also had topics like WLAN, open source and IS. Industry
stalwarts like Infosys chief Nandan Nilekani and TCS CEO,  Ramadorai gave
their expert opinions on what it takes to build a company into a billion dollar
firm, during a panel discussion.

The event concluded with a glittering evening. During a fashion show the IT
bigwigs sashayed the ramp along with their wives. IT stalwarts like Saurabh
Srivastava, Harish Mehta, Atul Nishar and Som Mittal were some of the prominent
ones who donned Einstein wigs, Gandhi style khadi and Shiva costumes and walked
the ramp.

Rahul Gupta in Mumbai