We have doubled our headcount in India

CSC has taken the inorganic route to growth with a vengeance and this had a

significant impact on its India operations. It acquired Covansys for $1.3 bn:

this brought in six delivery centers worldwide, accelerated the growth of CSCs

strategic offshore offerings in verticals like telecom, healthcare, life

sciences and retail. The acquisition of First Consulting Group for $365 mn, on

the other hand, enhanced CSCs healthcare offerings, further expanding its

global delivery capabilities. While the jury is still out on whether this

inorganic growth path could help CSC in these troubled times, Raj Vattikuti,

group president, CSC India, spoke exclusively to Dataquest. Excerpts

What is the role of the development center that CSC runs for Mercator, the

IT division of Emirates? Is this Dedicated Development Center (DDC) affected by

the recent slowdown in the airline industry?



The Dedicated Development Center (DDC) in Bangalore was part of a previously

announced contract signed between Mercator and Covansys, a company now merged

with CSC India.

Working with CSC India, Mercators new DDC offers its travel and

transportation industry clients scalable IT services that include product

development, applications development and maintenance, testing services,

technology consulting and project management across a range of technologies like

Java, Oracle application, data warehousing, .NET, ERP and other niche

technologies.

The DDC helps in energizing the Emirates Groups business expansion plans and

strengthen Mercators existing development capabilities, and in positioning it

as a leading IT solution supplier to the aviation industry. The inauguration of

the center has been followed by almost four years of project association between

the Emirates Group and Covansys. Emirates Group, and in particular Mercator, is

a strategic account for CSC India and we want to provide the best services to be

a part of their aggressive growth plans.

I do not see any impact on the DDC with the slowdown in the airlines

industry.

Could you shed some light on CSC and the Bombardier tie-up? While

currently the arrangement is restricted to IT infrastructure outsourcing, will

it signal CSCs later foray into engineering services too?



We have renewed our IT outsourcing agreement with Bombardier Transportation,

an operating group of Bombardier. in June this year. The new seven-year $1.2 bn

contract is an extension and expansion of services that began under a 2002

contract in 2002 valued at $700 mn .

Under the new agreement, we will continue to provide Bombardier

Transportation with a full range of infrastructure outsourcing services

including desktop, service desk, network and application management services for

more than 20,000 users at sites across 33 countries. In addition, CSC would also

provide overall integration for service ticket tracking and reporting, that will

enable end-to-end service management across Bombardiers IT environment.

Rajendra B Vattikuti, group president, CSC India

This renewed agreement with CSC ensures that Bombardier employees have

quality IT services and support, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, from anywhere

in the world. Our global IT services expertise and legacy of experience in the

manufacturing and transportation industries position us well to help Bombardier

achieve its business goals.

CSC has pioneered relatively esoteric technologies like SOA and SaaS. Can

you provide more details on the magnitude of the work done and the specific

nature of the work?



SOA sure is CSCs proven end-to-end approach to creating a service-oriented

architecture that enables the client enterprise to respond rapidly to market

changes with new products and services. Consisting of a set of seven services

that address the entire SOA lifecycle, SOAsure uses proven tools, processes,

methodologies, and accelerators to assure cost-effective development,

maintenance, and support.

SOAsure services are aligned with the needs of the clients unique business

environment and provide end-to-end flexibility. The current customer engagements

include a leading global financial investments management company and a global

automotive giant where it is being used to build anywhere and ship anywhere

capabilities for cost effectiveness and faster time to market. This is by

modernizing and integrating disparate supply chain and procurement systems and

processes.

SAP implementation now seems to be a lucrative area, with the battle for

Axon just getting over. With CSC having long time SAP expertise, what is your

take on this front, and future plans?



Our global SAP practice with over 3,900 dedicated SAP consultants across 23

countries, has successfully completed more than 1,500 SAP implementations

worldwide.

CSCs proprietary tools and intellectual capital are applied to every

engagement. On-site or off-site, near-shore or offshore, we will help you lower

your implementation costs by leveraging a global network of resources. CSCs

global practice dedicated to supporting SAP systems combines a wealth of skills

and physical resourcesincluding world-class, full service outsourcing,

consulting and systems integration teams. As one of the first global SAP

Services Partners, we are also a hosting partner for a range of industries that

include aerospace, defence, public sector,and chemical, oil and gas industries.

This is a very strategic service offering for our clients and our goal is to

grow it aggressively.

Is the Covansys integration now complete? Other than top line enhancement,

what other benefits have been accrued?



We acquired Covansys in July 2007 and have achieved full integration of its

operations into the companys model of delivering One CSC to customers and

business. With the acquisitions, CSC nearly doubled its headcount in

Indiasurpassing its annual headcount goaland is now home to the companys

second-largest concentration of employees. CSC also achieved a 90% CAGR in terms

of headcount in India during the last five years. The companys fully integrated

World Sourcing center in India provides end-to-end India-led global delivery to

its customers worldwide, has attained 100% revenue growth in fiscal 2008, and

has increased its operations from four to seven locations in India.

For us, an aggressive offshore strategy became increasingly important for

serving our clients with a global service delivery approach. The strategy was to

not only add low-cost resources but also provide innovative value from its

global network of service-delivery centers which could blend services such as

consulting and process improvement with highly skilled application services and

deep industry knowledge. Acquiring an established, highly respected services

company with a major presence in India was the best way to meet customers needs

and expectations.

CSCs global practice dedicated to supporting SAP systems combines a wealth of skills and physical resourcesincluding world-class, full service outsourcing, consulting and systems integration teams

With this acquisition, we have significantly advanced our Global Strategic

Growth initiative by strengthening our capabilities and presence in India as

well as creating an additional market channel for the industry, consulting and

outsourcing solutions. This action reinforces our commitment to build a more

robust offshore platform and will enable us to offer a broad range of

capabilities to clients directly from India or through our existing businesses.

This acquisition further intensifies CSCs strategic goals of increasing

shareholder value and growing its business both organically and inorganically.

In light of the slowdown in the US market, especially, and the other

markets, how does CSC plan to tweak around its Global Delivery Model?



CSCs Global Operating Model blends industry expertise with world-class

delivery. Through the support of CSCs standardized management and delivery

processes and other best-practice tools and methodologies, world sourcing brings

the highest quality services and resources. As a global company, CSC can fulfill

the business needs at the point of delivery or wherever CSC has the most

cost-efficient capability to perform those services. With CSCs World Sourcing

capability, the client can take advantage of our end-to-end Global Service

Delivery approach. Our goal is to offer our clients these capabilities in every

deal, to help them in transforming their business.

CSC has established technology centers of excellence or competency centers.

SEI CMMI, an industry standard measurement tool, enables work at each of these

centers. Using this standard ensures that no matter which world sourcing

location the client chooses, the work will be performed with the same

outstanding standards.

CSC has encouraged gender diversity in its workforce. Can you elaborate on

this as a business strategy?



Diversity programs have multiple dimensions in a global organization like

CSC. In the Indian context, gender diversity is an important factor that needs

to be addressed. Given the Indian socio-cultural context, CSC Indias Diversity

Programs focus is on gender diversity. At a global level a diversity council

has been formed which is responsible for giving directions to this initiative.

As we talk of India, a similar Diversity Council which focuses on gender

diversity has been set up comprising the senior management group, which is

responsible for giving direction and setting the focus right for the CSC India

gender diversity initiative. One such gender diversity initiative launched in

CSC in India last year with an objective that we call SEED. It stands for

Sensitization (creating sensitivity to differences and raising awareness of

ones own prejudices that unwittingly surface in business decisions), Engagement

(to enlist the support of everyone even if they do not benefit directly from the

initiatives), Empowerment (help women explore and develop their personal

understanding of what it means to be a woman and what it takes to succeed in our

society today) and Development (to develop effective leadership, this goes

beyond vision, strategy, communication, and charisma).

CSC was supposed to double its headcount in 2008. With the slowdown

affecting offshore business, there is a cap on fresh hiring by most companies.

What is CSCs take?



We have indeed doubled our headcount in India surpassing our annual

headcount goal. India is now home to the companys second-largest concentration

of employees. CSC also achieved a 90% CAGR in terms of headcount in India during

the last five years. Our business model is pretty stable and a major portion of

revenue comes from long term outsourcing contracts. CSC is on track with its

strategic plans and we are pleased with our progress in India and other parts of

the globe.

Stuti Das



stutid@cybermedia.co.in