Every slowdown also presents its own slew of new opportunities. Companies like iFlex have already established the capability of Indian firms to provide the best in-class products for the banking sector. The innovation movement initiated by NASSCOM a few years ago and the launch of the NASSCOM-Boston Consulting Group report on ‘Innovation in the IT and IT Enabled Services industry’ in Bangalore at the end of July demonstrated the industry’s determination to create a new sigmoid of growth for the industry. After successfully using the “value for money” wage arbitrage advantage to get a toe in the door of global multinationals and then making the transition from on-site to offshore delivery through the perfection of high-quality processes and the ability to migrate technology development and business process management to Indian centres, the third wave of success in this industry may well come from innovation, adding a potential $50-billion of new revenues in the next five years through new products, services and business models which will lead to one more phase of industry transformation.

The true imperatives for the coming months can broadly be grouped into three areas: At the firm level, diagnostic exercises on the present state of innovation activity and the path to reaching a desired state of extensive innovation need to be undertaken so that serious projects are planned and executed. New product creation in intellectual property-oriented firms and process innovation to look at new delivery methods and collaboration with customers and partners should be attempted in all services firms. And finally, all the participants in the eco-system — the government, research and academic institutions, financing agencies in addition to firms and associations — need to work to build an enabling environment for innovation.

Major initiatives have already been announced where liberal arts and science degree programs in colleges are being augmented with vocational skills provided through a combination of technology and facilitation to transform the employability of thousands of young industry aspirants. Staying on the path of ongoing success is not difficult for an industry which has grown from under $5 billion 10 years ago to $50-billion-plus in services this year. There will surely be a tryst with a global destiny!

(Source: Business Standard)