Name every service you can think of—software development, networking, infrastructure and facilities management, IT-enabled services... All of them went up the maturity curve, quite remarkably and distinctly. In particular, network integration evolved from being a product-margins earning industry to one concentrating on value-adds in terms of network design, planning, consultancy and other related services. Having implemented enterprise-wide solutions such as ERP and automation of workflow and systems management, integrators were busy doing projects on Web-enablement and supply chain management.

Even amidst talks of slowdown and the urgency to cut costs and focus on RoIs, orders kept flowing in. Banks were keener to automate their billing processes and e-enabling other services; stock exchanges and financial institutions found it imperative to cater to online trading needs of investors, and corporates inferred that customer-oriented services such as CRM and call centers had increased in importance. Many projects were scale-ups on the last years’ implementations, or aimed at leveraging applications and services on previously built WANs. The network integration space alone grew at an impressive 64% to reach a total sales revenue of Rs 1,675 crore.

Systems integrators too made serious bids to incorporate high-end technologies like Java and do other value-adds in their offerings. Enterprises, especially in the financial and banking segments are keen on moving up the technology ladder.

Key projects

Among large network integrators, Wipro Infotech with over 200 projects, emerged at the top with sales revenue of Rs 270 crore. 01markets, Wipro’s B2B e-marketplace, was able to identify as many as 80 IT services, ranging from Web designing to ERP implementation, as its areas of operation. A highlight during the year for the company was the Rs 13.5-crore order that came from Central Board of Excise and Customs to supply, install and commission an e-commerce gateway on a turnkey basis. The exchange will be an attempt to bring together the fragmented market of service providers across the country on a common platform.

Another leading network integrator, Datacraft India, also successfully completed the integration of an Internet telephony network for Xerox India and an IP contact center for Spectramind. HCL Comnet bagged projects from SBI, Bank of Madurai, Indian Bank and the National Stock Exchange. Among other large orders, HCL Infosystems won a deal from Indian Overseas Bank to implement a WAN connecting 200 branches across 11 cities. The company’s revenue from services alone in H1 of 2000-01 grew by 50% as against H1 of 1999-00. It also secured an order to develop a WAN for the Bank of Rajasthan, involving networking, security, facilities management, and integration services.

Tata Infotech, which is trying to further strengthen its position, made its software distribution division a part of the integration business. The company bagged major orders including those from the Ministry of Defense and the Central Ground Water Board.

More services, new entrants

The year also saw the launch of new Internet data centers-based services, which eroded some VSNL monopoly, the de-facto IDC before. Reliance Infocomm, Cyquator, Netmagic, Global Telesys-tems, Asianfrontiers.com and Satyam were among the top ones. These players are offering services like server hosting, e-mail forwarding, auto-responders, POP accounts, bandwidth and virtual hosting support. Satyam tied up with Intel to launch value-added services, aimed at large and high-traffic e-business through its enhanced data center in Navi Mumbai. The system provides a comprehensive infrastructure that will enable Satyam to provide, monitor, measure and track each application it offers. Eventually how popular these services become will depend on the bandwidth situation in the country.

A number of non-IT majors entered the industry with a range of IT services on offer. The Rs 4,000-crore Hero Group, for instance, expanded into IT with plans for CRM and software service solutions. The group invested Rs 13 crore in buying a stake in FirstRink, a US company specializing in call centers. It plans to spend another Rs 150 crore in setting up customer response centers and software development centers. HDFC and TCS set up a Rs 40-crore company with a 50:50 partnership to provide IT-enabled services to overseas companies. The venture will offer services like online information, help through call centers, relationship management, back-office data processing and administrative accounting.

Outlook

Many state governments have come up with IT-friendly policies. Most of them plan to increase the role of IT in their own functions and this is likely to accelerate the growth in services. With disinvestment in the offing, many public sector undertakings also provide abundant opportunities for IT companies. Public-sector major CMC is already bullish about such opportunities. It will be leveraging its existing implementations in public sector undertakings.

The key trend that is emerging now is complete outsourcing, as corporates are finding the model more cost-effective and efficient. The services sector is all set to hog the limelight as vendors move up the value chain. India’s core strengths in providing low-cost manpower and huge pool of tech professionals will come handy as they do so.