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Every slowdown and recession makes the businesses far more efficient. This
one is no exception. With cash becoming scarcer, the tendency on part of each
enterprise worth its name is to reduce capital expenditure and variablize cost.
The on-demand/hosted model seems a godsend in that context. Suddenly, the
interest level of CIOs in this model has grown manifold.
So, when we presented the two-city Dataquest Domestic Outsourcing Summit
2009: Opportunities & Challenges in Customer Service & IT Outsourcing, in
association with Tata Communications, a leading player in the area, to look at
the various challenges and opportunities that are associated with the
hosted/on-demand model in IT, with special focus infrastructure management, CRM,
and contact centers, we saw participation of leading CIOs.
If the Delhi round saw the dominance of BPO CTOs (with five leading CIOs from
the sector), Mumbai round was more diverse. The forum saw the participation of
leading CIOs: Rajendra Sawant, CIO, Adventity; Anwer Bagdadi, CIO, CFC India
Services; Shirish Gariba, CIO, Elbee Express; Vikas Prabhu, CIO, Essar Telecom
Retail; Subodh Dubey, CIO, K Raheja Group; Yateen Chodnekar, CIO, Mangal Keshav
Group; Dhiren Savla, CIO, Kuoni Travels; J Ramesh, CIO, MIRC Electronics; Vinay
Hinge, GM, IT, Raymonds; Arun Gupta, CIO, Shoppers Stop; and Pradeep Kalra, CTO,
Yes Bank.
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The entire galaxy
of CIOs present in the Mumbai Tata Com event wholeheartedly endorsed the
on-demand/hosted services model for outsourcing their IT requirements
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It was preceded by presentation from Tata Communications.
Said Arun Gupta of Shoppers Stop, We started outsourcing as early as 2007.
The impetus is more towards IT investment that will be cost effective as well as
enhance our business operation to serve our customers, employees and
stakeholders more effectively.
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Yazad Boga of
Tata Com elaborated on the value added benefits vendors could offer to CIOs
for the
on-demand model |
Echoed Pradeep Kalra of Yes Bank, We always prefer an opex model. All our IT
infrastructure is outsourced. This has enable us to get a very cost effective
system. Based on the outsourced model, we have launched several new things by
use of technology that were also new in the domestic BFSI sector. He said he
was evaluating for SaaS model as well as contact center based on hosted model.
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| Arun Gupta of
Shoppers Stop stressed on cost effective IT investments, while Shirish
Gariba of Elbee Express advised vendors to develop solutions based on user
needs |
Tata Com
representatives Yazad Boga and Simon Robin are all ears as Dataquest editor
Shyamanuja Das expounds on outsourcing dynamics |
 |
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| Yateen Chodnekar
of Mangal Keshav Group and Rajendra Sawant of Adventity listen attentively
to the challenges enterprises face in outsourcing their services |
J Ramesh of MIRC
advocates outsourcing only the managing part of IT infrastructure, Vikas
Prabhu of Essar Telecom Retail advises vendors to focus on micro-verticals
while Pradeep Kalra of YES Bank agrees |
 |
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| Most
participating CIOs agree that the on-demand model provides a covenient way
to scale up IT |
Anwer Bagdadi of
CFC India suggested how enterprises should go for either complete
outsourcing or adopt a partial outsourcing model |
Said Anwer Bagdadi of CFC India Services, Based on the inner ability of the
organization, the way it operates and requirements, it can decide whether to go
for complete outsourcing model or partial model. Complexities increases once
businesses operates from multiple locations. Therefore, solutions that can offer
simplicity of implementation, closer cycle time are needed.
Many panelists also challenged the service providers to offer something
unique. The service provider should offer some extra benefit to customers,
said Dhiren Savla of Kuoni. He said customers should be given some loyalty
bonus.
Shirish Gariba of Elbee Express said that the vendors should build solutions
based on the users needs and understand real on-the-ground challenges. Vikas
Prabu of Essar Telecom Retail said that he is yet to see someone offering him a
solution for his exact needs, hinting that vendors should focus on
micro-verticals to understand the ground realities better.
We are now trying to consolidate our call center operations and may be
evaluate to outsource. As far as our IT infrastructure is concerned, we have
outsourced only the managing part and not the entire thing, said J Ramesh of
MIRC.
Tata Com representative Simon Robin, Yazad Boga, and Indreaneel Fuke tried to
explain their offerings while addressing some of the concerns and queries of the
participating CIOs.
Most CIOs agreed that going forward with the on-demand model that provides a
convenient way to scale up IT would pick up rapidly.
Piyali Guha
piyalig@cybermedia.co.in
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