India's oldest software company, which opened shop in 1968, was always big but undistinguished in what it had to offer. So were the other leaders like Infosys and Wipro; but they were able to brand themselves successfully. It is only after TCS went public in 2004 that it began to purposefully project itself. But it still continued to punch below its weight, even while acquiring a remarkable repertoire of skills and technologies. Today it is reaping not just the rewards of these efforts but also of a successful leadership transition.
Mr Chandrasekaran has indicated that while TCS will keep focusing on new geographies and technologies, it is US companies which have been the first to grasp the opportunity of using technology to redo their business model and stay solvent. So the ability of other geographies, except the UK, to account for a bigger share of the business will be limited. But in order to keep serving US clients successfully, TCS, like other Indian software leaders, will have to change the way they do business. Irrespective of the final shape of the new US immigration law, they will have to build into their business model a bigger permanent workforce near client locations and higher skill levels back home. While the former will raise costs, the country will have to respond to the latter by raising the quality of its engineering graduates, rather than their numbers. With recruitment by IT majors going slower and lower-level BPO voice jobs going to the Philippines, the role of the IT-BPO sector as a great job provider for the middle class will decline. A job in TCS will be harder to come by - but will carry increasing value.