MoU Highlights:
- Joint funding arrangements and/or sponsorship of research projects of mutual interest at Universities and Technical institutes globally
- Explore opportunities to support the development and expansion of University programs in project management, especially IT project Management
- Exchange information regarding opportunities for project management practices and methodologies produced by respective organizations
- Exchange information & publications beneficial to the world wide project management community
- Explore opportunities to collaborate on offer of training to each other’s project management certification program
Envisioning the future needs of the India IT sector, Project Management Institute (PMI), a leading global association for the project management professionals, has inked a strategic MoU with Computer Society of India (CSI), India’s largest body of computer professionals, at the recently held CSI National Execom in Thiruvananthapuram. The MoU aims at implementing PMI’s Best Project Management Practices & Standards and CSI’s ICT domain expertise through Project Management Certification, Education and Research across India in the field of Information Communication Technology. It also aims to mutually strengthen and consolidate the geographical reach and capabilities of the 2 premier institutions to propagate the benefits of Project Management Certification in the Industry.
PMI (India) was represented by its Managing Director, Mr. Raj Kalady, while Mr. Suchit Gogwekar, Executive Secretary signed the MoU on behalf of CSI. Others present included the President of CSI, Prof. P. Thrimurthy, Mr. M.D, Agrawal, CSI President elect, Mr. S. Mahalingam, Immediate Past President CSI, ED & CFO of TCS, and CSI Secretary and Senior Professor at VIT University, Prof. H.R. Vishwakarma.
Speaking at the occasion, Mr. Raj Kalady said, “India’s Information Technology sector is very competitive and has unique features to assess the potential for training and certification in project management. The IT sector probably undertakes more ‘projects’ than any other sector, going by a more inclusive connotation of the term. Major export destinations being US and EU, and also that all major global players have India operations, making it imperative for Indian IT/ITES to implement high induction of project management practices. Today the Indian IT Sector applies professional project management practices largely followed from the widespread and popular practices in the U.S. The MoU is expected to give a fillip to India to meet the rising challenge from China and other nascent players in the IT field”.
The memorandum assumes significance since client-led demand has been and continues to be the biggest influence of skill needs and standards in India’s IT Sector. And this partnership between PMI and CSI seem to be the answer the industry seeks on how best to meet this challenge.
CSI President-elect, Mr. M. D. Agrawal said, "I consider this relationship between CSI and PMI creating a new environment of project management education and research in India, so that IT professionals have better access to PMI certification programs through the CSI countrywide infrastructure and facilities. CSI and PMI could constitute joint research programs to design industry-focus programs as well. It is win-win situation, and is likely to fuel education of Project management discipline, which is the most wanted practice in the IT Industry."
Upgrading itself to cater to the demands of an evolving market also makes strong business sense. Constituting a major chunk of the Indian Exports pie, software and services exports (including exports of IT services, BPO, engineering services and R&D and software products) reached US$ 47 billion in FY 2008-09, contributing nearly 78 per cent to the total software and services revenue of US$ 59.6 billion. IT-BPO exports (including hardware exports) grew by 16 per cent from US$ 40.9 billion in FY 2007-08 to US$ 47.3 billion in FY 2008-09, with US and Europe accounting for about 80 percent of Indian software exports; these are projected to reach $56-57 Billion in 2010-11. The domestic IT hardware & software market itself reached US$ 24.3 billion in FY 2008-09. Indian IT-BPO sector grew by 12 per cent in FY 2009 to reach US$ 71.7 billion in aggregate revenue (including hardware). Of this, the software and services segment accounted for US$ 59.6 billion.
A strong rebound in IT spends in the US in 2010 also seems to be on the cards. This can be seen from the December 2009 quarter recovery for IT products and services and anticipated US economy revival as also demand growth in user industries. Sectors of the US economy such as Finance and Insurance, Utilities and Telecommunications, Manufacturing and Healthcare that had cut back 6-10 per cent on IT spends in 2009 are expected to spend more on IT in 2010.
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Mr. S. Mahalingam, the Executive Director & CFO of TCS, expressing the industry’s appreciation of this much needed accord said, “As a representative of two organizations, I welcome this development. We have seen the great value of PMI certification at TCS. CSI, of which I am the immediate past President, will provide the reach as well as the voice of the professionals to PMI. This MoU will be an added benefit to CSI members.”
The backing from one of the stalwarts of the Indian IT industry comes on the background that much of the industry’s global credibility and acceptance of India’s IT companies in international markets is because of successful benchmarking in accordance to stringent global practices and standards. As a result, there has been a high induction of training and skill development across the sector, in terms of proficiency in development platforms, software testing quality, project implementation, and successful delivery.
Prof. H.R. Vishwakarma, Hon. Secretary, Computer Society of India, Senior Professor, VIT University, Vellore, giving his views said, “This collaboration between CSI and PMI will lead to a new value proposition to members of both organizations and the society at large. The confluence of best project management practices of PMI and ICT domain expertize of CSI has a great potential to effectively address the India-specific needs and to carry out joint research studies in project management."
Presently, India’s IT companies benchmark themselves using the Carnegie Mellon University developed Capability Maturity Model (CMM), which originated as a tool for assessing service providers contracted by the US government for software development projects. The touchstone for process-related capabilities to undertake and deliver contracted software projects, today India boasts of over 385 companies certified at various CMM levels, and the highest number of companies (14) having a CMM-5 certification, the highest in the world.