Restraint is the refrain on backlash

It was back to business for over 900 delegates as Nasscom 2004 ran into its third day. Relaxed after an evening of fun and entertainment, attendees settled for some serious intellectual stimulation on the final day of the global IT conference.

A range of issues fought for attention at the meet, foremost among them the backlash against outsourcing to India and its impact on the nascent industry.

The opening session, led by two well known speakers, added a political perspective to the great outsourcing saga. Globally feted entrepreneur and chairman and chief mentor of Infosys Technologies, N R Narayana Murthy, was the first to speak and set the tone for the deliberations.

Declaring that the negative sentiment on outsourcing was a fallout of a myriad factors such as a gradually recovering US economy, job losses in services, an election year in America and unnecessary media hype, he urged that Indian companies to proactively firefight and help in the troubleshooting process.

Indian information technology organisations needed to articulate the concept of globalisation and position themselves as irreplaceable creators of high value (as opposed to low cost) solutions, he said.

A suggestion from one of the country's most respected CEOs was for Indian companies to engage large, powerful customers in the big fight and get them to champion the outsourcing cause.

His advise to Indian outsourcing services providers to remain low-key and action-oriented rather than rhetoric driven drew supportive nods from the delegates.

Matters, according to him, had to be resolved by the two respective governments at the bilateral, behind-the-scenes level. Responsible and mature media coverage would also strengthen India's stand on outsourcing, he added.

Murthy's views interestingly, were echoed by the last speaker of the day, Jeff Lande, vice president, Information Technology Association of America, who also warned against strong, visible reactions from the Indian front on the outsourcing backlash. "A more restrained approach, based on engagements through US partners and customers, was the appropriate response," Jeff said.

The threads of the outsourcing debate were also picked up by Steve C Clemons, executive vice president, New America Foundation, who stated that the Federal and state governments in the US, while talking the language of globalisation, were not "walking the talk." A leading think tank in the US, the New America Foundation has been exhorting governments in the country to keep their doors open and decry protectionism.

The outsourcing issue continued to hold the spotlight at the CEO conclave with reputed speakers such as Jayant Sinha of McKinsey & Co, Rita Terdiman of Gartner Inc and Rahul Merchant of Merrill Lynch presenting their perspectives on the dynamic outsourcing market in India and the challenges it would need to overcome in the short and long terms.

The business analysts, apart from future gazing and providing a view of the market over the next three years, also advised Indian players on the hows of winning in the competitive IT services/offshore outsourcing domains.

The thought leaders were united in their belief that while India currently topped the list of outsourcing destinations, it needed to work on the areas of vision development, process maturity, global delivery and skilled manpower resource availability to maintain consistency and sustain the edge.

Day Three at Nasscom 2004 also featured extensive discussions on issues such as creating a viable product business, IP creation and high-end, value-added services and the legislation on immigration.

The conference closed on a note of optimism and hope, with the service providers, analysts and customers expressing their faith in the IT industry's ability to innovate and create the winning game plan.

Kiran Karnik is president, Nasscom