TCS set to revamp quarterly results

In a bid to catapult itself among the global top 10 IT service providers, India's largest IT services provider Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is drastically improvising the way it publishes quarterly results to induce more transparency while simultaneously rearticulating its brand strategy with an estimated Rs 50 crore annual campaign.

Beginning this quarter, for the first time in corporate India, the $4 billion company will publish a separate 'Operational Results' sheet along with its financial results. The sheet will comprise a list of its on-going projects, benchmarked against 6-7 parameters. They would include details about whether the project was completed on time or not, whether it met with the quality expectations and whether the project cost was within the mentioned budget.

"We will drive the behavior of the IT industry by setting these benchmarks," asserts Global corporate affairs head Phiroze Vandrevala. Analysts label this as a "very good move". "Financial results can be likened to a `black box'. The operational results' sheet will provide investors an insight beyond numbers," opines Pradeep Uddhas, Global partner in-charge, sourcing advisory, KPMG, Pradeep Udhas. "It's a great development from a corporate governance perspective," concurs Alok Shende, VP (ICT practice), South Asia & Middle East, Frost & Sullivan.

The move is part of its "Delivery 25" dashboard strategy which comprises 25 different parameters to measure execution performance for clients. "We discovered that IT delivery of companies was pathetic. Hence, this promise to deliver on time, within budget and without defects. This also explains why we are introducing the concept of 'operational results'," says Vandrevala, adding that the campaign tagline "Experience Certainty" focused on delivery and would be ingrained in its employees and communicated to its customers worldwide over the next 12 months. The exercise was started in October 2005 when it engaged the services of Siegel & Gale, a New York-based brand consulting firm.

With these initiatives, TCS expects to "fill the number 3 slot in the global IT services arena". "While IBM and Accenture are the clear number one and two here, there is no consensus on who occupies the third position. We are looking to fill that space by 2010," asserts Vandrevala, adding: "This is the first time in corporate India that a company is consistently working towards building a global brand. It's a move that will also pressurise other Indian IT companies to follow suit."  He admits, though, "it will require a change in mindset among the employees and customers too".

TCS' ambitions may not be very off the mark. When compared to the global majors in terms of revenue, TCS is number 12. It comes fifth it terms of net profit and market capitalisation and occupies the sixth number in terms of employees.