IT leaders call for domain edge, global presence

The chief s of three major IT companies in the country today called upon the Indian companies to build domain expertise and strong entrepreneurial skills with a leader's mind-set to become global players.

B Ramalinga Raju (Satyam Computers) , Jerry Rao (Mphasis BFL) and BVR Mohan Reddy (Infotech Enterprises) spoke of the strategies they had adopted for 'Building a global IT enterprise' at the two-day Nasscom summit "" iTECH 2004 "" which began here today.

Mohan Reddy, who set the tone for the debate, said there was a strong need for the Indian companies to develop domain expertise and build global alliances not only to survive global competition but emerge leaders.

Tracing the genesis of IT industry in the country to the early eighties, he pointed to the global delivery models being built the world over to gain the cutting edge.

On the new challenges, he said customer acquisition and retention, managing multiple offices globally and meeting stake-holders expectations had become the common criteria for success as well as survival of companies the world over.

Pawan Kumar, the chairman of vMoksha Technologies, observed that configuration of processes would apply to a business enterprise as well.

Stating that vMoksha Technologies had been configured for growth with specific goals, he said that while the strategies and processes to be adopted and adapted may be the same anywhere, differentiation needed to be struck by the respective companies.

In support of his argument, he put forth a few achievements of the company. As against the target of bagging $ 1 million contract in the three months after the inception, the company was able to achieve an order worth $ 1.2 million it in four months time, he said.

Likewise, the company recorded $ 9.6 million revenues in the first year as against the targeted $ 10 million. It also met another target by getting $ 15 million single contract in 15 months as against $ 10 million in the second year.

It also became a CMMi5 company in two years as planned, he cited the examples to substantiate his contention that both planning and ex ecution were the most vital signs of success. Unless one set aggressive goals and strove towards them, success would not be possible, he said.

Agreeing with the earlier speakers' observations, Ramalinga Raju reminded that learning from success and failures was an ongoing process.

According to him what was needed to be successful was "to operate with the mind-set of a leader."

Instead of emulating the success models, the companies should create their own benchmarks and be ahead of others. He also advocated constant exploration of new opportunities. "In every area there is presence of lack of opportunities.

Only one needs to look around to find one," the Satyam Computers chairman exhorted the large gathering of IT professionals.

Jerry Rao was emphatic that while the Indians catered to other markets, it was the US market in which they would face the toughest challenge.

"Succeed in the US, and you will be successful everywhere," he said. For this, one must put in place global management practices, business continuity and an attitude to take risks, he said.