Global Image is that India is the best destination for software
outsourcing, thanks to success stories and enterprise projects done by companies
such as TCS, Wipro, Infosys, IGATE and Polaris…many more in the list. As it happens
in all businesses during organic growth phase, application development
outsourcing business rapidly expanded in India and many software factories cropped
in all major cities in India targeting small-medium projects in B2B segment of
US, EMEA and Asia Pacific countries. Furthermore, H1B Visa, US posting, fat salary package etc. started
inspiring many students to sightlessly go for computer – software engineering
and the result out is that we now have more than required software engineers in
India.
Within the small and medium companies, it is observed that smaller
companies are found less globalized than medium size companies but even for
them, globalization is seen as main growth driver for their business. This
is today’s a reality and considered as major milestone for growth; thanks to
long time prevalent organic growth in demand for software project outsourcing
to India.
Most of such small and medium companies are propitiatory / owner driven. Majority or these business owners are technical or software engineers by themselves. They do have vision for growing their business in global offshore outsourcing business however their vision is short sited except for very few company owners who genuinely make an effort in expanding their company. They do get projects from their foreign clients but the limitation is that they have inadequate resources and expected project timelines are not client friendly with their projects. This has a bad reflection on the global image of India as the best outsourcing destination. Many of their projects are broken, dissatisfied users and dissatisfied clients are increased substantially which has started hampering the global image.
Most of such small and medium companies are propitiatory / owner driven. Majority or these business owners are technical or software engineers by themselves. They do have vision for growing their business in global offshore outsourcing business however their vision is short sited except for very few company owners who genuinely make an effort in expanding their company. They do get projects from their foreign clients but the limitation is that they have inadequate resources and expected project timelines are not client friendly with their projects. This has a bad reflection on the global image of India as the best outsourcing destination. Many of their projects are broken, dissatisfied users and dissatisfied clients are increased substantially which has started hampering the global image.
You might say that this was expected and there is nothing new about it;
I agree and the point is valid but it is a “growing pain” now for most of the
small-medium software companies in India. Within the small and
medium company’s slot, smaller companies are found less globalized than medium
size companies so they fail to understand the global buyer’s behavior and
expectations. Engineers of such companies mostly come from unknown engineering
college with mediocre knowledge and no experience. (This is another issue cropped
up in India) They have no experience of working on international project. They may be good in
English communication (particularly from South India), but their perception and
approach to the project is highly unprofessional. They have simply tested few project closer (small) with the global buyers and think it is the same as treating and
managing domestic buyers who always prefer "sasta" (low cost)
During 5 years of my experience with software outsourcing company, one
thing I have learnt is that all global service buyers are very choosy while
selecting their offshore service provider in India. Almost all of them give very
high weightage to the company's capability, relevant experience, proof of it
and references from their own countries compared to just the skilled labor
procurement cost. By all means, development cost is important criteria however
it is certainly not more important than the other parameters. Now the sign of
organic growth phase is weaken and most of the clients have started demanding
more for their money. It also means that they are more concerned about the
“usability success” of their application.
All said and done, globalization is today’s hard reality and considered in India as
major milestone for growth whether for large enterprise or small-medium Size
Company and these SMEs do have a role to play at an international level.
Bhartesh Sagar
December 9, 2013
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