newsline
The Big News About Big Data
V o l. 2 Issue 9 SEPTEMBER 2012
06 11 13 Indian BPO: Digital Literacy Exploring Africa Re-engineering to Remain Relevant
http://www.nasscom.in/nasscom-newsletter/nasscom-newsline NASSCOM Research At a Glance
NASSCOM has recently released segment-specific reports highlighting opportunities available in these areas. Some of the reports are highlighted below:
Highlights the opportunity in offering services around Big Data implementation and analytics across industries. Covers the market size, emerging growth opportunities and competitive landscape, proposals for winning in the global Big Data: The Next Big Thing and local market. India’s IS Outsourcing Market: Adapting to Megatrends – Reinventing Business
A comprehensive deep-dive analysis of the global retail industry from a demand Analyses the strategies firms (retailers) and supply side (IT-BPO need to adopt on this journey service providers) perspective. – build suitable offerings and differentiation, align with overall An Overview of strategy, financial impact, etc. the Retail Market: Analysing Opportunities
Verticalisation: Industry Evolution for a Better Value Proposition
Highlights the pivotal role of Marketing Analytics, and the opportunities, challenges and future trends associated with it. All reports are FREE for members. To get access Marketing Analytics to the industry trends and insights, become a member today.
Join Now – Write to us at [email protected] To view the complete list, visit www.nasscom.in/research-reports What’s Inside Editorial Opportunities Galore
We have for you a Newsline that covers much, presenting you with insights on a host of issues related to the Indian IT-BPO industry, especially emerging opportunities.
The big movers of this decade is expected to be Big Data and analytics, which by all accounts is anticipated to grow into a significant market opportunity for both the IT services as well as BPO industries. A NASSCOM- CRISIL report, that we released at our recent NASSCOM BPO Summit 2012, highlights the potential of this segment and what Indian players can do to leverage it.
While continuing on the areas of opportunity, we share 04 The Big News About Big Data with you news from the world of retail, where the sector is expected to touch USD 15.7 trillion in 2013. 06 Indian BPO: Re-engineering to The Indian IT-BPO industry is providing a value-add Remain Relevant to the vertical through its merchandising, logistics/ SCM, store operations/management, CRM and channel 08 Exploring the Retail Opportunity management solutions.
09 Emerge In this issue, we also talk about the emerging geographic markets, key among them Africa. NASSCOM led its third 11 Digital Literacy delegation to the continent in an effort to improve the traction of the Indian IT-BPO industry in this vast market. 12 Top 20 IT/BPO Exporters NASSCOM has been advising member organisations, especially SME members about how they can crack 13 Exploring Africa Africa and the strategies they need to embrace in order to gain first mover advantage here.
We also talk about capacity building, especially among SMEs, that are constantly fighting for talent. NASSCOM hosted a special roundtable session, with eminent panellists from the HR sector, to discuss ways in which SMEs could attract, develop and retain expertise. Details from this session are additionally shared in this issue.
Do let us know what you think about the issue. We welcome contributions, so write in with your views on the key issues of the day. Copyright © 2012, NASSCOM, International Youth Centre, Teen Murti Marg, Chanakyapuri, New Delhi - 110 021 Phone: 91 11 2301 0199. To contact Newsline Editorial team, write to [email protected] Sangeeta Gupta Sr Vice President, NASSCOM Design and production: CREATIVE INC. (011 4163 4301)
Newsline september 2012 3 Cover Story
The Big News About Big Data
Over the last few years, there has been growing talks valuable business insight, that organisations can use to about the emerging Big Data opportunity, and why the predict changes in client and market sentiment, identify Indian IT-BPO sector needs to focus on building its the current state of business and new opportunities, skill sets in this domain. quantify existing and potential risks, and automate decisions for real-time processes. Big Data also enables According to a report by NASSCOM and global research better customer segmentation, improved productivity and analytics organisation, CRISIL, titled ‘Big Data: and fraud detection across all industry sectors including The Next Big Thing’, Big Data essentially relates to the the public sector, healthcare, financial services, retail, rapidly growing, structured and unstructured datasets telecom, and manufacturing. with sizes that go beyond gigabytes and terabytes and into the range of petabytes and zetabytes. Conventional Big Data analytics is gaining momentum the world over, database tools are unable to store, manage, and with advanced techniques being applied on big datasets analyse this data, which is why Big Data requires to answer questions previously considered beyond reach. new advanced tools, large storage infrastructure and Advanced analytic and visualisation techniques are being capacity, and quicker methods of retrieval and informed used on datasets to uncover hidden patterns and unknown decision making. correlations for effective decision making. The Big Data ecosystem is constituted by Big Data management, Big Data furthermore, is not just voluminous and analytics, IT services and applications, while social media complex. It is also defined by variety and velocity. This analytics, sentiment analysis and behavioural analysis large quantity of data can be enterprise-specific, or are the upcoming Big Data analytics services. general, or public or private. It can be created by social networking feeds, video and audio files, emails, sensors Organisations are increasingly leveraging insights or other raw data. At the end of the day, this Big Data is a provided by Big Data by delivering ‘Big Data value’
4 Newsline September 2012 The Big News About Big Data directly to consumers through data-driven applications. These applications can reside on PCs, smartphones, India’s Big Data opportunity is estimated at USD tablets or other web-enabled devices. 200 million in 2012. The Big Data outsourcing opportunity is projected to reach around The Big Data industry USD 1.1-1.2 billion between 2012-15.
The NASSCOM-CRISIL study shows that inhibit the growth of the market in the future. The US market alone is expected to face a shortage of 1.5 million • The Big Data industry is expected to cross data-savvy managers and over 150,000 data scientists in USD 8 billion by 2012, and around USD 25 billion 2018. In this respect, India has an early mover advantage by 2015 vis-à-vis other outsourcing destinations such as China, Poland and the Philippines, in creating a robust Big Data • In 2012, the market will be dominated by pilot workforce, and meeting this shortfall. projects, with over 90 per cent being rolled out in North America In order to improve talent availability for Big Data, IT organisations like EMC, Oracle, IBM, Infosys, etc., • The emergence of niche start-ups, M&As, and are leveraging their academic alliance programmes, technological developments are catalysing the with universities in India and overseas to introduce growth of the Big Data industry courses in various areas related to the domain. Private IT training institutes in India such as NIIT and • New Big Data organisations are attracting Aptech are also developing talent through courses funding rounds of over USD 50 million specific to Big Data.
The result is that India is expected to emerge as a India too, is reflecting these global trends, with preferred destination for analytics and IT services in the several large IT services providers, and a host of new years ahead. organisations specialising in Big Data industry gaining traction. Indian service providers are adding Big Data capabilities to their portfolios by leveraging M&As and go-to-market partnerships, and focusing on talent development. The opportunity for Indian service providers, including Global In-house Centres, pure play analytic firms and IT-BPO players lies in offering services around Big Data implementation and analytics for global customers.
Limited talent availability and low awareness about the benefits of Big Data analytics, however, are expected to
Fast Facts McKinsey’s view of Big Data • Emerging academic research suggests that organisations that use data and business analytics to guide decision making are more productive and experience higher returns of equity than competitors that don’t • McKinsey research shows that ‘networked organisations’ can gain an edge by opening information conduits internally and by engaging customers and suppliers strategically through web-based exchanges of information • Over time, Big Data may well become the new type of corporate asset that will cut across business units and functions, much as a powerful brand does, representing a key basis for competition • Organisations need to start thinking in earnest about whether they are organised to exploit Big Data potential and manage the threats it can pose
(Source: Article in McKinsey Quarterly, 2011 Number 4)
Newsline september 2012 5 BPO Indian BPO: Re-engineering to Remain Relevant
From a time over 20 years ago, when it was performing a few basic functions for overseas customers, the Indian BPO industry has emerged as a preferred partner for global clients. It is not even so much about Business Process Outsourcing, as much as Business Process Management, with the sector remodelling itself to move from efficiency to effectiveness. In the last few years, BPO players have been re-engineering themselves to overcome some of the existing challenges and deliver transformation impact to customers. In order to sustain this edge, the industry now needs to focus on process excellence, newer models and best With margins getting squeezed, greater regulatory practices, and emerging opportunities such as Big Data pressure and customers cutting IT budgets, the and analytics. All of these issues were actively discussed BPO business has been hit by the global downturn. at NASSCOM’s two-day BPO Strategy Summit, held in Indian BPO organisations are facing fierce competition, Gurgaon. The conclave, a platform for reviewing industry as well as overcapacity, skills dilutions and performance as well, saw NASSCOM announce its top 15 resource turnover. BPO exporters in India listing for the year 2011-12. It is led by Genpact India, followed by Tata Consultancy With the expectations of both customers and vendors Services BPO and Aegis Ltd. at the second and third changing, there is a need to follow a middle path. positions respectively. While customers need to understand and manage risks associated with cost compression, vendors have NASSCOM initiatives for BPO to reinvent/remodel themselves to skirt the Over the past few years, NASSCOM has undertaken new challenges. affirmative steps to:
The Indian BPO industry is already doing so by: • Ensure secure hiring processes
• Developing future-ready solutions by following a • Generate talent pool for the BPO industry — voice and verticalised approach (creating in-depth capabilities non-voice across verticals) • Help sector emerge as a preferred employer • Achieving service delivery excellence • Ensure India’s competitiveness versus China, The result of this effort is that India continues to Philippines, South America and South Africa, that are be a leader in the BPO space, accounting for over coming up as alternative BPO destinations 37 per cent of the total global sourcing BPO revenues! • Develop an industry-level branding strategy
Fast Facts Indian BPO Industry • India has maintained its leadership position in the global BPO landscape • India’s share of the global BPO sourcing market is around 37 per cent • BPO revenues stand at USD 16 billion in FY2012 • Employment stood at 876,000
• The number of organisations offering BPO services in India is now 500+
6 Newsline September 2012 Indian BPO: Re-engineering to Remain Relevant
This is the time for us to move away The industry has really moved up from being called as BPO to BPM the value chain today. The next because that is what we do today, phase of growth positively demands which is customer-centric solutions. talent with industry-specific It is the management of the full education and training. business process of a client, which Avinash Vashishtha, is technology-enabled, to offer MD, Accenture India Businesses end-to-end solutions. Customers see more value in partnering with the Indian BPO industry and continue to work in spite of an economic downturn. Som Mittal, President, NASSCOM
The Indian Government has changed We expect the Indian industry to to see the value the (BPO)sector grow five-fold from the current has generated. We need to change USD 200 million to USD 1 billion the body language of politicians by 2015. The opportunity for Indian and policymakers. service lies in offering services around Big Data implementation and Vikram Talwar, analytics for global multinationals. Co-founder and Chairman, ExL services Roopa Kudva, MD and CEO, CRISIL
The vertical structure is the way We are looking at 15-18 per cent to go. We as an industry have been growth this year. The BPO industry more intrinsic to the customers has moved from a transactional business… the BPM, still at a to a transformational model. As nascent stage, in the longer term a strategy we are hiring more is the way to go. professionals from the industry to service our customers. Keshav Murugesh, Global CEO, WNS Services Swami Swaminathan, MD & CEO, Infosys BPO
Newsline september 2012 7 Research Exploring the Retail Opportunity
The global retail industry has been maintaining a stable CAGR of around 3.1 per cent over the past few years. Besides traditional markets such as the US and Europe, global retailers are also exploring emerging regions such as China, India, Latin America, Central Asia, Eastern Europe and South East Asia, with their expanding consumer bases, supportive ecosystems and new consumption hot zones. The global retail industry is expected to touch USD 15.7 trillion in 2013. Retail goes online
Globally, retailers are moving from a pure brick-and- remains one of the fastest growing verticals for the mortar delivery model to a click-and-mortar approach. sector, with US and UK-based retail giants accounting The online shopping channel/format in fact, is rapidly for over 70 per cent of their retail revenues. turning into the most preferred channel for consumers worldwide. Over the past five years, online retail sales Several global retailers such as Wal-Mart, Tesco, Target have witnessed a CAGR of over 16 per cent and are and Sears Holdings have also established strategic expected to reach around USD 915 billion in FY2013E. Global In-house Centres (GICs) in India with the aim of The Indian eretail industry incidentally, is expected to supporting the IT management initiatives of their group touch USD 1.26 billion by 2015. organisations. Global retailers no longer view their GICs as cost arbitrage technology support centres, but as Today, retailers are investing in technology to enhance integrated strategic business hubs focused on a wide their web user experience, integrate multiple application range of high-end, mission critical product development solutions with Point-of-Sale (POS) systems and initiatives in the areas of social, digital technology, provide exceptional customer services. Key investment analytics and Big Data, etc. areas include multi-channel integration, analytics, e-Commerce, and mobile applications. The way forward
Indian IT-BPO players have developed solutions across Going forward, retailers will increasingly focus on the entire retail value chain, to address the retail market. providing end consumers (shoppers) with an omni- These relate to areas such as merchandising, logistics/ channel, ‘one-screen, one-store’ consistent experience SCM, store operations/management, CRM and channel across retail channels and touchpoints. Omni-channel management. The value proposition of the Indian implies that retailers will be able to intelligently interact IT-BPO industry encompasses technological expertise, with customers across traditional and non-traditional domain strengths, talent and a global presence. Retail channels (websites, physical stores, kiosks, direct mail, call centres, social media, mobile devices, televisions, etc.)
The best performers in the retail industry will be those who optimally combine the brick-and-mortar experience with e-Tailing as well as an omni-channel experience, keeping the end consumer as the central focus for all retail growth strategies.
The Indian IT-BPO service providers currently see these emerging trends as a significant opportunity to develop and expand niche retail-centric product and solution capabilities. Since the India market is maturing, there is a tremendous opportunity for IT-BPO players to penetrate the growing, domestic, organised/modern retail sector as well.
8 Newsline September 2012 Emerge SMBs – The Preferred Hirers?
One of the most serious challenges faced by Small and Medium Businesses (SMBs) within the people-intensive IT-BPO industry, is the acquisition of rightly-skilled talent. Unlike their larger counterparts, SMBs face difficulties in attracting, developing and retaining expertise.
This matter was discussed actively at a special roundtable session hosted jointly by NASSCOM and Business India in Chennai. Eminent panellists, including Som Mittal of NASSCOM, Kamna Prasad (CRISIL, GR&A), Deeptanshu Tiwari (InfoPro India), Tanvi Gautam (Global People Tree) and George Vattath, (Kallos Solutions), talked about how SMBs could effectively compete against larger players for manpower.
The panellists felt that the aspirations of India’s youth, especially students emerging from the country’s engineering colleges, could well be met by start-ups and emerging organisations. They felt that since GenY was more keen on challenging work The panellists also suggested that SMBs hire experts on profiles, than just high salaries, SMBs too, could a ‘per-project’ basis, and for non-critical functions, bank hope to hire them. What also went in favour of SMBs, on the large pool of ‘virtually available’ workers. Talking according to the speakers, was that these organisations about employee retention, panellists said that good, had a greater ability to take risks, which took the learning sound leadership was an imperative, as young people curve higher for employees. Panellists pointed out always looked up to their seniors. that employees could take the lead and responsibility within SMBs, on aspects that they could not in larger The discussion also veered to social media, and how organisations. While they would typically do job X in a it could be harnessed by SMBs to put word out about large IT organisation, in a smaller counterpart, if they themselves and their hiring plans. Social media, it was were identified as good talent, they would get a chance pointed out, was a cost-effective, non-traditional way of to work on Y and Z as well. reaching out to the youth. Forerunners in IP4Biz Space
In line with its focus on recognising start-ups and emerging organisations within the IT-BPO industry that have distinguished themselves in different areas, NASSCOM spotlighted five players at its Cloud and Mobility Summit held in Bengaluru recently. The organisations were acknowledged for the special work they had done in creating original IP to transform and benefit businesses. Over 50 organisations had sent in their nominations for this initiative, with five getting shortlisted as the finalists.
Newsline september 2012 9 Emerge
Here’s a look at the final five:
Organisation: Description: i7’s EagleEye product is a network analytics engine which takes an organisation’s internet pipe and extracts over i7 Networks Pvt. Ltd. 100 parameters to analyse internet traffic and meter bandwidth Product: usage. EagleEye is targeted at Cloud Service Providers (CSPs) or Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) providers looking to meter the EagleEye resource consumption of their infrastructure for correct billing, as well as enterprises consuming cloud services and organisations looking to cloud-enable their applications.
Organisation: Description: Cloud Director enables easy migration of an existing on-premise solution to the cloud. With Cloud Director, most web Cognosys Technologies applications can be repackaged and deployed on the cloud within Pvt. Ltd. hours. Presently offered in 26 languages, the ‘Cloud vendor neutral’ Product: Cloud Director covers the complete cloud management lifecycle including deployment, auto scaling, diagnostics and performance Cloud Director monitoring, elastic DNS, ready-to-use images for both Microsoft and non-Microsoft products, etc.
Organisation: Description: Extensio Information Delivery Suite provides a cross-platform delivery framework for enterprises to extend their Extensio Software applications to customer, reseller and supplier end-points by making (India) Pvt. Ltd. enterprise information available on delivery interfaces such as mobile Product: devices, mobile browsers, SMS, desktop browsers, Excel spreadsheets and web services. The Extensio framework tools help customers Extensio Information to deploy their enterprise information end-points within days and Delivery Suite weeks, with minimal development efforts.
Organisation: Description: CloudAgent is a Cloud-based, next-generation contact centre solution that enables SMEs (with requirements ranging from Ozonetel Systems two to hundreds of agents) to compete in the market. A business Product: can set up and run its cloud contact centre within 30 minutes or less, with a faster time-to-market and with zero infrastructure costs. CloudAgent The product also solves the problem of last mile connectivity in remote areas and locations where there is a limitation on hardware/ software deployments.
Description: Newgen’s new, innovative, patent-pending offering ZapIn Organisation: is a multi-platform mobile application that allows field executives to Newgen Software capture information while they are face-to-face with customers, and Technologies Ltd. initiate its processing, in real-time, at the point of contact. The app, targeted at the banking, insurance, telecom and logistics verticals, Product: helps organisations reduce business process cycle time, improve ZapIn productivity, ensure ‘first-time-right’ and no rework, secure data and documents, enable compliance and cut costs.
10 Newsline September 2012 Initiatives Digital Literacy
Be it online shopping, using an ATM, receiving market updates via SMS, using a vending machine, taking a picture of a loved one or sharing news on the radio, we are living in an age of convergence, where technology continues to surprise us.
With the Bharat Broadband Network Ltd. (BBNL) all set to roll out the National Optical Fibre Network that aims to provide connectivity to 250,000 gram panchayats and over 35 million mobile internet users in the country, access to technology will no longer be a worry. What will be worrying is whether all citizens know what they can do with technology, whether they know how to leverage it for personal growth, and whether they have easy access to it. While the answer will be a ‘yes’ for a fraction of the population, it is still likely to be a ‘no’ for the majority. citizens. “We are dismantling barriers by creating the right These were some of the concerns addressed at the Digital eco-system that will help increase digital literacy rates Literacy Conclave held on August 22, 2012 in New Delhi. in India. We want to create an India where at least one Organised by Intel and Hindustan Times, the conclave was individual in every family is digitally literate,” he said. an initiative rolled out by the Digital Literacy Forum under the aegis of NASSCOM and the NASSCOM Foundation. Addressing CEOs at the conclave, Som Mittal, President, The Digital Literacy Forum, led by Intel, will bring together NASSCOM spoke about how all players – corporates, organisations such as Microsoft, Lenovo, NIIT, Dell and government agencies and NGOs — had to come together HP. The objective is to unite the effort of each of these to scale digital literacy to reach the vast populace of organisations in the field of digital literacy, and create an the country. According to the NASSCOM President, the impact at the national level. government needed to “follow the fibre”, to bring digital literacy to areas that had been newly connected. Speakers at the conclave agreed that digital literacy was not so much about computer know-how, as it was about “In today’s day and age, merely being in possession of the ability to locate, organise, understand, evaluate and a device such as a mobile or a laptop is not important. analyse information using digital technology. Rather, it is important to know how to leverage the device,” said Intel South Asia Managing Director, Debjani Ghosh. The challenge for India, it was felt, lay in unleashing the power of technology to connect, and transform the lives The Digital Literacy Forum will celebrate a Digital Literacy of her citizens and employing digital literacy as a tool Week in early December to engage corporate volunteers in for inclusion. reaching the masses. The event will also serve as a great opportunity for various players in the digital space to come Speaking to attendees at the conference, Sachin Pilot, together and scale the effort. Minister of State, IT and Communications pointed to the multiplicity of languages in India, and the challenge the Rita Soni, CEO, NASSCOM Foundation stated that the government faced in delivering common content to all organisation was looking to create a common platform where both public and private partners could share their “We are dismantling barriers by creating the expertise for making digital literacy a reality. “This will right ecosystem that will help increase digital require investment of both time and resources in the literacy rates in India. We want to create an India development of mechanisms and monitoring tools that where at least one individual in every family is will ensure true reach and impact,” she said. digitally literate.” (For more information on the forum, contact Santosh Sachin Pilot Abraham, Senior Manager, NASSCOM Foundation at Minister of State, IT and Communications [email protected])
Newsline september 2012 11 NASSCOM Rankings Top 20 IT/BPO Exporters
NASSCOM has released its rankings of India’s top Number 1, 2 and 3 slots respectively. It must be 20 IT services exporters for the year 2011-12. The mentioned here that iGate completed its acquisition list of finalists however, does not feature certain of Patni Computers in May 2011, and both are organisations whose corporate headquarters are now a combined entity. There are several familiar located overseas, but that have significant India- names in the listing such as HCL Technologies, centric delivery capabilities. Had they shared their MphasiS, L&T Infotech, Syntel, Polaris Financial India-based revenue figures, organisations such as Technology, MindTree, Zensar, Infotech Enterprises, Accenture, Cognizant, HP, Capgemini, Oracle and IBM amongst others. would also have found a place within the ranking. Here’s a chart that provides a view of the premier The top 20 tally, meanwhile, is led by TCS, Infosys 20 IT-BP exporters and their place on NASSCOM’s and Wipro, who have traditionally occupied the top 20 chart.
Ranking 2012 Organisation Name Ranking 2012 Organisation Name
1 Genpact India Pvt. Ltd. 9 Serco Global Services Ltd.
2 Tata Consultancy Services BPO 10 EXL Service
3 Aegis Ltd. 11 Hinduja Global Solutions Ltd.
4 Wipro BPO HCL Technologies Ltd. - 12 5 Firstsource Solutions Ltd. Business Services
6 Aditya Birla Minacs Worldwide Ltd. 13 Hero Management Service Ltd.
7 WNS Global Services (P) Ltd. 14 MphasiS Ltd.
NASSCOM Top 15 BPO Exporters 15 BPO FY2011-12 Top NASSCOM 8 Infosys BPO 15 Syntel Ltd.
Source: NASSCOM
Ranking 2012 Organisation Name Ranking 2012 Organisation Name
1 Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. 11 Polaris Financial Technology Ltd.
2 Infosys Ltd. 12 MindTree Ltd.
3 Wipro Ltd. 13 Zensar Technologies Ltd.
4 HCL Technologies Ltd. 14 Infotech Enterprises Ltd.
5 Mahindra IT & Business Services1 15 Hexaware Technologies Ltd.
6 MphasiS Ltd. 16 KPIT Cummins Infosystems Ltd. Honeywell Technology Solutions 7 iGate2 17 Lab Pvt. Ltd. 8 Larsen & Toubro Infotech Ltd. 18 NIIT Technologies Ltd.
9 Syntel Ltd. 19 3i Infotech Ltd. NASSCOM Top 20 IT Services Exporters Services 2011-12 20 IT Top NASSCOM Infinite Computer Solutions 10 CSC, India 20 (India) Ltd. Note: 1 – Includes Mahindra Satyam and Tech Mahindra 2 – iGATE Patni acquisition was completed on May 12, 2011, and now are a combined entity Source: NASSCOM
12 Newsline September 2012 Global Trade Development Exploring Africa
NASSCOM led its third delegation to Africa, in an effort to improve the traction of the Indian IT-BPO industry in this vast market. NASSCOM considers Africa a huge opportunity, especially for emerging organisations, and has been advising its SME member organisations to tap this massive business potential by staying focused on a particular country, providing niche solutions to customers at competitive price-points and building strong partnerships with local organisations, as the cost of setting up operations in the continent is very high. drawn significant participation and had been greatly The delegation, which visited Nigeria, Uganda and appreciated by the attendees. Kenya from September 16-24, 2012, worked to create awareness among the local organisations in these Incidentally, several Indian IT majors are currently nations about the Indian IT-BPO industry. In Nigeria, operating in Africa. These include leaders such as the delegation visited both Lagos and Abuja, where Infosys, TCS, HCL, Mahindra Satyam and Pune-based it has been working actively with peer organisations Zensar Technologies. “Africa is one of the fastest growing such as ITAN (with over 350 IT member organisations) economies and with inflation falling from 22 per cent in and NITDA, a clearing house for IT projects in the the 1980s to 8 per cent in the last decade, the continent public sector. holds out tremendous opportunities,” comments Ameet Nivsarkar, Vice-President, NASSCOM. In Uganda, the NASSCOM delegation was hosted by the National Information Technology Authority Uganda NASSCOM’s Africa delegation underlined the body’s (NITA-U), established by the government to coordinate, initiative to explore investment opportunities in the promote and monitor IT developments in the country. form of joint ventures and partnerships with local The NASSCOM delegation participated in Uganda’s organisations; promoting India’s IT, amongst others. first IT-BPO Leadership Conclave, a platform for select According to Nivsarkar, the visit was rolled out at a regional CEOs, CIOs, business leaders and government time when US and European markets were not showing officials to discuss the need for business transformation prospects of renewed business. through regional IT sourcing. NASSCOM delegates also got to meet representatives from several other African countries such as Rwanda, Tanzania and Malawi NASSCOM’s third delegation to Africa: at the conference. Key goals
Africa, which ranks among the faster growing ICT markets • To explore business and investment in the world, has proved to be a draw for the Indian opportunities in Nigeria, Uganda and Kenya IT-BPO industry. Liberalisation ushered in by various countries, and a positive regulatory environment in these • To explore joint ventures/partnerships with nations have made them conducive for ICT trade and local organisations investment. The continent has huge unmet ICT demand and governments and businesses that were apprehensive • To share knowledge among organisations earlier about technology, are now harnessing it for improving efficiency, productivity and achieving inclusive, • To acquaint Indian SMEs with the African balanced growth. The IT market in Africa is expected to market and promote India’s IT strengths touch USD 26.53 billion in 2012, led by countries such as Nigeria in West Africa and Kenya and Uganda. • To create an ongoing programme for engagement between NASSCOM and its Around 15 organisations and over 17 delegates were part counterpart associations for capacity building of NASSCOM’s contingent bound for Africa. NASSCOM’s and best practice sharing delegations to the continent in 2010 and 2011 had
Newsline september 2012 13