Source: Business Standard

Having established itself as a global BPO hub and aiming to become a KPO hub, from the look of things, India is ensuring technology research is the next big thing.

Which is why, there is a big smile on Srini Koppolu, President and Managing Director of Microsoft India Development Centre. He is absolutely delighted that Wal-Mart is urging its top 100-suppliers to use a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) microchip, which is becoming increasingly important for product security and identification in the retail industry.

Razor blades giant Gillette has also adopted and deployed RFID chips to stop shoplifters from stealing its blades. So successful is the technology that: “Even Benetton is planning to weave RFID chips into its clothing products, to track them worldwide,” Koppolu says excitedly.

Admittedly, a good deal for manufacturers and retailers, Koppolu is delighted, because he is one of the strongest expounders of RFID technology. And, the Microsoft veteran waxes lyrical, responding animatedly when one gets him talking about work the India centre is doing on RFID.

“What if merchandise could talk? What if a shirt or hammer or CD player communicated automatically and not just when its barcode is scanned? Imagine every item talking about itself as soon as it pulls into the warehouse.”

You may well ask: “Products talking?”, and whether Koppolu is ‘Crazy kiya re?’ No, he isn’t, far from it! Just very innovative and having kick-started the RFID project from Microsoft India Development Centre, he is keen to inform everyone that there is more to come. “The best part will be when products pass their expiry date and start to scream, ‘I am too old, replace me’.”

However, Koppolu wasn’t always an IT innovator and like many another IT professional aspirant, he went to USA to do his Masters in Computer Science for ‘purely better job opportunities’.

Before the first semester was up, he was writing line after line of software code and spent 10-years in Redmond, before returning to India in August 1998 like a number of other IT professionals. “Not because, I was homesick but because, I was convinced that India was ready for a global research outfit”.

Shifting roles from being a Microsoft Technical Manager to an Organisational Leader, his vision has seen, the sprawling 42-acre Microsoft India Development Centre, become a key part of Microsoft’s future strategic direction.

Technology research is fast becoming the next frontier for India to explore, with even Hewlett-Packard (HP), the technology giant acknowledging and estimating that innovative R&D (Research & Development) has an addressable market of nearly $1.1-trillion. This is why it invests nearly $3.5-billion annually on R&D, and a major portion of it is outsourced to HP labs in India.

Analysing why India is becoming so important in the field of innovative technology research, Ajay Gupta, Lab Director at HP reasons: “The R&D emphasis is on countries like India, Russia, and China, because the next billion customers will be from these BRIC countries.”

For those who are not aware what BRIC stands for, it is a term derived from the first letters of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and which Goldman Sachs investment bank used in a 2003 paper, wherein it argued that the economies of the BRICs are developing rapidly and would by 2050 eclipse most of the current richest countries of the world.

Confident of Indian technological innovation, HP Labs in India have staked out areas like mobile and personal computing, networking the paper world, and sponsored services. Their confidence is not misplaced, as Dr. S. Ramani, Director for Science & Technology, and his team have developed 2D (two-dimensional) barcodes for the prevention of data forgery or printed text manipulation.

Thereby, before digital signatures can be printed on paper documents, the document has to be made machine-readable with the help of 2D barcodes, where the data and a digital signature are encoded.

According to Ramani, potential savings for 2D barcode paper documents are substantial. “Forgery is rated among the top three sources of fraud in India and only 50% of instances are identified through internal audits,” he points out.

Already, the firm is in talks with several government institutions and agencies for deploying machine readable documents. “A pilot project is underway to issue secure documents such as experience certificates or identity cards to employees,” he adds.

Enthusing, Ramani asks one to imagine how these documents will enable any citizen to get an authenticated government document from an Internet kiosk, or even in their own homes. How? The request for a document is transmitted from an Internet kiosk to a central document issuing authority, where it is processed and a digitally signed, bar-coded document is returned to the kiosk.

Unearthing specific consumer needs in emerging economies definitely aids innovation for R&D majors. For instance, how does one evaluate the language skills of hundreds of contact centre employees? How does one rate an individual’s ability to understand English spoken in a myriad international accents?

However, for a burgeoning outsourcing industry like India’s, it comes with associated problems. In an effort to solve the recruitment problems for its BPO arm, IBM Daksh’s India Research Lab researchers came up with a web-based interactive tool called Sensei (Japanese for teacher).

Aptly describing it, Om Deshmukh, a researcher says: “Sensei checks and rates the grammar, pronunciation, diction and comprehension of voice-based call centre agents by requiring them to respond to simulated situations — then automatically rates their performance and highlights areas for improvement.”

Similarly, HP Labs in India identified power outages as a key factor limiting computer accessibility and utility in rural areas. To counter the problem, it designed a community PC that is able to run on car batteries.

While, most Indian R&D outfits have yet to come up with significant innovations in their product lines, Indian development units contribute more than just a trickle to the process. Intel is probably the best epitome of this practical emphasis, with its India Development Centre, its largest non-manufacturing site outside of the US. Taking a highly discipline approach, Intel is extremely careful about selecting projects it backs from India.

“We do no research that can be classified as cheap,” insists Rahul Bedi, a Director in Intel’s India office. Most of Intel’s latest chips and processors have been designed extensively by its researchers in its India Development Centre in Bangalore, where it employs 3,000-staff of which close to 2,900 are devoted only to R&D. Intel India is responsible for conducting over 800-invention disclosures and has filed 50-patents to date.

As academicians increasingly embrace the corporate world, there seems to be no dearth of professionals in the field of R&D. For instance, P. Anandan was an Assistant Professor of Computer science at Yale University for four years, and best recognised for being the developer of video stabilisation technology for ground and airborne video surveillance.

In a research career spanning two decades, Anandan conducted pioneering research in video motion analysis, before joining Microsoft Research India as Managing Director of, commencing operations in January 2005. “I worked for months out of makeshift offices in Bangalore and struggled to get employees onboard who had Ph.Ds,” he says.

For Microsoft Research, innovations for markets like India have revolved around developing computers for an illiterate population. Kentaro Toyama, principal researcher along with his team has developed a prototype of a system that connects illiterate domestic workers with families, who require their services.

“The system typically comprises pictures, video and voice commands to tell rural women what jobs are available, how much the jobs pay and where they are,” Toyama explains.

However, while these women understood how to use the technology, they found it difficult to comprehend why a computerised system was better than traditional word-of-mouth methods.

“We created a video showing a woman complaining to her spouse that she needed another job, and using the computer to find it,” which Anandan says, clicked instantly. The toughest part is system implementation, since most women who do domestic work do not own computers, rues Toyama.

Currently, fine-tuning a software called Business finder, there is 27-year old Sumit Mittal, a young researcher, who has opted to return to India after completing his MS from Rice University, Texas.

Another next-generation, real-time, presence-based mobile technology developed at IBM’s IRL, offers mobile phone consumers the ability to locate and use the nearest service vendors, whether plumbers, electricians, carpenters or doctors. Mittal, together with his team invested a half-year in making these ‘yellow pages’ available to mobile phone users.

“It provides a uniform search capability for both ‘mobile’ businesses and vendors, such as, taxis and plumbers, as well as ‘static’ businesses and vendors including stores and gas stations,” says he.

Already, an IBM business development team is marketing the service as a ‘great value proposition for micro-businesses such as plumbers and mechanics with little or no market reach’.

IRL researchers claim, the technology could either be hosted by a telecom service provider, “as a differentiating value-added service to its consumer base”, observes Mittal, or cut across different operators.

On the surface, Indian innovation has never been stronger. Globally, multinationals spent close to $200-billion on R&D last year, with the choicest cut spent on computing and communications. Take for example, Microsoft, which spent $6.6-billion last year, whereas, IBM and Intel spent a little over $6-billion each, and Cisco Systems and Hewlett-Packard spent almost $4-billion each. A major portion of these amounts went into making incremental improvements and drumming up new ideas for fast marketing.

With eight laboratories on three continents, IBM has around 300-scientists at its India Research Laboratory concentrating on areas, such as, automatic speech recognition, relational databases and disk storage.

In the recent past, researchers were judged by their patents and papers and still are; however, today they can be found rolling up their shirtsleeves and working side by side, alongside company consultants, designing and delivering services for larger corporate clients, reflecting IBM India’s transition into ‘services science’.

As India’s services business is fast commoditising, as in the case of hardware before it, IBM realizes it must also add intellectual property to its India offerings. “Putting researchers on the case is a great way to charge clients a premium,” says Ambarish Dasgupta, Executive Director at PriceWaterhouseCooper, a research and consulting major.

Usually, it is the norm for firms to invest development dollars, in order to stay ahead with products their customers use. To a certain extent it is simply a matter of protecting the cash cow i.e. the virtual computer at IBM, printers at Hewlett-Packard and desktop applications at Microsoft.

“If you’re a technology innovator, the moment you get ahead of the pack you have to research,” says Dr. Daniel Dias, Director, IBM India Research Lab. “That’s to make sure nobody can catch up.”

However, Dasgupta, is wary of spending so much on R&D. Typically, firms that devote 5-10% of their revenues on ‘improving products to keep an advantage over competitors’, “They are doing something to maintain business,” he castigates, “and India lends a fertile and cheap bed for this.”

Something, India should bear in mind, if it has to fight for its place as a strategic investment for technology companies. Starting out with only 20-professionals, Microsoft India Development Centre has now swelled to 1,200-employees.

Koppolu admits: “The first three years, it gave nothing but sleepless nights. Today, the centre has matured into the second-largest outside Redmond and is a platform for taking up key software development works.”

This is India’s new face. Welcome, to India, the global hub of cutting edge R&D!

INSIDE INDIA …. INNOVATINGLY INTERESTING FACTS
Some India Specific Original Solutions
From HP Labs - Print what you see!

Want to download broadcast data and print it in real-time? TVPrinCast has run trials for key corporations, as well as, integrated it into the SatCom-based training programme for gram panchayat members. It can provide reading material, classroom notes, test papers and updates simultaneously during the live broadcast of a television programme.

In other words, the technology augments the TV viewing experience with a printer. HP Labs estimates that it could double up as telemedicine channel, public information dissemination tool, and even provide printable practical guidelines for epidemic prevention in remote areas.

From INTEL - Faster, Smaller!
Intel’s Penryn processors are expected to push desktop PCs to run 40% faster than the latest Intel Core 2 chips. Intel’s latest processor architecture will allow consumer electronics vendors to make simpler designs for digital home products.

By 2008, it will sell chips as a common foundation that spans products from PCs to consumer electronics, including laptops, televisions, set-top boxes and other networked media players.

All this will be made possible by shrinking its chip features from 60-nanometres to 45-nanometres. Intel India Research Centre’s role in producing the next generation silicon wafers and smart chipset processors is undeniably high.

From MSR - Warana Unwired!
Microsoft ran an experiment replacing a PC-based system, for helping Warana village, with a mobile phone-based system. The new mobile system replicates almost all PC-based functionality. The project is up and running 24-hours and Microsoft has recorded farmers using data at odd times like 3:30 in the morning. Microsoft now wants to scale up the project to include nearly 54-villages.

Microsoft researchers replaced the client PCs with SMS-enabled phones. A smartphone was attached to the server through a USB port to a PC server, thus creating an SMS gateway. This promises to save nearly $22,000, primarily arising from the maintenance costs of PCs.

From IBM India Research Lab - Bank on it!
HDFC Bank receives millions of customer emails. The system requires customer care executives to manually click open each email and respond to it. IBM India Research Lab has developed software that allows the bank to categorise the emails without opening them manually.

The software scans the email for keywords (say ‘good service’, ‘change of address’, ‘lost ATM card’ and so on) and groups the email. It also exploits the context information, so it’s easy to find out how many times a customer emails, and whether his problems were addressed or not.

IBM is now planning to market the software to other banks for smart customer information management, targeted marketing, fraud detection and prevention and legal compliance.

Source:in.reuters.com

BANGALORE (Reuters) - Satyam Computer Services Ltd. is eyeing more outsourcing deals in higher margin engineering designs to offset the impact of a stronger rupee on exports, an official said on Monday.

New York-listed Satyam is negotiating eight deals worth $20 million to $25 million each in engineering, T.S.K. Murthy, head of integrated engineering solutions at the Hyderabad-based firm told reporters.

At least two deals are likely to be finalised before the end of the fiscal year in March 2008, he said. Satyam’s key clients include General Electric, Qantas Airways Ltd. and Nestle.

Aerospace and automobile companies are stepping up outsourcing of complex engineering works like designing product components, but it can take up to two years for Indian IT services companies to finalise deals.

The global offshore engineering spend is expected to grow to $150-$225 billion by 2020 and India, with its talent pool and experience in engineering services, could pick up 25 percent of that, the National Association of Software and Service Companies said.

Satyam, India’s No. 4 software services exporter, reported a lower-than-expected 7 percent rise in quarterly profit on Friday, as a stronger rupee squeezed its margins.

India’s export-driven software firms such as industry leader Tata Consultancy Services and Satyam are increasingly looking at higher margins services to offset the stronger rupee that rose to a nine-year high of 40.23 a dollar on Monday.

Source: Times of India

As India pushes its success, as back-office of the world in recent years, it has begun a fast track transition into the Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO), Design Process Outsourcing (DPO), Engineering Process Outsourcing (EPO), Human Resources Outsourcing (HRO), and what have you, global hub. However, with the global outsourcing industry pegged to reach a market size of $1,430-billion by 2009-end, India can expect to face stiff competition from countries, such as, China, Malaysia and Singapore, all wishing to emulate an outsourcing success story, India has set in motion.

Frost & Sullivan (F&S), a global consultancy firm in a conducted survey, has ranked India as the top destination for shared services and outsourcing across various verticals, and trailing behind it are China, Ireland, Singapore, Malaysia, Mexico, Czech Republic, Poland, the Philippines and Canada.

Low labour costs, an abundant supply of skilled manpower are some of the key factors for India being positioned as the top outsourcing destination, globally. As India’s outsourcing sector matures, becomes relevantly experienced and consolidates, its SSO providers are beginning to move up the value chain, expanding their onshore presence to strengthen global delivery capabilities, according to the F&S report. This even while, the report adds, India’s top outsourcing destination position is being threatened by the emergence of countries like China, as an attractive destination for outsourcing, IT, research and development and procurement services.

Success, the report finds has also beleaguered India’s growth by factors, such as, high attrition rates, poor infrastructure, rising wages and appreciation of rupee against the US dollar. “SSO is no longer just about cost arbitrage, instead SSO operators are adding value through their skill sets and competencies, wherever they are located,” says Nitin Bhat, Frost & Sullivan, Vice President Asia-Pacific (ICT Practice).

And, while the Indian rupee’s appreciation against certain currencies, especially the US dollar comes as good news to many, it has also put a spoke in the wheel of Saturday night partying indulged in by the BPO and IT sector.

A number of IT and BPO firms based in Bangalore, in an attempt to counter the negative impact of an appreciating rupee, have once again instituted Saturday as a full working day, effectively bringing down Saturday Night Fever and putting an end to boogie-woogying till the wee morning hours.

While, IT firms toy with the idea of working Saturdays, BPO employees are being asked to put in an hour extra everyday at work. Working 24 x 7, on an average, BPO employees put in 40-hours every week, however, with the revision in working hours, an employee will now have to put in 50-hours a week.

BPO employees are not happy with the idea as it will only add to work pressure. However, the IT and BPO sector reiterate that this is inevitable, leaving employees little choice, but to comply and put in extra working hours. N.R. Narayana Murthy, the chief mentor of Infosys Technologies affirms, currency changes to be beyond the control of the IT industry, forcing it to look at other ways to increase productivity.

According to a source, this has compelled most IT and BPO firms to discuss the re-working of billing rates with clients, so as to accommodate every extra hour put in by the service provider.

Sharat Kapadia, an IT consultant, says the current five day week for IT sector employees may change to working 10-hours on weekdays and 6-hours on Saturday, adding that employees will be paid extra. While, this may take into account the appreciating power of the rupee, it remains to be seen how the sector counters rising wages.

Further, the Frost & Sullivan study also forecasts the global SSO market will grow at a compound annual rate of 15% to reach a market size of $1,430-billion by 2009-end. Along with India and China, the F&S study believes Malaysia, which boasts of excellent infrastructure and low attrition rates, may also begin to feature as an ideal outsourcing hub.

All said and done, and whatever studies may say, it will be hard to topple India from its present position as favourite outsourcing destination. What the study has not taken into account is the fact, while the Indian rupee is getting stronger, attrition is rampant, as a result of which wages are rising, however, industry experts are already working on tackling these issues. As for infrastructure, the legislative and executive organs of the government have been shaken out of their slumbering lethargy, and they realise, in order to sustain India’s current position as favourite outsourcing destination, best country for tourism, including business and medical tourism, the sub-continent’s crumbling infrastructure will have to be replaced with one able to cope with hordes of global businessmen, tourists and those in need of medical help.

The wheels have been set in motion, and like Kumbhkaran waking out of his sleep, India is realising, if it wishes to see a transformation from developing to a developed nation, then it has to work fast to change the present status quo. Consequently, changes have begun to take place and it is just a matter of 5 – 10 years, before India can boast of first world status.

On the other hand, China, Malaysia and other India wannabes have only just woken up to the potential of outsourcing, whereas India’s outsourcing industry has matured and is moving ahead. By the time they realise what the entire game is about, India fully able, experienced, equipped and retaining its outsourcing edge, will let them take over lower end jobs, while it does innovative, cutting edge research and development, manufacturing, etc.

Every study conducted comes out with its own equation, but what remains clear is, India is and will continue to retain its position as favourite outsourcing hub, merely because, whilst other countries are just starting out, India has already completed its homework, and then some!

Source: Economic Times

While, India’s BPO sector beavers away, attempting to transform itself into a global Knowledge Process Outsourcing hub; it is no secret that the IT / ITeS / BPO sector finds itself faced with twin challenges of a skilled manpower crunch and high attrition rate. Certainly, these are big issues that could undermine India’s position as global BPO / KPO hub. As well, India also needs to address the issue of managerial talent i.e. its managers lack interpersonal skills, many of whom even lack fluency in English – the language of the BPO / KPO industry, including empathy and inability to judge people. They are team leads / managers who not only lack judgement skills, but also lack the ability to motivate their team to perform over and above their personal levels.

However, on one count i.e. skilled manpower crunch, the razor-sharp Indians have lost little time in combating this major problem. They are resorting to the practise of re-hiring retired employees, especially in the field of Research & Development (R&D). A rippingly good move, a move that could possibly help counter attrition, as well, since mature employees are less likely to skitter around from firm to firm, in search of bigger pay cheques.

Case in point, take a look at Subramaniam, an ex-chemical analyst in a Godrej firm. He was happily retired, until one day the phone rang and this 60-year old found himself talking to the Vice President of R&D, who told him he was urgently needed to bail out the firm from a deep crisis. It turned out the plant in Bharuch, Gujarat had run into problems due to erroneous analyses and the Vice President requested Subramaniam to fix it. Stirred and shaken out of a relaxed retirement, it was a perfect opportunity for Subramaniam to get back to work, albeit only for a short while. Since then, Subramaniam is back to wearing business suits, as he travels from Mumbai to Gujrat on Mondays and returns on Fridays.

Thus, while millions of graduates pass out of India’s universities and colleges each year, yet, only a limited number of them are employable, and this is why Indian firms have no option but to re-hire the skilled expertise and experience of its retired employees. Surely the IT Team Lead / Manager, who claimed 50-plus men / women find it difficult to understand or grasp astrology (and other subjects), as they are past the age, should be asked to put a sock in his mouth. His statement reeked not only of open discrimination but of hidden sexism, as well, since the observation was made to a female employee of a certain age.

Lack of employable graduates, experienced skills and expertise has seen many BPO / KPO and other sector firms increase company retirement age, so as to address the problem of talent scarcity. Larsen &Toubro (L&T) and the aviation industry, where the retirement age of pilots is now 65-years from the earlier 58-years, are classic cases of the ‘Old is Gold’ syndrome sweeping the country. Instances of firms re-calling their employees post retirement is on the rise, and they are not reluctant or apologetic about leveraging the expertise, these individuals have garnered during their employment tenure. Says Accord Group Director, Sonal Aggarwal: “It works both for the organisations and the people, as the company benefits from the experience and understanding of the person and the latter is not only gainfully employed, but is non-threatening after retirement as he / she is not a part of the rat race anymore.”

S.K. Dutt of L&T – Human Resources opines.: “What can stop a person from working after he / she is 60? As long as the person is healthy and there is an alignment between the need of the organisation and requirement of the incumbent, there is no problem in hiring such people.”

Aditya Narayan Purohit, former Director of High Altitude Plant Physiology Research Centre (HAPPRC), a Padmashree recipient who retired in 2001, is now working as a Consultant for L&T, as his innate desire to work among the farmers brought him back to the fold. “I was mainly into research and the work hours were not fixed. It’s more relaxed now and we get activated once the clients come here,” he says.

The dearth of talent is what compels ex- employers to recall retire employees, as more niche and specialised the requirement, greater is the need for such people. Moreover, the requirement varies from project work to R&D, and many firms, such as, Indian Oil, L&T, Bajaj Electronics, Godrej are capitalising hugely on this new trend.

Though, re-calling retired employees and making the most of their experience is an excellent short-term solution, it is not enough to rely solely on these people, as succession planning can be severely impacted. A more long-term and sustained solution could lie in training and grooming fresh batches of recruits, to cater to such situations.

The trend trashes the limited and uneducated viewpoint of that IT geek, who said anyone over 50-years of age loses it, as increasingly, firms turn to members of their retired communities to plug holes in employee ranks that have fallen prey to talent crunch and attrition. As well, the trend also proves the old adage ‘Old is really Gold!’, and everyone over 50-years of age does not have moth-eaten brains, as that IT geek would have it! Moral of the story, don’t look down upon your employees who are nearing retirement age. They may well be the one’s to save your bacon, as Subramaniam did, when the younger, immaturer, less experienced employees put a serious spoke in the smooth functioning of your IT/ BPO / KPO firm!

Source: Business Standard

In growth mode, GSS America Infotech Limited, a Hyderabad-based enterprise application integration and infrastructure management services company will be investing Rs. 90-crore for expanding the firm.

The funding will be used to set up an additional global delivery centre (GDC) in Hyderabad, including meeting working capital requirements for GSS America and establishing offices at various strategic locations overseas.

Bhargav Marepally, Chairman and Managing Director of GSS America Infotech confirms an IT park building at Hitec City has been short-listed for setting up an off-shore facility, with the services of Centrix Interior Private Limited engaged for designing its interior.

“The total cost for the 1-lakh sq. ft. facility is estimated to be Rs. 61-crore, while we require Rs. 25-crore towards working capital. We are looking at hiring around 1,000-professionals for the facility and expect to fully occupy it by the end of this financial year,” says Bhargav.

Currently, GSS America has two global development centres in Hyderabad, with a headcount of 270-employees, while globally, it employs over 550-professionals. High on ambition, GSS also plans to set up offices in Europe, West Asia and Far East, within the next two years.

Bhargav states, Rs. 9-crore will be required for the setting up of its overseas offices, and initially, these facilities would look after implementation and support functions for GSS products. Eventually, these overseas offices will concentrate on the marketing functions of the company in their respective regions.

In order to raise funds, GSS hopes to tap the capital market with an initial public offering (IPO) of over 3.4-million equity shares worth Rs. 10 each through a 100% book building route.

Bhargav informs: “We have filed the draft red herring prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) and are now awaiting the regulator’s clearance to go ahead with the IPO during this financial year,” adding GSS America hopes to enhance its position as a key player in the global IT solutions and services industry through the inorganic route, by acquiring firms overseas.

Bhargav claims GSS America has already identified three overseas firms and initiated a process of due diligence. A Letter of Intent will be entered into, once the IPO has been set up.

Successfully pursuing its plans, last year i.e. in April 2006, GSS America Info-tech with the help of its US subsidiary GSS America Inc., managed to acquire Infospectrum Consulting Inc., an US-based consulting company, whose projected revenues for the current year stand at $17-million.