In last few months, there has been two distinct strategies around captives by two different category of Captive IT centers. First category is the one which has invested in the captive couple of years ago and second where clients are just setting it up.
Sell vs. Scale. What is the strategy?
It doesn’t need an opinion poll to concur on the kind of times we are living in today. Amidst a new vocabulary where A stands for Assets, B for Bailout, C for Crisis and D for Depression- there is sense of déjà vu that we have seen it all. Amidst confused reports of whether we are at the beginning of the crisis, in the midst of it or at the tail-end, every morning continues to deliver bad news, as predictably as the rising sun.
What does this mean for IT service providers? Is this a time to sit back, blame it on the bad times and hope the good times will return (while taking a well earned break)? Or is this an opportunity is disguise – an opportunity to recoup, reinvent and rebuild?
In the background of unprecedented financial crisis and rising need to get higher productivity with lower costs using IT, the next wave of global sourcing would be using concerted or collaborative sourcing. It is no longer a nice to hear paradigm or good-to-have, it’s the need of the hour.
Right in the middle of the meltdown is the Financial Services and the drama in last few months is slowly started to settle down. We don't have companies going bust over the weekend anymore.
I have been thinking about what's going on in the strategic sourcing world recently and what our reaction should be?
First of all, there is a panic in the market. I could not pick up any other word to describe what is happening out there. Unfortunately, lots of people are not able to see it as either they are isolated or they choose to live in another world.
And, people are acting as they would in any panic environment- decisions are taken by gut-feel rather than assessing the market scenario. Every IT sourcing person that I have met in last few months is looking at only one thing and that's cost. Yep, we can keep talking about the other nice stuff like strategic partnership etc. but right now cost is king.
At the same time some organization are willing to break the mould and enter unchartered territory. Either way, both will require significant innovation in the way services are delivered to client. And' that's a welcome change for everyone. Innovate and help your client. "When people fear, be greedy"- easier said than done.
