Offshore Management Framework: The key to managing outsourced IT projects across time, distance and cultures.

« Execs frustrated by lack of innovation : Can offshoring help? | Main | Offshoring companies and innovation: Infosys ACM award »

Offshore Talent wars. Who wins: the talent!

Business Week features an article “India's Talent Gets Loads Of TLC” that talks about how India’s “Its labor supply is no longer endless.”  This is a topic of perennial interest to technology managers. The article begins with

A visit to Infosys Technologies' Mysore campus [An unofficial pictorial of the Mysore campus on Flickr]  highlights the extraordinary measures Indian companies are resorting to these days to attract and retain top talent. The 334-acre site boasts a multiplex theater shaped like a giant white dome, four huge food courts, 96 hotel-like guest houses, and a stylish activity center with a gym, pool hall, and eight-lane bowling alley. Last year the outsourcing company trained 20,000 recruits in everything from software writing to teamwork. Expansions under way will enable Infosys to train twice as many. "When I heard IBM's presentation at a job fair, they talked a lot about their brand and innovation but not much about training," says Sanjay Joshi, 22, a graduate of MS Ramaiah Institute of Technology in Bangalore. "That's why being at Infosys is the Indian middle-class dream."

As expected, the article has generated a barrage of blog responses:

It is surprising to see a usually opinionated Sadagopan blog about it without voicing his viewpoint.  Gautam Ghosh seems to disagree with the article saying “I am still not willing to give a thumbs down to the MNCs. Most of them are taking the battle straight to the Indian outsourcing firms.” 

A few points that bloggers and analysts ignore:

  • The “labor supply” was never “endless” to begin with. Technical education and training India, especially focused on IT really took off during the past decade, and continues to try to catch up with the ever growing global “market demand.” Nothing new here!
  • Discussions on 'talent management seem to veer off on ‘careers’ in domestic vs. multinationals … or product vs. software service companies (or captives vs. service providers) etc. Fact of the matter is that a career decision is hard enough without having to bring these factors into the equation.
  • Analysts (and bloggers) seem to forget ‘youngsters’ graduating from schools want to be trained and cut their teeth on live projects where they can apply their talent… why do they forget how they began their careers out of school? 
  • Taking a simplified view of Maslow's hierarchy of needs, the ‘talent’ in India, just like educated and energetic workforce elsewhere in the globe, look for Self-actualization more than just the ‘basic’ needs. A career in IT is a ticket to be a part of the global marketplace, opportunity to travel to corners of the globe; if one can paraphrase the old adage, Join a global IT company & See the world seems to be the new mantra. Employers who can satisfy this urge are going to attract and retain talent

The flip side of these viewpoints: IT ‘workers’ are no longer just ‘resources’ they are being wooed as ‘talent’ ... which if you think of it is a good thing for the talent and talent managers; right?

Posted by Mohan Babu K. on August 17, 2007 08:40 PM |

TrackBack

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://infosysblogs.com/managing-offshore-it-mt/mt-tb.fcgi/108

Comments

I blogged about it here:
http://nitnblogs.blogspot.com/2007/08/is-it-real-race-for-talent.html

I agree with you that career is a very hard thing to plan.

Posted by: Nitin | August 23, 2007 08:00 PM

Post a comment

(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)