A colleague forwarded a recent article in SDA where, Jeremy Lock, IT Manager at British Energy Power & Energy Trading (BEPET) was quoted saying “Infosys opened our eyes to what was possible and what are the implications of an SOA environment.” On a similar thread, a few weeks ago, I was exchanging notes with Prashanth, who had blogged about “IT Vendor of the Year - Infosys , By Wachovia.” He mailed me back on my comment stating there is a bigger story behind such awards in the media; there is a lot of 'blood and sweat' that goes behind the scenes prior to such accolades coming one's way. His question was thought provoking … to which I still don’t have an answer. He asked:
But here is a thought, lot of teams / orgs have teams that work hard but what or how is an award winning distinguished?
Let's not mention generic factors like process etc, let's try to be more specific, your thoughts?
Of course, to reflect on such a topic would require a detailed analysis of the ‘business of software services’ and/or ‘business of offshoring,’ which I don’t intend to do in this blog. [Recall my earlier blog with debates on ‘domain knowledge’?] The reason I borrowed the title for this blog from Jim Collins’s best seller is not because it was required reading when I was in B-school; I was hoping to refresh my memory on the theme of the book that may give some clues.
However, the Million $/Euro or Rupee question remains : Is it the processes, the people, the ‘business environment,’ technical edge or a combination of these that takes one from being Good ... to Great?
Footnote: It must be the awards season; not just for Infosys … even for other top offshore vendors [Wipro BPO Sweeps IQPC's 2007 Global Excellence Awards]
