| | By Mick James
Offshoring and
business process
outsourcing have become
so much a part of the
business landscape that
it is easy to forget
that this is an industry
which is still very much
in a state of flux and
with a lot of evolution
yet to come. One
paradigm which needs to
be urgently reversed is
that the higher ground
in the offshoring value
chain will continue to
be held by big
Anglo/American
consultancies and
systems integrators,
with offshore resources
coming in as captives or
subcontractors.
Globalisation is a
two-way street, and in
many ways it’s a more
logical move for
companies with an
established position in
offshore destinations to
build the high-end
consultancy on top of
their existing resource
base. That’s certainly
the thinking behind Tata
Consultancy Services
plan to build a
pan-European consultancy
offering which will
blend local home and
overseas resources in a
unique way.
Tata is such a
familiar name in the
offshoring context that
it’s easy to forget that
it is just one
subsidiary of the mighty
Tata Group, which has a
unique position in the
Indian economy,
combining car
manufacturing,
utilities, steel, | |
|
| | chemicals and a few
dozen other companies in
a conglomerate which is
not only the biggest in
the country but is still
privately held.
It is this unique
position that will give
Tata its advantage, not
in cost but in quality
and access to resources,
as Arun Aggarwal, Head
of Consulting Practice
at Tata Consultancy
Services explains:
“Tata Consultancy
Services is the number
one graduate choice, and
that’s a big plus
point,” he says. “While
others talk about how
they’ll create an
offshore capability we
already have a position
there that is not only
first in recruitment but
also in nurturing and
retaining the talent.”
In India Tata is
known not just for its
size but for a
commitment to employee
care and social
responsibility:
“People prefer to
join us, it’s an
environment totally
geared to developing the
talent,” says Aggarwal.
““It isn’t a partnership
environment with a huge
divide between partners
and non-partners,
there’s a lot of empathy
for employees, we don't
‘hire and fire’.”
Tata Consultancy
Services itself has
around 45,000 employees,
mostly in India, with
139 offices worldwide,
and is currently number
14 in the world in IT
services.
“Our growth rates | |
| |
| | market as much through
the consultancy route as
well.”
TCS already has a
strong client base in
the UK FTSE100, private
sector and large
non-quoted companies,
and the winning of
contracts for the NHS
National IT programme
definitely marked a
step-change in the
consciousness of TCS as
a company competing in
the same space as the
likes of IBM, Accenture
and Capgemini.
"What does and will
define us is that we try
to create an end to end
solution for clients,”
says Aggarwal. “From a
consultancy point of
view we will try to grow
a local, UK-based
consultancy group which
is sufficient to be able
to respond quickly, give
the local flavour and
serve local markets. We
won’t have enough
capacity here, to
deliver all the work we
have or plan to win,
we’ll be bringing in
resources from India or
farming out work to
India.”
Although Aggarwal
says Tata is not going
to “pick a fight with
McKinsey” the
consultancy offering
will cover everything
from operating strategy,
IT strategy and
operating models all the
way through to business
improvements and
change.
“It’s very broad
swathe of work and a
very serious statement
of our intent,” he | |
|
| | says.
“We’re looking at
establishing a group of
around 100 people here
in London just off the
back of our existing
work profile, but that’s
only 50 per cent of the
resource, the rest will
be in India.”
The London office is
the first step towards
creating a more
integrated European
practice, with
recruitment planned to
start in Europe in
2006,
“We hope to get to a
few hundred people in
Europe in a couple of
years,” says Aggarwal.
“We are an incredibly
international firm, it’s
a truly international
company with no national
barriers, lots of
opportunities to move
around.”
Aggarwal says that he
is finding “a lot of
good CVs in the market”
as people are eager to
move after a few years
of staying put. He
believes that, as a
pioneer, not just of
offshoring but
globalization itself,
Tata has a lot to
offer:
"What we are is a
company that takes the
long view, and we’re
really on the up,” he
says. “It’s nice to be
in a company that’s got
the momentum with it and
is really at the
forefront of the
transformation of the
global economy.”
| |
|
| | have been around 40 per
cent in the last few
years,” says Aggarwal.
“We should be in the top
10 in three to four
years' time, which is
ahead of our mission
statement which is to be
top 10 by 2010.”
Aggarwal says the
move into consultancy is
very much client-led.
“Our principal
offering has been
offshore systems
development and
maintenance work, he
says, “We talk to a lot
of our clients who’ve
used us for those
traditional areas and
they say to us, we get
tremendous value for
money, we like and trust
you can’t we do more?
Can we extend the
offshore model, can we
use that offshore model
more? The voice of the
customer is quite loud
on this one.”
Aggarwal says there
are already considerable
consultancy resources
within TCS.
“You cannot build a
system without some of
these activities —
business analysis,
business requirements
and performance
engineering,” says
Aggarwal. “But
consultancy has never
been separately marketed
before; we’ve gone to
market through our deep
technical skills. Now
we’re saying let’s go to | |
|
Previous Page 
