Tcs+iit industry analysis

IT Industry & TCS Strategic Analysis Business Strategy This report is submitted as part of industry analysis project of the course ‘Business Strategy’, under the guidance of Prof. Rushi Anandan, in Post Graduate Programme In Management at SPJIMR, Mumbai

Group 7: Sameer | Sohail | Sankar | Himanshu | Arun V M PGPM508

7/10/2009

PGPM508-Group 07 Page 2

Table of Contents INDIAN IT INDUSTRY OVERVIEW .................................................................................................. 3

INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................ 3

EXTERNAL ANALYSIS ......................................................................................................... 4

PORTER’S FIVE FORCES MODEL (INDIAN IT INDUSTRY) ........................................................... 7

SWOT ANALYSIS - IT & ITES INDUSTRY .............................................................................. 8

TATA CONSULTANCY SERVICES .................................................................................................... 9

INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................ 9

SWOT ANALYSIS ........................................................................................................... 10

TCS’ RESOURCES & CAPABILITIES ..................................................................................... 11

TCS’ STRATEGY ANALYSIS ............................................................................................... 12

RECOMMENDATIONS .............................................................................................................. 19

REFERENCES .......................................................................................................................... 21

Disclaimer: This report should be treated strictly for academic purpose and should not be used elsewhere. Users of this report are required to take permission from authors before

reproducing or publishing this material anywhere else.


IINNDDIIAANN IITT IINNDDUUSSTTRRYY OOVVEERRVVIIEEWW

Introduction

In an increasingly flat world, significant complexity and uncertainty is getting attached to the unprecedented economic crisis. The Indian economy has also been impacted by the recessionary trends, with a slowdown in GDP growth to seven per cent. The focus and exponential growth in the domestic market has partially offset this fall and insulated the country, resulting in net overall momentum. The IT-ITeS industry in India has today become a growth engine for the economy, contributing substantially to increases in the GDP, urban employment and exports, to achieve the vision of a “young and resilient” India. During the year, the sector maintained its double digit growth rate and was a net hirer. This growth has been fuelled by increasing diversification in the geographic base and industry verticals, and adaptation in the service offerings portfolio. While the effects of the economic crisis are expected to linger in the near term future, the Indian IT-BPO industry has displayed resilience and tenacity in countering the unpredictable conditions and reiterating the viability of India’s fundamental value proposition. Consequently, India has retained its leadership position in the global sourcing market. India is now the leading country in providing IT Enabled Services in the world. According to a recent study, Indian IT & ITES is expected to grow at 10.8% in 2009, the lowest in the last five years, due to the current global meltdown. But in next four years, it would grow at 13.9% to touch revenue of $110 billion. NASCOM, the premier institute which manages all the IT and ITES companies in India, estimated that the revenue of the IT Enabled Services will cross the revenues of IT industry by 2010. The export revenue generated from ITES is about US$ 47.5 billion and has a projection of more than US$ 86 billion by 2012. (CAGR – 20.7%)

Source: NASSCOM McKinsey Research India holds a dominant share of the global offshore IT-ITES sector (65% of the global market in offshore IT and 46% of the ITES market). Yet, at US$ 31.3 bn in FY07, Indian IT-ITES exports accounted for less than 3% of the global spend on IT-ITES. This clearly indicates significant headroom for growth. If India maintains its current share of the global offshore IT-ITES market, IT-ITES exports from India will exceed US$ 60 bn by FY10 and US$ 86 bn by FY12. Further, growing at current trends, Indian IT-ITES exports are projected to reach nearly US$ 330 bn by FY20 (nearly 14% of the projected worldwide spend). Software and services exports (including BPO) are expected to account for over 99 per cent of total exports, employing over 1.76 million employees. But the Indian IT companies will have to move up in the value chain and concentrate more on high value added services.

0

100

200

300

400

FY06 FY08 FY09 FY10 FY12 FY20

23.6 37.6 47.5 60 86.6

328.9

IT-ITeS Exports - USD bn


Why Outsourcing? “Outsourcing system allows companies to contract for services that are not within the scope of their expertise, so that they can focus their time, money and energy on their core competencies instead of wasting valuable resources trying to gain Understanding of areas that are somebody else's expertise". Challenges While the industry has significant headroom for growth, competition is increasing, with a number of countries creating enabling business environments aimed at replicating India’s success in the IT-BPO industry. Hence, concentrated efforts are required by all stakeholders to address the current challenges, to ensure that India realizes its potential, and maintains its leadership position.

External Analysis

Current position of IT/ITeS sector in India


Environmental Scanning

Figure: Financial Attractiveness of Top 5 Global service locations Figure: Number of IT graduates in India

External Environment - PESTLE Analysis


National Revenues: IT & ITES Industry in India

•IT SEZ requirement: IT companies can set up SEZ with minimum area of 10 hectares and enjoy a host of tax benefits and fiscal benefits. Positive

•Contract / Bond requirements: Huge debates surrounding the bonds under which the employees are required to work, which is not legally required. Negative

•IT Act: Indian government is strengthening the IT act, 2000 to provide a sound legal environment for companies to operate esp. related to security of data in transmission and storage, etc. Positive

•Companies operating in Software Technology Park (STPI) scheme will continue to get tax-benefit till 2010. Mildly Positive

Legal

•Energy Efficient processes and equipments: Companies are focusing on reducing the carbon footprints, energy utilization, water consumption, etc. Positive

Environment


Porter’s Five Forces Model (Indian IT Industry)

Low

Very High

Shift from High to Low

Medium


Market Share: Sources of Revenue:

SWOT Analysis - IT & ITES Industry

Considering industry and any IT firm in general

Strength Weaknesses

Cost advantage – most financially attractive country in a study by A T Kearney on global IT destinations Breadth of service offering – end to end solutions including high end services like IT consultancy and KPO Ease of Scalability – more than half of India’s population is less than 25 years old. English speaking IT – ITES professionals growing at a good pace Quality and Maturity of process – many players have quality standards such as CMM to differentiate from other low cost advantage countries Global and 24/7 Delivery capability – excellent internet backbone and telecommunications facilities enabling companies to develop 24/7 delivery capabilities from India itself

Excessive dependence on USA for revenues – US Companies are cutting down IT budget hence revenues to be hit hard of Indian IT firms Excessive dependence on BFSI sector for revenues – Banking sector is facing a crisis globally and is going to spend less on IT High rates of attrition – Although slowdown in global economy has lowered attrition rate but the industry still faces high attrition rates as compared to other sectors Decreasing competitive advantage – rising salary expenses is taking away the cost advantage enjoyed by India.

Opportunities Threats

Greater scope for product innovation Increased focus on high end work like consulting and KPO Domestic demand for IT services is to grow at 20% Greater scope to service domains other than BFSI such as Transportation, Infrastructure, etc. Satyam fiasco – Likely to have positive impact on business considering corporate governance, possibility of shifting of business, getting higher incremental business from overlapped clients, and winning new business from new clients

Global economic slowdown may continue for several years – hence low IT spending globally US Govt. against outsourcing Shrinking margins due to rising wage inflation Rupee-dollar movement affects revenue and hence margins Increased competition from foreign firms like Accenture, IBM etc. Increased competition from low-wage countries like China, Indonesia etc.


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Introduction

Rapid globalization, diversification, and intense competition have resulted in a more dynamic and complex world. Corporations have to increase agility in a way in which their business units across geographies operate and collaborate seamlessly across people, processes and technology. Tata Consultancy Services Limited (TCS) is a leading and India’s largest provider of IT Services, Business Solutions and Outsourcing with revenues of USD 6B during FY08-09. TCS envisioned and pioneered the adoption of the flexible global business practices that today enable companies to operate more efficiently and produce more value. More than 95 percent of TCS customers reward the company’s reliability, passion, creativity, and unique ability to handle the broadest range of their IT needs. TCS has 143,000+ world’s best trained IT consultants located in 50 countries. TCS achieved this by creating and perfecting a unique method of global deployment and delivery of high quality, high value services known as Global Network Delivery Model (GNDM™), the strategic services delivery concept that has reshaped the IT services industry. GNDM™ is a unique network of 79 Delivery Centers in 16 countries. These delivery centers operate at the same quality (TCS is the only company in the world to be assessed at CMMi Level 5 through a single assessment across all its delivery centers), security and skill levels, giving customers the same experience of certainty across the organization globally. GNDM provides the fastest turnaround time from concept to service delivery, with certainty of cost, quality and schedule, tailored for its customers based on the type of work, risk mitigation needs, business knowledge requirements, geographic spread, scale of delivery etc. Being a pioneer in the IT industry, TCS have a good appreciation of trends and challenges faced by industries TCS choose to focus. The solutions TCS build are powered by domain expertise, enterprise solutions and infrastructure services, turning the challenges of globalization into a competitive edge for clients. TCS helps some of the world’s largest companies adopt the right technology-enabled solution that helps them: Optimize business performance Facilitate alignment of business with technology Connect their extended supply chains Reduce product development time Improve product differentiation Provide real-time business insight Lower operational costs Profile Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. (Founded in 1968, went public in August, 2004) Vision: Top 10 by 2010 Mission: To help our customers achieve their business objectives by providing innovative, best-in-class Consulting, IT solutions & services. We shall make it a joy for all stakeholders to work with us. Values: Integrity, Excellence, Respect for the individual, Continuous learning and sharing, Leading change.


Leadership in IT Outsourcing: TCS is the largest IT consulting company in Asia with 143,000 of the world's best trained IT consultants and an acknowledged pioneer, innovator and thought leader in the IT space, having literally coined the term “Offshore Development”. It is also a global consulting, IT services and systems integrator with a 40-year track record and world class processes and methodologies. TCS has won many accolades for its significant contribution to the maturity and visibility of the Indian IT services worldwide Trusted Partner: TCS is part of one of Asia's largest conglomerates - the TATA Group. The group, with annual revenue of more than USD 72.5 billion+ (Feb, 2009), spans across diversified industry segments such as consumer package goods (CPG), energy, telecommunications, financial services, chemicals, engineering & materials. The TATA Group, a symbol of trust in India, is known for its pioneering spirit and the brand stands for business excellence and integrity. Headquarters TCS is headquartered out of Mumbai, India. Location TCS is operating in 47. TCS has 50+ delivery centers in India across 15 cities; 15+ development centers outside India. TCS’ employees are spread across countries. Thus, Global presence helps in country availability of competencies for any technical assistance mission or application project. Also, TCS deputes the associates on long term and short term basis to the local countries for specific engagements. Turnover Tata Consultancy Services Limited (TCS) is a leading and India’s largest provider of IT Services, Business Solutions and Outsourcing with revenues of USD 6 Billion during FY08-09. Number of customers Over 985 active clients; 6 out of Top 10 US Fortune companies are TCS clients. Customer revenue contributions are presented below:

SWOT Analysis

Tata Consultancy services (TCS) is one of the major IT service providers. The company provides a wide range of services including business consulting, information technology, business process outsourcing, infrastructure, and engineering. The company has extensive global reach, which provides a diverse revenue base. However, increasing competition threatens to erode its market share.


Strength Weaknesses

Extensive global reach

Strong financial performance

Employee management skills

Innovation labs

Significant exposure to financial services market

Lack of scale in consulting operations

Opportunities Threats

Focus on SMB segment

Growth in worldwide IT services

Focus on high end business and IT consulting

Expanding operations in countries like China

Increasing employee costs

Intense competition from foreign firms like Accenture, IBM etc.

Consolidation in the end markets

Rupee appreciation

Increased competition from low-wage countries like China, Indonesia etc.

TCS’ Resources & Capabilities

TCS has over 143,000+ (Apr-2009) World Class Professionals. 30% of workforce is women. Non Indian nationals comprise 8.3% of TCS workforce. TCS employees are from across 67 nationalities.

Key Differentiators of TCS

Pioneer in the industry & Brand Having started in 1968, TCS has established himself as the industry leader. Being part of the trusted Tata group is also a big differentiator for TCS giving it a strong brand strength. Integrated full-services player Portfolio of offerings extends from consulting to implementation, testing and support; from engineering services to BPO; from products to end-to-end solutions. Collaboration with multiple stakeholders Having worked on large global scale enterprise projects, TCS appreciates the need for flexibility to work with multiple stakeholders from customers, partners, and other service providers. TCS have developed innovative engagement models that have proven TCS’ ability to deliver significant value to its customers in managing their projects as the sole solution provider, or prime/lead partner, or supporting partner. Global Network Delivery Model Unique network of 79 Delivery Centers in Brazil, Uruguay, Chile, China, Hungary, UK, Japan, Australia, Singapore and India that operate at the same quality, security and skill levels, giving customers the same experience of certainty across the organization globally with a lower total cost of ownership. High Quality and Maximum security In 2005, TCS was awarded enterprise-wide triple certification for: Quality (ISO 9001:2000), Security (BS 7799-2:2002) & Services (BS 15000-1:2002) Innovation Network TCS has established 19 labs with strong links to start-ups, academia and alliance partners to continuously develop innovative solutions for their customers.


TCS Technology Partnerships and Relationships Tata Consultancy Services combines its system integration expertise, flexible global delivery model and deep industry insights with the technological expertise and capabilities of its renowned alliance partners to offer competitive advantage to its customers. The alliances enable TCS to deliver cutting edge technological solutions and enhanced services to help customers integrate their business applications effectively while improving the operational efficiencies and ROI. Strategic partner relationships of TCS include leading industry players like SAP, Oracle, IBM, and Microsoft among others. Strategic Partners

IBM - Global System Integrator Partner

Oracle - Global System Integrator and Global Certified Advantage Partner

Microsoft - Global System Integrator Partner

SAP - Global Consulting Partner Growth Engine Partners

Siebel - Consulting Partner

Web Methods - Global System Integrator, Preferred Offshore Partner

BEA - TCS is BEA’ Strategic Partner

SUN - System Integrator Partner, GSS Partner Business Continuity TCS follows a well defined and mutually agreed (with customer) business continuity and disaster recovery plan. The BCP is tested on a pre determined frequency. This was recently invoked during the under-sea cable fault leading to disruptions in the voice/internet connectivity. The traffic was diverted through alternate routes as per the plan.

TCS’ Strategy Analysis

TCS’ organization restructuring in April 2008 was one of the major moves in last decade to adapt to external environments. Having an organization structure that would respond to customer demands is most efficient way to lay down your business strategies. TCS did it little late but just in time.


Business Strategy

TCS calls its Business Units as Industry Service Practice. TCS’ BU wise revenue distribution is as shown below:

This clearly shows that TCS has 42.8% of exposure to Banking Financial Services & Insurance sector. No doubt, TCS has to re look its business strategy as the world financial institutions are in a tremendous shock of subprime crisis and think of scaling up revenue from other verticals/industries. Generic Business Strategy:

1. Low cost Global delivery 24X7 model. 2. Focus on customer relationship management, customer retention (for repeat

business revenue which is 95.6%). 3. Timely delivery with the help of proven delivery & quality framework – iQMS. 4. Differentiation in low end services in terms of cost, resources. 5. Differentiation in high end services such as consulting in term of niche offerings,

expertise. 6. Protection from currency fluctuations with the help of currency hedging. 7. Due to its strong knowledge management system and resource strength, TCS has

been successful in getting the cost leadership in the industry. 8. Since last decade, TCS has been following a more focused strategy where they are

going as per local needs of customer and their nature of business. E.g. Middle East, Australia. They are being more focused region wise and customer wise rather than being generic.

9. Focus on the Centers of Excellence (CoE) to strengthen capability so as to build state-of-the-art solutions in specific technologies such as service-oriented architecture, testing, and virtualization. These high-end skills and scale will help TCS to tackle larger projects aimed at transforming clients’ IT applications and infrastructures.

42.8

13.1

12

9.8

5.5

5.7

3.8 2.7 2.1 2.5

TCS Industry Practice - Revenue Q4FY09

BFSI

Telecom

Retail

Manufacturing

Hi-Tech

Life Sciences & Healthcare

Travel & Hospitality

Energy & Utilities

Media & Entertainment

Others


TCS’ Service Practice Revenue Distribution is as follows:

This shows that TCS has a heavy exposure to IT Solutions – Application Development & Maintenance – 48.6%. TCS has traditionally a low cost outsourcing player which provides application development and maintenance services, which till date account for almost half of its revenue. Though TCS has managed to bring down this percentage significantly in last decade by entering into niche areas like, BPO, infrastructure services, business consulting, IT consulting, asset leveraged solutions etc. TCS sees a strong growth potential especially into consulting, BPO and infrastructure services. Thus TCS is investing heavily into these areas to explore new market segments. BCG Matrix for TCS

HIGH Relative Position (Market Share) LOW

48.6

6.8

11.8

3.8

5.8

8.3

1.72.1

11.1

TCS Service Practice RevenueQ4FY09

Application Development & MaintenanceBusiness Intelligence

Enterprise Solutions

Assurance Services

Engg. & Industrial Services

Infrastucture Services

Global Consulting

Asset Leverage Solutions

Business Process Outsourcing

BPO

Infrastructure Services

Consulting

Packaged Implementation KPO

Engineering & Industrial Services

Application Development & Maintenance Software products

None

LO

W

Bu

sin

ess

Gro

wth

Rat

e

H

IGH


Global Strategy

TCS’ GNDMTM is at the heart of TCS’ global strategy. What is GNDMTM?

Follow the sun strategy:

Market Penetration Strategy

Current Markets: USA and Europe Current Products: ADM, BPO, KPO, consultancy services (in BFSI, manufacturing and retail) and software products (financial products). Recommendation: As most large clients in US and Europe are cutting costs, TCS needs to be more aggressive on cost and quality front.

Market Development Strategy

New/Emerging Markets: India, Middle-east and Australia Current Product: ADM, BPO, KPO, consultancy services (in BFSI, manufacturing and retail) and software products (financial products). Recommendation: Since these are fast developing IT market, TCS needs a paradigm shift in focus from US and EU markets to these markets.


Product Development Strategy

Current Market: USA and Europe New Product: Consultancy and package implementation services in relatively growing sectors esp. life sciences & healthcare, aviation sector, and KPO services. Recommendation: Concentrate on building expertise in these domains by strategic acquisitions.

Other global strategies

Since last few years TCS is successfully leveraging labor cost in Eastern Europe, South America and China.

Getting big foreign names on board of directors is also one of the key strategies for TCS. The current three foreign directors are: Clayton M Christensen (HBS Professor, joined in 2006), Dr. Ron Sommer (former Chairman of the Board of Management of Deutsche Telekom AG, joined in 2006) & Laura M Cha (member of the Executive Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) and Non-Executive Chairman of HSBC Investment Asia Holdings Limited)

Look beyond US and UK for growth and beyond India for skills to emerge as a global firm. Clearly bullish with successes such as ABN Amro in continental Europe, Qantas in Australia, and almost 18% to 20% revenue from the Asia Pacific market, TCS wants to grow its businesses in global markets including India.

Recent acquisitions in Ireland and Latin America demonstrate its ambition to create delivery centers of respectable size outside of India.

TCS was the first one to set up a delivery centre in China.

Corporate Strategy

TCS is a firm believer in ‘organic growth’ and acquire only those companies which are in line with TCS’ strategic long term goals. Diversification Strategy In February 2008, TCS restructured its global operations to adopt an integrated, customer-centric approach, which is expected to helpful in eliminating the risk factors arising from the U.S. economic collapse. The company’s operations are now divided into five units: Industry Solutions (for vertical-specific services), Major Markets (North America, Western Europe and the U.K), New Growth Markets (Latin America, Eastern Europe, Middle East & Africa and India), Strategic Growth Business (TCS Financial Solutions, SMB and Platform-based BPO) and Organizational Infrastructure. TCS’s diversification plan seems to have worked since the company has been gaining momentum in Europe and other emerging markets, which is evident in the company’s marked growth rate of 40% year to year in its FY08’s European operations. The firm’s operations in Latin America and Middle East have also seen considerable expansion. In order to deepen its penetration, TCS has established delivery and offshore centers in countries like Brazil, Uruguay and Mexico. The weakening European economy and its GDP decline of 0.2% in the second quarter (April, May, June) might hinder TCS’s diversification plans, as it is bound to have a direct impact on BFSI’s outsourcing services. TCS, which draws 44% of its global revenue from the BFSI sector, is likely to be affected. Also, the Indian market is becoming difficult to afford, leading to a wider gap between the


demand and supply of IT consultants. This can be traced to the fact that hired employees lack required skills or fail to deliver their expertise, but still seem to be demanding higher wages. Strategic Alliances TCS has strategic relationships with various global technology vendors. These relationships are in various dimensions such as Customer, Service Provider, Supplier, and Alliance Partner. Extending collaborative research to several global technology vendors has made relationships with them more holistic. TCS and these technology vendors collaborate on joint research leveraging each other’s strengths to research and to the development of best-of-breed offerings. The intent is to define and develop solutions with associated services and offer the same as an integrated business model to customers. Some of the strategic alliances are listed below.

Intel: Intel and TCS provide information technology products and services that complement each other. The companies are engaging in a technology alliance model in which the two organizations collaborate on research and develop solution offerings to deliver customer-specific solutions to the marketplace.

This alliance has matured over the last two years of collaborative work, with the companies implementing a well-defined model for collaboration using a three-stage approach:

Joint innovation engagements

defining new or improved solutions

Joint go-to-market strategies for the solutions

The companies have completed two significant virtualization and balanced compute research projects with these objectives:

Virtualization: Demonstrate server consolidation through virtualization using multi-core Intel® Xeon® processors and Intel® Virtualization Technology on a real-life customer application to reduce total cost of ownership.

Balanced Compute: Demonstrate and validate balanced compute model usages in real end-user scenarios, showcasing central manageability and client side computing using a combination of OS and application streaming technologies on Intel® vPro™ technology-based platforms.

SAP: SAP as a leading technology and product vendor is one of the key partners of TCS. The partnership with SAP has been a long-standing one and multi-dimensional. Leveraging and extending this existing partnership to collaborate for joint research and innovation was a logical next step for both SAP and TCS.

Senior Research Scientists of SAP and TCS initiated this collaboration setting the objectives and defining the modus operandi for carrying out research in a collaborative manner. And they committed to cause by undertaking the responsibility to be Executive Sponsors in the respective organizations.

Collaboration with SAP Research was initiated after detailed discussions and exchange of research interests from both SAP and TCS. Identified areas include Model-driven Architecture and Integration of Enterprise-Data, Web 2.0, Internet of Services, and Internet of Things.

Hewlett-Packard: HP and TCS have initiated discussions for joint research in the areas of SaaS, Power Management & Cooling, Utility/Grid Computing, Cloud Computing, Green IT and Next


Generation Data Center. Some of the potential research initiatives could also involve development of market-specific offerings based on value-added services, using products and solutions from HP.

EMC2: With TCS being an IT solutions and services provider, EMC2 and TCS have conceptualized IT solution architectures for specific industry-domains integrating products from EMC2 and software platforms from TCS.

Acquisition Strategy TCS is looking at growth from two ways –first through organic means and second through the inorganic way. The inorganic way of growth is through acquisitions of those companies that make business sense to TCS. The companies should add great value to TCS. Like for instance TCS acquisition of CMC is helping it taking a sharper look at the domestic IT business. Both the companies have synergies in the government sector, since both the companies are well known for doing work for the government. TCS as part of its strategy to look at growth options has set up an internal team which will focus only on acquisition strategies .Below are some of the acquisitions of TCS in the recent past:

Nov 2008: TCS Acquisition of Citigroup Services. TCS gains a range of new capabilities, with end-to-end banking BPO service offerings, and an opportunity to provide integrated IT and BPO services to the banking market, as well as the significant contracted revenue commitment. Over 12,000 staff has transferred with the deal. From the Citigroup side, they get a cash payment, and an external partner committed to deliver (and probably to improve) the services – they have monetized their investment in setting up CGS (Citigroup Services). They no longer have direct responsibility for managing an offshore delivery centre in a market becoming increasingly competitive, and they have significantly reduced their overall headcount.

Feb 2006: Tata InfoTech (TIL) Limited was merged into TCS Limited. TIL was a software services company like TCS with operations in the UK, U.S, and Australia among others. The merger gave TCS a broader customer base and deeper penetration into key geographies. The acquisition was touted as providing TCS more ability to provide full-service to customers in affected markets.

March 2006: TCS, through its subsidiary, Diligenta, acquired a basis in part of UK’s Pearl Group. Pearl is the 2nd largest player in the UK’s life insurance and pension BPO industry, giving TCS a new stake in BPO work for the UK market.

Right after Pearl, TCS picked up Comicron in Latin America to offer banking solutions in both IT and BPO services in that market, and now Spanish language capability. Experience gained here will again allow TCS to expand further into new markets with BPO offerings, especially in the rather large and under-addressed Spanish-speaking world.

Oct. 31, 2006: Similar to the financial stakes made above, TCS again expanded its banking products and consolidated its European operations after acquiring a 75% equity stake in its Switzerland-based partner, TKS-Teknosoft. TKS was the marketing agent for TCS in Europe.

TCS Joint ventures TCS went for a joint venture (JV) in Feb 2007 with three Chinese partners and is billed by the company as a "role model” for the Chinese IT industry. The TCS joint venture, in which Microsoft took a 10 per cent stake, planned to employ over the next five year at least 5,000 people that would represent a considerable scaling up from the company's then present strength of 800 employees in China. The Chinese software industry remains fragmented and lacks scale. Only about 10 Chinese IT firms among some 8,000 employ more than 1,000 people. The TCS joint venture will thus be one of the largest software companies in China once it reaches its 5,000-employee target. The new venture


is widely expected to enable TCS to finally break into the $30-billion domestic Chinese IT market, a market that has in the past proved elusive for Indian IT companies. Another JV is between TCS and SBI (State Bank of India) in Nov 2005 to cater advanced technology solutions and domain consulting for the banking and financial services sector. The joint venture is called C-Edge Technologies Ltd. and has an authorized capital of Rs. 40 crore.

TCS holds 51 per cent of the equity in C-Edge and SBI the balance with no asset transfer. The joint venture was to offer transformational capabilities to banks and financial institutions in India and other markets by helping them to use technology as a competitive tool in the market place using bureau services and service platforms. "In three to five years, we hope the company creates niche services in the national and international stage,'' said Mr. Ramadorai.

RREECCOOMMMMEENNDDAATTIIOONNSS The first and foremost recommendation for TCS is to change its vision statement. In our humble opinion it is short sighted. TCS needs to have a vision that will show its leadership qualities and long term thinking. Adapt to recession, but don’t ignore the new ecosystem In all likelihood, the economy will worsen before it picks up again in late 2009. All service providers will feel this, albeit not equally; providers’ response at this critical time will set the vendor landscape for the coming years. Based on current situation, TCS strategists can adapt their positioning and direction, paying particular focus to the following issues to ensure long-term market success:

Expect to see the landscape continue to consolidate. Clients will seek to cut costs and focus on fewer provider relationships as the economy worsens. TCS should take this opportunity to improve your market positioning.

Ensure marketing articulates your value proposition to all stakeholders concerned. In a recession, marketing can work as a differentiator.

Service providers like TCS need to create specific value propositions aimed directly at the relevant stakeholders — and in the new tech ecosystem, these relevant stakeholders must include business executives, not just IT personnel

Don’t be influenced solely by short-term shareholder pressure. The recession is at the top of everyone’s agenda right now, but those providers that take a long-term view will use this time to prepare for the fundamental changes in industry dynamics that will emerge. Those providers prepared for the new ecosystem will be the ones to flourish once the dark clouds of economic turmoil have lifted.

‘Do not put all eggs in one basket’ – TCS must provide diverse services to refrain from being over-dependent and increasing exposure to the vulnerabilities of few sectors (BFSI) /geographies (USA).

Provide more high-end services in value chain (3rd Wave in IT)

There is a move required from ADM (Application Development and maintenance) to value added services, BPO to Consulting and Package Implementation, etc.

TCS should shift focus from Low cost advantage to high quality services commanding a premium being the pioneer in the industry

Consolidation and strategic acquisitions are essential for future growth of revenues. We feel that a big wave of consolidation in IT industry has just started. The HP-EDS merger (one of the biggest ever merger in this industry) is testimony to this. TCS should gear up for such opportunities which are strategic fit for them – be prepared.


Quickly adapt and gain customer confidence in high growth markets. In FY2009, Indian domestic market grew by more than 20%, but TCS revenue from India increased only by 6.46%. TCS should leverage its success stories (IRCTC success done by its subsidiary – CMC, Passport project etc.) to drive the growth in this market.

TCS has rightly placed SMB (Small and Medium Businesses) as a separate strategic unit, which should be focused aggressively. They should also focus consulting practice on the same radar.

TCS (rather all Indian IT players) should focus more on increasing their IP (Intellectual Property) assets.

Finally would like to conclude with a prediction/recommendation from Gartner: The role of an IT Organization is changing and will have a “service effect”.


RREEFFEERREENNCCEESS

1. Tata Consultancy Services www.tcs.com (Investors section) 2. Forrester reports www.forrester.com 3. Gartner reports www.gartner.com 4. IT-ITeS Market & Opportunities – IBEF (India Brand Equity Foundation) report 5. Tata Consultancy Services – A Company Profile – www.datamonitor.com 6. Newspaper Mint – www.livemint.com

http://www.tcs.com/

http://www.forrester.com/

http://www.gartner.com/

http://www.datamonitor.com/

http://www.livemint.com/