Searching Offshore -- MODERN-DAY EXPLORERS TRY
TO ALLEVIATE LABOR SHORTAGE BY SEEKING SOFTWARE-DEVELOPMENT TALENT IN
INDIA
David Jastrow
New York - Five hundred years ago, Western
explorers set sail for India lured by its vast array of spices, jewels and silk.
Today, history is repeating itself. But this time it is Web pioneers who are
crossing the seas to tap the region's rich IT resources.
Frustrated by frequent Web developer departures, a
growing number of Web solution providers have discovered a gold mine of computer
programmers and engineers in India. More established software companies,
including Computer Associates International Inc., Islandia, N.Y., and Microsoft
Corp., Redmond, Wash., also have travelled to India in recent years in search of
development talent and business opportunities.
IT Companies will need to tap resource-rich
offshore talent pools in countries such as India, the Philippines and Russia to
remain competitive in the 21st century, some executives said.
Web integrator Tanning Technology Corp.'s India
subsidiary is playing an increasingly crucial role in the Denver-based company's
growth.
"For the last year and a half, we ran small-scale
Indian operations doing maintenance support, but we're expanding and building on
the very deep relationships we have there," said company Chief Executive Larry
Tanning, who this month delivered the keynote at the U.S.-India International
Info Tech Conference in Memphis, Tenn.
Tanning's Hyderabad, India, office has evolved from
basic application maintenance to providing more critical project development and
online support, Tanning said.
Even President Bill Clinton has gotten into the
act, joking in a speech to the India business community last month that
Hyderabad is now gaining recognition as "Cyberadad."
"If it weren't for India's contributions in math
and science, you could argue that computers, satellites and silicon chips would
never have been possible in the first place, so you ought to have a similar role
in the 21st century economy," Clinton told the crowd.
SeraNova, the Web services subsidiary of Edison,
N.J.-based Intelligroup Inc., claims to be the largest offshore e-business
solutions company, with more than 400 executives in India serving more than 20
global clients.
The integrator has Internet delivery centers in
Hyderabad, Bangalore and Chennai, and plans to open a fourth center in India by
the end of the year. Its offshore clients include Volkswagen of America Inc.,
Gillette Corp. and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.
India provides Sera Nova with a 24-hour development
day. The country also has a huge computer-literate workforce and has more
English-speaking executives than any region outside North America, said Raghu
Rajagopal, chief executive of SeraNova's India-based operations.
"One of the main parameters driving the whole
Internet sector is time-to-market, and because of the time difference, I can go
to market faster," Rajagopal said. "We have a well-defined process and
methodology and have tackled the problem of how to structure the project
team."
The talent pool in India is only getting deeper.
More than 80,000 new computer scientists are graduating from Indian universities
and technical institutes every year, said Chandra Sekaren, vice president of
India operations at Cognizant Solutions Corp., a Teaneck, N.J.-based provider of
Web infrastructure services.
"Tapping into offshore resources provides companies
with cost savings, and with the rapidly changing technology, the need for market
solutions in a short time frame is extremely important," Chandra
said.
Working with Cognizant's offshore developers helped
Eletter Inc., a San Jose, Calif., online printing and mailing start-up, execute
its business plan more cost-effectively, said Eletter Chief Executive Manish
Mehta.
"Cognizant's technical competencies and vast pool
of resources have helped us turn our ideas into business solutions,'' Mehta
said.
But not all Web integrators agree offshore
development is the best way to acquire more efficient IT resources. A large
number of U.S.-based Web solution companies are taking advantage of the swell of
global IT professionals by bringing talent in-house.
Internet solutions company Primix Solutions Inc.,
Watertown, Mass., is taking that tack.
"Offshore development doesn't fit our business
model, but we are very open to hiring top-level executives from outside of North
America," said Mike Troiano, president of Primix Solutions. "Although we are a
relatively small company, we have 24 different nationalities
represented."
The U.S. Senate is mulling over a provision to the
H-1B temporary work bill that would boost the number of temporary visas to
195,000 per year from 115,000. Before 1999, the bill had a cap of
65,000.
In the meantime, President Clinton said he remains
committed to providing resources to U.S. and global areas where the so-called
digital divide between IT haves and have-nots continues to widen. Clinton
promised the United States would provide a minimum of $5 million to help bring
the Internet to schools and businesses in underserved areas throughout rural
India, where many of the country's underprivileged people reside.
But India is not the only country booming with
e-business talent. The Philippines, for example, has become a possible future
source of IT subcontracting. Many computer-literate local workers have strong
English literacy, and the country has gained some notoriety since investigators
of the "I Love You" computer virus discovered it probably originated from a
Manila university.
"Our software developers are very good," said
Philippines Trade Secretary Manuel Roxas. "We are not proud of what the virus
author did, but we must harness their creativity."
Russia also has emerged as a breeding ground for
skilled Web developers, as have such European countries as Germany, Britain and
France.
"Russia is definitely growing, but the biggest
challenge there is language because there are not so many there that speak
English," said SeraNova's Rajagopal.
"The Philippines is also growing, but it still
faces a lack of infrastructure," he said. "English has become the accepted mode
of business communication in India, and computer classes now come into the
picture by sixth or seventh grade."
JOSEPH F. KOVAR & AMY ROGERS contributed to
this story.
http://www.crn.com/
Copyright ® 2000 CMP Media Inc.
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