Global outsourcing vendors such as Accenture and Capgemini are increasingly poaching employees from Indian rivals as they tap into professionals with expertise in offshoring to compete more effectively against companies like TCS, Wipro and Infosys.
As offshore outsourcing goes mainstream, multinationals are hiring Indians to head their sales teams in key markets in Europe and the US, a shift from the practice of employing locals to win contracts.
“This is happening for several roles spanning from sales, sales support to delivery. There is in a sense, even positive discrimination towards Indians now,” an Indian executive who joined a multinational in Germany recently told ET on condition on anonymity.
Offshore outsourcing, or remote delivery of software application development, maintenance and support from countries like India, helps customers such as GE and Citibank save up to 40% in costs. Indian companies such as TCS, Wipro and Infosys started using offshore outsourcing to their advantage around a decade ago by wooing customers with significant cost-benefits.
In recent months, about a dozen or so top professionals have left an Indian company to join multinational competitors. Padmanabhan Ananthanarayanan, who headed India’s largest software exporter TCS’ sales organisation in Europe until February this year, joined Accenture in March as director of its outsourcing business based in Germany.
Shishir Kumar and Vikas Baranwal quit TCS earlier this year to join Accenture as sales directors, Nimit Chawal and Dev Sharma joined Capgemini to lead the company’s sales team. Mr Sharma headed Wipro’s business development and account management for manufacturing and automotive customers in Germany until December last year, before becoming director, business development for Central Europe at Capgemini.
Sridhar Vedala, managing director of offshoring advisory firm Quantum Step, says global service providers are hiring more Indian professionals to influence the perception of customers who are looking at India and Indian professionals as synonyms for offshore outsourcing.
“Now when offshoring is in demand, obviously customers prefer Indian providers. In order to influence the perception, global providers are hiring Indian managers,” he observed.
Among such customers is the world’s largest chemical company BASF, which is seeking offshore suppliers to support its business IT systems and looking to commence a dialogue with Indian offshore managers. “Initially, global providers did not care about the competition from Indian providers. Probably, they never thought that Indian providers will be able to compete with them for larger deals,” he added.
A top executive at an Indian tech firm says many outsourcing dialogues these days are being spearheaded by Indian offshore delivery managers, unlike in the past, when local experts would help them gain access to a potential customer. “The chief information officers are specifically asking for Indian suppliers.”
The over $40-billion Indian software outsourcing industry derives almost 70-80% of its revenues from offshore outsourcing. While established outsourcing vendors, such as IBM and Accenture, still lead the market because of their early relationships and ‘onshore intimacy’ with large customers, several new outsourcing customers are now looking at pure offshoring, which is helping the Indian vendors.
“For all large application management deals, the question is no more offshore or no offshore, but how much to offshore and in some cases ‘why should anything be onshore anymore’,” said a person involved with decision-making at a large enterprise in Germany.
“This is such a contrast. Until a few months ago, some Indian companies were trying to hire more locals in Germany and France, but now customers are becoming more comfortable with Indian managers,” said a senior Indian professional based in Munich, Germany, who recently quit one of the top ten Indian software exporters to join an MNC rival.
Hema Ravichander, who was the head of human resources at Infosys and is now an independent consultant, says Indian professionals are highly valued because of their early offshoring experience.
“Speed, adaptability, networking, deep understanding of the competitor landscape make them valuable. Also, they have been there, done that; so they enjoy high credibility,” she said.
As offshore outsourcing goes mainstream, multinationals are hiring Indians to head their sales teams in key markets in Europe and the US, a shift from the practice of employing locals to win contracts.
“This is happening for several roles spanning from sales, sales support to delivery. There is in a sense, even positive discrimination towards Indians now,” an Indian executive who joined a multinational in Germany recently told ET on condition on anonymity.
Offshore outsourcing, or remote delivery of software application development, maintenance and support from countries like India, helps customers such as GE and Citibank save up to 40% in costs. Indian companies such as TCS, Wipro and Infosys started using offshore outsourcing to their advantage around a decade ago by wooing customers with significant cost-benefits.
In recent months, about a dozen or so top professionals have left an Indian company to join multinational competitors. Padmanabhan Ananthanarayanan, who headed India’s largest software exporter TCS’ sales organisation in Europe until February this year, joined Accenture in March as director of its outsourcing business based in Germany.
Shishir Kumar and Vikas Baranwal quit TCS earlier this year to join Accenture as sales directors, Nimit Chawal and Dev Sharma joined Capgemini to lead the company’s sales team. Mr Sharma headed Wipro’s business development and account management for manufacturing and automotive customers in Germany until December last year, before becoming director, business development for Central Europe at Capgemini.
Sridhar Vedala, managing director of offshoring advisory firm Quantum Step, says global service providers are hiring more Indian professionals to influence the perception of customers who are looking at India and Indian professionals as synonyms for offshore outsourcing.
“Now when offshoring is in demand, obviously customers prefer Indian providers. In order to influence the perception, global providers are hiring Indian managers,” he observed.
Among such customers is the world’s largest chemical company BASF, which is seeking offshore suppliers to support its business IT systems and looking to commence a dialogue with Indian offshore managers. “Initially, global providers did not care about the competition from Indian providers. Probably, they never thought that Indian providers will be able to compete with them for larger deals,” he added.
A top executive at an Indian tech firm says many outsourcing dialogues these days are being spearheaded by Indian offshore delivery managers, unlike in the past, when local experts would help them gain access to a potential customer. “The chief information officers are specifically asking for Indian suppliers.”
The over $40-billion Indian software outsourcing industry derives almost 70-80% of its revenues from offshore outsourcing. While established outsourcing vendors, such as IBM and Accenture, still lead the market because of their early relationships and ‘onshore intimacy’ with large customers, several new outsourcing customers are now looking at pure offshoring, which is helping the Indian vendors.
“For all large application management deals, the question is no more offshore or no offshore, but how much to offshore and in some cases ‘why should anything be onshore anymore’,” said a person involved with decision-making at a large enterprise in Germany.
“This is such a contrast. Until a few months ago, some Indian companies were trying to hire more locals in Germany and France, but now customers are becoming more comfortable with Indian managers,” said a senior Indian professional based in Munich, Germany, who recently quit one of the top ten Indian software exporters to join an MNC rival.
Hema Ravichander, who was the head of human resources at Infosys and is now an independent consultant, says Indian professionals are highly valued because of their early offshoring experience.
“Speed, adaptability, networking, deep understanding of the competitor landscape make them valuable. Also, they have been there, done that; so they enjoy high credibility,” she said.
