The State of Sourcing

It was the first quarter of 2009. We were interviewing service providers to create our report on “Offshoring in the Publishing Vertical, 2009“. One such interview has left a lasting impression on us. Not because the company was unique in its offerings. Not because the person we were talking to was exceptionally eloquent. But because of one statement that was a commentary on the things to come -

Continue reading ‘Technology in publishing: What next?’ »

The decade from hell. That’s what TIME magazine called it in 2009- what with terror attacks, two terms of GW Bush, the great big downfall of Fannie Mae / Freddie Mac and subsequent real estate fiasco– it’s no wonder that Americans are really tired.  Well, that and no more MJ!The first decade of the 21^st century is over. So how did outsourcing fare ?

Since so much of what we do consists of looking at trends, here are some of the top of the hat trends that breezed around and then hung like a fog over the decade.

Continue reading ‘2010 is dead. Long live outsourcing’ »

In the recent months, we have been studying the effect of the digital market on the publishing industry. Across segments and geographies, publishers are experiencing challenges centered on costs, resources and technology that have made it necessary for them to re-invent their business models.

Of the 200+ publishing professionals we interviewed, we found that close to 4 in 5 publishers are either outsourcing or considering outsourcing publishing services. So, if the whole industry is pretty much outsourcing technology, back office processes and industry specific publishing services, why is it still taboo? Perhaps some context would help.

Continue reading ‘Why is the outsourcing of publishing services still taboo?’ »

Early last week, we reported and debated in our newsletter, about the

high probability of Patni Computers selling its majority stake to iGate Global Solutions. Well, if Economic Times is to be believed, our expectations were validated, and the wedding is official! So what now? Though in the long run, iGate and Patni will both benefit from this move, there are many hurdles along the way, before the promised happy ending…

1. Battling attrition – Patni already experiences one of the highest industry attritions, at around 26 percent, compared to 14-17% for Infosys and TCS. As with any change in ownership, there is bound to be a slight acceleration in attrition soon. This may especially apply for Patni, as the acquiring company in this case is a much smaller entity. The IT-BPO industry is already seeing very high attrition, and neither Patni nor iGate will be spared, making stability a concern in the next 6 months.
2. Retaining clients – An interesting study by advisory firm Offshore Insights reveals that if iGate emerges victorious, Patni could lose anywhere between 15-20% of its revenues due to client losses. While that may sound like a bit of a stretch, the reality may not be far from these estimates. The biggest cause for concern is that Patni is currently exposed to high risk in its client composition. Nearly half of its revenues have been consistently derived from its top ten clients. Losing any of these will thus significantly impact the topline! Another disadvantage and cause for worry is that Patni is not a top offshore provider to any of its clients, according to the report. Thus most clients are stocktaking their dealings with the service provider, just in case, and are most worried about how their offshore teams would be affected post the merger.
3. Managing stability and risk- For the last few years, it has been known that Patni promoters have sought an exit from the company. With each wave of proposed stake sale, they have had to assure existing and potential clients of their stability of operations. In case there is a fallout with the latest iGate bid, the company will have to undertake a massive campaign to manage risk and restore any lost confidence in the marketplace.
4. Managing growth - Though Patni has been around longer, it has seen far slower growth, compared to newer competitors like Infosys, TCS and Wipro. iGate will face an uphill battle to grow the company, with a carefully crafted joint strategy for the long term.

Continue reading ‘Patni-iGate: I Do. Now what?’ »

The Indian higher education sector is in the midst of tremendous growth and change. The population demographic has created an unprecedented number of young people in this country. The scale of the problem that India faces in terms of educating and providing employment to her vast youth population, is unique. The sheer size of the problem has made education a subject of national debate, with the attendant glare of the media and public opinion. In the past year, giving further impetus to the debate is the political push by the Human Resource Development (HRD) minister, Mr. Kapil Sibal and his views on the need for reform in the Indian education system.

There exist great opportunities for the private sector to play a dominant role in the near future. With an eye on the future, a few weeks ago TiE (the entrepreneur network) set about hosting a seminar on private participation in Indian higher education. I was invited to represent ValueNotes, and moderate a most stimulating panel discussion, joined by the likes of Mr.Siva Ram Mallela (Founder of Knowledge Partners, Former Dean of New Initiatives at ICFAI University) and Mr.Chenraj Jain (Founder, Jain University). I’d like to share some of my thoughts on the subject,  enriched from the event!

Continue reading ‘TiEing up Indian Higher Education’ »

At the recent Global LPO conference 2010, held in New Delhi, the idea was to facilitate closer contact between buyers and vendors in the industry. The buyers spoke about their experiences and put forth their concerns. The vendors building upon experiences, offered advice to the potential buyers on how to approach, what to look out for, the value offered, etc. Among many other issues discussed, one that received attention from various speakers was – what do buyers and vendors need to do to facilitate a smooth and mutually beneficial relationship? 

The need to change and develop is something that cannot be stressed enough. For an industry as young as the LPO, and with the potential that it offers, the mantra is going beyond understanding customer needs. LPOs must stay ahead of the articulated needs. With most companies looking at outsourcing as a strategic move, they want it to contribute to their overall business performance. Outsourcing by and large has moved beyond the cost and labor arbitrage, and the same stands true for LPO industry. The idea is to move away from the tag of service providers to partners. Here we discuss just some of the many initiatives that LPOs need to take to start thinking and taking on the role of partners. 

Continue reading ‘LPOs need to think like partners’ »

Commented a respondent of our survey on ‘The Current State of Digital Content’. So,  how are things shaping up for digital formats, does everyone in the publishing industry feel the same way? Read on.

Changing the ‘format’ of content

The publishing industry has progressively been going digital. While selling digital content is recent, publishers have used digital production techniques/processes that are reliable, stable and efficient. Such processes, however, ended mostly in the creation of PDFs – that doubled as print ready files and/or a product that was to be sold digitally.

Continue reading ‘Device specific formats are horrible to support, and I hope they die!’ »

In August 2010, the attorney-general’s office in Connecticut, US began investigating pricing of digital content by Amazon and Apple – expressing concern over pricing agreements with publishers and its possible implications on consumers. The attorney-general’s office went on to find identical prices for titles distributed by Amazon, Apple, Borders and Barnes & Noble. So, what’s the deal with e-book pricing?

How do publishers price their digital content?

Continue reading ‘E-book prices set to drop’ »

On Monday, the 19th of November 2007, Amazon released its first generation Kindle – an event that shaped the digital market. Since then, large corporations such as Sony, Barnes and Noble, Google, and more recently Apple, have been giving the digital content market significant attention – adding credibility and more so, validating the digital market as a strong revenue source. It is this potential that is transforming the publishing industry today.

In the last few years, the publishing industry witnessed tremendous change – a change that centred around revenue and cost challenges. For publishers, the digital market presented a holistic solution – one that opened a channel of revenue with non-linear growth, while ensuring minimal costs of production & sales. Publishers worldwide are either producing digital content or are considering it as a service area.

Continue reading ‘Survey: The Current State of Digital Content’ »

Through much discussion and debate, the Apple iPad seems to have held its own, when it came to university implementation. Whether the goal was to enhance campus communication, replace textbooks, introduce new learning approaches in the classroom, or promote informal learning, the iPad seems to have clicked with higher education, in the first quarter of its release. We’re hearing of more and more faculty/depts. experimenting with ways to leverage the technology to suit their varied learning requirements, be it at law schools, medical schools, engineering students, or business related content/app development.

So what was the reaction from the corporate learning segment? Here’s a couple of noteworthy initiatives that have reached mainstream online discussion.

Continue reading ‘Why isn’t the corporate learning community excited about the iPad?’ »