From $100 mn to $100 bn in 20 yrs

This is a special and milestone year for Nasscom’s India Leadership Forum (NILF). The conference completes 20 years with its 2012 edition, one of the only conferences in India to reach this landmark.

Over the years, NILF has emerged as a thought leadership platform, one that brings together industry, global customers, analysts and policy makers.

This year too, the conclave has drawn significant participation. Apart from 1,600 participants from all corners of the globe, we also have delegations from 25 nations, 125 speakers and a record number of customers.

From $100 million two decades ago, to $100 billion today, the industry has witnessed a momentous jump within the 20 years. The manner in which the industry has transformed has been phenomenal. From the kind of marquee global customers it is drawing, to the projects it is delivering, to the talent pool it has built, to the competitive differentiators it has created for itself—the sector has added several dimensions to its success story. Today, the IT-BPO industry is making a deep impact on India, on its economy and its people

Looking ahead, we can see the next phase will be different. The global economic environment remains unstable, but despite adverse conditions, the IT-BPO industry will continue its growth path. This is largely due to our ability to embrace change, adopt different business models and explore new and emerging opportunities as soon as they appear on the global radar. Also, global IT spend is expected to grow over the next few years, opening new avenues for the Indian sector to tap.

We see the Indian technology sector enter the ‘age of hyper-specialisation,’ which incidentally is also the theme of the India Leadership Form this year. If there is a single phrase that describes the transition of the world and justifies its present-day complexity, it is probably ‘hyper-specialisation.’

The concept revolves around the metamorphosis of the technology industry from one-directional supply chains to multi-dimensional supply networks, from the desk phone to handphone and now the unified communication platforms, from boxed organisational charts to tangled eco-system meshes and from onsite hosting to cloud hosting.

Our focus at the NILF this year would be on how leadership is being built within organisation, and outlining the future of technology in the short and long terms. Gender issues have also found a place on ILF agenda, with industry and human resource leaders delivering talks on the growing role of women in technology. These, and many other issues are being deliberated upon at the Forum, providing attendees with plenty of food for thought and action.

The writer is the president of Nasscom. Views expressed are his own