ITeS firms look beyond to stay in hunt

Information technology enabled services (ITeS) sector has immense potential to offer job opportunities to the uncovered talent pool, said Sreeram Iyer, chief executive officer, Scope International Pvt Ltd, the business process outsourcing arm of Standard Chartered Bank.

Speaking at a seminar on 'ITeS competitiveness: looking beyond' organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci), he said ITeS industry in the country could remain competitive by focusing on the uncovered talent pool.

This business was most suited to leverage the potential of people who are mentally capable, but physically challenged, he added.

"As the industry would have to discover new pool of people to move forward, non-graduates and educated housewives could also be tapped for employments in the ITeS sector. Thousands of educated housewives, who had worked for sometime but couldn't continue in the job, can be incentivised to come back to the industry by offering flexible job opportunities," Iyer added.

Citing Scope's experience in hiring people from the tier II cities, he said it was satisfying as these people possessed the right attitude, high productivity and the willingness to learn.

Referring to organisational competitiveness, he pointed out that the focus on the four pillars -- cost, service quality, people management, and risk management or information security -- would help organisations remain competitive.

If the Indian companies try to be competitive in these four areas, only few countries could think of beating India. Though the country has been focusing on training the junior level management, it is time it should start focusing on building leadership talent also, he said.

Union minister for communications and information technology Dayanidhi Maran urged the information technology enabled services (ITeS) industry to spread its operations to tier II cities in Tamil Nadu like Coimbatore, Tiruchi and Tirunelveli, as they produced huge talent pool.

Coimbatore has emerged as the second major industrial destination in the state followed by Tiruchi, he said.

In his inaugural address, he said the Centre would work with the state government to set up STPI (Software Technology Parks of India) centres in Madurai, Tiruchi, Salem and Tirunelveli to attract companies to operate from these locations.

He also pointed out that it was very important to focus on Chennai before moving on to other cities. "Unless we showcase Chennai as the best destination, we will not be able to sell Tamil Nadu," he said.