With Indian outsourcing-facing existential crisis mainly because of its own overconfident and complacent attitude even when technologies and markets have changed with the advent of tablet computers, smartphones and their applications, the chances of survival have reduced only to its reinvention.
90’s and 2000 decade saw boom for India’s outsourcing, thanks to the crisis of the computer bug with dates beyond Dec.31, 1999. It resulted in Indian companies winning billion-dollar contract almost every week.
But new technologies have enabled downloading cheap, elegant and powerful apps to tablets, and smartphones which in turn made IT companies corporate systems look old-fashioned.
With the advent of cloud computing technology companies like Amazon, Microsoft and Google took data centers function from Indian companies and the billion-dollar Indian outsourcing contracts evaporated.
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Every cloud has a silver lining!
The silver lining here for Indian outsourcing is to help the United States modernize its aging infrastructure and enable it to bring manufacturing back from China. Technologies such as robotics, artificial intelligence and inexpensive and powerful sensors enable development of smart cities and automated factories, and a wholesale upgrading of national infrastructure.
China on other hand is well aware of the threat to its industry and is leading in building fully robot operated manufacturing plants. Even American robots work equally.
If manufacturing returns to American shore it would be for high-cost only. But American businesses don’t have the know-how to take advantage of manufacturing robots.
This is where Indian outsourcing companies can jump in the picture!
They can master the new technologies to help American firms in designing robotic environment for factories. They can also offer management consulting in optimizing supply chains and inventory management. Even they can lay hands on management of manufacturing plant operations remotely.
The brighter side is that it is a higher-margin business than outsourcing and would also get cheered from Americans for bringing back manufacturing rather than protesting them for IT.
This also open doors for new opportunities like building smart cities with sensors for every aspect of city’s functioning. Not only these but there are opportunities to create revolution even in health care and education sector especially for underprivileged.
It is high-time for Indian outsourcing to wake up and turn this dusk to dawn before night takes over!
Date: May 28, 2017