Client is the Central Theme

Lula Mohanty
VP-Sectors, GBS GD, IBM India

Please brief us about the portfolio you handle? 

What differentiates Delivery at IBM is the “Power of IBM” that accompanies it. In other words, we harness the power of IBM Research, analytics and cloud computing as well as the entire IBM team to help clients be more competitive, agile and smart. Further, being committed to Outcomes and not just Costs, having insights into 17 industries and 6 service lines, Delivery teams are innovators and problem solvers. In that context, my role as VP-Sectors at Global Delivery India means I am responsible for delivery of application services to clients across all sectors and industries. The portfolio includes go-to-market, industry assets and solutions, client management and delivery. 

How do you see the market scenario for Global Delivery?

Global delivery is going to be about a fine balance between industrialization and innovation - where the focus between savings from productivity improvements and investments for market leadership in the future would become a continuum. The traditional IT industry has gone through a massive transformation and the ask from service providers is far more encompassing, blurring the silos between hardware, software and services and bringing together back office priorities to support front office agendas. Integration of platforms across domains, choice of funding, use of sourcing models - all these are improvisations that speak of a fast-paced market. Overall, we foresee a very challenging and dynamic market with complex opportunities.

What kind of go-to-market strategies have you planned? 

All go-to-market strategies would have to have Clients as their central theme. Our successes would hinge on staying relevant to our clients’ needs - whether it's about bringing forward newer products, consolidating their customer base or getting into emerging markets. Advanced technologies and their applications in service domains would be our unique strength - be it in the social space, analytics, Smarter Commerce or mobility. So a primary focus would be on building out the right depth in skills both in global delivery centers and local markets where our clients are best served. 

Using research tools for insights which help transform and grow our client’s business and help them to make the right decisions are great opportunities to build longer term relationships and lasting partnerships with our clients.  The ability to integrate hard and soft - to give a holistic end-to-end IT solution is another focused go-to-market initiative.  Last but not the least, our existing delivery portfolio, diversity of experience therein and richness in scope helps us gain credibility in the market place. Hence to leverage our existing base is a pivotal part of our go to market pursuit strategy.

What is your outlook in 2013 for Global Delivery Capabilities?

The need for deeper skills and expertise in new technologies will be a key driver. What would be a true differentiator though would be an overlay of industry and domain knowledge on top of the technology skills. Thinking about business problems and determining end to end solutions that transcend IT specific SLAs to deliver real business outcome, would need global delivery organizations to step up individual skill levels to be multi dimensional and have a diverse mix of client experiences. The expectations out of global delivery would be as much around predictability as around transformation. 

Hence Global delivery in 2013 would mean a lot of precision around managing risks and protecting delivery outcomes – hence significant efforts around the realm of delivery management and quality controls. The cost of rework would be a heavy trade off on any P&L measurement. Investments would have to be cautious and made around hiring the right level of expertise from the market, setting up robust training infrastructure which would drive organic growth and scale around new technologies, in creating assets and reusable IP in areas that make maximum impact to over clients businesses- be in the on the realm of making thin outlays hosted in the cloud or big data centered analytics. Specialized shared services models, differentiated pricing strategies and outcome oriented SLAs would herald a new era of outsourcing practices which global missions will have to respond to with far more agility and confidence. 

for more contact :
moumita@varindia.com