The Hindu Business Line : Major innovations in IT may come from India: Expert

THE "Next Big Thing" in the global IT sector that may emerge out of India may not be on the radar screen of IT majors for innovations, said leading industry expert, Mr Ed Yourdon, here today.

Mr Yourdon, who is also the director of iGATE Global Solutions, feels that the next big thing in new technology is likely to come from countries such as India, Brazil and Israel. "India has an opportunity from where the big thing can emerge, especially from cities such as Bangalore, Pune and Hyderabad.

"If that happens, the companies get a lead time of six months to two years to evolve, refine, develop and deploy the technology before global competitors become aware of its introduction," he said.

Commenting on the trends in software development, Mr Yourdon said the industry over next few years might witness Web services and wireless or anywhere computing as the big wave.

"As the global economy gradually emerges from the recession for last few years, I think we'll see a tremendous growth in products, services and applications in the wireless computing areas." However, it would be difficult to predict the next big technology wave over the next ten years, due to the rapid change in technology, he added.

Mr Yourdon maintained that offshoring to India would continue significantly for the next decade or so despite several backlash or protectionists movements. The offshoring trend is likely to be steady especially as more and more large companies gain experience with the process of outsourcing, and also as IT and telecom technologies continue to improve.

Quoting a Gartner estimate, Mr Yourdon said approximately 10-20 per cent of the US IT jobs were likely to be outsourced during the next 5-10 years but added that the outcry in the US was due to unrealistic fear that nearly 70 per cent the jobs may be moved.

Quoting media reports, Mr Yourdon said, "only 3 per cent of the jobs are being moved currently, which is trivial and should not be a cause of concern. The fear is that IT industry may lose jobs the same way it happened for textile, manufacturing and auto-related jobs that moved offshore during 1970s," he said.

Mr Yourdon suggested that Indian companies should look at jobs that add higher value and not technology-oriented, but process-oriented jobs.