The Hindu Business Line : `US presence vital for offshoring success'

AN offshoring company with sales, marketing and support team in the US has the best chance of succeeding, winning and keeping customers, according to Norwest Venture Partners managing partner, Mr Promod Haque.

Billed the top VC by Forbes in 2004, Mr Haque says US is still the largest market and the early adopter for technology products and services. The US customer is, however, become more demanding, and more pragmatic and conservative.

Technology spending decisions have moved up in the organisational structure and it is no longer tech enthusiasts but sober conservative CIOs who make IT investment decisions, he said.

"Indian companies must also try to enter into a strategic partnership model with large service providers in the US since large corporations increasingly have fewer and larger software vendors," he suggested.

In US no company gets VC funds unless it has an operational plan to offshore. Network integration, wireless, RFID are hot areas for investing in and he says he is willing to invest `significantly' in such companies.

Mr Haque was speaking at India Inc 2004, an IT industry conference focussing on enabling Indian companies to market in the US.

However, success brings with it challenges such as the proliferation of vendors, and competition from other countries such as Russia and China to replicate the offshoring destination success of India, said Mr M.R. Rangaswamy, of the Sand Hill Group, a California-based offshoring consultancy.

Indian companies must refine their strategies in selling to the US customer, according to him. Indian companies must evaluate the new business models emerging for enterprise vendors.