The Hindu Business Line : Now outsource thinking, a la Virtusa

The General Manager of Virtusa Corporation in India, Dr Santanu Paul, told Business Line this is a new practice that has emerged in the project management domain where Virtusa has forayed into lately. As opposed to mere strategic consultancy which top consulting majors provide, this is a solutions-driven approach for IT product companies.

Virtusa Corporation, a technology engineering services provider, partners technology products companies and independent software vendors (ISVs) in their product development and engineering services through an outsourced model, by establishing centres of excellence.

The company, which operates through multiple locations including a recent centre in Europe, typically partners product development companies right from concept to release providing engineering and quality support.

Recently, the company realigned its operations along specialised functional streams and has forayed into consultancy work aimed at offering product management services. These services range from market research and analysis, detailed technical chronicling of information and quality and assurance services.

"This is a new competency we have created in Virtusa referred to as industry solutions group. This brings in cross-functional expertise and offers a technology solution to clients. Through this service offering, the Virtusa management consultants, who also have deep industry expertise, partner with IT product companies and proactively work with them on future products. This is handled through close coordination with development teams across various locations, with a significant number based in India (Hyderabad and Chennai) and Sri Lanka," Dr Paul said.

Typically, these consultantsdraw from deep domain knowledge and experience and have top management degree and combine the best of both worlds — technology and management. Bringing in a lot of consultancy expertise and leveraging information gathered from analysis of business trends, they help product companies such as Vignette.

"When we take such a proposal to a client, they initially challenge the concept. But as they understand the advantages this brings to them, they gradually fall in line. This would be like a packaged offering for a product development or an ISV where product management, product development and product engineering are all bundled in one, offering end-to-end services," Dr Paul said.

For a product engineering and implementation provider, this was a well thought out strategic shift offering product management services. Here Virtusa consultants expect to partner with its 35-plus clients and help them in new product development bringing deep market insights. Apart from building long-term relationship with the existing clients, this move could also bring a lot of downstream engineering work, including the possibility of establishing centres of excellence, said Mr Sandeep Shisodia, a team leader at Virtusa.

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