The Hindu Business Line : ‘Smaller IT cos should aim to be niche players’

Chennai, April 2 The septuagenarian Mr Dan Gupta has decided to shed some of his responsibilities in UST Global ( www.ustri.com). With Mr Sajan Pillai becoming the CEO of the US-based company, Mr Dan will continue as the Chairman, sources inform.

“What is the secret of your health and fitness?” I asked Dan, when we had met a few months ago, during one of his rare visits to Chennai. He was walking faster than most of us who were almost thirty years younger, and his answer was simple: a sprightly smile.

Dan (Satendra) is a veteran in the industry. A graduate of the Harvard Business School, he joined UST Global in 2002 after four decades with IBM. In 1996, Dan was part of IBM’s executive team in the Internet Division, which created IBM’s Internet strategy.

We had talked from late evening right up to midnight; on topics ranging from the prayer he begins his day with, to his pre-Independence memories, from what’s right with IT (information technology), to why there is still a lot of hope.

Excerpts from the interview.

What should be the priority for the country now?

India’s focus today is on IT services. I feel India now has once in a lifetime opportunity to become the services capital of the world, not just limited to IT.

Be it in research and development, medial sciences, architecture and design, legal and library services, India has the opportunity. But that can be harnessed only if India invests heavily in training our young people.

So the focus should be widened from IT to services, services in all areas. That will not only transform India but also transform the world.

Do you think the IT industry has to get its priorities right?

The IT industry has to move from cost advantage to value advantage and focus more on providing value to the customers.

For example, in the case of a customer for whom you create an e-marketplace or a Web site through which he wants to increase his revenue or customer service, or achieve faster introduction of products, offer better products, or cover a larger geography, the services command rates based on what benefit the customer is getting, and not based on hours or days or months of work.

So, my suggestion to smaller companies is that that they should focus on a niche area, where they become niche players.

What about the domestic spend on IT?

Indian industry and the Government have to view IT as a catalyst technology and embrace it. Only then IT’s effective use will flourish in the country.

In a short span of 15 years or so, IT has done exceptionally well. However, it should be realised that IT can be a technology which makes all other technologies more effective and in many cases feasible.

For example, if the development of IT were not at the level at which it is today, DNA structure would have not been unravelled.

IT has made it possible that practically everything can be digitised, and whatever can be digitised is significantly influenced by IT, so India as a country should focus on becoming the most effective user of IT.

That will definitely create the momentum, just as today there is this thrust to bring in machine tools to help in production.

We need a similar commitment for IT. The impact of IT on other industries in India can be far greater than what it is today.

By magnitude of 10 or 100 or 1000, compared to what it is today. In social areas too, such as healthcare, literacy or rural development. The impact can be phenomenal if IT can be as effectively used as it has potential to be. That’s what I would very much like to see.

http://InterviewsInsights.blogspot.com