Indian ICT industry is a very extensive industry growing at good pace. There are a lot of brands who are putting all their efforts to gain momentum to achieve growth as competition has increased many fold. To discuss it further, DT spoke with Mr. Asoke K Laha, President & CEO, Interra Information Technologies. He spoke over their overall performance through last calendar year and their strategies for the coming years.
DT: How has been the year 2018 for you?
Mr. Asoke: Overall performance of 2018 is in sync. with our business plan. 2018 is a year of transformation. Business model has changed significantly. The customer requirements have changed from pure outsourcing model to solution provider and consulting mode. The software development methodology is agile as compared to classic waterfall model. New technologies e.g. Analytics, Cloud Computing, UX, Mobility, Artificial intelligence are in demand. The demands for old technologies like maintenance of Legacy software, Java programming have reduced significantly. We anticipated the change in this business model at the beginning of 2018, and transformed ourselves accordingly.
DT: Please brief about your channel ecosystem in India. How are you currently working with your partners to strengthen your market position?
Mr. Asoke: 95% of our revenue comes from US customers, where we have dedicated sales team. We are exploring different channel partners in India for our domestic business. I expect that domestic business will grow significantly in 2019.
DT: What is your overall roadmap to escalate your growth further in CY 2019? On what products/solutions you will be focusing in 2019?
Mr. Asoke: Our Roadmap in 2019 consists of establishing Centers of Excellence in a number of new technologies, That includes significant investment in manpower and training. Mastering the new technologies, as I outlined in Section (1) will enable us to significant growth. Our primary focus will be Analytics and Artificial Intelligence. At the same time, we will not abandon legacy software and old technologies. There will be significant business opportunities in old technologies for at least next five to ten years.
DT: What are your suggestions/advise to policy makers to counter any existing business challenges in ICT market?
Mr. Asoke: Unless ICT companies transform themselves to the adoption of new technologies, they will be extinct. A significant percentage of the present IT personnel are and will be unemployable. On the other hand, there is a huge shortage of IT personnel experts in new technologies. The policy makers can provide training facilities to create pool of IT Professionals proficient in new technologies. The policy makers can also provide incentives in form of tax credit and financial benefits, to those corporations who are investing their own money to train employees in the new technologies.
