Not so soon, dude....

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), one of the largest Indian outsource consulting firms, with $4.3 billion in revenue, has released new IT failure research, based on survey results of 800 middle and senior IT managers from large companies.

According to the study findings:

a) 62% of organizations experienced IT projects that failed to meet their schedules
b) 49% suffered from budget overruns
c) 47% had higher-than-expected maintenance costs
d) 41% failed to deliver the expected business value and ROI

Business-critical software and services projects are clearly failing to deliver on the business objectives they set out to achieve. They take too long, cost too much and are riddled with defects.

1 in 3 companies’ IT projects fail to perform against expectations…

I suggest the local vendors should go back and take a look at their project commitments and under-achievements. A neat, honest compilation would highlight where they go wrong and the shortfalls that led to them. If you are too shy to do it, learn from others and bridge the knowledge gap – Michael Krigsman interviewing N.Chandrasekaran of TCS. Some candid admissions there.

Then I read this report today. It kinda’ pats the Indian IT vendors and tells the investors to go long on Indian IT. They seem to say it is still a good bet despite the rising Rupee and falling margins / stock prices. I say don’t get deluded – if local vendors don’t start listening to the customer. The customer speaks thro his CIO who in turn sounds more like LOB executive. Spend some time understanding customer’s LOB and be a strategic partner besides just being a bodyshop or an off-shore vendor. If you don’t, you are sure to be outdone by an IBM, Accenture or an EDS at the next pitch.

If the Indian vendors still aren’t convinced, Wall Street (ADRs are listed at Nasdaq and NYSE) and Dalal Street (counterpart at Mumbai, India, where their underlying shares are listed) will talk to them. They will understand that language anyway. You decide which option is better.

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