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Software exporter L&T Infotech, which has been lagging its larger rivals in growth rates and profitability, wants to add BPO capability to its portfolio of offerings so it can provide customers with the full range of services starting from application development and testing to back-office processing. The company has appointed one of the big four consulting firms to advise on its BPO strategy. L&T Infotech is a fully-owned subsidiary of engineering giant Larsen & Toubro.
“We want to be able to offer to the full range of services. We already have infrastructure management, independent testing services and application development and maintenance,” said Sudip Banerjee, CEO of L&T Infotech. The consulting firm is expected to submit its report on what sectors and services L&T Infotech should focus on for BPO as well as advise it on suitable delivery locations. In addition, it will also advise the firm on whether acquisitions can be an entry strategy into BPO services.
Wipro and IBM have used their acquisitions of Spectramind and Daksh BPO Services respectively to successfully enter the BPO business in the past. However, Mr Banerjee, said such a strategy, involving the acquisition of diversified third-party BPO provider, was unfit for the current environment when BPO was already a mature industry segment . He said the company was open to niche acquisitions such as captive back-office units of mutlinationals for building its BPO business.
Most IT exporters, including smaller ones, already offer BPO services. “When a provider has full service capability, it has a stronger story to tell clients. The universe it can play in also becomes larger. It becomes easier to pitch additonal services and increase the wallet-size from the same customer ,” said Diptarup Chakraborti, principal analyst, Gartner.
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