While our early surveys highlighted appreciation for the resilience demonstrated by Indian IT service providers, subsequent versions are giving us a peek into future customer expectations. With early concerns being addressed & new normal setting in, clients are shifting narratives to the future
- Novel processes /policies & contingency planning to deal with WFH scenarios
- Keeping up productivity levels & taking care of team’s well-being
- Tighter governance mechanisms & frequent reviews using virtual mediums
- Increased usage of collaborative tools for scrum ceremonies
- Data security, audits, cyber security focus increasing
- Charting ‘back to office’ roadmaps for seamless transition once situation eases
While some of these are centered around tackling COVID impact, serious shifts in preferences are emerging – conversations around rate cuts are already underway & investments towards higher automation, cloud migration, products/platforms, near shoring with distributed pods and de-risking through strategic re-allocation of workload are picking up. Few questions that needs deliberation:
- Would this alter the fundamental value proposition of outsourcing models?
- With IT spends reducing in the short term & increased competition, what could be some differentiators?