CIOL: What steps do you suggest outsourcing companies to take?
KM: Companies in the offshore space will need to focus on becoming more efficient thru productivity, utilisation focus and harvesting of reusable tools and components. Every employee has to be focused on being a co-innovator with the client and ensuring the client is able to access new efficiencies as a result.
Every client has to be special and at this time client intimacy will take centre stage. IT and KPO firms like Syntel who have the capability will focus on new offerings around integration, risk and governance. All of this will enable the top line. At the same time since sales cycles will be longer and some clients in the BFSI space may reduce budgets the offshore firms must take steps around geographical expansion, adding new service offerings and waste elimination. 

The short term will be tough for some companies who are not thinking ahead and who are not intimate with their customers or their business. It will also take some time for the BFSI clients to finalise budgets. Firms exposed to the affected these clients will have some uncertainty.  However the impact on other verticals as of now is minimal. In the medium term however the need for clients to reduce cost and drive more innovation will actually mean even more business for attentive IT and KPO Companies who leverage their talent, passion and innovation capabilities. Syntel has increased its revenue and EPS guidance every quarter in this environment and this is a testament to how we are described by the industry analysts " Small enough to listen, Big enough to deliver."