Is the cloud a threat or an opportunity for IT service
providers? With Gartner predicting that 20 percent of businesses
will own no IT assets by 2012 – Indian IT service providers
have a massive challenge to address. With no software to install,
implement or customize, the traditional sources of revenues such as
application development, application maintenance and implementation
will be massively impacted.
How can Indian IT service providers address this challenge? Will
cloud reduce the overall market for IT services or will it expand
the market. While the jury is still out on the impact of the cloud
on the overall market, K B Chandrasekhar, CEO and Chairman,
Jamcracker, believes that the market will expand significantly.
Chandrasekhar is well known in the industry as a visionary and is
credited as one of the pioneers in identifying the potential of the
Internet and founding Exodus Communications.
"Application Development and Maintenance services will
primarily be targeted at the supply side such as ISVs and SaaS
players, rather than the demand side such as enterprises"
K B Chandrasekhar, CEO and Chairman, Jamcracker
“The cloud can enable a much larger market for IT
service providers. This is primarily so because the cloud will
unshackle the traditional cost barriers of providing business
value. The IT services market will explode due to the cloud,”
predicts Chandrasekhar.
Chandrasekhar predicts that the whole revenue model of Indian IT
service providers will be turned upside down. “Application
Development and Maintenance (ADM) services will primarily be
targeted at the supply side such as ISVs and SaaS players, rather
than the demand side such as enterprises,” says
Chandrasekhar.
The cloud will spawn a new ecosystem wherein even smaller
players with good domain expertise will have the opportunity to
compete against the best in the business. Chandrasekhar believes
that the cloud will carve out a new set of players, which are
vertically focused.
“The cloud will reshape and redefine the IT
landscape. The IT ecosystem will eventually become vertically
focused. For example, a CA can provide accounting service via the
cloud,” explains Chandrasekhar.
The cloud will also enable telecom service providers to play a
vital role in delivering IT services. “Telecom service
providers have a last mile connection to the SMB, and they are in
an ideal position to provide cloud-based services to small and
medium customers,” opines Chandrasekhar. With India’s
telecom service providers facing huge challenges in increasing the
Average Revenue Per User (ARPU), telecom service providers can
bundle in applications by leveraging their network as a delivery
mechanism.
About Author
An award-winning journalist with more than 14 years of experience, Srikanth RP is Senior Associate Editor with InformationWeek India. Srikanth is passionate about writing on topics which clearly show the business impact of technology.
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