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Information Technology - The Indian Scenario

This document discusses the history and evolution of information technology (IT) in India. It describes how IT began in India in 1985 with software exports and the establishment of early software companies. It then expanded with investments in internet startups and efforts by manufacturing companies to improve efficiency using internet and communication technologies. Today, India has a large IT industry sector providing a variety of IT enabled services including customer support, finance and accounting, engineering, human resources, and more. The global market for IT enabled services is estimated to reach $200 billion by 2010.

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67 views

Information Technology - The Indian Scenario

This document discusses the history and evolution of information technology (IT) in India. It describes how IT began in India in 1985 with software exports and the establishment of early software companies. It then expanded with investments in internet startups and efforts by manufacturing companies to improve efficiency using internet and communication technologies. Today, India has a large IT industry sector providing a variety of IT enabled services including customer support, finance and accounting, engineering, human resources, and more. The global market for IT enabled services is estimated to reach $200 billion by 2010.

Uploaded by

kunalkarmakar733yaho
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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INTRODUCTION

What is Information Technology (IT)?


IT is a term referring to both telephony and computer technology
IT includes all forms of technology used to create, store, exchange and use information in
its various forms (business data, voice conversation, still images, motion pictures,
multimedia presentations and other forms, including those not yet conceived).
The term IT includes:
 Hardware,
 Software,
 Internet Service,
 Cables and Wires, etc.

IT or Information Technology has probably been the most redefined term over the past few
years. The definition has varied from simple automation of manual processes using micro
processors to computers to networks to desktop publishing to networking.

Information technology is defined and characterized by the domain of its usage and therefore the
tools that are used in that domain typically contribute to IT's definition.

Information Technology – The Indian Scenario


As in most countries, computers and IT have been around for a long time in India. But,
considered as an industry gaining global recognition and as having an internationally competitive
future, IT’s much-publicized growth in India has been a much more recent phenomenon.
Software exports, the earliest harbinger of a more widespread IT expansion, began only in 1985,
when Texas Instruments established its subsidiary in Bangalore. This move was followed not
only by other foreign software companies setting up operations in that city and elsewhere but
also by a number of domestically-established software companies (Tata Consultants, Wipro,
Infosys, HCL Technologies and others).
In more recent years, as the internet has expanded globally, these earlier investments have been
followed by an explosion of start- up internet companies and by early efforts of a few well-
established manufacturing companies at using the internet and other forms of communication to
improve efficiency in their operations.
IT manufacturing also has occurred in India for many years and has included investment by
multinational companies, as IBM’s early involvement in India suggests. Today, many foreign
producers of computers and peripherals (HP, IBM, Compaq, Canon, etc.) have manufacturing
operations in the country, often in joint ventures with Indian companies. There are in addition a
number of wholly Indian companies, exemplified by HCL, a company that formerly had a joint
venture with HP but has now taken over the enterprise. A variety of other manufacturers exist,
including producers of peripherals, electronic supplies and fiber optic equipment, among others,
including Modi Xerox, Tata Liebert and Wipro as examples.

The Three Landmarks – Evolution of IT Industry:

The early 1970s saw large computer organizations like IBM and ICL as the dominant players in
the industry. The trend then was not to sell but install the hardware, lease it and provide a range
of services to users. Soon, in the eighties, three major trends started emerging which
revolutionized the industry.

The first, an increasingly smaller size of hardware became available due to a technology called
large-scale integration of circuits or what is commonly now known as ‘chips’. It is now
commonly known that the power of hardware of the seventies, which was a large as an office
room, is now down to the power of a personal computer.

The second very noticeable trend that emerged was that the size and cost of hardware became
irrelevant when compared to the software development around the hardware; this made software
increasingly powerful and a far more influential tool in the development and use of systems. The
early eighties saw the emergence of powerful hardware and a large variety of software. This
industry witnessed a growing number of hardware vendors and software companies. The
traditional monopolies were broken. The most notable of these new companies was Microsoft,
which, due to creative development and increasing popularity of software, in only a decade, has
become one of the largest companies globally.
The third major development that took place towards the eighties which had an impact on the
hardware and the software industry was the speed and use of satellite communication. It became
evident that if users were to use powerful hardware it was not necessary to own it or even be
physically close to it. The software resting on the hardware at distant locations or even other
countries could be reached by satellite telecommunication through PCs or dump terminals. This
made it possible for users to access a variety of hardware or software anywhere around the world
on ordinary telephone lines.

Providing IT services became more important and that is where the industry rests. IT emerged, in
the late eighties, as a combination of several facets; hardware, software and communications. It
became evident then that information technology had a wide range and scope – covered a variety
of hardware, several operating systems, innumerable application software that facilitates
development and easier interface with the user. IT specializations have facilitated working in
many sectors such as banking, finance, mining, steel, transportation, government and what not.

Major Segments of IT Enabled Services:

Following is a fairly detailed generic classification of IT Enabled Services which are already
existing or which have potential for evolving into areas of entry:

Customer Interaction Services such as Call Centres


Finance and Accounting Services such as back office data processing for Airlines, etc.
Engineering and Design Services such as outsourced design activities
Human Resources Services such as outsourced payroll preparations, etc.
Animation for movies and TV serials, cartoon strips, etc.
Translation, Transcription and Localization such as Medical Transcription Services.
Network Consulting and Management covering outsourced network designing and
maintenance.
Data Search, Integration and Analysis covering areas such as preparation of legal data
bases, research & preparation of reports based on data bases on past records, etc.
Marketing Services such as bureaus for marketing products or services based on Call
Centres or local market data bases, etc.
Web Site Services for creating site contents, advertising, etc.
Remote Education for utilizing IT infrastructure to strengthen formal education system
for remote and expertise starved areas.
Medical Consultancy by providing expert advice based on data or making available data
bases.
Secretarial Services through bureaus which utilize information technology for offering
secretarial help.

The key drivers of IT enabled services are outsourcing and out-location. Outsourcing means that
some functions can be done more economically externally, something like "make or buy"
decision in manufacturing. Essentially it means is that all activities like salary processing, call
processing, credit cards processing, data mining, etc can be outsourced to a 3rd party at a cheaper
rate, instead of building overheads in-house. Out-location means that Company X has got a
subsidiary or a division located in a low cost area to provide the same. This takes advantage of
the lower cost of manpower to deliver the service over the telecom links. Call centers, financial
accounting services, engineering design, animation are very good examples of the same. The
prime industry targets for IT enabled services are banking, insurance, airline reservations,
hospitals and utility billings.The global market for IT enabled services is estimated to grow from
about US$10bn to US$200bn by 2010.

Category US $ billion
Human resources 50
Customer interaction 42
Finance & accounting 20
Data search and analysis 20
Remote education 19
Animation 2
Translation and localization 1
Engineering design 6
Network consulting and management 8
Website services 7
Market research 5
Spectrum of I.T. Enabled Services in India:

Amongst others, the spectrum of I.T. Enabled Services applications already evident in India
includes the following broad segments

Medical Transcription

Back Office Operations, Revenue Accounting and other ancillary operation


Insurance Claims Processing
Legal databases
Content Development/Animation
Payroll
Logistics Management

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