Though the acquisition added banking, insurance, retail, hi-tech, telecommunications and travel to IBM India’s existing capabilities, Daksh’s centres in Indian and South East Asia weren’t the only things on IBM’s mind during the takeover. But the deal also became a test case that HR managers in India often use to demonstrate how companies ought to “manage people’’ after completing a mega-acquisition across borders.

“The business strength of India that companies like IBM have managed best is people,” says Vijay Iyer, founder, Mentor Consulting, an HR consultancy practice. “People, after all, are the single biggest resource we have.”

IBM has things to teach Indian companies too, experts say, particularly since India is expected to yield a larger number of highly successful firms even as the first generation of Infosys, TCS and Wipro mature further.

According to Hema Ravichandar, who now runs a strategic HR advisory firm after managing human resources for Infosys, “The success of large Indian organisations is that they have realised the reality of middle management paucity in the sunrise industries. They have set in place several interventions to address this, and they have also successfully structured themselves to play to the strengths of Indian professionals.”

Future Flavour

EVEN as IBM leapt from strength to strength in India—a success attributed in part to the buoyancy displayed by all BRIC economies over the last two decades—within months of the Daksh acquisition, IBM bagged a mega-contract from one of India’s most high-profile telecom companies, Bharti Airtel.

The cellular service provider has outsourced a major chunk of its work to IBM as part of a $750 million 10-year ‘strategic outsourcing’ contract signed in 2004. This deal involves complete “transformation and management” of Bharti’s IT infrastructure by IBM. The contract was extended recently for a year with another $100 million.

... contd.