IT is the future bond

Let me describe about the scene in France when it comes to assigning offshore development work to India. We often need to explain to the French people about business process outsourcing (BPO) and offshore development and the multifarious possibilities India can offer in these fields, and how the French can really benefit from IT-savvy Indians.

But there is a snag. The French are afraid of assigning IT project works to a country like India because they think if they do so, the world might look at them as an IT-incompetent nation. That''s exactly the reason why India''s contribution to France''s IT sector is almost zero per cent.

Also, there is a strong trade union movement against ''offshore development.'' Their contention being, French entrepreneurs should not outsource their work from countries like India. If that happens, they claim, French engineers would lose their jobs. French companies are really afraid of these trade unions. This has to change.

Most professionals in this country, however, feel that French companies need to carefully study the market, the advantage and the drawbacks of outsourcing in house; this, they have to do if France needs to work with India.

In 2001, it took me six months to get my first outsourcing work (for a French entrepreneur) done in the Internet service provider (ISP) space. The entrepreneur wanted a very competitive price on a website builder, but my Indian company wanted to license it from France. Finally we made a deal for a good price, and both the parties are happy today.

Why I mentioned the above incident is because, we often need to push, help and advise French companies to outsource their work from India. These days Indian companies are in touch with agents like me to take care of their brand image and media publicity in France.