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So, how does the Indian software industry continue to capitalize on the gains made during the past decade? What is the next phase of evolution? Moving forward, I see India not only as a great hub of software research and development, innovation, and business ownership but as a driver of corporate growth agendas and a place where markets are heading to. The opportunities are there to be seized.
The unique culture and technology climate found in India presents an intriguing market opportunity as a launching ground for next generation technologies. Two major growth agendas being considered by the software industry - mobility and software as a service (SaaS) - have the potential of being guided by India.
There are 1.5 billion cell phones in the world today, more than three times the number of PCs, and in countries like India many consumers will never own a PC. The mobile phone will be their primary computing networked device. This opens up enormous opportunities and challenges related to publishing and content delivery, whether it's print, graphics, video, or any other format. India offers a market paradigm for how to engage consumers with the right content at the right time in the most compelling way possible.
Offering software when and how a customer needs it, in a pay-as-you-go model, makes a lot of sense in countries like India where traditional high upfront license cost has been a barrier to adoption. It also turns the problem of software piracy on its head, because there is no need to worry about counterfeit CDs being sold on street corners. We are already starting to roll out these kinds of services worldwide, but I believe India will offer a promising test bed for how it can be effective in many other markets.
Aside from the market opportunity, the tremendous growth of SaaS opens up another opportunity for India. Globally,the supply of engineering talent with experience in programming 'SaaS architected applications' is in short supply and India may well turn out to be the leading source for such talent.
Beyond these areas, there are numerous other areas where India's experimentation with platforms and business models will serve as trend-setting moves for global companies. The possibilities are virtually unlimited.
In a relatively short time, India has already had a profound effect on the global software industry. From modest beginnings of code-testing and bug fixes to new ideas and technologies, the software industry in India has evolved into a technology powerhouse to be reckoned with.
