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A few years ago when an industrial-design dropout decided
to set up an IT-services firm, he knew that the big fish
in the sea had all that was needed to survive ? process
maturity, proven track record and deep pockets to grab any
customer, big or small ? unlike him who just had a vision
to offer innovative solutions, something that these
biggies did not. Sunil Malhotra, the founder and CEO of a
very small IT-solutions firm, knew he had to build his
core competency somewhere else. He chose interdisciplinary
capabilities, ideas and innovation to be it. And that
remains the seed of his venture called Ideafarms, where he
and his team of 30 work toward not delivering a good cost
or technology model, but ideas.
Small and mid-sized service providers may not have
thousands of workers on their payrolls or funds to last
them very long, but innovation by means of personalization
is core to them. While they have to work many times as
hard to deliver on the promises and to match up to the
biggies in the game, boutique service providers need to
bring in more innovation in the solutions they offer. Many
a times, they are trusted for not the cost or technology
they are going to deliver, but for ideas and quality with
which they will.
Yet, many companies prefer to outsource to the big
players. The risk of things not working out is very high,
and it?s better to opt for a known devil than an unknown
one, they reason. The large service providers give the
comfort of well-designed processes as a result of having
repeatedly done the same job for hundreds of customers. So
what, if they offer the best fit (the closest possible
match to the customer needs) and not the perfect fit? They
are too big to devote time to the nuances of your
business.
Myths Surrounding Boutiques
While boutique outsourcing service providers ? companies
providing specialized services, with strength varying
between few tens of people to may be a thousand odd ? may
not have something for everyone because of the limited
resources they have, they intend to excel in any service
they provide. As a consequence, most of these firms have
specialist areas in which they operate. And since they
have to work twice as hard to win customer confidence,
they need to exhibit quality to survive. Where it is
difficult for the Tier-2 players to make a mark in this
highly competitive market, there are many myths
surrounding them. Some of them are:
Contracts with boutiques come at a lower price: While
there may be a price differential, Tier-2 providers are
not always the cheapest solution providers. In a conscious
attempt to provide some services that the big companies
are not able to provide, these companies go that extra
mile to service their customers.
"None of our projects come to us because we were cheapest
on the bid. They come to us because of the talent that we
bring to the project and out flexibility to respond as the
customer grows"
Kevin Bolen, CMO, Lionbridge
?None of our projects come to us because we were cheapest
on the bid,? says Kevin Bolen, CMO, Lionbridge, a company
into content support and software development and testing
services that has six centers worldwide with two in
Eastern Europe (about 350 staff), two in India (more than
1,300 workers) and two in China (a total of about 300
employees). ?They come to us because of the level of the
relationship, the level of access to talent that we bring
to the project, and our flexibility to respond as the
customer grows,? adds Bolen.
Another reason why clients consider smaller outsourcing
firms against the bigwigs is that they provide more
intimacy and agility, and lesser bureaucracy than the big
players. The Tier-2 players operate with minimal level of
intervention as against the large providers that take
decisions slowly due to multiple layers of bureaucracy.
Customers also opt for the smaller players as a means to
spread risk across providers.
?A big advantage [of working with a small provider] is
that customers can reach decision makers without too many
intervening layers, and so work proceeds quicker,? says
Vijay Menon, VP, Marketing, QuEST, a boutique IT firm
in the engineering services outsourcing space.
Smaller and lower priority projects come to boutiques:
Important projects and big clientele is proof that this is
not true. Companies as big as Pizza Hut, Continental AG,
AOL, Merck, DocuSign and Palm are working with these
specialized players for some of their important projects.
It is also not a good idea to work with boutique providers
for routine tasks like quality testing and maintenance;
these are better left to the larger players who have over
time developed process maturity and trained people for
such tasks. The smaller firms are more suited for
innovative projects ? they have the time to invest in your
business.
For further information please
contact ?
Romana Charania
Asst Manager Corporate Communications
Ph: +91 80 41190900
Fax: +91 80 41190901
Email:
Romana.Charania@quest-global.com
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