Tata boss turns focus on flexibility

Organisations are beginning to use offshore outsourcing to improve their business agility, rather than simply cut costs, the UK head of Indian outsourcing firm Tata Consultancy Services said last week.

AS Lakshminarayanan said there had been a sea change in motives for outsourcing work overseas, with savings increasingly a secondary consideration.

"Taking cost out has been a top item. We have to continue to do that, but we also have to use IT to give flexibility for business changes. The past three years have been about cost. This year it will be how IT can be used to boost revenues," he said.

Organisations are increasingly using outsourcing to improve their ability to respond quickly to market changes, by stripping out the complexity from their IT systems.

"We are working with companies in the UK to rationalise their systems," said Lakshminarayanan.

www.computerweekly.com/outsourcing

Comment on this article: computer.weekly@rbi.co.uk