Cisco to host IT services industry summit

Mumbai: Global leader in networking for the internet, Cisco Systems, is hosting its first ever IT services summit in Bangalore. The theme of the event is, "Scaling for Global Leadership" being held over May 31st and June 1st at the Leela Palace. The aim of this summit is to evolve mechanisms to make the Indian ITS industry future-ready.

Prominent speakers at the summit include Dr Nirmalya Kumar, professor of marketing and co-director, Aditya Birla India Centre, London Business School, and senior officials from Cisco's internet business solutions group, who will present an exclusive forum to discuss the opportunities and challenges faced by the Indian IT services market as it scales for global leadership.

The summit will provide a platform for customers, partners and decision-makers to exchange views on common challenges and trends impacting businesses today. This will include a participative forum to discuss themes, strategies and technology solutions to help absorb the impact of paradigm shifts within the industry.

B Ashok, Sr VP, IT services, Cisco Systems, India & SAARC, said, "The Nasscom-McKinsey report predicts that IT and ITeS sector would add 7 per cent to India's GDP by 2010. While the offshore IT solutions business will grow at 25 per cent to touch 35 billion USD in export revenues, the BPO business will witness a CAGR of 37 per cent to account for $25 billion of the projected $60 billion.

He adds, "This industry landscape has fundamentally changed in terms of customer behaviour, price pressures and increasing polarisation of player performance. These changes will force the various categories of IT services companies to examine how they want to differentiate themselves in a globally competitive environment. Against this background, Cisco's ITS summit aims to lay down the strategies and implications for IT companies to help them achieve their long term vision."