Polaris Software gets two more clients

Chennai: The city-based Polaris Software Lab has done it again. Upstaging other domestic software services biggies Polaris has got two more billion-dollar clients. Already earning around 70 per cent of its revenues from banking and financial services domains, Polaris will be increasing that share with its new financial services clients.

Bound by a non-disclosure clause, the Chennai company refuses to divulge the name of one of its new clients. The only information about that financial services company is that it is US-based, manages $81/-billion worth of assets and is rated by Moodys. The other client is the France-based euro 6.7-billion Snecma Moteurs involved in design, development, manufacture and marketing of aerospace engines and propulsion systems.

Only two months back did Polaris bag two prestigious accounts the US-based American Insurance Group (AIG), and CommerzBank, Germany, against tough competition.

Says Polaris Software chairman and CEO Arun Jain: "Our focus on such domains is the reason we get new orders. The two new relationships are strategic in nature and the order-size has not been specified upfront. In two years time, the two accounts are expected to give us anything between $5 and $10 million revenues." But Jain refuses to comment on the billing rates for the two new contracts. Initially the new contract works will be done offshore and later, onshore. "We bill $19.90 per hour offshore and $60 onsite."

For Polaris there is a shift to offshore the outsourcing model from onsite works. The recent business school recruitment of 80 MBAs by Polaris will come handy for Polaris now. "We will be hiring people for senior positions to handle the new contracts. Apart from that there wont be any new recruitments," says Jain.

But such transition from onsite to offshore may have some impact on the revenue numbers in the immediate future, and the true value can only be demonstrated only over a longer period. Officials are confident that these relationships are stocked with a tremendous business potential, giving it enough scope for value enhancement in the long term.