Every time one has to invite a Bollywood star or a cricketer to an unrelated event, it becomes apparent that the show is badly in need of some boost. The recent Nasscom Leadership Forum in Mumbai to which Amitabh Bachchan and Rahul Dravid were invited, underlined this point. The Forum which was once a powerhouse event in the IT trade body?s calendar is now a pale shadow of its former self. Not all companies are taking the event seriously and the sessions are conspicuous by the absence of fresh topics and interesting viewpoints. That has been the experience of many who made the trip to Mumbai last week to attend the event.
Bangalore runs an yearly show called IT.Biz which over the years has become a laughing stock of sorts. What started as a great platform for IT companies to celebrate, brain storm and chalk out strategies for future became a yawning exercise and that?s not likely to change any time soon. While Nasscom Leadership Forum is quite a distance from being a real yawn like IT.Biz, care should be taken now to figure out ways to keep it at a level that participants find stimulating.
What Nasscom needs to do is get leaders like Azim Premji, Narayana Murthy, Shiv Nadar and Anand Mahindra to attend the event. After all it is called the Leadership Forum and that calls for leaders of the highest rung to be present. The industry requires greater leadership muscle like that of the past. It needs voices that are heard universally. Quite often these days IT leaders are reluctant to talk about the big picture. There is a certain hesitancy to lead the way, discuss the future and dream. That was not how IT in India got to this stage. It got here because the leaders had tall ambitions, talked big and knew how to walk that talk. That?s what we desperately need and the Nasscom Leadership Forum should strive to achieve that goal in future.
Make no mistake there is all round criticism of Nasscom?some warranted and some not so. The trade body has been a pillar of strength for the IT industry for many years and has helped it grow into a show piece industry though some companies may argue that Nasscom did not have much to do with their growth. Today?s IT industry is not the same as a decade ago. A whole lot of things have changed. The environment is a lot more pensive and no one is giving a quarter to anyone easily. It?s a time when the industry needs great support. The IT companies with Nasscom are now a diverse set. Not all of them are pure play IT services players doing business the traditional way. The opportunity pool is wide and deep and their goals are diverse. Nasscom has to find an effective way to meet the requirements of all. Or may be it shouldn?t. A better way may be to prioritise its goals and do what?s best for the industry in the long run rather than cater to the short-term objectives of individual companies.
One particular complaint against Nasscom is that it has not been able to showcase Indian IT in a better light internationally, despite certain efforts towards that. While Indian IT has been talking about moving up the value chain and creating IP-based products, this imagery is not sitting well with global clients who still look upon India has a country that provides cheap software services. Nasscom has not been able to dispel this notion, many companies feel.
The other issue is about the heavyweights within the group dominating the lighter ones. Smaller firms feel that their voices are not heard enough. There are firms who are trying out innovative business models, there are firms who are trying the not so time tested ways, trying to carve out a new growth path and Nasscom should realise that and support them. Probably the trade body is trying to do it, but it?s not being seen as doing it.
Som Mittal, the Nasscom president, has done a great job over the years trying to protect industry interests. Now he has to just spread his wings a bit wider to carry along the dissident voices.