IT can 'add a lot of value' in Gulf

Gulf News: Where in the IT services industries do you still see growth opportunities?

Chawla: The IT solutions required are changing, especially for banks. They are talking about centralising their operations to get efficiency out of the systems and remove redundant activities and thereby provide better service to customers. Additionally, they are interested in systems integration, complex solutions and outsourcing. The taboo subjects are back on the table now. As companies are consolidating and merging, thy are looking at all these things. So these will be the new growth areas going forward and a welcome change for the region.

Gulf News: How are corporate demands from IT vendors changing?

Chawla: Companies are looking for BI (business intelligence) in a box, so that they can plan better, do consolidation, budgeting and forecasting, analysis. They are expecting a lot more from IT vendors than what they were even two years ago.

They are also starting to look at managed services, where external experts would come in to manage their infrastructure.

Gulf News: What are the most important aspects of IT from a company's perspective?

Chawla: Security. Everybody is scared about security. So companies want security consultants to look over their complete infrastructure, to find and plug gaps in security infrastructure. Bring in best practices from all over the world. Another issue is of getting the best value out of the investments made.

Gulf News: At what stage of growth is the regional IT industry?

Chawla: The market is maturing. It is not yet fully matured but you can see the initial signs. There is still a lot of value that IT can add in the Gulf.

Gulf News: What are the challenges that companies face when they begin to outsource IT infrastructure management, why is this sector not growing at a faster pace?

Chawla: There are some mindset issues. While the top management decides to outsource and improve efficiency, the middle management sees it as a loss of control and begin to feel insecure about their job. The outsourcing industry is growing at over 20 per cent and is moving in the curve towards maturity.