In order to identify the synergies between India and Korea and create a mutually beneficial business environment in IT, the Embassy of India jointly organized with the Indian Chamber of Commerce in Korea (ICCK), had a "Forum on India-Korea Information Technology Partnership for Global Success" at the Grand Ball Room, Millennium Seoul Hilton on March 14.
The Forum received an enthusiastic response from the Korean industry and businesses, not only representing the IT sector, but from the entire spectrum of the Korean economic activity. 150 Korean entrepreneurs and businessmen from diverse fields including shipping, automobiles, engineering, construction, electronics, communications, computer hardware, tourism, banking & financial services, consultancy services, multimedia services etc., participated in the Forum thereby endorsing the high billing that the Indian IT programmers and solutions enjoy world-wide as flexible, high-quality and highly integrated services across the value chain.
Kim Jong-shik, Chairman of ICCK started the forum by welcoming all the distinguished guests at the hall. "India and Korea has established a very strong relationship over the years and we continually need to enhance the relationship between our two nations in order to cooperate in IT and other sectors."
Mr. Shand R. Tayal, Ambassador of India to the Republic of Korea emphasized, "Since Korea is strong in infrastructure such as building, manufacturing and hardware. Therefore, if Korea cooperates with India's advanced software technology to produce embedded software products, we can build significant synergy. I hope this forum cements the excellent partnership between our two countries."
Indeed, India has continued its growth throughout the eighties' liberalization and the government's open policy and promotions of IT industry in the nineties. At last, India stands high as the most outstanding IT nation in the world. The relationship of India and Korea has been growing fast due to the Korea-India Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) in January of last year. The trade volume between the two nations reached US$ 10.7 billion which is the biggest in history and it is expected to continue this year.
Jeong Dae-jin, Director of the Software Division for the Ministry of Knowledge Economy also agreed with those facts and said, "The world is shifting its interest to the IT industry of India. Global IT service companies are expanding their ambit from IT outsourcing to advanced consulting services around Bangalore, the so-called Silicon Valley of Asia." He believes that this forum will be the foundation for a tighter relationship and will provide the best business opportunities for the two countries.
The President of NASSCOM, Som Mittal, emphasized that it is time for us to make things happen. In his keynote speech, Mr. Som Mittal shared his insights on how India's IT solutions are helping and adding significant value to businesses globally by saying, "Global organizations already have chosen Indian outsourcing companies. India offers several advantages.
"He pointed out some strategic benefits such as language and cultural capabilities, low cost human resources, workforce that are proficient in English, low operating costs, and similar time zones as that of the US. Also, strong government support cannot be missed. Because of those reasons, India's Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) takes up 65 percent of the global market.
Presently, India's IT companies are operating from 66 countries with about 520 delivery centers. Recognizing the robustness of the Korean industry, Mr. Mittal emphasized how a win-win strategic partnership could be built between Korean and Indian economies leveraging the versatility, flexibility, domain-expertise and innovation capabilities of Indian IT-BPO industry.
He said, "India can be very helpful for Korea to improve its competitiveness in the global market." It is because that Indian IT services companies have been operating all over the world and they have comprehensive understanding of the overseas markets.
Prominent speakers at the Forum included Cindy Shin, Managing Director of Nielson Company for Korea and Japan; Suneet Puri of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS); Shashidhara Dongre of L&T Infotech; K. Bittiananda of WIPRO; Ahn Se-joon of Mahindra Satyam. TCS, L&T Infotech, WIPRO and Mahindra Satyam are all Indian IT multinationals and have branches in Korea.
Nielson Company is a global client of TCS and is the world's leading provider of marketing information. Cindy Shin explored how Nielson's multinational operations attained significant cost benefit and value addition by partnering with the Indian IT services provider, TCS, and how Indian companies are capable of servicing global operations because of their wider reach and presence in a variety of sectors.
The Senior Vice president of Tata Consultancy Services, Mr. Suneet Puri, talked about the Indian BPO industry and strategic partnership for Korean Industries global success. He said that BPO sustains and maximizes clients' growth with innovative go-to-market strategies.
Continuously, Mr. Shashidhara Dongre, Head of Wireless Practice in L&T Infotech in Japan said, "Since Korean customers are bothered about speed, they provide various services to their clients quickly as possible by building strategic partnerships with the clients."
Kuttappa Bittiananda, regional sales head in product engineering services for WIPRO, stressed the role of companion. He explained that in order to run the innovative solutions, IT service companies should be a companion of customers instead of only being a simple solution provider. He said, "Clear understanding of customers is the key for the service provider and we need to responsd to the changes."
Lastly, Ahn Se-joon, consultant of Mahindra Satyam had a presentation about Japan IT enabled services for the manufacturing industry. Most likely, globalization is what Japanese companies expect from Indian IT service companies. And he said, "In order to overcome the language and cultural barriers between Korea and India, IT Vendor and customers have to work together to solve them."
The Forum would open up new opportunities for India's IT companies to enhance their footprint in Korea. The Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) and the close strategic partnership will provide a positive and supportive environment for more intense collaboration in the IT sector.
The theme presented at the Forum was that the coming together of the advanced Korean industry and businesses, and the Indian IT talent, can compete with the best successfully.
The intense discussions in the afternoon spanning four hours were followed by cultural programs that included an Indian Yoga dance performed by Korean ladies, and a dinner.
