Introduction to Consultancy industry of India

Consultancy is a diversified industry that encompasses diverse trades, disciplines, services and straddles almost all the sectors of economic activity. Consultants provide key inputs from conceptualisation, planning to implementation stages. The growth of this industry is closely linked to economic performance and development.

India has been globally recognized for its fast paced development. The service sector has been growing at a fast pace and now contributes more than 50% to the GDP.

The Indian Consulting Industry has been experiencing resurgence in the last few years. Indian consultancy industry started expansion not only in terms of size, but also in terms of the service offerings. Over the period, specialist consulting advice was being sought by clients in India and this opened the opportunity for a number of specialist organizations to draw on their specialist knowledge base and resources to meet the demand for specialist consulting service.

A large number of consultants offer a multiplicity of consulting services in various sectors such as agriculture and rural development, construction, manufacturing, social development, tourism, transportation, urban development, and water supply & sanitation. Information Technology (IT) followed by Corporate Strategy, Outsourcing Services, Human Resource Management, and Operations Management have been some of the prominent business divisions in the consulting market.

Largest concentration of consultancy organisations is in the four metropolitan cities: Delhi (25.7%) has the highest number of consultancy organisation among four

metropolitan cities followed by, Mumbai (25.5%), Chennai (12.1%) Calcutta (9.1%).

There are different types of consulting firms serving different sectors. They mainly fall under the following fields:

1) Financial2) Information technology3) Management4) Human Resources5) Legal6) Hotel and Hospitality industry

Introduction to Information Technology Sector of India

As defined by INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA (ITAA) “Information Technology” is the “study, design, development, implementation, support or management of computer based information system particularly software's applications & computer hardware.

Information technology (IT) industry in India has played a key role in putting India on the global map. IT industry in India has been one of the most significant growth contributors for the Indian economy. The industry has played a significant role in transforming India’s image from a slow moving bureaucratic economy to a land of innovative entrepreneurs and a global player in providing world class technology solutions and business services. The industry has helped India transform from a rural and agriculture-based economy to a knowledge based economy.

Specialities that attribute to the strength of Indian Information technology sector

1) Well dispersed and wide ranging areas of specialisation to service diverse range of clientele needs.

2) Advanced technical talents/ skills at reasonable cost. 3) Familiarity with local conditions

Drivers for development of Indian Information technology sector

After Independence, the Indian Government had focused on investment in core industrial sector and infrastructure. The investment in these sectors attracted various software, construction and engineering companies to explore the business opportunities and contribute their expertise in these sectors.

Domain experts were required who could provide their core skill and competence in designing and making software, programs etc .

Over the years, as the Indian industry started maturing, the Indian Information technology industry also started expanding, not only in terms of size, but also in terms of the service offerings.

Over the period, specialist consulting advice was being sought by clients in India and this opened the opportunity for a number of specialist organizations to draw on their specialist knowledge base and resources to meet the demand for specialist consulting services.

Strengths and Weaknesses of Indian Information technology sector

The major strengths of Indian Information technology sector organizations include:1) India with 28% has the largest share of the global talent pool 2) professional competence3) low cost structure and India also continues to hold a significant labor advantage

over developed countries thus offering significant cost saving opportunities.4) Diverse capabilities,5) High adaptability 6) Quick learning capability of Indian consultants.

The major weaknesses of Indian Information technology sector organizations, which has hindered the export growth of consulting sector in the country are:

1) low quality assurance2) low local presence overseas3) low equity base4) lack of market intelligence5) low level of R&D.

Current scenario of consultancy industry of India

Reflecting the recent economic slowdown in India, a Source Information Services report released on (7th August 2013) has found that the Indian consulting market grew by 4% in 2012 to just over $1.5bn.

The report says that despite this modest growth, the economic slowdown has in some ways become an important driver of demand in India’s consulting market as clients seek help to both increase revenue and improve efficiency. Interestingly, the Source report found that small and family-owned businesses are becoming increasingly important buyers of consulting services in India as a new breed of young, highly-educated business people rise in the ranks and are eager to take their businesses to the global stage.

From a sector perspective, financial services continues to be big business in India’s consulting world, and whilst representing just under a third of all consulting revenue, and growing by 8% in 2012, it was the largest growth sector. The energy and resources market also grew by 5% as India explores renewable energy alternatives in order to better meet its huge domestic requirements.

A statistics concerning the growth of India's whole consultancy service sectors are listed below:

The software services in Indian economy increased by 33 percent which registered a revenue of USD 31.4 billion Business services grew by 82.4 percent.

Engineering services and products exports grew by 23 percent and earned revenue of USD 4.9 billion.

Services concerning personal, cultural, and recreational had a growth of 96 percent. The financial services that comprise of banks, real estate, insurance, and business

services witnessed a rise of 11.1 percent during 2010-11 against the 10.9 percent growth in the previous year.

The software services in Indian economy along with the export of products is growing at a massive pace and thereby witnessed an alarming rise of 35.5 percent and reached a lumpsome amount of USD 18 billion.

There has been a 13 percent hike in the service sectors of trade, hotels, transport and communication in India's economy as compared to the 10.4 percent rise in the previous year of 2011.

Current scenario of Information technology sector of India

IT-ITeS sector in India, with the main focus on increasing technology adoption, and developing new delivery platforms, has aggregated revenues of USD 88.1 billion in FY2011, while generating direct employment for over 2.5 million people. Out of 88.1 billion, export revenues (including Hardware) has reached USD 59.4 billion in FY2011 while domestic revenues (including Hardware) of about USD 28.8 billion.

Revenues - USD 36 billion (2006 Est.)o CAGR (FY 2004-06) - 30 % o Contribution to GDP up from 2% in 2000 to 5% in 2006

Exports - USD 23.5 billion (2006 Est.)o CAGR (FY 2004-06) - 35 %o Has nearly doubled in last three years

Domestic Market - USD 13 billion (2006 Est.)o CAGR (FY 2004-06) - 22%o Buoyed by an economy growing at nearly 8% per annum over the last 3 years

IT services and ITES-BPO revenue largely export driveno Exports contributed 75% of IT services and 87% of ITES-BPO revenue

Indian IT service Market Size

The domestic IT market is at a nascent stage (compared with the global IT industry), as most users in India are in the initial stages of IT development. Hence, Indian IT service industry is dependent on export for more than 3/4th of its total revenue.

India's IT-business process outsourcing (BPO) industry revenue is expected to cross US$ 225 billion mark by 2020, according to a Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) report, titled 'The SMAC Code-Embracing New Technologies for Future Business'.

India is expected to become world's second-largest online community after China with 213 million internet users by December 2013 and 243 million by June 2014, according to a report by Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and IMRB International.

Technology firms in India are expected to reap the benefits of Internet of Things (IoT) data, considered to be a US$ 18 billion opportunity, to help clients improve productivity and asset utilisation as well as to enhance end-customer experience, as per networking firm Cisco.

India’s total IT industry’s (including hardware) share in the global market stands at 7 per cent; in the IT segment the share is 4 per cent while in the ITeS space the share is 2 per cent. India's IT and BPO sector exports are expected to grow by 12-14 per cent in FY14 to touch US$ 84 billion - US$ 87 billion, according to Nasscom.

Moreover, India plans to spend around US$ 3.9 billion on cloud services during 2013-2017, of which US$ 1.7 billion will be spent on software-as-a-service (SaaS), according the latest outlook of IT research and advisory company, Gartner Inc.

The enterprise software market in India is expected to reach US$ 3.92 billion in 2013, registering a growth of 13.9 per cent over 2012 revenue of US$ 3.45 billion, according to Gartner.

Mumbai with 12 million internet users has emerged as the top most city in the country with highest penetration of internet users, followed by Delhi (8.1 million) and Hyderabad (4.7 million), according to the data released by Internet & Mobile Association of India (IAMAI).

Following table showing the Size of Indian IT services industry:

Size of Indian IT services industry(USD in Bn) Exports Domestic Total CAGR %

2003 5.5 2.4 7.9 0.00%

2007 18.1 5.6 23.7 31.6%

2011 40 10 50 20.5%

Source: NASSCOM, CRIS INFAC

Investments in Indian IT service sector

Indian IT's core competencies and strengths have placed it on the international canvas, attracting investments from major countries.

According to data released by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), the computer software and hardware sector has attracted foreign direct investment (FDI) worth Rs 54,347.88 crore (US$ 8.77 billion) between April 2000 and September 2013.

Some of the major investments in Indian IT and ITeS sector:

Wipro plans to acquire US-based mortgage due diligence and risk management service provider Opus Capital Markets Consultants (Opus CMC) for Rs 465 crore (US$ 75.07 million). Opus CMC provides comprehensive risk management solutions to the mortgage industry in the US.

Infosys has opened a new centre in Sydney, Australia. This is its fourth development centre in Australia and has a capacity to seat 140 employees. Further, the company plans to hire 85 people in the region.

Hitachi has acquired a foothold in India's payment space with the acquisition of Prizm Payment Services. The firm has entered into share transfer agreements with Prizm shareholders, including Winvest Holdings (India), Sequoia Capital and Axis Bank.

Dell has opened its India design centre for its storage technologies and has realigned its domestic research and development (R&D) unit. The facility will focus on developing software, integrating aspects involving back-up of emails and related storage.

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has launched a software development facility in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. The facility will serve global customers across industry segments.

Cognizant Technology Solutions has acquired ValueSource, a subsidiary of KBC Group, a Belgium-based multi-channel bank insurance group.

Schneider Electric has commissioned a services bureau in Bengaluru as a nerve centre and a support facility for data centres in India and the Asia-Pacific region.

Employment trends in Indian IT service sector

This sector has also led to massive employment generation. The industry continues to be a net employment generator - expected to add 230,000 jobs in FY2012, thus providing direct employment to about 2.8 million, and indirectly employing 8.9 million people.

SCOPE OF IT-ITES SECTOR IN INDIA Economic survey revealed that IT-ITES sector created almost 3 million additional jobs

this year and number will go on in the immediate future

IT services will contribute over 7.5 % of the overall GDP. IT Exports will account for 35% of the total exports with potential for 2.2 million jobs in

IT by 2008. IT industry will attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) of U.S. $ 4-5 billion.

Future prospects

Globalization has had a profound impact in shaping the Indian Information Technology Industry. Over the years, verticals like manufacturing, telecom, insurance, banking, finance and lately the retail, have been the growth drivers for this sector. But it is very fast getting clear that the future growth of IT and IT enabled services will be fuelled by the verticals of climate change, mobile applications, healthcare, energy efficiency and sustainable energy.

The near future of Indian IT industry sees a significant rise in share of technology spend as more and more service providers both Indian and global target new segments and provide low cost, flexible solutions to customers.

By 2015, IT sector is expected to generate revenues of USD 130 billion (NASSCOM) which will create a transformational impact on the overall economy. IT spending is expected to significantly increase in verticals like automotive and healthcare while the government, with its focus on e-governance, will continue to be a major spender.

Unique Features of Information Technology Sector

1. Economies of scale in industry : Economies of scale for the information technology industry are high. The marginal

cost of each unit of additional software or hardware is insignificant compared to the value addition that results from it.

2. Fragmented industry:  D&B’s inhouse database has identified over 8,000 companies which operate in the

IT space in India, offering a wide range of software products and services. A large number of these companies are unorganised players.

3. knowledge-based industry Unlike other common industries, the IT industry is knowledge-based. Jobs are becoming more and more intellectual in nature and require high skilled and

knowledged employees.

4. Fast Growth The business world is desperate for consulting help. With excess staff being cut

down, most organizations lack the technical, strategic and project management

skills to handle the benumbing rate of technological and market change and hence faster development of IT sector in India.

The IT industry is trying its best to accommodate the demand. Big consulting firms are inhaling new employees, gulping up smaller firms and merging with peers.

5. One stop for all your solutions In addition to a boom in the number of IT firms, the size of individual firms is

growing in response to another industry trend: one-stop shopping. Providers that can't compete on size will still try to offer one-stop shopping by

outsourcing a chunk of a client's project to another firm while maintaining responsibility for the overall project.

Knowledge management tools, best practices databases and the Internet make it possible for consultants to draw upon the knowledge of every consultant in the organization—as many as 27,000 people in a firm like “Price Water House Coopers”.

6. Shortage of people The greatest threat to the growth of IT firms is their inability to get enough qualified

people. Some firms are already devising creative solutions such as launching their own

accredited MBA programs - geared toward the specific needs of consultants. Smart people are continuing to gravitate toward the consulting profession,

especially with its heightened demand and visibility, not to mention inflated salaries.

7. Bargaining Power of Buyers In IT industry: Since the switching costs in case of IT Software and Services, is very high, the

Bargaining power of the buyers becomes low. But just opposite to this, in case of ITeS- BPO sector, the switching cost is relatively

very low, which makes the bargaining power of the buyer very high.

8. Bargaining Power of Suppliers: Suppliers for the industry can be categorized into:

(a) Knowledge Professionals,(b) Hardware Manufacturers and(c) Telecom industry players.

Knowledge Professionals have a high bargaining power in the IT Software and Services sectors because they demand high level of skill and expertise to render their services. In the ITeS- BPO sector, the level of skill and expertise required is low, therefore, they have a lower bargaining power on the industry.

For the IT industry to function properly, proper hardware infrastructure is required. Therefore, the bargaining power of hardware manufacturer grows. This is supported by the fact that hardware manufacturing industry is very concentrated (HP, IBM, Dell etc.)

While a robust telecom network is a pre-requisite for proper functionality of the IT industry, but the presence of a number of players in the industry reduces their bargaining power.

9. High Attrition Rate: Staff shortage can prove to be a major bottleneck to the growth of the industry.

According to McKinsey & Co., only 25 percent of the technical graduates are competent enough to work in the offshore IT industry in India. In the BPO sector also, only 10- 15 per cent of the graduates are suitable for employment. Therefore, managing attrition rate is becoming a big task for the IT companies in India.

High attrition rate results in loss of skilled manpower, loss of skill sets etc. Apart from loss in skill sets, cost of recruitment, training and development of the new recruits also becomes a major investment for these companies.

10.Changing Growth Drivers:

There has been a change in the revenue composition of companies in recent years. The revenue contribution of high-growth segments such as infrastructure management services, package implementation, testing & consulting has been witnessing rapid growth over the last couple of years.

These, newer service lines are not only enabling Indian companies to increase their sales by cross-selling to their existing customers, but also improve their average billing rates and recognition of being end-to-end service providers.

These segments are experiencing high growth rates over the last couple of years. However, the Custom Application Development and Maintenance (CADM) services continue to contribute a larger share towards IT services segment revenue.

11.Growing presence of MNCs

Cost arbitrage and the availability of a large talent pool has attracted several MNCs to India. Big players like IBM, Accenture, Google, Yahoo, Capgemini and Oracle among others have not only increased their headcounts in India but also outperformed their global performance in terms of revenue growth.

Their Indian operations are witnessing strong growth as compared to their global business. Some of the major global companies like Intel, IBM and CSC are cutting jobs abroad and shifting their base to India

Marketing practices of Information Technology sector

A. Product of information Technology Services

Following are the various products provided and sold in the market of India

1. Enterprise Solutions: - Enterprise solutions are ready made software packages (such as SAP), which are

implemented by IT service providers after certain modifications as per the requirements of clients. The level of customization done by IT companies is around 20% of total efforts level. Hence being less labor intensive the cost benefit provided by off shoring companies is relatively less as compared to other service lines. Further, global service providers such as IBM, Accenture and CSC having superior industry/business domain competencies have an edge over offshore players.

2. Business Intelligence (BI): - Business intelligence is high-end service, as it requires a diverse set of technology

skills, best practices and frameworks, as well as knowledge of multiple functional areas to implement and optimize an enterprise’s BI processes and applications.

3. Infrastructure Software:- The Infrastructure software connects the people and systems across an

organization. It helps in efficiently executing the business processes, share information and the manage the various touchpoints with the customers and the suppliers. It can be of the following types:

a. Application development b. Application integration and middleware

c. Business intelligence tools d. Database management systems

e. Data integration tools f. IT operations

g. Security software h. Operating-system software

4. Other products:o IT Strategy and Governanceo Architecture and Technologyo IT Process and Service Managemento Master Data Managemento Infrastructure Services

o Quality Assurance and Testingo Performance Engineering Solutionso Information Risk Management

B. Price

 Pricing strategies are one of the most important challenges and decisions for today's IT service providers. Pricing strategies for IT services have traditionally focused on covering costs, achieving desired margins and meeting the competition. These pricing schemes range from simple approaches, easily copied by competitors, to complex models with high management costs. In order to be successful in today's competitive business world, the service providers need to define their pricing strategies by considering the customer's perceived value from the service they receive rather than using traditional cost-based pricing strategies.

1. Cost Based Software Pricing Cost-based software pricing is one of the most popular methods which rely on the

information provided by the cost-accounting system. Marketing and product managers are trained to price the software to yield a desired return on fully allocated costs.

This profitably calculations ignores the voice of the customer and serves as a layout plan for average market results. Cost-based pricing strategies can tap the power of the market sellers to force a higher price on to the seller.

a. Cost Based concept of Value The conventional software pricing model addresses customer value which is often

calculated as profit. Profit is figured out by deducting the software's development cost from its price (i.e., the total value to the customer). In totality, the value to the customer is defined in terms of particular needs fulfillment, good will, ease of use, opportunity costs, the business value of information, or other unmeasured factors.

b. Earner Value Concept Earned value is a related cost-based concept that is used for trailing software’s

adherence to the original project budget. These cost-based ideas to measure value form the basis of the main software engineering economics models.

2. Flat Price

Users pay a fixed price for limitless usage of software product. This idea enables customers to more easily know in advance for what they will pay for the software usage. The fixed price is usually restricted to a specific user or machine.

3. Tiered Pricing Tiered-pricing tries to package software benefits according to user necessities and their

willingness to pay. This idea to pricing is an effort to link software product costs to detected customer value.

4. User based Pricing This is another cost-based pricing method that has the tendency to benefit the vendor

more than the user by maximizing license fee revenues. The charge is based on the user’s count that utilizes a collection of software features over a given time frame. It tries to assign costs to a specific number of users or workstations. It is a simple model to work as compared with tiered-pricing based ideas.

5. Value Based Pricing Software vendors often deal pricing from the requirements to cover costs and attain

profit objectives-often to the loss of their customer relationships. The circular logic of the cost-based idea where costs sets price and price impacts sales volume throws into confusion the pricing process. The answer to value-based pricing favorable outcome is the recognition that the price the customer is willing to pay depends on the customer's value requirements, not the vendor's.

Buyers make decision about benefits and prices and select those products that maximize their perceived value. The objective of value-based pricing is to provide more advantageous pricing by gaining control over value. That price should, in turn, decide the level of product development cost that the customer is willing to occur.

C. Place or Distribution channel

Considering the location from where service is provided, the market can be classified into ‘Onshore’ services and ‘Off-shore’ services.

Off-shore’ services are those services which are outsourced outside the home country.

Offshore locations leverage their strength in availability of skilled talent at relatively lower cost to provide cost effective services.

The use of Internet-based distributed monitoring systems has allowed firms to source services globally that were hitherto thought of as being too risky or complex to execute offshore. These systems enable buyers of such services (clients) to monitor the execution of processes in real-time and exert a degree of managerial control over information workers of another firm located in a distant region. A research shows that process codifiability plays a key role in determining output quality. Further, we show that the efforts made by the client and the provider in monitoring work via Internet-based monitoring mechanisms have a significant impact on output quality. Finally, it shows that these monitoring mechanisms enable clients and providers of services to focus on those processes that are best managed by each entity.

D. Promotion

Following are the various promotional practices followed by information technology sector of India

1. White Papers Using a white paper as a marketing tool is one way to promote your information

technology products as solutions to potential customers' problems. A white paper once referred to an official government report, but now is used by

marketing firms and departments to show the value of products. These marketing tools are often used on websites to influence those who are looking for information relevant to a particular issue. Information technology firms can benefit from this when potential customers search the Internet for advice or information on the service your technology provides.

2. Trade Publications Advertising in trade publications is one marketing strategy to ensure that your

target market actually sees your ads. When you place in ad in a publication that is not specific to an industry in which you wish to market, your advertisements might not be seen by the right people. Placing an ad in a trade magazine, though, is a focused marketing strategy for your information technology company.

3. Free Trials Offering free trials enables your potential customer base to become familiar with

your product and have a firsthand understanding of its usefulness. This marketing technique is particularly useful in the information technology field, where software updates can improve processes and increase productivity.

By demonstrating product value in this manner, an information technology firm benefits from giving a company time to develop reliance upon its products. This also is useful marketing strategy, as it enables a technology firm to get valuable feedback from its target market.

4. Trade Shows Having a booth at an industry trade show is a valuable way to introduce yourself

and your products to potential customers. Before booking a spot at a trade show, spend time developing the promotional material you will distribute to interested individuals. Brochures are a useful tool to disseminate information and build interest in your services. In addition to the material you will be distributing, carefully plan the actual layout of your booth. You want to look professional, and this will likely require spending money, but it will be worth it when you land clients from the experience.

E. Process IT Services market can be segmented based on execution responsibility into

‘Outsourced services’ and ‘Captive Units’ (in-house). Independent service providers provide ‘Outsourced services’, undertaking delivery

responsibility for a price.

F. People Various people involved in IT services can be as following:1) Strategic IT Effectiveness (SITE) experts.2) Experienced professionals with bold, value-creating approaches to IT.3) User Groups4) Discussion Forums5) Company Blogs6) Research Labs7) Customer Advocate Program

G. Physical evidence Physical Evidence helps in fulfilling the need of the technical architecture for the

organization’s system strategy. With a software development specialist advice can be a real benefit for the activities

of your company and a business model that can help in improving the system. In the past few years, Indian IT consulting companies have equipped themselves to

provide high quality services for a variety of clients settled all over the world.

Management practices in IT industry

1. Consolidating Business from ‘Repeat Clients’ and win new clients: TCS, Infosys and Satyam have a major chunk of their revenues from their ‘repeat

clients’. In the year 2007, the revenues from repeat clients for TCS, Infosys and Satyam were 96.8%, 95.0% and 90.0% respectively. These figures highlight the importance of Customer Relationship Management.

In order to retain their clients, the companies increase the size and number of projects and also, extend the range of services they offer.

2. Focus on Niche Service Lines: Some mid size players have adopted this model where they render specialized

services rather than offering end to end services. This helps them to differentiate themselves amongst other players.

3. Knowledge Management: The industry faces a high attrition rate which deprives the company of its talents.

Knowledge management is a technique which helps in retaining the knowledge in the firm, even when these knowledgeable persons leave the organization. It is a technique of assembly, preservation, transfer and management of data and knowledge in companies.

4. Concentration on Low-end services:  Low-end services such as customised software services and maintenance have been

the key offerings of the Indian IT companies. These companies are now however moving up the value chain offering end-to-end solutions to clients.

5. Larger Deal Size Indian IT companies have successfully scaled up operations and made a mark in the

global outsourcing market, evident from the large deals bagged by the Indian IT companies in the past one year, including the TCS – AC Nielsen contract valued at US$ 1.2 bn, the Social Security Institute of Mexico (IMSS) -TCS deal worth US$200 mn, Satyam-FIFA contract, and the BSNL-HCL Infosystems deal valued at Rs 5.9 bn to name a few.

6. Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL)

 Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) as a combined set of hardware, software, networks, facilities, etc. (including all of the information technology), in order to develop, test, deliver, monitor, control or support IT services. Associated people, processes and documentation are not part of IT Infrastructure.

ITIL documents define best practices and accepted techniques in the information technology community. This set of guidelines is widely used in both the public and private sector, essentially providing companies with a blueprint on how to organize and manage information technology operations at the company. The library is constantly updated to ensure accuracy and to include emerging technological advances. ITIL provides a systematic and professional approach to the management of IT service provision, and offers the following benefits:

a. Reduced IT costs

b. Improved IT services through the use of proven best practice processes

c. Improved customer satisfaction through a more professional approach to service delivery

d. Standards and guidance

e. Improved productivity

f. Improved use of skills and experience

g. Improved delivery of third-party services through the specification of ITIL or BS15000 as the standard for service delivery in services procurements.

7.  information security management system

An information security management system (ISMS) is a set of policies concerned with information security management or IT related risks.

The governing principle behind an ISMS is that an organization should design, implement and maintain a coherent set of policies, processes and systems to manage risks to its information assets, thus ensuring acceptable levels of information security risk.

As with all management processes, an ISMS must remain effective and efficient in the long term, adapting to changes in the internal organization and external environment.

The establishment, maintenance and continuous update of ISMS provide a strong indication that a company is using a systematic approach for the identification, assessment and management of information security risks.

 Critical factors of ISMS:

o Confidentiality: Protecting information from unauthorized parties.

o Integrity: Protecting information from modification by unauthorized users.

o Availability: Making the information available to authorized users.

8. Using technology to add value and reduce costs

IT has long been used to collect, manipulate and disseminate information to senior managers and thus increase the efficiency and organizational processing capacity of the firm. Software vendors offer a wide range of applications that focus on aspects of enterprise management, from Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems to Executive Information Systems.

The ability to make timely decisions is critical to the success of a rapid-growth enterprise, and that ability is intimately connected to the availability of information to support decision-making. IT has often provided the link between the various parts of the company, thus facilitating the collection and organization of the required data.

However, connecting departments electronically can result in increased interdependence and more complex decision-making. Fortunately, the processing power provided by IT also permits managers to address this more complex analysis

Bibliography

1. Text book: service: marketing and operations –jauhari Dutta, Oxford University.2. Website: Slideshare presentations, Wkipedia, wikianswers3. Newspaper : Economic times and times of India for Articles on current scenario.

BRCM COLLEGE OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

LIBRARY ASSIGNMENT 2013-14

SERVICE MANAGEMENT-II

TYBBA- SEM-VI

DIVISION-II [MARKETING]

TOPIC NAME- Current scenario, Unique features and marketing and management practices in consultancy sector.

NAME OF SECTOR: CONSULTANCY SECTOR

SUB SECTOR : INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

BY,

115- GANDHI SANI B.

117- GANDHI LAY

159- JENISH VAKHARIYA

SUBMITTED ON -24TH FEBRUARY, 2013

SUBMITTED TO – DR. JAYESH N. DESAI