Wipro sees big growth in Web services for 2003.

(From Network Computing Asian Edition)

Byline: Butler Group

THE Butler Group recently caught up with Indian software services company, Wipro, about its move into provisioning enhanced Web services to its clients. The company has built an enviable reputation for high quality service, and has attracted praise from the likes of Jack Welch (ex-GE), and Microsoft?s Bill Gates. It is also positioned well up in the rankings of software services companies worldwide.

However, software services have often been associated with some of the more negative images of outsourcing, where clients see purely cost savings as the reward for getting rid of an underperforming IT department. Recent stories now discuss some of these organisations bringing IT back in-house as a means to keep more tight control of costs. Thus, outsourcing as a pure cost saving exercise would appear to be discredited.

One of the ways Wipro compete in the tough services market place is to deliver higher-value services to its clients. Its Web services practice is one part to this strategy.

Nevertheless, Web services is a topic that everyone is talking about, but few are actually doing at this stage. Perhaps one of the inhibiting factors is that, as a relatively new technology area, skills are few and far between, and organisations have many justifiable concerns ...