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Introduction
The phrase Information Technology (IT) refers to the creation, gathering, processing, storage and delivery of information, process and devices that make all this possible. The tasks that handled using Information technology continue to increase.
Trying to describe the IT industry in a few pages is a bit like using an Etch A Sketch™ to draw a circle. You think you've got it licked, then someone comes along and says, "Hey, that's a nice box!" The IT industry has so many different parts, personalities, aspects, and facets that there will always be something signifi¬cant you leave out.
Probably the most sensible thing to do is to start at the beginning.
The Past
Many events and occurrences have shaped the IT industry into the creature it is. Its history is filled with myriad names, brands, ideas, and concepts, all of which have played their part in making IT one of the most dynamic industries in the world. The history of computers is an interesting subject; indeed entire books haw been written about it. Although understanding the history of computers may not help you secure a career in IT, they make for an interesting read and are a useful source of background information.
To convey the entire history of computing in a few paragraphs is difficult indeed. So, rather than try to cover all of the bases, the following is a summary of the some of the more significant happenings that have influenced the evolution of the computer industry over the past 50 or so years.
The 1940s: In the Beginning
The roots of digital computing can be traced back to 1946 when the world's fim digital computing device called ENIAC was put into service. This event, in digital in terms at least, marked the beginning of the information age. In terms of size and complexity, ENIAC was a monster, occupying an entire room and needing a team of of engineers and scientists to operate it. Despite its impressive size and appearance. it had less processing power than today's hand-held electronic organizers.
As well as being regarded as the world's first real digital computer, ENIAC is also famous for helping to define the term bug, due to the fact that a moth was found to have shorted out the system, causing it to stop. The term those early engineers coined to describe the fault is still used today to refer to a problem with a com¬puter system or program.
Shortly after ENIAC was being brought to a standstill by flying insects, another significant event occurred: the invention of the transistor. The transistor was the first step toward the development of microprocessors. It was a very significant invention, as today's microprocessors have literally millions of individual transistor switches in them.
The formative years at the end of the 1940s served as the foundation to the computer and IT industry as we now know it. Those early technical pioneers sowed the seeds of discovery that would shape the world. As the saying goes, the rest is history.
The 1950s: The Territory of the Mainframe
Realizing the obvious potential of computers, the inventors of the ENIAC contin¬ued their work into the 1950s, designing and subsequently manufacturing a more powerful machine than ENIAC, called the UNIVAC. The UNIVAC is regarded as the first commercially available digital computer.
It was also during the 1950s that IBM, who had made a name for itself producing calculating machines, made its first foray into digital computing with a system called the Type 701 EDPM. The 701 was the first machine in a series that would propel IBM into the mainframe computer market and make the company one of the most significant and well known in the computer industry.
The 1960s: The Decade of Downsizing
The problem was that although they performed tasks useful to many businesses, mainframe computers were incredibly expensive to buy and subsequently run. What was needed was a computer that was smaller and more affordable than a mainframe. The answer was the minicomputer, originally manufactured by the Digital Equipment Corporation. These new minicomputers, though still only affordable by good-sized businesses, were considerably cheaper to buy than mainframes and had lower operating costs.
Before computers could get even smaller, the computer industry needed to develop a way to make the processing elements of the systems smaller and even more powerful. The solution to that problem arrived when Robert Noyce teamed up with fellow engineer Gordon Moore and started a company called Intel.
Intel did not actually start out as a microprocessor company; initially the company designed and manufactured memory chips. It wasn't until a Japanese calculator company asked Intel to produce a set of chips to put into a programmable calcula¬tpr, that one of its• engineers hit on the idea of an all purpose processor. By 1971, Intel was selling its first fully functioning microprocessor, the 4004, for the tidy sum of$200.
Though the development of the microprocessor was a major event, the' 60s also saw many other important developments and achievements for the computer industry. Perhaps one of the most significant was the advent of computer net¬working. It was in the late 1960s that work began on the ARPAnet, the network that would eventually become today's Internet.
Also significant in the 1960s was the development of the Unix operating system, which has become the operating system of choice for use on the Internet. Unix, though obviously upgraded and updated, is still used by many large companies today. The current trend toward Linux, also has much to thank the Unix operating system for. Linux is actually based on a computing standard called POSIX, which was originally developed for Unix software.
The 1970s: The Industry Takes Shape
In a trend that is now just a little too familiar, Intel released a new chip called the 8008 less than a year after the 4004. The 8008 chip is worthy of mention because it led to the release of what is generally regarded as the world's first personal computer, or PC, called the Altair 8800. But the Altair was just the beginning.
During the 1970s a variety of other personal computers came on to the market as well. Although some were in kit form, and of more interest to enthusiasts than general home and business users, the personal computer market started to gain pace, aided in no small part by the popularity of the Apple computer, which also became popular with business users. Another boost for the PC was the introduc¬tion of applications such as Visicalc and WordS tar that turned the PC into an easy-to-use and multifaceted business tool.
The 1970s also saw businesses completely embrace computing and information technology. Businesses of all sizes were buying mainframes or mini-computers and employing teams of operators to run the systems.
The 1970s were also the formative years for today's Internet. Initially created as a tool for the Department of Defense, the ARPAnet had been in use and growing for a number of years, and prompted research and development into technologies that served to further the general goals of networking. As the Internet is now, the ARPAnet of the 1970s was the network of all networks.
Still on"the subject of networking, it was during the 1970s that Ethernet, the standard on which a large proportion of today's local area networks (LANs) are based, was created. The standard and the technology to support LANs would not be released for some time, however.
The 1980s: The Decade of the PC
The start of the 1980s saw an event that would change the computing landscape completely. IBM, who by now had confirmed its place as a major player in the computing world, launched its first personal computer that ran with a new operat¬ing system, called PC-DOS. Subsequent versions of this operating system were produced under the now familiar name of MS-DOS. PC-DOS was the product of a small software company called Microsoft that had been started by two college students some years earlier. As every new business owner does, these two students had aspirations for success, but neither could have expected that within 20 years their company would become one of the largest and most successful in the world.
In 1983, with the total number of computers in use in the U.S. passing the one million mark, Tillie magazine took the rather unusual step of naming the personal computer as the" 1982 Man of the Year." That such ;n esteemed publication would give the prize to an object rather than a human being indicated the level of impact that the world was feeling from technology and from personal computers in particular.
As the decade drew on, PCs appeared in homes and offices all over the globe. Applications started getting increasingly powerful, peripherals such as printers became more affordable, and people started to look for new ways to use the power of the PC to the maximum. Computer games with advanced graphics and amaz¬ing sound effects began to drive PCs toward the arena of multimedia. The PC was becoming more than just a device for working and playing games, it was turning into an entertainment center. All that was needed was an efficient method to get the entertainment to the masses
The 1990s : The Internet Explosion and the Bug of All Bugs
The 1990s saw the growth of the IT industry surpass everyone's expectations. Millions of people the world over realized the power of the Internet and logged on to use email, chat rooms, and the World Wide Web (WWW). The initial burst was driven by providers such as CompuServe and America Online (AOL), but it was quickly followed by smaller providers, all competing for a share of the increas¬ing lucrative market. At first, access was expensive, then it became cheap, then it was almost free, and by the end of the decade you could get a free PC if you s5gned up for an Internet access agreement
The increases in speed, functionality, and availability of PCs continued apace, with many businesses surrendering their mini- and mainframe computers in favor •of powerful PC-based systems. Microsoft's operating systems continued to dominate the market. Possibly one of the oddest moments of television in the 1990s was the pictures of people sleeping outside computer superstores so that they could be the first to own a copy of Microsoft's Qew Windows 95 operating system. But it was not just the home and business PC market that Microsoft was starting to dominate. They were also making drastic inroads to the PC networking market, initially with LAN Manager, and subsequently with Windows NT.
The decade ended with a wake-up call for the IT industry. The fact that many of the world's computer systems and programs had been created with a built-in bug caused panic among the IT community. Governments, companies, and individuals across the globe braced themselves for the passing of that great date when, it was forecast, the airliners would drop out of the sky, hospital power plants would fail, and, more significantly, fast-food chains would run out of burgers. Some minor problems were reported, but the world celebrated the coming of a new millen¬nium without any massive computer failures. No nuclear weapons fired themselves and no banks ran out of money. Most people began to wonder what all the fuss had been about.
Some people put the non-event ofY2K down to extensive preparation and diligence of the governments of the world. Others pointed an accusing finger at software manufacturers and consultancy companies and accused them of scare mongering. In reality, most companies and individuals alike were just happy that New Year's Eve passed without too much drama. With the removal of the last obstacle, the world, and the IT industry, were able to look forward to a new era of development, with nothing to hold them back.
The Present-The Internet Age
Of all of the individual aspects currently influencing technology, the Internet must surely be the most significant. The Internet now pervades almost every aspect of the IT industry, as it does our daily lives. Any company that is not already on the Inter¬net in some form or other is looking for a way to get on, because more and more an Internet presence can mean the difference between success and mediocrity.
Perhaps the biggest driver of all for the Internet from a business point of view, however, is the development of e-commerce. The sale of goods and services over. the Internet has come a long way. Not too long ago, you would go online, find a product that you wanted, and then call phone the company directly and order it. Pioneers of e-commerce such as Amazon.com have developed and presented new ways to shop, making the whole process much more comprehensive, convenient, and considerably more consumer friendly. Further, recent Internet security ad¬vances have increased consumer confidence, all but alleviating previous concerns of credit card details being viewed by unwanted eyes.
Perhaps the massive increase in spending online is not by chance. Advertisers themselves use technology to watch people's Web habits and build consumer profiles based on actual buying patterns. This, perhaps invasive approach, allows companies to target their advertising campaigns and advertising dollars directly at those people most likely to purchase their products. Whether this is a good or a bad thing is a matter of personal preference. It is, however, how things work in the information age and acts as a demonstration of the kind of power and functional¬ity that technology provides.
Of course the Internet is not restricted to business use. Many individuals have embraced the Internet using it for entertainment, information, and recreation. The lure for many modern surfers is that the Internet provides a relatively impersonal and seemingly anonymous communication medium. Nowadays virtual chat rooms connect human beings from all over the world.
In a way though, the Internet is merely a front "end, a visual presentation if you like, of a wide range of aspects of the IT industry. It is a user-friendly medium that provides people with the tools to access information and systems that run applica¬tions and store information. The important thing to remember is that every Web page has to be designed, every site has to be run on a server of some description, every request passed over a network and ~very PC that runs a browser needs to be designed, built, configured and supported. In other words, from an IT professional's perspective, the Internet is simply a window through which people can view our, dare we say, art.
The Bigger Picture
The IT industry today is certainly not just the Internet. Even though they may well have some connection or relationship with the Internet, companies use computers and technology to perform day-to-day tasks.. The important thing to remember is that for many com¬panies, it is not the computer that is the focus of their business, but rather the functionality that the computer provides. Companies have become dependent on this functionality and ultimately on the computers.
Today's office networks are powerful and diverse, connecting computers in offices, irrespective of location. The standardization of protocols has also meant that today's PC is a window to almost any other type of system, be it micro, mini, or main¬frame computer, whether it be on the network locally, across the Internet, or over a private network.
The Way We Work
Technology today does not just affect what we work at, but also how we work. The advances in communications technology have made working from home, or telecommuting to give it its proper name, a practical reality. People are able to dial-in from their spare room and videoconference with people at the office who have struggled through an hour of traffic to do the same thing. In this way, tech¬nology not only gives us a new way to work, but may also help to alleviate other societal concerns such as traffic congestion, pollution, and urban crowding. If you don't have to travel to work each morning, then does it really matter how far away you live from the office?
Nowadays, people are as likely to work on projects and collaborate through email and instant messaging, rather than meetings and memos. The use of fax machines, though still popular, is on the decline as people find faster and easier ways to communicate. High-speed networking and Internet access have provided people with the ability to create vast networks that span countries and continents, provid¬ing access to information for all.
Cutting the Ties That Bind
Because we can now work practically from home, the next logical step is to be able to work and have access to the office from anywhere. Most recently, big steps toward a truly wireless world have been made with the development and intro¬duction of wireless devices and the communications standards to support them.
Now they are fully functional hand-held Internet portals, using new communications tech¬nologies such as wireless access protocol (WAP) , which will allow you to trade stocks, check email, or read the news from anywhere.
The New Threat
It's not all good news; new technologies bring with them new concerns. Recent increases in email viruses and Web site hacking have made the news all over the world. Unfortunately, viruses are now a daily risk of using the Internet. Although computers can almost always be vaccinated against a specific virus, developers play a constant game of catch up with the people who develop the viruses.
Our relative susceptibility, coupled with our increased reliance on technology, have caused politicians and governments to look at the risks, and attempt to find ways to discourage these attacks from affecting the populous. One of the biggest problems with the enforcement of laws and standards is not only is the Internet anonymous, it also crosses geographical boundaries. Good news for the hackers and virus authors, but bad news for law agencies and government.
Current scenario
IT revolutions have opened up new possibilities of economic and social transformation from which both the developing and developed countries can potentially benefit.
The IT sector is one of the fastest growing sectors of Indian Industry. 60% is accounted by software and remaining 40% by the hardware. Software exports comprises of the Rs. 55000 crore in 2004-2005. It accounts for about 2.64 per cent of India’s GDP in 2003 and is projected to grow to 7% of India’s GDP by 2008.
DEFINITION:
Information Technology means the use of hardware, software services and supporting infrastructure to manage and deliver information using voice, data and video.
EXAMPLES OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY:
(1) Users PCs and software.
(2) Telephone, radio equipment and switches used for voice communication.
(3) Traditional computer applications that include data storage and programs to input, process and output the data.
(4) Software and support for office automation systems such as word processing and spreadsheets as well as computers to run them.
(5) Video conferencing equipment.
(6) The state radio communications network.
(7) Computers and network systems used by teachers, trainers and students for education,
Purpose.
FUNCTIONS OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY:
(1) Information Technology can process raw data into useful information.
(2) It can recycle processed information and use it as data in another processing step.
(3) Information technology can package information in a new form so it is easier to understand or more useful.
In IT industry
Demand side Supply side
Economic sectors Hardware, Software
Applications Telecommunication and Microelectronic based equipments
COMPUTER:
The computer is an electronic machine which can perform a variety of activities. It recognized the instructions provided by its users and acts accordingly. The basic functions of a computer can be classified into four functions, they are:
(a) Data Processing,
(b) Data Storage,
(c) Data Movement, and
(d) Control.
DATA:
Data is any symbol, sign or measure which is in a form which can be directly captured by a person or a machine. They are raw facts and opinions. When one records facts or figures, it becomes data.
INFORMATION:
Information is processed form of data or in other words information is data that has value.
SWOT Analysis
8 P’s of Information Technology Industry
1. Service Products:
Infosys:
Outsourced Application and Infrastructure Services
• Custom Application Development
• Application Maintenance
• Application Re-engineering
• Infrastructure Management
Business Continuity
Desktop Management
Infrastructure Consolidation
Service Management Consulting
• Independent Testing and Validation
• Application Portfolio Management
Enterprise Services
• Packaged Applications
Supply Chain Management (SCM)
Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
Enterprise Application Integration (EAI)
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
• Systems Integration
Business Intelligence and Data Warehousing
Enterprise Content Management
Enterprise Information Portal
Enterprise Mobility
Enterprise Security
Identity Management
Migration and Re-hosting
Strategic Technology and Architecture Consulting
• Platform Services
Product R&D Services
• Product Design & Development
• Product Sustenance
• Testing & Automation
• Offshore Product Development Center
• Additional Product Services
• Product Consulting & Professional Services
Consulting Services
• Corporate Performance Management
• Balanced Scorecard
TATA Consultancy Services
• Application development and maintenance
• Architecture and technology consulting
• BPO
• eBusiness
• Engineering and Industrial Services
• eSecurity
• IT Infrastructure Services
• Large projects
• Process Solutions
• RFID Solutions
Wipro
• Application Development and Maintenance
• Architecture Consulting
• B2E
• Business Intelligence and Data Warehousing
• Business Process Management (BPM)
• Content Management
• e-Business
• Enterprise Applications Services
CRM
ERP
e-Procurement and B2B Marketplaces
SCM
• Enterprise Security
• Package Implementation
• Product Life Cycle Management (PLM)
• Quality Consulting
• System Integration
• Enterprise Application Integration
• Technology Infrastructure Services
• Testing Services
• Web Services
2. People:
In service sector people refers to the employees which represent the firm.
Wipro
Wipro has a good employee selection pattern which represents the firm into the market. Wipro believe in selecting those people who has quality of developing new ideas and returning best to there customers and there enthusiastic, committed and talented people deliver it very effectively. They have divided there people into four different zones.
i. DEEP DOMAIN EXPERTISE
ii. CUSTOMER PROXIMITY
iii. CONTINUOUS TRAINING
iv. TALENT TRANSFORMATION
i. DEEP DOMAIN EXPERTISE
• 2000 + domain consultants
• 500 + technology consultants – e-business, package applications
ii. CUSTOMER PROXIMIY
• 5,000+ consultants spread across North America, Europe and Japan
• 10,000+ itinerant employees
iii. CONTINUOUS TRANING
• 2,40,000 man days of training annually, 70 full time instructors
• Pioneers of the web based “World Campus” initiative (1000 associates world over take courses simultaneously)
iv. TALENT TRANSFORMATION
• Business skill transformation (CLIP/ACLIP programs domain focused courses)
• Culture transformation (Language learning, neuro-linguistic sessions and cross-cultural sensitiveness)
• Technology transformation( 30+ technologies covered)
• Behavioral skill transformation (Communication inter-personal and relationship management skills)
3. Place:
In service place refers to location and use of distribution channels
Infosys
Places were Infosys Operates
Americas APAC Europe
USA
Canada
Australia
China
Hong Kong
India
Japan
Mauritius
UAE
Belgium
France
Germany
Italy
The Netherlands
Sweden
Switzerland
United Kingdom (UK)
TATA CONSULTANCY SERVICES
China
Europe
France
Germany
Hungary
Iberoamerica
Japan
Korea
The Netherlands
United Kingdom and Ireland
United States and Canada
Sweden
Asia Pacific
Middle East
4. Process:
In service Industry Process refers to how a service is provided and delivered to the customer.
Infosys
Infosys relies on processes to consistently deliver high quality solutions while executing a growing number of engagements from multiple locations. Values, vision and policies form the first level of our three-tiered process architecture. They are implemented through process execution at the next level. These processes are defined with clear ownership using the ETVX (Entry, Task, Verification, Exit) paradigm and clearly defined roles and responsibilities.
Quality System Documentation (QSD)
Quality System Documentation (QSD) is a collection of Infosys generic best practices in the form of processes. The QSD provides our engineers and consultations with a vast repository of detailed procedures, templates, standards, guidelines and checklists.
The comprehensiveness of QSD supports all tasks from higher-level information abstraction and definition to tasks such as coding and documentation. This is crucial to assure clients of high quality and predictable IT solutions that meet their business needs. The QSD is updated and released every four months and made available on every desktop through the Intranet.
Body of Knowledge (BOK)
Infosys' Body of Knowledge (BOK) is a forum for Infoscions to share knowledge gained from their experience at Infosys. It is meant to be a central repository of experiential knowledge that can be tapped by peers and other engagements at Infosys. The collection of documents in the BOK is reviewed and classified into different areas:
Software life-cycle activities such as requirements specification, design, build and testing.
Software-related topics such as tools, engagement initiation and quality.
Topics of general or operational interest such as travel or people policies, etc.
Process Assets
Process assets form the repository to facilitate dissemination of "engagement learning" across Infosys. The user has the facility to submit to the repository, retrieve from the repository and obtain information on the status of the repository.
A process asset could be any information from an engagement, which can be re-used by future engagements. Typically these include project plans, configuration management plans, requirements documents, design documents, test plans, standards, checklists, causal analysis reports and utilities used in the engagement.
Process Database
The Process Database is a software engineering database to study the processes at Infosys with respect to productivity and quality. More specifically, its current intents are as follows:
To aid estimation of effort and defects
To get the productivity and quality data on different types of projects
To aid in creating process capability baselines
Process Capability Baseline (PCB)
Process Capability baseline specifies based on data of past projects, what the performance of the process is, i.e. what a project can expect when following the process. The performance factors of the process are primarily those that relate to quality and productivity. Our process baseline defines the productivity, quality, effort distribution, defect distributions, defect injection rate, cost of quality etc. Using the capability baseline, a project can predict, at a gross level, the effort that will be needed for various stages, the defect densities likely to be observed during various defect detection activities and quality and productivity for the project.
Tools Repository
The list of tools that have been evaluated are stored in a centralized repository called Tools Repository. The tools coordination group is the point of contact for information on tools in Infosys. The group's objectives are as follows:
Standardization of tools usage
Ensure evaluated technologies are transferred into normal practice across the organization
Identify and evaluate new technologies on a continuous basis to determine their benefits
Wipro
Wipro multiple process models address specific customer and project needs and Span Domain Service, Maintenance, Testing, Conversion and Development process models. Wipro’s business process consulting practice has a set of targeted offerings that encompass an entire gamut of operations and technology needs of an enterprise.
They have divided there process into four categories:
Veloci-Q
Veloci-Q is a web-based, quality management system that allows instantaneous access and facilitates sharing of knowledge and best practices among all projects within the organization.
iPat
iPat is a performance management system that initiates projects, tracks and reviews work plans and mitigates risk.
K-Net
K-Net is our knowledge management initiative. A Knowledge Management portal connects people to content and people to people.
Cocoon
Cocoon is our innovative relationship management system that offers customers complete visibility into their projects. It incorporates a relationship matrix portal, maintains project status, customer visibility and peer-to-peer communication.
5. Physical Evidence:
Infosys
An Offshore Development Center (ODC) is essentially a dedicated intermix of specialized programming and engineering resources.
The Offshore Development Center at Infosys acts as a virtual extension of your development teams. With sustained infrastructure investments over the years, they have created a knowledge-networked work environment from where there employees provide high quality solutions to clients. These investments enhance employee productivity and reduce engagement risk for our clients.
There Offshore Development Center uses a multi-dimensional approach, planned to support growth and technology advancement, ensures that the solutions we architect for our clients are built in a most productive and effective manner.
The Infosys Offshore Development Center, with its pool of well designed infrastructure, highly trained resources, proven and time tested processes is a doubly beneficial outsourcing delivery model with a powerful value proposition for businesses looking at IT Outsourcing.
Elements of Infosys' ODC:
• Development center campuses in India
• Global development centers
• Client connectivity infrastructure
• Information infrastructure
INFORMATION INFRASTRUCTURE
The information infrastructure at Infosys applies our vision for our clients to transform and enhance business operations through innovative technology solutions. The Infosys systems roadmap and integrated architecture addresses our business needs today, with scalability and flexibility to adapt to a dynamic business future. These systems focus on multiple stakeholder objectives such as:
Client service (project management and quality management) Employee productivity (knowledge management and collaboration)
Financial management and control (enterprise applications - SAP R/3 and custom-built applications)
Aligning business and technology strategy to standardize enterprise applications to web architectures as early as 1997 illustrates keenness of technology vision that has been extensible to deploy across locations and over secure Extranets. The choice of SAP R/3 as a strategic growth enabler and enterprise backbone demonstrates scalability. We constantly evolve our enterprise systems roadmap to prioritize and iterate the leveraging of new technologies capabilities with current and future business needs.
Wipro
Our highly secure, robust and agile infrastructure has been rated 'best in class' during client audits.
Infrastructure at Wipro
Facilities
2,790,000 + sq.ft of state-of-the-art development facilities in 25 locations in India.
Communication
0.12 million+ LAN points across the globe connecting nearly 19,000+ desktops/laptops & 1900+ Servers.
Intranet: 300 Mbps+,150+ E1 Inter-office links(built in redundancy & auto fall back) Extranet: 175+ Customer Connections.
Certification
First company in the world to be certified in BS 7799 (2002) security standards
ISO 14001 Certification (reflection of environment and safety consciousness)
6. Product Quality
Product Quality refers to the success or failure of any business, so the quality of the product should be very good for his companies have different quality standards which are certified by the quality department and are approved all over the world. If one does not have approved quality standards then he develops its own to meet the quality that are demanded by the customers
Quality at Infosys
We go to great lengths to ensure that the IT services we deliver not only surpass your expectations, but ours too. Quality is a way of life for us, and covers all our processes, interfaces and outputs, in management, core and support process. It is the way we deliver long term excellence, and ultimately, predictability of returns, through the Global Delivery Model (GDM).
The quality systems at Infosys match the best in the world. We benchmark ourselves against international quality standards, like ISO 9000, CMM and recently, the Malcolm Baldrige framework. In addition, we use world-class techniques like the Six Sigma Cross Functional Process Mapping (CFPM) methodologies (from Motorola University) to facilitate process improvement. However, Infosys Quality is more than a mere adherence to these benchmarks, but a proactive quest for process improvement, beyond conventional limits.
A number of quality tracking methodologies, tools, and processes are put in place to ensure superior quality products and service to Infosys clients - in each engagement and also across engagements, at the relationship level. These quality tracking methodologies are discussed below, classified based on the client objectives addressed through specific quality programs, tools, and systems:
• Relationship Management and Governance
• Software and Service Quality
• Solution and End-User Focus
• Operations
• Resourcing Effectiveness
Software and service quality
The Capability Maturity Model (CMM) judges the maturity of an organization’s software processes and identifies key practices required to increase the maturity of these processes. The CMM paves an evolutionary improvement path from an ad hoc process to one that is mature and capable. The CMM includes practices for planning, engineering and managing software development and maintenance of the same.
Having achieved the SEI Capability Maturity Model, Infosys has gained immense business value and provided substantial benefits to clients in terms of accurate budgeting, increased productivity and the overall ability of the organization to meet our goals for cost, schedule, product functionality and quality.
The focus on software and service quality is driven primarily through the disciplines and processes established to maintain an organization-wide Capability Maturity Model (CMM) Level 5 rating (the highest in the industry). CMM provides software organizations with guidance on how to gain control of their software processes. These are enabled by quantitative feedback from the process and proactively introducing innovative ideas and technologies across the organization to meet its business goals. At Level 5, the Capability Maturity Model focuses on preventing defects rather than removing them later to ensure better quality.The Capability Maturity Model is useful not only for software development, but also for examining evolutionary levels of organizations and describing the level of Value Based Management that an organization has realized or wants to aim for.
Quality at TCS
When it comes to quality levels, there systems and processes have been placed at the top of the scale by various evaluating agencies.
TCS has an organization-wide ISO 9001 certification
They have 14 'delivery centres' spread across India operating at 'Level 5', the highest point of SEI CMM certification.
TCS has over 1,100 'certified quality assessors' (CQAs) among its people. This is the single largest number of CQA employees for any organization, and it constitutes over a third of the CQA fraternity in the world
They were the first organization in the world to be assessed at PCMM Level 4. This means that they have developed measurable people practices by empowering there workgroups, and by managing the capability and performance of there workforce quantitatively. They currently have four centres functioning at PCMM Level 4.
TCS has adopted 'Six Sigma' practices at two of its centres, and has 12 Six Sigma black belts in its fold.
Quality at Wipro
The maturity of our quality processes takes offshore engagements to another level, ensuring that our customers benefit from
30-40% lower Total Cost of Ownership
20-30% higher productivity
On-time deliveries (93% projects completed on time)
Lower field defect rates (67% lower than industry average)
Quality Leadership
Our quality leadership is marked by a number of "firsts"
SEI-CMM Level 5, World's first IT Services company, 1998
Six Sigma, World's first IT Services company, 1999
PCMM Level 5, World's first software company, 2001
CMMi Level 5 ver 1.1, World’s first company, 2002
ISO 9001, TL 9000.
7. Price and Promotion
Both the P’s are not as importance to the chosen category but for the remaining categories it plays important mix element in the IT sector.
Overhere, services and project consulting is through contract or agreement between the parties and promotions are carried out only for the particular client selected as upgrading and extended service for a particular period,etc.
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY-ENABLED SERVICES
The Internet and other advances in IT have ushered India into an era where various services can now be delivered remotely. Time and distance barriers have been dismantled as sc companies provide customer interaction services, help desks, medical transcription, translation, localisation services, data digitization, legal databases, data processing, back office operations, digital content development, remote network management and specialised knowledge sevices to both domestic and foreign customers.
IT-enabled services or remote processing services are today being considered a major growth market for the Indian software and services industry and are expected to generate significant employment opportunities in the future. According to an estimate, .by 2008, IT-enabled sevices activities globally will be to the tune of $ 50 billion. The two most promising segments enabled services are customer interaction services, including call centres and content development and animation.
Opportunities in major segments of IT-enabled services
The spectrum of IT-enabled services is wide. Some of the popular services with substantial wealth and employment generating potential are:
Call Centres/Customer Interaction Services
These services rely heavily on state-of the-art communications and information technogies. The centre is used for a number of functions like marketing, selling, information dispensing, advice, technical support and e-commerce. There are more than 500,000 call centres worldwide resulting in employment for approximately 18 million people.
Business Process Outsourcing (BPO)/Back Office Operations
The potential for Business process outsourcing (BPO) in India is projected to grow to $ 21 billion by 2008. India can tap this potential through aggressive marketing, strengthening IT infrastructure and by creating specialized training facilities. Banks and airlines require large-scale data processing for their management and decision-making. Such organisations, with extensive data turnover and customer inc. send raw data over high speed communication links to remote locations for data processing and necessary reconciliation etc., enabling them to save costs and resources. centres are basically the offshore extensions of existing information and back-office operation. There has been a growing trend to outsource these services to major IT-enabled 5 providers. India stands to gain from such a trend, as the Indian IT industry has been able to a mark in this field. It also has. access to a huge pool of skilled as well as semi-skilled professionals and offers relative cost advantage.
Insurance Claims Processing
Large insurance companies can get the claims of their clients processed anywhere, as long as a large number of graduates proficient in English, a few doctors and a few accountants are available. Apart from processing, a large amount of logistic support is also required guidelines to the process are well established and hence can be easily performed at remote locations. To save costs, large insurance companies in the United States are now outsourcing of such work, which can prove to be another good opportunity for India to tap
Medical Transcription
Medical transcription is a time and cost saving process for transcribing medical records dictated by doctors and other healthcare professionals. In countries like the United States doctor’s time is at a premium and they simply record their findings on a Dictaphone. The recordings are then sent through datacom lines to overseas companies, which transcribe these recordings into reports and send them back electronically. Turnaround time is often as low as two hours and, therefore, this process is often better than what the hospital may have achieved if it had all of it in-house.
Legal Databases
Many legal firms in the United States and other developed countries have started to outsource their database work to organisations having a large, cost-competitive, English-speaking workforce of trained lawyers. The job involves creating a database of the firm's existing records, indexing on the basis of various useful and commonly understood criterion, keeping track of new documents being created and incorporating them into database as per well established parametres. Lawyers can then simply use their computers to draw up a history of similar cases and draw a clear plan of action.
Digital Content Development
Digital content development is emerging as one of the fastest growing service segments in the global IT- enabled services industry. It caters to the needs of website management, production of content for new media such as CD jDVD and products of convergent technologies such as internetenabled television. It offers a large emerging potential as more and more students, professionals , individuals and offices realise the need to have easy access to information that can also be suitably fused with other media.
Online Education
Online education market is booming the world over. The global online education and e-learning market is projected at $ 11.4 billion in 2003. More than 1,600 companies, including nearly half the Fortune 500 firms, have built corporate universities. Nearly all of them offer some classes online primarily through the Web, via video-conferencing, CD-ROMs and other technologies. The online education market in India is showing significant growth potential and the sector is expected to be a significant revenue earner for the industry.
Data Digitisation/GIS
Digitization is a labour-intensive process by which physical or manual records such as text, images, video and audio are converted into digital forms. Data digitisation services offer a very good opportunity for India, due to the relatively lower costs and the technical skills available. GIS is a collection of tools and methods that are used in a digital environment for the study of information. ITenabled services in GIS offer business opportunities from Europe and the States. Many multinational companies have set up centres providing GIS services in India.
Payroll /HR Services
HR services is another area that has immense potential in the field of IT-enabled services. HR services components include recruitment screening, administration and relocation services, payroll processing, compensation administration, benefit planning, and administration.
Web services
Internet and the wide use of the Web has accelerated the growth of remote services and created opportunities of its own. Some of the Web services include e-mail management, Internet security, web page designing and updating, managing of Internet commerce, exchange of data, payment and clearance, electronic data interchange, supply chain management and Internet data centers etc.
Action Plan for the Promotion of IT-enabled Services
Since the Indian IT industry has matured enough, the IT-enabled services are expected to grow through private initiatives in the Tenth Plan. The Government has already provided income tax exemption to most of the IT-enabled services. Further initiatives that need to be for making India a sustainable hub for these services include:
• Support from local authorities and state governments for IT-enabled services Units to ensure ease of operations and start-up assistance.
• Setting up of training infrastructure for IT enabled services and the involvement of Industrail Training Institutes (ITIs) and Polytechnics for call centre management and degree level courses for the industry.
• Flexibility to call centres to merge domestic and international business in the same facility.
• .Creation of an 'India Brand' marketing fund for promoting India as a preferred destination for the IT-enabled services sector.
• Special incentives to promote entrepreneurship and tele-working for women in the IT enabled service sector.
Relation of IT with other Service Sectors.
IT forms the backbone of all the service sectors either formally or informally in connection with the services management. It is visible and Tangible at some place of application in the services design and delivery model whereas it is Invisible, intangible and homogeneous with the service design and delivery model. Following is the list of industries in which IT applied in its customized manner as
• Banking
• Healthcare
• Energy & Utilities
• Aerospace and Defense
• Automotive
• Communication Services
• High Technology
• Retail & Consumer Packaged Goods
• Transportation Services
• Financial services
• Media and Entertainment
THE PATH AHEAD
• Encourage Global Hardware majors to set up their manufacturing units in India.
• A comprehensive Rationalisation of tariff structure to cope with the zero duty regime on finished products that will come into place after 2005.
• Encourage the setting up STPs by the private sector.
• The software industry needs to move up in the value chain by developing high value products through regular R&D.
• The focus of Indian industry needs to shift from providing software solutions to ¬manufacturers of packaged products.
• Industry associations like NASSCOM, MAIT, ESC etc. must help SMEs in their efforts through effective networking and meetings with potential customers.
• Promotion of Software in Indian languages to increase IT penetration in the market.
• Updating the syllabus of computer engineering, electronics and IT in various technical institutions in keeping with the industry's requirements. The curriculum in other branches of engineering should also be expanded to include IT subjects. Emphasis must be postgraduate engineering education.
• Facilities in existing RECs and engineering colleges under deemed universities must be upgraded to lIT level so that there are at least 100 such institutions by the end of tenth Plan.
• An action plan needs to be formulated to take up R&D in the emerging areas like Bio-informatics and Nano-Technologies.
Conclusion
Predicting what will come in an industry that evolves on an almost daily basis is a thankless and almost futile task. Things change at such a rapid rate, and many of the technologies are so fluid, that a shift in direction can occur in weeks rather than months.
If we think that today's Internet and e-commerce opportunities are technically advanced, we have not seen anything yet. Not only will the existing uses of the Internet get more and more advanced, but new ways will be found to exploit the opportunities it provides.
The delivery of these services will not just be dependant on new formats and programming, but also on the mediums that deliver them. For this to happen, certain changes will need to take place, not just technological, but legal as well. Protection of consumers needs to be examined, as well as considerations such as copyright protection and piracy prevention.
As well as using conventional methods to connect to the Internet, wireless access will also become a common approach. Although we already have wireless data devices, the wireless computing industry is still in its relative infancy. With wireless transmission speed developing at a rapid rate, coupled with the availability of wireless data services, this is one area of technology that is sure to become a big mover. Even now, hand-held computers or Personal Digital Assistants are becom¬ing commonplace.
Technology continues to advance, constantly changing how we work, where we work, and the skills we need to work. What the future holds for IT is impossible to predict, but it's guaranteed to be a wild ride.
The phrase Information Technology (IT) refers to the creation, gathering, processing, storage and delivery of information, process and devices that make all this possible. The tasks that handled using Information technology continue to increase.
Trying to describe the IT industry in a few pages is a bit like using an Etch A Sketch™ to draw a circle. You think you've got it licked, then someone comes along and says, "Hey, that's a nice box!" The IT industry has so many different parts, personalities, aspects, and facets that there will always be something signifi¬cant you leave out.
Probably the most sensible thing to do is to start at the beginning.
The Past
Many events and occurrences have shaped the IT industry into the creature it is. Its history is filled with myriad names, brands, ideas, and concepts, all of which have played their part in making IT one of the most dynamic industries in the world. The history of computers is an interesting subject; indeed entire books haw been written about it. Although understanding the history of computers may not help you secure a career in IT, they make for an interesting read and are a useful source of background information.
To convey the entire history of computing in a few paragraphs is difficult indeed. So, rather than try to cover all of the bases, the following is a summary of the some of the more significant happenings that have influenced the evolution of the computer industry over the past 50 or so years.
The 1940s: In the Beginning
The roots of digital computing can be traced back to 1946 when the world's fim digital computing device called ENIAC was put into service. This event, in digital in terms at least, marked the beginning of the information age. In terms of size and complexity, ENIAC was a monster, occupying an entire room and needing a team of of engineers and scientists to operate it. Despite its impressive size and appearance. it had less processing power than today's hand-held electronic organizers.
As well as being regarded as the world's first real digital computer, ENIAC is also famous for helping to define the term bug, due to the fact that a moth was found to have shorted out the system, causing it to stop. The term those early engineers coined to describe the fault is still used today to refer to a problem with a com¬puter system or program.
Shortly after ENIAC was being brought to a standstill by flying insects, another significant event occurred: the invention of the transistor. The transistor was the first step toward the development of microprocessors. It was a very significant invention, as today's microprocessors have literally millions of individual transistor switches in them.
The formative years at the end of the 1940s served as the foundation to the computer and IT industry as we now know it. Those early technical pioneers sowed the seeds of discovery that would shape the world. As the saying goes, the rest is history.
The 1950s: The Territory of the Mainframe
Realizing the obvious potential of computers, the inventors of the ENIAC contin¬ued their work into the 1950s, designing and subsequently manufacturing a more powerful machine than ENIAC, called the UNIVAC. The UNIVAC is regarded as the first commercially available digital computer.
It was also during the 1950s that IBM, who had made a name for itself producing calculating machines, made its first foray into digital computing with a system called the Type 701 EDPM. The 701 was the first machine in a series that would propel IBM into the mainframe computer market and make the company one of the most significant and well known in the computer industry.
The 1960s: The Decade of Downsizing
The problem was that although they performed tasks useful to many businesses, mainframe computers were incredibly expensive to buy and subsequently run. What was needed was a computer that was smaller and more affordable than a mainframe. The answer was the minicomputer, originally manufactured by the Digital Equipment Corporation. These new minicomputers, though still only affordable by good-sized businesses, were considerably cheaper to buy than mainframes and had lower operating costs.
Before computers could get even smaller, the computer industry needed to develop a way to make the processing elements of the systems smaller and even more powerful. The solution to that problem arrived when Robert Noyce teamed up with fellow engineer Gordon Moore and started a company called Intel.
Intel did not actually start out as a microprocessor company; initially the company designed and manufactured memory chips. It wasn't until a Japanese calculator company asked Intel to produce a set of chips to put into a programmable calcula¬tpr, that one of its• engineers hit on the idea of an all purpose processor. By 1971, Intel was selling its first fully functioning microprocessor, the 4004, for the tidy sum of$200.
Though the development of the microprocessor was a major event, the' 60s also saw many other important developments and achievements for the computer industry. Perhaps one of the most significant was the advent of computer net¬working. It was in the late 1960s that work began on the ARPAnet, the network that would eventually become today's Internet.
Also significant in the 1960s was the development of the Unix operating system, which has become the operating system of choice for use on the Internet. Unix, though obviously upgraded and updated, is still used by many large companies today. The current trend toward Linux, also has much to thank the Unix operating system for. Linux is actually based on a computing standard called POSIX, which was originally developed for Unix software.
The 1970s: The Industry Takes Shape
In a trend that is now just a little too familiar, Intel released a new chip called the 8008 less than a year after the 4004. The 8008 chip is worthy of mention because it led to the release of what is generally regarded as the world's first personal computer, or PC, called the Altair 8800. But the Altair was just the beginning.
During the 1970s a variety of other personal computers came on to the market as well. Although some were in kit form, and of more interest to enthusiasts than general home and business users, the personal computer market started to gain pace, aided in no small part by the popularity of the Apple computer, which also became popular with business users. Another boost for the PC was the introduc¬tion of applications such as Visicalc and WordS tar that turned the PC into an easy-to-use and multifaceted business tool.
The 1970s also saw businesses completely embrace computing and information technology. Businesses of all sizes were buying mainframes or mini-computers and employing teams of operators to run the systems.
The 1970s were also the formative years for today's Internet. Initially created as a tool for the Department of Defense, the ARPAnet had been in use and growing for a number of years, and prompted research and development into technologies that served to further the general goals of networking. As the Internet is now, the ARPAnet of the 1970s was the network of all networks.
Still on"the subject of networking, it was during the 1970s that Ethernet, the standard on which a large proportion of today's local area networks (LANs) are based, was created. The standard and the technology to support LANs would not be released for some time, however.
The 1980s: The Decade of the PC
The start of the 1980s saw an event that would change the computing landscape completely. IBM, who by now had confirmed its place as a major player in the computing world, launched its first personal computer that ran with a new operat¬ing system, called PC-DOS. Subsequent versions of this operating system were produced under the now familiar name of MS-DOS. PC-DOS was the product of a small software company called Microsoft that had been started by two college students some years earlier. As every new business owner does, these two students had aspirations for success, but neither could have expected that within 20 years their company would become one of the largest and most successful in the world.
In 1983, with the total number of computers in use in the U.S. passing the one million mark, Tillie magazine took the rather unusual step of naming the personal computer as the" 1982 Man of the Year." That such ;n esteemed publication would give the prize to an object rather than a human being indicated the level of impact that the world was feeling from technology and from personal computers in particular.
As the decade drew on, PCs appeared in homes and offices all over the globe. Applications started getting increasingly powerful, peripherals such as printers became more affordable, and people started to look for new ways to use the power of the PC to the maximum. Computer games with advanced graphics and amaz¬ing sound effects began to drive PCs toward the arena of multimedia. The PC was becoming more than just a device for working and playing games, it was turning into an entertainment center. All that was needed was an efficient method to get the entertainment to the masses
The 1990s : The Internet Explosion and the Bug of All Bugs
The 1990s saw the growth of the IT industry surpass everyone's expectations. Millions of people the world over realized the power of the Internet and logged on to use email, chat rooms, and the World Wide Web (WWW). The initial burst was driven by providers such as CompuServe and America Online (AOL), but it was quickly followed by smaller providers, all competing for a share of the increas¬ing lucrative market. At first, access was expensive, then it became cheap, then it was almost free, and by the end of the decade you could get a free PC if you s5gned up for an Internet access agreement
The increases in speed, functionality, and availability of PCs continued apace, with many businesses surrendering their mini- and mainframe computers in favor •of powerful PC-based systems. Microsoft's operating systems continued to dominate the market. Possibly one of the oddest moments of television in the 1990s was the pictures of people sleeping outside computer superstores so that they could be the first to own a copy of Microsoft's Qew Windows 95 operating system. But it was not just the home and business PC market that Microsoft was starting to dominate. They were also making drastic inroads to the PC networking market, initially with LAN Manager, and subsequently with Windows NT.
The decade ended with a wake-up call for the IT industry. The fact that many of the world's computer systems and programs had been created with a built-in bug caused panic among the IT community. Governments, companies, and individuals across the globe braced themselves for the passing of that great date when, it was forecast, the airliners would drop out of the sky, hospital power plants would fail, and, more significantly, fast-food chains would run out of burgers. Some minor problems were reported, but the world celebrated the coming of a new millen¬nium without any massive computer failures. No nuclear weapons fired themselves and no banks ran out of money. Most people began to wonder what all the fuss had been about.
Some people put the non-event ofY2K down to extensive preparation and diligence of the governments of the world. Others pointed an accusing finger at software manufacturers and consultancy companies and accused them of scare mongering. In reality, most companies and individuals alike were just happy that New Year's Eve passed without too much drama. With the removal of the last obstacle, the world, and the IT industry, were able to look forward to a new era of development, with nothing to hold them back.
The Present-The Internet Age
Of all of the individual aspects currently influencing technology, the Internet must surely be the most significant. The Internet now pervades almost every aspect of the IT industry, as it does our daily lives. Any company that is not already on the Inter¬net in some form or other is looking for a way to get on, because more and more an Internet presence can mean the difference between success and mediocrity.
Perhaps the biggest driver of all for the Internet from a business point of view, however, is the development of e-commerce. The sale of goods and services over. the Internet has come a long way. Not too long ago, you would go online, find a product that you wanted, and then call phone the company directly and order it. Pioneers of e-commerce such as Amazon.com have developed and presented new ways to shop, making the whole process much more comprehensive, convenient, and considerably more consumer friendly. Further, recent Internet security ad¬vances have increased consumer confidence, all but alleviating previous concerns of credit card details being viewed by unwanted eyes.
Perhaps the massive increase in spending online is not by chance. Advertisers themselves use technology to watch people's Web habits and build consumer profiles based on actual buying patterns. This, perhaps invasive approach, allows companies to target their advertising campaigns and advertising dollars directly at those people most likely to purchase their products. Whether this is a good or a bad thing is a matter of personal preference. It is, however, how things work in the information age and acts as a demonstration of the kind of power and functional¬ity that technology provides.
Of course the Internet is not restricted to business use. Many individuals have embraced the Internet using it for entertainment, information, and recreation. The lure for many modern surfers is that the Internet provides a relatively impersonal and seemingly anonymous communication medium. Nowadays virtual chat rooms connect human beings from all over the world.
In a way though, the Internet is merely a front "end, a visual presentation if you like, of a wide range of aspects of the IT industry. It is a user-friendly medium that provides people with the tools to access information and systems that run applica¬tions and store information. The important thing to remember is that every Web page has to be designed, every site has to be run on a server of some description, every request passed over a network and ~very PC that runs a browser needs to be designed, built, configured and supported. In other words, from an IT professional's perspective, the Internet is simply a window through which people can view our, dare we say, art.
The Bigger Picture
The IT industry today is certainly not just the Internet. Even though they may well have some connection or relationship with the Internet, companies use computers and technology to perform day-to-day tasks.. The important thing to remember is that for many com¬panies, it is not the computer that is the focus of their business, but rather the functionality that the computer provides. Companies have become dependent on this functionality and ultimately on the computers.
Today's office networks are powerful and diverse, connecting computers in offices, irrespective of location. The standardization of protocols has also meant that today's PC is a window to almost any other type of system, be it micro, mini, or main¬frame computer, whether it be on the network locally, across the Internet, or over a private network.
The Way We Work
Technology today does not just affect what we work at, but also how we work. The advances in communications technology have made working from home, or telecommuting to give it its proper name, a practical reality. People are able to dial-in from their spare room and videoconference with people at the office who have struggled through an hour of traffic to do the same thing. In this way, tech¬nology not only gives us a new way to work, but may also help to alleviate other societal concerns such as traffic congestion, pollution, and urban crowding. If you don't have to travel to work each morning, then does it really matter how far away you live from the office?
Nowadays, people are as likely to work on projects and collaborate through email and instant messaging, rather than meetings and memos. The use of fax machines, though still popular, is on the decline as people find faster and easier ways to communicate. High-speed networking and Internet access have provided people with the ability to create vast networks that span countries and continents, provid¬ing access to information for all.
Cutting the Ties That Bind
Because we can now work practically from home, the next logical step is to be able to work and have access to the office from anywhere. Most recently, big steps toward a truly wireless world have been made with the development and intro¬duction of wireless devices and the communications standards to support them.
Now they are fully functional hand-held Internet portals, using new communications tech¬nologies such as wireless access protocol (WAP) , which will allow you to trade stocks, check email, or read the news from anywhere.
The New Threat
It's not all good news; new technologies bring with them new concerns. Recent increases in email viruses and Web site hacking have made the news all over the world. Unfortunately, viruses are now a daily risk of using the Internet. Although computers can almost always be vaccinated against a specific virus, developers play a constant game of catch up with the people who develop the viruses.
Our relative susceptibility, coupled with our increased reliance on technology, have caused politicians and governments to look at the risks, and attempt to find ways to discourage these attacks from affecting the populous. One of the biggest problems with the enforcement of laws and standards is not only is the Internet anonymous, it also crosses geographical boundaries. Good news for the hackers and virus authors, but bad news for law agencies and government.
Current scenario
IT revolutions have opened up new possibilities of economic and social transformation from which both the developing and developed countries can potentially benefit.
The IT sector is one of the fastest growing sectors of Indian Industry. 60% is accounted by software and remaining 40% by the hardware. Software exports comprises of the Rs. 55000 crore in 2004-2005. It accounts for about 2.64 per cent of India’s GDP in 2003 and is projected to grow to 7% of India’s GDP by 2008.
DEFINITION:
Information Technology means the use of hardware, software services and supporting infrastructure to manage and deliver information using voice, data and video.
EXAMPLES OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY:
(1) Users PCs and software.
(2) Telephone, radio equipment and switches used for voice communication.
(3) Traditional computer applications that include data storage and programs to input, process and output the data.
(4) Software and support for office automation systems such as word processing and spreadsheets as well as computers to run them.
(5) Video conferencing equipment.
(6) The state radio communications network.
(7) Computers and network systems used by teachers, trainers and students for education,
Purpose.
FUNCTIONS OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY:
(1) Information Technology can process raw data into useful information.
(2) It can recycle processed information and use it as data in another processing step.
(3) Information technology can package information in a new form so it is easier to understand or more useful.
In IT industry
Demand side Supply side
Economic sectors Hardware, Software
Applications Telecommunication and Microelectronic based equipments
COMPUTER:
The computer is an electronic machine which can perform a variety of activities. It recognized the instructions provided by its users and acts accordingly. The basic functions of a computer can be classified into four functions, they are:
(a) Data Processing,
(b) Data Storage,
(c) Data Movement, and
(d) Control.
DATA:
Data is any symbol, sign or measure which is in a form which can be directly captured by a person or a machine. They are raw facts and opinions. When one records facts or figures, it becomes data.
INFORMATION:
Information is processed form of data or in other words information is data that has value.
SWOT Analysis
8 P’s of Information Technology Industry
1. Service Products:
Infosys:
Outsourced Application and Infrastructure Services
• Custom Application Development
• Application Maintenance
• Application Re-engineering
• Infrastructure Management
Business Continuity
Desktop Management
Infrastructure Consolidation
Service Management Consulting
• Independent Testing and Validation
• Application Portfolio Management
Enterprise Services
• Packaged Applications
Supply Chain Management (SCM)
Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
Enterprise Application Integration (EAI)
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
• Systems Integration
Business Intelligence and Data Warehousing
Enterprise Content Management
Enterprise Information Portal
Enterprise Mobility
Enterprise Security
Identity Management
Migration and Re-hosting
Strategic Technology and Architecture Consulting
• Platform Services
Product R&D Services
• Product Design & Development
• Product Sustenance
• Testing & Automation
• Offshore Product Development Center
• Additional Product Services
• Product Consulting & Professional Services
Consulting Services
• Corporate Performance Management
• Balanced Scorecard
TATA Consultancy Services
• Application development and maintenance
• Architecture and technology consulting
• BPO
• eBusiness
• Engineering and Industrial Services
• eSecurity
• IT Infrastructure Services
• Large projects
• Process Solutions
• RFID Solutions
Wipro
• Application Development and Maintenance
• Architecture Consulting
• B2E
• Business Intelligence and Data Warehousing
• Business Process Management (BPM)
• Content Management
• e-Business
• Enterprise Applications Services
CRM
ERP
e-Procurement and B2B Marketplaces
SCM
• Enterprise Security
• Package Implementation
• Product Life Cycle Management (PLM)
• Quality Consulting
• System Integration
• Enterprise Application Integration
• Technology Infrastructure Services
• Testing Services
• Web Services
2. People:
In service sector people refers to the employees which represent the firm.
Wipro
Wipro has a good employee selection pattern which represents the firm into the market. Wipro believe in selecting those people who has quality of developing new ideas and returning best to there customers and there enthusiastic, committed and talented people deliver it very effectively. They have divided there people into four different zones.
i. DEEP DOMAIN EXPERTISE
ii. CUSTOMER PROXIMITY
iii. CONTINUOUS TRAINING
iv. TALENT TRANSFORMATION
i. DEEP DOMAIN EXPERTISE
• 2000 + domain consultants
• 500 + technology consultants – e-business, package applications
ii. CUSTOMER PROXIMIY
• 5,000+ consultants spread across North America, Europe and Japan
• 10,000+ itinerant employees
iii. CONTINUOUS TRANING
• 2,40,000 man days of training annually, 70 full time instructors
• Pioneers of the web based “World Campus” initiative (1000 associates world over take courses simultaneously)
iv. TALENT TRANSFORMATION
• Business skill transformation (CLIP/ACLIP programs domain focused courses)
• Culture transformation (Language learning, neuro-linguistic sessions and cross-cultural sensitiveness)
• Technology transformation( 30+ technologies covered)
• Behavioral skill transformation (Communication inter-personal and relationship management skills)
3. Place:
In service place refers to location and use of distribution channels
Infosys
Places were Infosys Operates
Americas APAC Europe
USA
Canada
Australia
China
Hong Kong
India
Japan
Mauritius
UAE
Belgium
France
Germany
Italy
The Netherlands
Sweden
Switzerland
United Kingdom (UK)
TATA CONSULTANCY SERVICES
China
Europe
France
Germany
Hungary
Iberoamerica
Japan
Korea
The Netherlands
United Kingdom and Ireland
United States and Canada
Sweden
Asia Pacific
Middle East
4. Process:
In service Industry Process refers to how a service is provided and delivered to the customer.
Infosys
Infosys relies on processes to consistently deliver high quality solutions while executing a growing number of engagements from multiple locations. Values, vision and policies form the first level of our three-tiered process architecture. They are implemented through process execution at the next level. These processes are defined with clear ownership using the ETVX (Entry, Task, Verification, Exit) paradigm and clearly defined roles and responsibilities.
Quality System Documentation (QSD)
Quality System Documentation (QSD) is a collection of Infosys generic best practices in the form of processes. The QSD provides our engineers and consultations with a vast repository of detailed procedures, templates, standards, guidelines and checklists.
The comprehensiveness of QSD supports all tasks from higher-level information abstraction and definition to tasks such as coding and documentation. This is crucial to assure clients of high quality and predictable IT solutions that meet their business needs. The QSD is updated and released every four months and made available on every desktop through the Intranet.
Body of Knowledge (BOK)
Infosys' Body of Knowledge (BOK) is a forum for Infoscions to share knowledge gained from their experience at Infosys. It is meant to be a central repository of experiential knowledge that can be tapped by peers and other engagements at Infosys. The collection of documents in the BOK is reviewed and classified into different areas:
Software life-cycle activities such as requirements specification, design, build and testing.
Software-related topics such as tools, engagement initiation and quality.
Topics of general or operational interest such as travel or people policies, etc.
Process Assets
Process assets form the repository to facilitate dissemination of "engagement learning" across Infosys. The user has the facility to submit to the repository, retrieve from the repository and obtain information on the status of the repository.
A process asset could be any information from an engagement, which can be re-used by future engagements. Typically these include project plans, configuration management plans, requirements documents, design documents, test plans, standards, checklists, causal analysis reports and utilities used in the engagement.
Process Database
The Process Database is a software engineering database to study the processes at Infosys with respect to productivity and quality. More specifically, its current intents are as follows:
To aid estimation of effort and defects
To get the productivity and quality data on different types of projects
To aid in creating process capability baselines
Process Capability Baseline (PCB)
Process Capability baseline specifies based on data of past projects, what the performance of the process is, i.e. what a project can expect when following the process. The performance factors of the process are primarily those that relate to quality and productivity. Our process baseline defines the productivity, quality, effort distribution, defect distributions, defect injection rate, cost of quality etc. Using the capability baseline, a project can predict, at a gross level, the effort that will be needed for various stages, the defect densities likely to be observed during various defect detection activities and quality and productivity for the project.
Tools Repository
The list of tools that have been evaluated are stored in a centralized repository called Tools Repository. The tools coordination group is the point of contact for information on tools in Infosys. The group's objectives are as follows:
Standardization of tools usage
Ensure evaluated technologies are transferred into normal practice across the organization
Identify and evaluate new technologies on a continuous basis to determine their benefits
Wipro
Wipro multiple process models address specific customer and project needs and Span Domain Service, Maintenance, Testing, Conversion and Development process models. Wipro’s business process consulting practice has a set of targeted offerings that encompass an entire gamut of operations and technology needs of an enterprise.
They have divided there process into four categories:
Veloci-Q
Veloci-Q is a web-based, quality management system that allows instantaneous access and facilitates sharing of knowledge and best practices among all projects within the organization.
iPat
iPat is a performance management system that initiates projects, tracks and reviews work plans and mitigates risk.
K-Net
K-Net is our knowledge management initiative. A Knowledge Management portal connects people to content and people to people.
Cocoon
Cocoon is our innovative relationship management system that offers customers complete visibility into their projects. It incorporates a relationship matrix portal, maintains project status, customer visibility and peer-to-peer communication.
5. Physical Evidence:
Infosys
An Offshore Development Center (ODC) is essentially a dedicated intermix of specialized programming and engineering resources.
The Offshore Development Center at Infosys acts as a virtual extension of your development teams. With sustained infrastructure investments over the years, they have created a knowledge-networked work environment from where there employees provide high quality solutions to clients. These investments enhance employee productivity and reduce engagement risk for our clients.
There Offshore Development Center uses a multi-dimensional approach, planned to support growth and technology advancement, ensures that the solutions we architect for our clients are built in a most productive and effective manner.
The Infosys Offshore Development Center, with its pool of well designed infrastructure, highly trained resources, proven and time tested processes is a doubly beneficial outsourcing delivery model with a powerful value proposition for businesses looking at IT Outsourcing.
Elements of Infosys' ODC:
• Development center campuses in India
• Global development centers
• Client connectivity infrastructure
• Information infrastructure
INFORMATION INFRASTRUCTURE
The information infrastructure at Infosys applies our vision for our clients to transform and enhance business operations through innovative technology solutions. The Infosys systems roadmap and integrated architecture addresses our business needs today, with scalability and flexibility to adapt to a dynamic business future. These systems focus on multiple stakeholder objectives such as:
Client service (project management and quality management) Employee productivity (knowledge management and collaboration)
Financial management and control (enterprise applications - SAP R/3 and custom-built applications)
Aligning business and technology strategy to standardize enterprise applications to web architectures as early as 1997 illustrates keenness of technology vision that has been extensible to deploy across locations and over secure Extranets. The choice of SAP R/3 as a strategic growth enabler and enterprise backbone demonstrates scalability. We constantly evolve our enterprise systems roadmap to prioritize and iterate the leveraging of new technologies capabilities with current and future business needs.
Wipro
Our highly secure, robust and agile infrastructure has been rated 'best in class' during client audits.
Infrastructure at Wipro
Facilities
2,790,000 + sq.ft of state-of-the-art development facilities in 25 locations in India.
Communication
0.12 million+ LAN points across the globe connecting nearly 19,000+ desktops/laptops & 1900+ Servers.
Intranet: 300 Mbps+,150+ E1 Inter-office links(built in redundancy & auto fall back) Extranet: 175+ Customer Connections.
Certification
First company in the world to be certified in BS 7799 (2002) security standards
ISO 14001 Certification (reflection of environment and safety consciousness)
6. Product Quality
Product Quality refers to the success or failure of any business, so the quality of the product should be very good for his companies have different quality standards which are certified by the quality department and are approved all over the world. If one does not have approved quality standards then he develops its own to meet the quality that are demanded by the customers
Quality at Infosys
We go to great lengths to ensure that the IT services we deliver not only surpass your expectations, but ours too. Quality is a way of life for us, and covers all our processes, interfaces and outputs, in management, core and support process. It is the way we deliver long term excellence, and ultimately, predictability of returns, through the Global Delivery Model (GDM).
The quality systems at Infosys match the best in the world. We benchmark ourselves against international quality standards, like ISO 9000, CMM and recently, the Malcolm Baldrige framework. In addition, we use world-class techniques like the Six Sigma Cross Functional Process Mapping (CFPM) methodologies (from Motorola University) to facilitate process improvement. However, Infosys Quality is more than a mere adherence to these benchmarks, but a proactive quest for process improvement, beyond conventional limits.
A number of quality tracking methodologies, tools, and processes are put in place to ensure superior quality products and service to Infosys clients - in each engagement and also across engagements, at the relationship level. These quality tracking methodologies are discussed below, classified based on the client objectives addressed through specific quality programs, tools, and systems:
• Relationship Management and Governance
• Software and Service Quality
• Solution and End-User Focus
• Operations
• Resourcing Effectiveness
Software and service quality
The Capability Maturity Model (CMM) judges the maturity of an organization’s software processes and identifies key practices required to increase the maturity of these processes. The CMM paves an evolutionary improvement path from an ad hoc process to one that is mature and capable. The CMM includes practices for planning, engineering and managing software development and maintenance of the same.
Having achieved the SEI Capability Maturity Model, Infosys has gained immense business value and provided substantial benefits to clients in terms of accurate budgeting, increased productivity and the overall ability of the organization to meet our goals for cost, schedule, product functionality and quality.
The focus on software and service quality is driven primarily through the disciplines and processes established to maintain an organization-wide Capability Maturity Model (CMM) Level 5 rating (the highest in the industry). CMM provides software organizations with guidance on how to gain control of their software processes. These are enabled by quantitative feedback from the process and proactively introducing innovative ideas and technologies across the organization to meet its business goals. At Level 5, the Capability Maturity Model focuses on preventing defects rather than removing them later to ensure better quality.The Capability Maturity Model is useful not only for software development, but also for examining evolutionary levels of organizations and describing the level of Value Based Management that an organization has realized or wants to aim for.
Quality at TCS
When it comes to quality levels, there systems and processes have been placed at the top of the scale by various evaluating agencies.
TCS has an organization-wide ISO 9001 certification
They have 14 'delivery centres' spread across India operating at 'Level 5', the highest point of SEI CMM certification.
TCS has over 1,100 'certified quality assessors' (CQAs) among its people. This is the single largest number of CQA employees for any organization, and it constitutes over a third of the CQA fraternity in the world
They were the first organization in the world to be assessed at PCMM Level 4. This means that they have developed measurable people practices by empowering there workgroups, and by managing the capability and performance of there workforce quantitatively. They currently have four centres functioning at PCMM Level 4.
TCS has adopted 'Six Sigma' practices at two of its centres, and has 12 Six Sigma black belts in its fold.
Quality at Wipro
The maturity of our quality processes takes offshore engagements to another level, ensuring that our customers benefit from
30-40% lower Total Cost of Ownership
20-30% higher productivity
On-time deliveries (93% projects completed on time)
Lower field defect rates (67% lower than industry average)
Quality Leadership
Our quality leadership is marked by a number of "firsts"
SEI-CMM Level 5, World's first IT Services company, 1998
Six Sigma, World's first IT Services company, 1999
PCMM Level 5, World's first software company, 2001
CMMi Level 5 ver 1.1, World’s first company, 2002
ISO 9001, TL 9000.
7. Price and Promotion
Both the P’s are not as importance to the chosen category but for the remaining categories it plays important mix element in the IT sector.
Overhere, services and project consulting is through contract or agreement between the parties and promotions are carried out only for the particular client selected as upgrading and extended service for a particular period,etc.
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY-ENABLED SERVICES
The Internet and other advances in IT have ushered India into an era where various services can now be delivered remotely. Time and distance barriers have been dismantled as sc companies provide customer interaction services, help desks, medical transcription, translation, localisation services, data digitization, legal databases, data processing, back office operations, digital content development, remote network management and specialised knowledge sevices to both domestic and foreign customers.
IT-enabled services or remote processing services are today being considered a major growth market for the Indian software and services industry and are expected to generate significant employment opportunities in the future. According to an estimate, .by 2008, IT-enabled sevices activities globally will be to the tune of $ 50 billion. The two most promising segments enabled services are customer interaction services, including call centres and content development and animation.
Opportunities in major segments of IT-enabled services
The spectrum of IT-enabled services is wide. Some of the popular services with substantial wealth and employment generating potential are:
Call Centres/Customer Interaction Services
These services rely heavily on state-of the-art communications and information technogies. The centre is used for a number of functions like marketing, selling, information dispensing, advice, technical support and e-commerce. There are more than 500,000 call centres worldwide resulting in employment for approximately 18 million people.
Business Process Outsourcing (BPO)/Back Office Operations
The potential for Business process outsourcing (BPO) in India is projected to grow to $ 21 billion by 2008. India can tap this potential through aggressive marketing, strengthening IT infrastructure and by creating specialized training facilities. Banks and airlines require large-scale data processing for their management and decision-making. Such organisations, with extensive data turnover and customer inc. send raw data over high speed communication links to remote locations for data processing and necessary reconciliation etc., enabling them to save costs and resources. centres are basically the offshore extensions of existing information and back-office operation. There has been a growing trend to outsource these services to major IT-enabled 5 providers. India stands to gain from such a trend, as the Indian IT industry has been able to a mark in this field. It also has. access to a huge pool of skilled as well as semi-skilled professionals and offers relative cost advantage.
Insurance Claims Processing
Large insurance companies can get the claims of their clients processed anywhere, as long as a large number of graduates proficient in English, a few doctors and a few accountants are available. Apart from processing, a large amount of logistic support is also required guidelines to the process are well established and hence can be easily performed at remote locations. To save costs, large insurance companies in the United States are now outsourcing of such work, which can prove to be another good opportunity for India to tap
Medical Transcription
Medical transcription is a time and cost saving process for transcribing medical records dictated by doctors and other healthcare professionals. In countries like the United States doctor’s time is at a premium and they simply record their findings on a Dictaphone. The recordings are then sent through datacom lines to overseas companies, which transcribe these recordings into reports and send them back electronically. Turnaround time is often as low as two hours and, therefore, this process is often better than what the hospital may have achieved if it had all of it in-house.
Legal Databases
Many legal firms in the United States and other developed countries have started to outsource their database work to organisations having a large, cost-competitive, English-speaking workforce of trained lawyers. The job involves creating a database of the firm's existing records, indexing on the basis of various useful and commonly understood criterion, keeping track of new documents being created and incorporating them into database as per well established parametres. Lawyers can then simply use their computers to draw up a history of similar cases and draw a clear plan of action.
Digital Content Development
Digital content development is emerging as one of the fastest growing service segments in the global IT- enabled services industry. It caters to the needs of website management, production of content for new media such as CD jDVD and products of convergent technologies such as internetenabled television. It offers a large emerging potential as more and more students, professionals , individuals and offices realise the need to have easy access to information that can also be suitably fused with other media.
Online Education
Online education market is booming the world over. The global online education and e-learning market is projected at $ 11.4 billion in 2003. More than 1,600 companies, including nearly half the Fortune 500 firms, have built corporate universities. Nearly all of them offer some classes online primarily through the Web, via video-conferencing, CD-ROMs and other technologies. The online education market in India is showing significant growth potential and the sector is expected to be a significant revenue earner for the industry.
Data Digitisation/GIS
Digitization is a labour-intensive process by which physical or manual records such as text, images, video and audio are converted into digital forms. Data digitisation services offer a very good opportunity for India, due to the relatively lower costs and the technical skills available. GIS is a collection of tools and methods that are used in a digital environment for the study of information. ITenabled services in GIS offer business opportunities from Europe and the States. Many multinational companies have set up centres providing GIS services in India.
Payroll /HR Services
HR services is another area that has immense potential in the field of IT-enabled services. HR services components include recruitment screening, administration and relocation services, payroll processing, compensation administration, benefit planning, and administration.
Web services
Internet and the wide use of the Web has accelerated the growth of remote services and created opportunities of its own. Some of the Web services include e-mail management, Internet security, web page designing and updating, managing of Internet commerce, exchange of data, payment and clearance, electronic data interchange, supply chain management and Internet data centers etc.
Action Plan for the Promotion of IT-enabled Services
Since the Indian IT industry has matured enough, the IT-enabled services are expected to grow through private initiatives in the Tenth Plan. The Government has already provided income tax exemption to most of the IT-enabled services. Further initiatives that need to be for making India a sustainable hub for these services include:
• Support from local authorities and state governments for IT-enabled services Units to ensure ease of operations and start-up assistance.
• Setting up of training infrastructure for IT enabled services and the involvement of Industrail Training Institutes (ITIs) and Polytechnics for call centre management and degree level courses for the industry.
• Flexibility to call centres to merge domestic and international business in the same facility.
• .Creation of an 'India Brand' marketing fund for promoting India as a preferred destination for the IT-enabled services sector.
• Special incentives to promote entrepreneurship and tele-working for women in the IT enabled service sector.
Relation of IT with other Service Sectors.
IT forms the backbone of all the service sectors either formally or informally in connection with the services management. It is visible and Tangible at some place of application in the services design and delivery model whereas it is Invisible, intangible and homogeneous with the service design and delivery model. Following is the list of industries in which IT applied in its customized manner as
• Banking
• Healthcare
• Energy & Utilities
• Aerospace and Defense
• Automotive
• Communication Services
• High Technology
• Retail & Consumer Packaged Goods
• Transportation Services
• Financial services
• Media and Entertainment
THE PATH AHEAD
• Encourage Global Hardware majors to set up their manufacturing units in India.
• A comprehensive Rationalisation of tariff structure to cope with the zero duty regime on finished products that will come into place after 2005.
• Encourage the setting up STPs by the private sector.
• The software industry needs to move up in the value chain by developing high value products through regular R&D.
• The focus of Indian industry needs to shift from providing software solutions to ¬manufacturers of packaged products.
• Industry associations like NASSCOM, MAIT, ESC etc. must help SMEs in their efforts through effective networking and meetings with potential customers.
• Promotion of Software in Indian languages to increase IT penetration in the market.
• Updating the syllabus of computer engineering, electronics and IT in various technical institutions in keeping with the industry's requirements. The curriculum in other branches of engineering should also be expanded to include IT subjects. Emphasis must be postgraduate engineering education.
• Facilities in existing RECs and engineering colleges under deemed universities must be upgraded to lIT level so that there are at least 100 such institutions by the end of tenth Plan.
• An action plan needs to be formulated to take up R&D in the emerging areas like Bio-informatics and Nano-Technologies.
Conclusion
Predicting what will come in an industry that evolves on an almost daily basis is a thankless and almost futile task. Things change at such a rapid rate, and many of the technologies are so fluid, that a shift in direction can occur in weeks rather than months.
If we think that today's Internet and e-commerce opportunities are technically advanced, we have not seen anything yet. Not only will the existing uses of the Internet get more and more advanced, but new ways will be found to exploit the opportunities it provides.
The delivery of these services will not just be dependant on new formats and programming, but also on the mediums that deliver them. For this to happen, certain changes will need to take place, not just technological, but legal as well. Protection of consumers needs to be examined, as well as considerations such as copyright protection and piracy prevention.
As well as using conventional methods to connect to the Internet, wireless access will also become a common approach. Although we already have wireless data devices, the wireless computing industry is still in its relative infancy. With wireless transmission speed developing at a rapid rate, coupled with the availability of wireless data services, this is one area of technology that is sure to become a big mover. Even now, hand-held computers or Personal Digital Assistants are becom¬ing commonplace.
Technology continues to advance, constantly changing how we work, where we work, and the skills we need to work. What the future holds for IT is impossible to predict, but it's guaranteed to be a wild ride.
