It's never too late

In its 132-year history, the company that is today a $5.65-billion IT giant, Unisys, has morphed from devising the world’s first commercially viable typewriter to building adding machines and ENIAC, the world’s first large-scale business computer. Despite this legacy, Unisys has been something of a laggard in India. It set up an offshore IT centre only four years ago and trails larger rivals IBM, Accenture and EDS in the market.

Indian competitors, too, have expanded into global IT services providers and changed the rules of the game. Today, Unisys India has around 2,400 people at its captive centres and another 1,000 people with partners, compared to over 60,000 for IBM and 35,000-plus for Accenture, that have bought and built their presence here. “We have a lot of catching up to do in the offshoring market,” admits Kumar Parbhas, Managing Director, Unisys India. “We need to better leverage the opportunities offered in India.”

Parbhas adds that the firm has a stated goal of having around 20 per cent of its resources in offshore locations, and India is expected to lead the way on this front. According to some estimates, Unisys India’s headcount will treble to over 6,000 over the next couple of years, but Parbhas is unwilling to provide specific expansion targets.

“Internally, we are highly-rated in areas such as IT infrastructure management, where we are one of the global centres of excellence and application services,” claims Parbhas. Besides, Unisys India is building a fast-growing BPO business, with the centre sharpening its skills and being given a higherlevel problem resolution focus.

—Rahul Sachitanand