Big IT bags most SMAC deals amid positive business sentiment

The IT services buying environment continues to remain positive and the mega trend acronymed SMAC - Social Mobile Analytics and Cloud - will become a significant revenue generator for the Indian IT industry, going ahead.

According to a prediction by Sudin Apte, CEO of advisory company Offshore Insights, India can export $15 billion worth of SMAC software and services in 2016/2017. SMAC deal sizes are currently small but in two years, they will become bigger and more complex.

However, the rosy projections don't mean that all IT companies can benefit from the mega trend. Apte says that the big boys, which includes Tata Consultancy Services and Cognizant, are winning many of the SMAC deals today.

Global corporations don't want to just outsource standalone SMAC projects - which are still relatively small compared to an application development project, for instance. They are bundling it with other technology work such as system integration and maintenance - this calls for broader expertise that only large companies can provide.

In many cases, it is the consulting arm of large companies that is opening up SMAC deals.  

The other trend that favours the big companies is vendor consolidation. Ever since the Lehman Brothers collapse in September 2008 and the subsequent slowdown in the United States, corporations have preferred to work with fewer IT vendors who can offer them better rates in exchange of higher volumes of work.

While SMAC product and services start-ups have mushroomed in India over the past three years, they could find it tough to break into Global 2000 accounts. The same could be true for many mid-sized services companies.