Differentiators
Business Week in one of its articles quotes, ‘...a more enlightened, strategic view of global sourcing is starting to emerge as managers get a better fix on its potential….The new buzzword is ‘Transformational Outsourcing’.
At HCL, we believe that IT driven business innovation, emergence of new disruptive technologies, business models, and widespread acceptance of global delivery models are some of the transformational forces at work today. Capitalizing on these trends, traditional outsourcers are extending their sourcing focus from cost to innovation, productivity and flexibility, while new segments of outsourcers are seeking new, technology-enabled transformational gains.
Everyone’s talking transformation these days but what most of them actually mean is upgradation – i.e. business process improvement, or service re-engineering at best. True transformation is revolutionary and directed at core processes, resulting in deep and fundamental change. It doesn’t merely cut costs, or streamline the way a company works – it radically alters market position by building competitive advantage. IDC in its report on ‘Offshore Application Outsourcing Game’ states that the combination of offshore and on demand creates one of the most compelling value propositions to help customers move closer to truly dynamic IT. And HCL is uniquely positioned with its perfect blend of onshore presence and offshore economics. Building competitive advantage also demands a shift from the earlier fee-driven/service provider model to a new age, outcome-based/partnership model. At HCL, we call this Transformation – version 2.
In a world full of customers, I see my employees first....
....On the ‘Five Fold Path to Individual Enlightenment’
The ‘Employee First’ philosophy at HCL—the first such articulation in the IT industry—is at the core of our efforts to provide our employees a work environment and culture they take pride in. HCL is committed to provide all its employees the same experience that we promise to external customers—by being proactive and responsive, and through technology and process innovation. Our HR initiatives strive to provide excellent human resources leadership and expertise to the organization, as also to attract and retain a workforce that is diverse, inclusive and committed to creating quality customer service.
At the core of our Employee First philosophy is the concept of talent transformation—recognition and enablement of competencies, as opposed to roles in skilling employees in necessary technical, business and behavioral areas. The five-fold path describes HCL’s comprehensive employee support structure. Technology is heavily used to create a path that can be capable of enlightening nearly 50,000 employees. The five fold unfold the various initiatives of HCL on varied aspects of individual enlightenment – Support, Knowledge, Empowerment, Transformation and Recognition.
In a world of commodity, I treasure value....
....with the ‘Five Fold Path to Customer Value’
Our Value Services model adopts a 360-degree approach to customer value and embeds value centricity in all facets of the HCL customer relationship. We focus on value culture, creation, engagement, distribution and delivery.
Value Culture:- There is no doubt that the most dependable way for a service provider to create customer value is to have engaged, empowered and result-oriented employees. We make sure that the working culture not just encourages individuals for value centricity but gives them enough support, tools and training for creating value.
Value Creation:- HCL has had a history of leading the industry in creating and dominating uncontested market spaces. This dominance has been formalized into a model creating new value for customers through service innovation. A large portion of our revenue comes from emerging services – services that we have pioneered in the industry like remote infrastructure management and engineering and R&D. To ensure the conversion of excellence and engagement to customer value – we have attempted to institutionalize the process through a specific intervention. We have unique framework to create that extra value (beyond base delivery) and at HCL we call it ‘Value Add Framework’. We have successfully rolled this out or select customers and the success was measured with quantified cost savings signed off by customer itself.
Value Engagement:- HCL has the flexibility to treat each customer differently by imbibing the patterns and characteristics of the customer organization, industry and the geographic spread. The unique flexibility demonstrated by HCL has resulted in a history of innovative commercial models (like output based pricing) and global account management programs to make each relationship yield more business value, than is normally expected, for both partners.
Value Distribution:- HCL has created the ability to distribute value across the customer's IT landscape through its well-distributed services portfolio, significant domain strengths, and locally relevant geographic distribution.
Value Delivery:- In the physical world, customers attribute value to delivery on the basis of reliability, quality, and speed. In the services world, especially in the IT services world, security is an added expectation. Value delivered is calculated based on the business benefit delivered by the service provider. Such value delivery calls for high levels of maturity and customer satisfaction, and would be difficult to achieve if the outsourcing strategy is predicated solely on the short-term benefits of labour arbitrage. HCL has geared its Service Delivery Framework, quality systems and information security capability to meet the maturity levels required in a value centric world.
In a world full of effort, I see outcome first....
....through outcome based commercial models
In an industry driven by effort based pricing, HCL has taken giant leap with its commercial models and deal structuring approach. HCL has experience in working with a wide range of customers in various stages of offshore maturity to design customized models for them – T&M based models for projects where accountability and collaboration extent is low (to start with), output based models and fixed pricing models, and risk/reward based approach where we collaborate to commit to outcomes through a gain share or join venture model. At HCL, we believe that if we share the vision, we must share the risk.
In a world of discrete services, I focus on Integration
Value is created by integrating services for optimization at interface points and greater end-business impact. HCL brings unique strengths to organizations engaged in a significant business transformation exercise to create new competitive advantages. For such organizations, we have perhaps the most mature portfolio of services among all offshore providers—across Application Services, Core Infrastructure support, Business Process Outsourcing, as also R&D and Technology services.
Multi-integrated solutions enable customers achieve significant optimization not only within one area but also at interface points (viz integrated help-desk for applications and infrastructure).
In a world driven by offerings – I see customer centricity
Customer centric value offerings establish the difference between services and services+. The difference comes from unique customer insights and value propositions backed by competencies and validated by customer experience.
In a world of contracts – I practice trust and transparency
All relationships –be it with employees, customers, partners or stakeholders – need to be built on the foundations of trust, transparency and flexibility. This is what we not just believe in but practice every day at HCL.
No more ‘business-as-usual’, I have seen the point of inflection....
....Where value volume continuum breaks down
HCL started questioning the linearity of scale-driven business models adopted by service providers (largely in the IT application business). The questioning led us to the belief that the market was rapidly approaching a point of inflection, that is a point where the volume and value proportionality would change, opening up new opportunities for service providers who aspire to focus on value. With this realization, in mid 2005, HCL embarked on a transformational journey that will focus on value centricity in customer relationships and on leveraging new market opportunities, while creating a unique employee experience.
