- Sapphire
Challenges in Development of Innovative Products in India
Webinar, Incubation Hub, HBTU Kanpur, July 2020
Mamta Swaroop
Director, Sapphire Application Integrators Pvt. Ltd.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mamtaswaroop/
(Indian IT Industry Perspective)
90s till 2005 – Our initial journey
Energetic youths coming from middle class families chose Software as their dream field
A degree alone was a guarantee to a good job
Even NIIT, APTECH Diplomas were rewarded well
Ever high demand was keeping the graduates optimistic
With year 2000 approaching near, Y2K issue fuelled the demand further
Andhra Pradesh recorded huge number of migrations to US and European countries
Indians were part of testing teams, busy debugging and trouble shooting
Routine jobs were paying back in Dollars
Settled in comfort zones, we didn’t bother to sharpen our skills
Private players were getting established in Technical Education sector
Setting up of 5-8 Technical Colleges in mid-size cities was becoming a norm
Not-so-equipped Private Education Factories supplied unemployable engineers
Then came the DotCom phase followed by a major bubble burst
A few years later 9/11 transpired
Demand was low, Supply was high - Honeymoon period of IT Industry was over
2005 - 2010
Acumen of individuals, their employability was tested more rigorously
Indian IT Services Companies (TCS, Infy, Wipro, HCL) made global presence
We were –
- fixing issues,
- offering support services,
- running IDCs (India Development Center) of the big multinationals,
- and releasing new product versions for our Clients
We were well established as Service Providers
Our engineers were no longer debugging somebody else’s code
We were part of Design teams, Research teams of the Biggies
- Google,
- Apple,
- Microsoft,
- Cisco….
But our own Product Roadmaps were almost empty
2010 onwards
Advent of 3G and Smart Phones created a new market –
- the OTT space
A new type of Products emerged
World was innovating – Movies online, Bank online, Socialize online, Games online
And India followed!
- Ola,
- PayTM,
- Flipkart,
- Wynk,
- Zomato,
- RedBus …
What stopped us in pre-OTT era / Why innovations fail in other domains
Mindset
Licenses
Regulations
Inter-dependencies
Huge time to Market
Research was never given a priority
Heavy Investments & associated Risks
Domain knowledge (IT Industry specific problem)
Fear of making a break-even before a complete break down
Academia and Industry collaborations were either missing or not fruitful
What changed post OTT
Lesser restrictions due to absence of frameworks and guidelines
Product Roadmaps were more manageable
Technology empowered Innovators
Less time to market
Low investments
Lower risk
Current situation
Government has right Policies in place
Technical Institutes have Incubation centers
Product Companies are coming up, but their scale is small
We need big employers like TCS, Wipro in Product space too
Service provider companies too are innovating in order to survive
Start early: a fearless youth, a premier college & industry guidance – is the right combo
Innovation can happen at various levels – design, implementation, delivery, sales, after sales support
Urban students are more aware about the opportunities around them but Rural potential still remains untapped
Timing of this discussion is very apt, with Chinese products moving out, with a lot of focus on Aatm-Nirbhar Bharat, we hope to see India taking over soon, in all the spaces not just the mobile apps.
Best Wishes!!