Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Its not IT slow down but Economic slowdown


TCS CEO and MD, S. Ramadorai said: “Our growth has been balanced across markets and verticals with a 9.5 per cent sequential growth in our international business during Q2 and we have improved margins significantly.” He added: “New opportunities are emerging and there are signs that our services will play a significant part in the global economic recovery. Our acquisition of Citigroup Global Services will provide another driver for growth.”
S. Mahalingam, Chief Financial Officer, said: “In a quarter where the Indian rupee and global currency has been very volatile, TCS has managed to deliver greater profitablity by achieving significant improvement in operating profits and margins. We have a sustainable business model and we remain focused on managing risks, continued growth and delivering margin improvements going forward.
“Our business model is resilient and we have demonstrated this in Q2 through volume growth, improvement in our offshore leverage, pricing, productivity as well as over 50 new client wins. We have a robust pipeline even in the current environment and our diversified market presence and full services will drive growth in the future,” said N. Chandrasekaran, Chief Operating Officer.
International business grew 9.5 per cent sequentially. While North America posted positive growth, ramp ups from recent large outsourcing wins continue to drive growth in UK and Continental Europe. Balanced growth across new growth markets like Ibero-america, APAC, Middle East and Africa helped compensate for softer growth in developed markets.
The BFSI sector continued to register positive growth despite unprecedented volatility and uncertainty in the global financial markets. The Manufacturing and Retail verticals grew as large transformation deals ramped up, while the Travel, Energy and Media verticals gained traction in new markets. While outsourcing services continued to enjoy strong demand across major markets, traditional application development and maintenance opportunities gained futher prominence in the current economic climate. Engineering services continues to experience strong demand across all markets.
“We have added over 18,000 people in the first six months of this financial year, including over 11,150 campus trainees. We remain on course to meet our annual hiring target of 30,000 to 35,000 professionals and have made 24,500 campus offers for the next financial year,” said Ajoy Mukherjee, Vice President, Head, Global Human Resources.
During Q2, there was a gross addition of 9,682 employees (net 5,328) of which 6,673 were trainees and 1,587 were lateral recruits in India and 1,422 employees were added in overseas subsidiaries and branches. The total employee base is 121,610 professionals and 52% of the workforce has more than three years experience.
The utilization rate (excluding trainees) improved to 81.1% and the attrition rate in Q2 was at 13.2% overall with 12.4% attrition rate in the IT services business and 22.7% attrition rate in BPO. Foreign nationals formed 9.2% of the total employee base and 29% were women.

Saturday, October 4, 2008


Having the Right Effect on Other People
Susan Dunn, MA, Life and EQ Coach"People with small minds talk about other people. People withaverage minds talk about events. People with great minds talkabout ideas" (Anonymous) And people with great hearts talk aboutfeelings.
Dr. Phil has done it again -- come up with just the rightdescriptive phrase. On his show the other day, he confronted ayoung man saying: "Are you just an arrogant jerk who likes toget in someone else’s face and bark?" I was in need of thisdescriptive phrase because I was in an office the other daywhere one of the principals did just that -- he would get insomeone else's face and bark. Every time. All day long. That washis only modus operandi.


Body Language – It’s What You Don’t Say
Author: Bill Willard
Article:You’ll be judged from the moment you walk into a room; the wayyou stand, sit, and use your hands can send messages—intended orotherwise. Sometimes good, sometimes not so good—and sometimescontradicting your intended meaning.

Friday, October 3, 2008

The following communication rules can improve problem solving:
State your problem and interests. Speak with “I” statements. Acknowledge the other’s problem and interests. Avoid name calling and answering a complaint with another complaint.
Listen to the other parties and know their interests. Ask “why,” “why not” and “what if” questions to better understand. Use silence to demonstrate you are willing to listen or to help move the other side into a position to listen more effectively to you.
Offer an apology when appropriate.
Stay in the present and the future. The past has already been lived.
Stick to the present topic.
Look for areas of agreement.
Set the time for the next discussion and take a time out if the discussion deteriorates.
Use mutual restating until a party who continues to feel misunderstood feels understood appropriately.
State requests for change in behavioral terms. Don’t ask for changes in attitude or feeling just to be different.
Consistently express verbal and body messages. If negative feelings must be expressed, only use words. Show confidence in the process, relax, use good eye contact and show interest.