It’s also about creativity.

Harshawardhan Tulapurkar

Sogeti India, Country Head

The story of Sogeti in India goes back four years. Over the years, we have been doing projects, mainly for Sogeti USA, in the area of application management and software development.  Nearly three years ago, we started working with Sogeti Netherlands, when we set up the Offshore Delivery Center (ODC) for the offshoring of software development and the TMap centre for testing. Over the last two years we’ve been providing a service to 40 different clients in four different countries, in different areas such as testing services, High Tech services, application management and software development.

Recognizing that offshoring provided their clients with definite benefits, Sogeti decided that they needed an official Sogeti office in India as part of the Group. So Sogeti India was formally launched in February 2007 with 200 employees. Since then, there has been continued growth, not only in the number of people we have, but also in terms of how we operate Global Delivery within Sogeti.

Sogeti India’s role within the Sogeti organisation is the Offshore Delivery Center for the entire Sogeti Group.

Sogeti’s key value proposition is ‘local touch, global reach’.

On a local level, in the markets of the US, the UK, France, the Netherlands, Sweden, etc, Sogeti managers provide expertise, pro-active relationships and accountability.

Sogeti India adds to this local expertise by offering all the advantages of offshoring that clients want. So Sogeti India is a major part of providing the ‘global reach’.

Most clients now are looking for the efficiency and effectiveness that offshoring can bring them. Because of this new infrastructure, Sogeti can promote the Global Delivery Model in areas such as projects and consulting, as well as testing and outsourcing.

The way we plan to grow in India is by aligning ourselves with the Sogeti Group’s key competencies and focusing on them: Managed Testing Services, High Tech Services, Microsoft Solutions, Infrastructure Services and Application Management. We can provide not just the hands of our people, but also services and solutions for the client. That’s our value in India. And we want to focus on these competencies so that we can help the other Sogeti offices around the world to leverage the presence of Sogeti India for their competitive advantage.

Testing is one of our main focus areas. We now have one third of our people involved in Managed Testing Services; we have developed a quickly growing TMap center in India with now over 75 people, where we serve a variety of clients with test lines and provide training. We work closely with the Dutch team as a logical extension to their testing services, and we have acquired some Indian companies to provide additional expertise.

Most of our people have had at least two years’ testing experience. We coach them on TMap and in order to gain working experience, they visit client sites to understand what is needed and see how the work can be done. That’s how Sogeti India has built a significant amount of credibility.

Our second focus area is Microsoft Solutions. That is a major strength for the US and the Netherlands. Together with US teams, we have worked on various client migration projects. The concepts and solutions have to be capable of being executed not only in the US, but also in India. What we offer the US has enabled them to beat the competition - both Indian and large Western firms. So we play also a significant role in the pursuit of business revenue. 

High Tech Services are our third focus. Most of our services are executed from our Mumbai center, but High Tech is located in our Bangalore office. We started working for clients in the automotive field and since then we have expanded into other areas, such as technical software, we’re creating engineering services, and now we’re focusing on aeronautics clients. Indian staff have worked closely with their counterparts in France; we expect strong growth in High Tech over the coming years.

These are exciting times for our people; it is great that we are part of this story of growth. Sogeti India is a passionate organization.We are very proud of the expertise we bring to the client. At the same time, we realize that we need to be adaptable and flexible to work with the different countries and cultures, to ensure that we have good relationships with all of them.

For example, traditionally we’re more used to working with people in the US and we have a good mutual understanding, partly because of our common language, English, but also our shared business language. With our European colleagues it’s different. We have to learn and understand the attitudes and behaviour in the various countries. We have to take a few steps towards them, so that they can take a few steps towards us. Interaction begins with understanding. And understanding your colleagues, as well as their customers, is the basis of success in our business.