The Hindu : Karnataka News : IBS sets up Bangalore centre Business sense

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Saturday, Jun 14, 2008
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Karnataka

Karnataka

IBS sets up Bangalore centre Business sense

Anand Parthasarathy

— Photo: Anand Parthasarathy

Wide reach: A view of Heathrow Airport, which uses IBS software.

The acquisition earlier this year of a majority stake in the U.S.-based Hotel Booking Solutions Inc. (HBSi) by the Indian travel and transportation solutions provider IBS, might have been overshadowed by the bigger news that week of the Jaguar-Land Rover takeover by the Tatas.

But while comparisons might look like a case of apples and oranges, the IBS move is a signal in its own way of slow but steady domination by desi entities in key competitive areas of the global technology business, and of an almost inevitable ‘Bangalore connection’.

IBS, whose operations across 12 global centres are largely driven by Indian talent, has over almost a decade become one of the top brands in its niche and counts some of the world’s leading airlines (Cathay Pacific, Emirates, Nippon Air Cargo), airport authorities (Heathrow-Gatwick), cruise lines (Cunard, Star Cruises) and oil and gas companies (Shell, BP, Chevron) among its clients. The latest acquisition is in a sense the last piece that completes its jigsaw in the travel transportation and logistics (TTL) arena.

In another recent development, IBS acquired Jet Airways as a customer for its “AvientCrew” solution, which will help the airline manage critical crew operations in an optimal manner. IBS’s U.K.-based Executive Vice-President Peter Cefai — he is now Chairman of the HBSi unit — called it a “pedigree account”, when speaking to The Hindu.

Now, IBS has set up its newest development centre — its third in India and first outside Kerala — in Bangalore, to target the airline industry, said V.K. Mathews, founder-Chairman and Chief Executive. Having invested close to $800 million in developing its portfolio, arguably the broadest in the global TTL business, the company looks to crossing Rs. 1,000 crore in business by 2010.

IBS has already extended its operational presence by adding Boston (U.S.) and Rotterdam (the Netherlands) to its roster of operational centres. Chennai is next in line.

In recent days, IBS announced the acquisition of VISaer, a leading software provider in the area of aviation maintenance. This was followed by the announcement that the air cargo terminal of Tokyo International Airport will use IBS’s iCargo solution for cargo management. Nippon Cargo Airlines and All Nippon Airways are already users of iCargo; so the latest win consolidates the pole position IBS has assumed in the Japan-based aviation business. From the 67 million passengers who stream through Heathrow… to the millions of cargo items handled in Tokyo airport, the impact of software products crafted at the Bangalore development base of IBS will soon be felt in the world’s busiest aviation hubs.

A guide to BPO

On the sidelines of the NASSCOM business process outsourcing (BPO) summit in Bangalore last week, two insiders of the industry teamed up to release a down-to-earth guide to the BPO business that will be useful (and dare we say, necessary) reading for outsourcing industry leaders as well as aspirants.

V. Anand Kumar has worked in the BPO sector, both in India and in the U.S., serving with Wipro and Sun. Subhasish Biswas is a Six Sigma Blackbelt, which means he is a guru in business process engineering. With editing and styling help from Namita Gupta, the two authors have crafted a highly readable guide to working in and managing BPO outfits.

In short, everything you wanted to know about BPOs, but were afraid to ask. And at Rs. 195, it’s a steal.

(Business Process Outsourcing: Oh BPO! Structure and Chaos. Fun and Agony; by V. Anand Kumar and Subhasish Biswas; Response Books, (Sage Publications, Delhi).

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