Change is the primary lesson to be learnt from the present economic climate and

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IT outsourcing methodologies are no exception. Tough economic conditions call for more collaboration and risk sharing among IT vendors and customers, say industry players.

In a matter of a year, IT industry’s mass recruiters resorted to quick layoffs; almost all expansion plans were stalled and companies that grew by about 25-30 per cent, are now barely managing marginal growth rates.

While even pre-final year students were sought after last year, graduates and postgraduates are struggling for placements this year. Some IT majors have resumed lateral hiring to an extent but fresher recruitments are still stalled.

The linearity between revenue and headcount in the IT business led to the massive change, agrees Pramod Bhasin, chairman of Nasscom. “It’s all a matter of demand and supply and the models have to change,” he adds.

According to a study released by Logica and London School of Economics, collaborative innovation is the new wave in outsourcing. The study warns that “companies will build their business for failure if the focus is solely on cost cutting.”

The survey stresses the need for behavioural and contractual step changes in outsourcing relations that move towards a shared risk-and-reward approach.

Some companies are consciously moving towards the approach such as Cognizant. The company signed a five-year multi-million dollar R&D deal with Invensys Operations Management.

The deal augments Cognizant’s presence in the manufacturing space and such collaborative initiatives will be the way forward, said Francisco D’Souza, president and CEO of Cognizant.

Risk sharing is vital to stay in business, says GB Prabhat, founder and CEO of Anantara Solutions. This means IT players should work closely with clients to analyse their business problems rather than just deliver IT systems.