Not The Usual Suspects Part II: Cost, Quality, And Client Service Benefits From Midtier Providers

The top pure-play Indian IT service providers have become the new global multinationals. One result of achieving multinational status is that the Indian firms necessarily have had to take on some of the attributes of more traditional service providers. For example, these firms have needed to become more strategic about their client portfolio and where to invest top resources. This has led to the top-tier Indian firms focusing more single-mindedly on large strategic clients and associated very large projects — in sharp contrast to their previous willingness to take on any size client or project. Thus midsize clients or large firms that do not wish to spend $10 million per year with their Indian partner may be either disappointed by the lack of client service and flexibility they receive within the context of their existing relationships or even be rejected outright by these providers during the RFP process. Fortunately, there are many viable alternatives to the tier one Indian providers, and sourcing and vendor management experts should make themselves familiar with these alternatives. In this report we highlight three providers: AppLabs, MindTree, and Virtusa.