V&D-IDC; Enterprise Communications Priorities Survey, 2010

In keeping with the trend of the last 3 years, the V&D-IDC Enterprise Communications Priorities Survey 2010 again revealed the highest spenders in ICT, IT, and the telecom segment.

One fact that was pertinent across all the segments be it ITeS, pharmaceutical, retail, manufacturing, etc, was that all the organizations were serious about the communication technologies to make their businesses faster, efficient, and more reliable.

Like the last year, this year also the ITeS segment is the highest spender on ICT as a percentage of the turnover of the organizations. It spent 1.36% of the turnover on the ICT infrastructure-it was 1.03% last year. There was a hike of 0.33% in the overall expenditure for the ICT deployments.

On IT also, ITeS segment shelled out the maximum compared to other verticals. The IT spend accounted for 1.01% of the turnover of the organization. IT also had 0.16% rise in the expenditure made. Last year, the expenditure was 0.85% of the turnover by the ITeS vertical.

Unlike the last year, the highest expenditure was made by the IT companies on the telecommunications sector in 2010. Last year, it was by the ITeS vertical. IT segment spent 0.76% of its turnover of the organization. In fact, telecom spending saw a measurable amount of spike at 0.18%.

The companies which participated in the annual survey conducted by V&D-IDC had 200 enterprises in all. In total, almost 25% of the enterprises were from manufacturing, 27.5% were from ITeS, 16% from IT, 14.5% from BFSI, 9.5% were the pharmaceuticals, and retail was 7.5% of the total companies surveyed.

Of the companies profiled, 4% had turnover of less than `200 crore, 68% of the companies had a turnover of `200 to `999 crore, 28% of the companies had more than or equal to `1,000 crore.

The survey also took an insight in the number of PCs installed and used in the enterprises. In enterprises having more than or equal to 1000 PCs, ITeS ranked highest, as 35% offices had the most of the number of PCs installed.

For the IT companies which spent most in the telecom services, there were different deployments with different intakes. Wireless LAN was deployed by 65% of the IT companies; conferencing solutions, VoIP/IP telephony, MPLS VPN found an equal 58% of the total deployments made by the IT segment.

The joint survey by V&D-IDC also revealed the technologies that will possibly have the biggest spending in the future. Domestic leased lines, local will have the maximum spend followed by the domestic leased line. Another technology which will fast catch up is DSL and VPN MPLS.

The strategies of decision taking for the technology deployments and purchases were quite similar like the last year. When asked about the primary decision makers, 57% said that the decision making for the ICT purchases in the organization rests with the MD/CEO/COO. Around 42% said that the decision is with the CTO/CIO/IT head. Rest 1% of the decisions are taken by the IT division staff.

While IT division staff may be playing minimal role in decision making for the ICT purchases, it is the biggest influencer for the ICT purchases in the organization. It scored 88% for the same. Forty-nine percent of the decisions are influenced by the CTO/CIO/IT head. Nearly 30% said that the CFO/VP influences the decisions for the ICT purchases in the organization. MD/CEO/COO ranked lowest for the same, getting only 2%.

Apart from ICT and IT, ITeS were also the biggest spenders in the outsourcing processes. In the currently outsourced infrastructure, domestic leased line management was outsourced by 36% of all the companies surveyed. Thirty-nine percent of the ITeS companies currently outsource domestic leased lines management. Next in the line in the current outsourced technologies came international connectivity services, which 22% of the ITeS companies had opted for.

The future interest areas of the ITeS segments for outsourcing are VPN management and mobility applications management which are the top priority followed by VoIP/IP telephony management. Next comes V Sat, domestic leased lines management, and International Connectivity Services Management.

The survey gave some major insights into the demands of the various verticals. ITeS segment had some unique requirements and hurdles that it faced. Innovations suiting the different verticals can pave way for some mutually beneficial business cases, which can ensure better satisfaction and reliability among the varied segments.

Archana Singh
archanasi@cybermedia.co.in