With annual revenues exceeding $4 billion, SunGard is a global leader in software and processing solutions for financial services, higher education and the public sector. With centres in India and China, SunGard Technology Services, the offshore arm of SunGard, provides full software development lifecycle support for SunGard’s products across these verticals. It also helps augment the parent’s development and professional services teams. Mack Gill, president, SunGard Technology Services, spoke at length on products & plans, with reference to India.
Where does India figure in SunGard’s strategy?
SunGard would significantly expand operations in India this year and launch some of its products and services for the Indian market. We plan to grow our team’s strength from 1,500 right now to almost 2,000 by the year end. The majority of additions would be in the product development, product engineering, testing and support services teams.
Additions to the sales and marketing team would also be made to support the launch of more SunGard products in India and support growth in Apac, Japan, and the Middle East. Which would eventually make India the regional hub. This is to align our go-to-market strategy with our outsourcing strategy. Market strength and growth rates in India and China are really picking up.
What are the new products for the Indian market?
SunGard’s initial product launches in India would be in wealth management, asset management, insurance, brokerage and clearance, capital markets and investment banking, and employee benefits administration. We would also launch key products and solutions for the higher education and public sector domains. Multinational companies in India as well as local financial institutions will be target customers for SunGard. We see strong growth continuing in 2009.
What effect will an US recession have on Sun-Gard?
SunGard’s solutions are typically part of core technology spends — not part of company’s discretionary budgets. The impact of the slowdown in the US has been minimal and we feel good about its competitive position, given its wide solutions portfolio. What I feel, is that strong companies actually do well in a downturn. Our risk services products — which serve the top 50 financial services giants globally — would actually do well with the risk regulations getting tougher following the subprime crises in the US.
Is there a plus for India from the offshoring point of view as US slips into a recession?
Yes, there is. If the information technology budgets of services firms — in banking, insurance and education — are flat, then global delivery becomes relevant. Which turns out to be a net positive for India. And even our strategy is to invest more in a global delivery model.
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