'Mobility Is Still Under-Exploited By BFSI'

In an informative and insightful conversation with Biztech2.0, Bharat Desai, chairman and CEO, Syntel, talks about verticals that are likely to aggressively adopt IT in the coming months.

Which do you think are the sunrise sectors?

The industry that Syntel is very bullish about is healthcare. The healthcare industry represents 15 percent of Syntel’s revenue and we are very excited about it because it’s a true trillion-dollar industry just in the US. The demand for healthcare services globally is on the rise, as expectations of delivery of care are increasing around the world and the industry itself is under a lot of pressure to live up to the expectations of consumers.

How is IT helping the healthcare sector expand?

In the developed world, one of the challenges is ensuring that information is managed well and that care is delivered on a timely basis to patients. Instant access to information and portability of that information across numerous providers will greatly affect consumers in this segment to a large extent.

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In underdeveloped or developing economies, the big challenge is how to deliver care to three billion people, who have no access to healthcare facilities as a result of the declining interest of physicians and providers of visiting those areas. This I think is where technology can really help. If you think about it, for about 80-90 percent of the ailments, people don’t really need to talk to a physician. There are some very innovative companies that are coming up with ideas of storing information and delivering care through a less qualified person but by tapping into existing databases of information for diagnosis through computers.

Which new IT frontiers should BFSI explore?

I believe that a new frontier today that is under-exploited and not penetrated is the whole bouquet of mobility, including options such as mobile wallets and cashless transactions through mobile devices. As that proliferates, there will be an increased need for security. I think mobility and security are the key areas of expansion for the BFSI sector.

In your opinion, how has the recession impacted the IT industry?

For the short run during the downturn, spending will be clamped or slowed down but I think outsourcing of mission-critical systems will continue. As soon as there is an upturn in the economy, capital spending will take off too and that will represent the next wave of growth for the entire industry.

What tips would you like to share to help CXOs keep afloat till the recession lasts?

CXOs must concentrate on aligning their resources to deliver better services to customers. They must have a very clear vision of what it is that their customers are expecting today, what their needs are going to be in the future and how can they address those needs. In the short run, they would be able to address those needs through creating efficiencies by outsourcing.

My advice to CXOs would be to utilise the cost savings and make investments in those products and services that they believe will have a future role in serving their customer base, and hold the potential to create future revenue streams. In short, outsource more aggressively, create a budget reserve and use the savings to invest in futuristic technologies to grab a share from competitors.