Date:30/11/2005 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2005/11/30/stories/2005113003070400.htm

Back Accenture eyes smaller deals of Fortune 1,000

Rukmini Priyadarshini

Bangalore , Nov. 29

ACCENTURE is looking at smaller deals in a bid to engage with customers trying out outsourcing through low-risk transactions initially. Many Fortune 1,000 companies are engaging in smaller outsourcing activities as they try it out for the first time and Accenture wants to engage with them in the small deal first and progress to larger deals as they go forward, said Mr Pankaj Vaish, Head - Accenture India BPO.

"Now we are taking the global delivery model to the next level - we have demonstrated we can do this and see continued strong demand," Mr Vaish told Business Line.

"We want to extend and defend our position in the marketplace - by more aggressively going after winning applications maintenance and development maintenance and development work that will allow us to take greater advantage of labour arbitrage and cross-sell additional services," Mr Vaish said.

India would continue to be the largest centre, he said - India is currently Accenture's second largest geography.

In India, Accenture's BPO has the widest portfolio in the third party space, Mr Vaish asserted, adding the company would always focus on avoiding "out-tasking" to getting end-to-end client deals.

"The only way to deliver value is by taking over functions - we see very strong demand in HR outsourcing (16 per cent of total market share) and finance and accounting (40 per cent)."

Mr Vaish says Accenture is also seeing more clients having clear intent to do multi-tower deals - that is F&A, HR and procurement etc. "We also see the market expanding with new companies looking to outsource.''

The market is endless - a large portion of work is still in-house - but clients have different appetites for outsourcing. The move is driven by the need to get into the client early, since a smaller engagement has a smaller risk perception.

The move by Accenture is also client-driven: "The way clients are buying is changing the market and we want to capture all the opportunities."