Want to shop locally for IT services but don't want to compromise on quality? Here's how the local services industry is finding ways to outdo global giants.
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Contents 
Profitability plus
Improving on multinationals
Niche skills on tap
The local touch
In defence of multinationals
Executive summary |
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Since the beginnings of the IT industry, however, it has seemed almost natural to send our services dollars offshore. The likes of IBM, HP, EDS, and CSC were not only the largest services organisations, they have also possessed the deepest pockets and for years the richest skills, so it wasn't without good reason.
Certainly in the 1990s, few could match their ability to conduct massive outsourcing projects for the likes of the South Australian state government or the Commonwealth Bank. And the lingering profile of those projects arguably still makes it all but inconceivable for the services behemoths to be left off at least the preliminary shortlists when enterprise-grade services contracts are under consideration. Today, however, whether your motives are economic or patriotic, the landscape has changed. Australia's services companies have grown to become just as sophisticated and capable as their offshore rivals.
Even better news is that, according to Rolf Jester, Asia-Pacific vice-president at research firm Gartner, they also represent no more risk than their multinational rivals because they offer their local customers choice, enthusiasm, and often a better cultural match than a giant multinational can deliver.
"Just because [multinational services companies] have 100,000 people around the world doing the same thing does not mean they are applying the learnings well," Jester says. "In most cases they do a fair job but you could equally point to instances where they stuff up."
"But some of the locals like KAZ [Computer Services] are pretty slick on the repeatables and in the end the locals are perhaps more culturally attuned to the needs of local businesses.
"Local companies are also very flexible, and even a modest-sized customer of KAZ or Volante will get time from the MD to talk about their needs."
Local decisions can sometimes even offer services multinationals struggle to match.
| "We see that a lot of organisations that traditionally outsource to a multinational go through the first phase of the contract and then move away from the one-size-fits-all approach." |
KAZ CEO Mike Foster believes that with applications increasingly becoming network-centric, there is a competitive advantage. "KAZ customers can be absolutely certain that, by partnering with KAZ, they will be accessing the technical expertise that is right at the heart of technology developments shaping Australia's ICT environment," he boasts.
"And I would put our balance sheets up against some of the multinationals any day." Perhaps a big call from a so-called modest-sized services company, but with a customer list including the Department of Defence, ANZ Bank, and AMP, one must be inclined to believe him.
