it & market falldown

As IT demand from businesses shows signs of slowing down, solution providers are taking measures to counter the downturn.

“We did exceedingly well in the first half of the year, and according to our knowledge, many of our peers are also not complaining,” commented A L Srinath, CEO of the Hyderabad-based Shell Networks. “However, what’s in store for us in the next six months is a million-dollar question.”
“There is no doubt that the situation in the US will reflect on the Indian economy. I feel that the real impact will be felt only three months from now,” opined Navin Kapur, Managing Director of Iris Unified Learning, a Delhi-based software solution provider.
K V Jagannath, CEO of Hyderabad-based systems integrator, Choice Solutions said, “We were quite positive about the market situation till a month back. In fact, we had a great first half with our revenues growing well over 50 percent. There will, no doubt, be some difficulties in the days ahead, but I am still bullish that with the right strategies we can overcome the issues.”
The first signs of a cash crunch were felt when many enterprises, during the first quarter of the financial year, insisted on shifting 30-day payment terms to 45 days and later to 90 days. “This movement was the first signal. However, we feel that by spreading yourself wide and engaging with smaller customers—whose payment terms are better—you can still offset the credit squeeze,” said Jagannath. Choice has already taken steps to handle any potential slowdown. This includes staying away from some of the MNC vendors, where margins are likely to be lower, and increasing their share of business from services.