Crowd Sourcing in Information Technology Maintenance and Support Projects

Abstract

ABSTRACT newlineThe Information Technology (IT) industry has put India on the global map, as a newlineleader in providing quality IT services. The industry with annual revenue of USD 118 newlinebillion accounts for 8.1% of India s GDP and provides direct employment for about 3.1 newlinemillion people and indirect employment for more than 10 million people. The industry newlinewhich has witnessed a hyper growth for last two decades has reached a saturation point newlineand is looking for the next breakthrough. The economic uncertainty and challenging newlineenvironment is driving IT companies to look for newer ways in delivering their services. newlineThe three key challenges facing the Indian IT companies are: newline1) Changing Supply-Demand Landscape: NASSCOM s (National Association of newlineSoftware and Services Companies, India) Perspective 2020 report reveals that newlineaccess to global talent, innovation, learning and knowledge management and newlinecreation of readily deployable talent pools will become imperatives if an newlineorganization would like to succeed and bridge the supply-demand gap in this decade. newlineIn the last decade, while India accounted for more than 50% of the global low-cost newlineworkforce, in 2020 it will be a diversified talent pool with globalised recruiting and newlineHR practices. newline2) Changing Demographics in Workforce: From supply of talent perspective, about newline50% of the population in India consists of people born after 1980, or in other words newlineGen Y (people born after 1978) and Gen Z (people born after 1995), who are more newlinesocial and their outlook on employment, workplace is very different from the newlinemindset of the current workforce. The distinct traits of this generation are (a) Speed newlineand convenience always connected, act quick and reflect little (b) Privacy - low newlinebarrier to talk about private things with anyone in the world, (c) Social skills/virtual newlinelife - global virtual friends replace real ones. newline3) Changing Client Demand: In the 1990 s the Indian IT companies were more focused newlineon labour arbitrage, but today customers are looking for business value adds through newlineinnovations to gro