Organization: Aithent Canada
Location: Mississagua, Ontario
Contact: Nabarun Chaudthuri (EVP-Country Manager)

April 2006

We met Nabarun through our participation in an international organization called the Commonwealth Advantage Program.

Through this program and subsequent meetings with Nabarun we found Aithent to be a great example of an Indian company that entered the Canadian market and built an excellent reputation. From our perspective its marketing ability and professionalism should serve as a template for not only Indian companies but also Canadian companies.

Its not an easy task to start from zero and in three years have 3 of the 5 major banks in Canada as clients.

Can you give us some background on Aithent when it was founded and what kind of services it provides?

Aithent Canada is the Canadian arm of Aithent Technologies, a CMM Level 5 global company focused on providing specialized software development solutions to Global 1000 organizations. We are focused on the Financial, Healthcare, Insurance and Government market segments. In addition to providing specialized solutions we also market our own innovative solutions and also provide KPO services out of India.

What are some major milestones/accomplishments your company has had recently in Canada?

Aithent Canada was founded on 31 January 2002. We moved in at a time when North America was experiencing a tough phase in the IT market place post the year 2000 and dotcom era. In a short span of 4 years we have today amongst our clients the top 3 of the 5 principal Canadian banks. One of our clients, the largest bank in Canada, received the CIPA award for a unique solution built by Aithent last year. We successfully utilized our “Co-sourcing model” to arrive at a quality product in time in budget – the solution is used today by over 400,000 customers of the bank on a daily basis. This clearly demonstrates that Aithent has not only been able to bring the expected cost savings but also have provided our client with a significant marketing edge over its competition. This is the Aithent advantage – we pride ourselves in our ability to exceed our clients’ expectations. In addition to this initiative we have built virtually all aspects of the online banking portal for another leading bank and today enjoy being one of the 3 preferred vendors of choice for the bank. The number of users to solutions that Aithent has specifically built for our clients exceeds 700,000. This is a significant feat for an organization that is only 4 years old in Canada!

For those Canadian companies unfamiliar with India and Indian based companies can you tell them more about the skill level of Indian IT workers and how can a Canadian company evaluate the skill level of a foreign worker or a IT company?

The question of why India and the quality of Indian IT workers is no longer one that is questioned. With many of the Global 1000 companies clearly investing a strategy that involves outsourcing to India and where the leading IT service providers including IBM Global have a well-defined and published strategy to grow their India-based teams significantly, the India IT story has been proven. The real question is whether outsourcing is right for an organization or not. This really depends on a variety of factors.

Comparatively Canadian companies have less experience with India. However, even in Canada there have been many significant successes. Our own success with one of the leading Canadian banks is a good case in point.

To be successful with outsourcing requires that an investment be made upfront. It is no different than an investment that a manufacturing organization makes in building its assembly line. There are usually startup issues and problems. However, once the line is streamlined it functions effectively and can help improve productivity and reduce cost. This is exactly the same with outsourcing.
In terms of the evaluation of IT skills, we believe that the same evaluation process should be used as used for Canadian IT staff. The only difference being the cultural and language skills.

We hear a lot about offshore outsourcing and India is one of the biggest recipients of this attention, but does it possess market potential for IT companies?

The Indian market shows great potential for IT companies. The market in India is opening up very rapidly and a significant investment is being made in IT. This is happening with the government and the private sector. While the size of the market is still fairly small in comparison with North America, it is certainly one where significant returns are possible. One would have to invest in the long term though as short-term wins may not be that easy.

What are some of the major issues your company has faced in its outsourcing agreements?

Key issues usually revolve around intellectual property rights and the integration between on-shore (client staff) and off-shore staff.

What are some of the common questions/concerns Canadian companies have when they are considering outsourcing IT work?

As I implied earlier, they are gun shy. It is only after they see you in action locally
and or see you demonstrate value through small pilot programs in the offshore
context, that they see the true value. There is also an element of mutual learning and
some investment in adopting the philosophy. I do see things changing faster now in
recent times.

There is a skill shortage in Canada and low unemployment rate how does this factor in companies making a decision to outsource?

What happens south of the border does catch up in Canada over a period of time.
Competitiveness and budgets are critical attributes for business success. Better, faster,
cheaper …..certainly cannot be overlooked. Also in light of the skill shortage it makes
sense.

What are the successful ingredients in an outsourcing relationship?

· Partnership
· Joint risk mitigation strategy
· About all TRUST.

What are your major challenges when marketing your services in Canada?

Local Credibility is the key. It cannot come in a day. We have toiled hard at building it through the years. Local presence is also another factor….we are slowly ramping up on that factor too. We believe in a LOCAL GLOBAL approach and it helps big time.

What makes your company different from other offshore providers?

Flexibility and unique history of a decade and a half. We are second to none when it comes to our client roster; however, being a boutique with a client servicing focus, we easily are able to differentiate with our competition.