Indian partnership scores highly for Christchurch software company

For 18 months Jade Software has been working in partnership with India's CMC Limited, an IT services company owned 51 percent by TCS and part of conglomerate TATA Corporation which has annual revenues of more than US$22 billion.

Under the terms of the arrangement, CMC sells Jade products into the Indian domestic market and has provided a team of developers to help plug the Christchurch company's skills gap.

Jade had been seeking to make strategic partnerships in a number of countries to ease entry to market and Chief Information Officer John Ascroft says the relationship with CMC has done just that.

Without partnership, entering the huge Indian market would have been a costly exercise, and would have required relocating a Kiwi to Mumbai, hiring local staff and the procurement of business licence.

"Working with a local partner is by far the sensible thing to do," Mr Ascroft says. "With CMC as a partner we've been completely sheltered. We haven't had to set up an Indian subsidiary or set up a business there. It's been pretty simple."

The arrangement between the two companies works well but Mr Ascroft says there was some fine tuning required to allow for cultural differences.

"The Indian contractors, without generalising, are used to working in a more structured environment and we are used to working in a much more unstructured environment. There has been some adjustment on both sides required. We've moved a bit, they've probably moved more than we have," Mr Ascroft says.

"I think the Indians like to work in a more social manner so typically you may find two or three people around a screen working co-operatively. European and New Zealand developers tend to work by themselves."

In the early days of the arrangement, Mr Ascroft remembers some frustration at slow replies to emails sent to India. But while he waited for a reply, his phone was ringing as his Indian contacts preferred to communicate in person. Once he realised this, he made more of an effort to dial instead of type.

"It's amazing how much a simple thing like that can speed things up," he says. "We work pretty well together now."

Making the arrangement with CMC successful has required some flexibility from the New Zealand company. For example, it doesn't exercise tight control over how CMC localises its technology, deferring instead to that company's knowledge of the market.

The connection with India is cemented regularly with trips to Mumbai for some Jade staff who in return host twice yearly visits from CMC employees. Mr Ascroft says that personal contact is crucial.

"I've been to India, been to presentations while they are presenting our products to customers, talked to their marketing and sales people in the field to understand what their market wants," he says.

One topic that is always on the agenda during visits is cricket. Mr Ascroft says the sport has been invaluable in helping establish a strong bond with Indian contacts.

Other areas of common ground include having English as the primary business language and British-based justice systems.

India also represents a good export opportunity because its people are innovative and open to new technologies, they are friendly and keen to develop relationships and because it is a market largely uncaptured by large corporations.

"When you look at export markets I think India has got a lot going for it," Mr Ascroft says.

Another positive outcome from the relationship is that Jade may benefit from CMC's desire to expand into developing markets. This means they will endeavour to sell Jade products into Kenya, Tanzania and the Middle East.

"All of which means we don't have to build relationships in those areas,'' he says.

Originally published on the NZTE website in February 2009.

More information

John Ascroft, CIO, Jade Software Corporation
jascroft@jadeworld.com

www.jadeworld.com