Transform at the intersect: NIIT Technologies and the near future of digital and post-digital transformation

NIIT Technologies gets closer to buyers to provide deeper support in an evolving digital and post-digital market  

Opening the event, NIIT Technologies CEO Sudhir Singh described his efforts to recraft the company as a “post-digital firm,” including making cognitive a part of every NIIT Technologies engagement. He further declared NIIT Technologies had transitioned from being a vendor that works for clients to being a services vendor that works with clients and technology partners. Across the three-day event, multiple NIIT Technologies leaders and professionals echoed this sentiment around the shift from “work for” to “work with.” Clients also repeated versions of this message, indicative of the traction it has gained within NIIT Technologies’ ecosystem. At a strategic level, Sudhir Singh said his company intended to “move the center of gravity to the markets,” putting NIIT Technologies’ people where the company’s clients are. In that effort, NIIT Technologies over the last 18 months has opened new centers in Atlanta and Augusta, Ga.; Las Vegas; Princeton, N.J.; and Boise, Idaho. At the same time, Sudhir Singh reiterated an NIIT Technologies characteristic which TBR highlighted last year: staying focused on doing a few things exceptionally well. Now and going into next year, this approach includes limiting industries served, remaining selective in partnerships and identifying a limited number of emerging technology areas where NIIT Technologies can excel. Sudhir Singh said (and multiple discussions with NIIT Technologies professionals and clients confirmed) that banking, insurance, travel and retail/media make up the vast majority of NIIT Technologies’ clients, and one of NIIT Technologies’ strengths is a “hyper-specialization” within these industries. Matrixed across those four industries, NIIT Technologies delivers services in four technology areas: cognitive, data analytics, automation/integration and cloud. Staying within its core “swim lane” is the right approach as, according to TBR’s Digital Transformation Insights research, buyers often expect vendors to bring forward pointed, purpose-driven solutions rather than “blue sky” transformational ideas during workshops discussions.

Turning to the overall IT services market, Sudhir Singh focused on three main trends. First, “technology spend is increasingly nondiscretionary,” resulting in less worry on NIIT Technologies’ part about clients’ year-to-year IT budgets and a greater emphasis on long-term relationships and fully leveraging emerging technologies. Second, at a third or more of NIIT Technologies’ clients, the COO also acts as the CIO, furthering a trend toward digital readiness and adoption across all leadership levels within an enterprise. (Note: TBR’s Digital Transformation Insights Report: Voice of the Customer from earlier this year confirms these two trends.) Lastly, Sudhir Singh said that with cognitive being the “X factor” in IT services going forward, fully connecting the front, middle and back office while continuing to get customer experience right will drive most enterprises’ digital and post-digital transformation in the near term.

NIIT Technologies gathered roughly 170 clients, technology partners, industry experts, analysts and NIIT Tech professionals, for two days of discussions and informal meetings in Miami. The setting fostered casual conversations among clients and other attendees, with clients surprisingly receptive to TBR’s questions. NIIT Technologies had only one main stage presentation, an opening address by the CEO, with clients and industry experts driving the rest of the panel discussions and main stage presentations.