Studies show that various global organizations are planning to offshore new and complex service lines like IT Infrastructure management and critical business processes. But vendors in India aren’t necessarily ready for these assets. According to the market research firm Forrester Research, firms in India may be proficient in the art of applications outsourcing, but they are not prepared to ride on the new wave of offshore infrastructure management opportunity. The report suggests that infrastructure and consulting deals require “feet on the street,” something Indian vendors are not ready to offer.

Infrastructure Management (IM) applications play a critical role in monitoring and measuring the performance of the network, across local and wide area links Organizations invest vast sums of money to build IT infrastructure that support their business goals and objectives, but many fail to deploy even the most basic tools to effectively manage their IT resources.

According to Nasscom, the IT infrastructure management services market is between $86 billion and $150 billion.The management involves painstaking activities including managing everything from data centers, networks and servers to storage and desktops.

Sunil Mehta, vice president of Nasscom, explained that since up to 60 percent of the overall work can be delivered through the global delivery model, the market potential for remote infrastructure management is around $55 billion.He feels that although companies in India aren’t yet ready for integrated outsourcing deals, which involve transfer of software and hardware, as well as people prepared for discreet outsourcing.

Infrastructure management outsourcing is divided into two types - total outsourcing and out-tasking. Total outsourcing includes asset takeover while out-tasking involves outsourcing of certain services. In India, total outsourcing has been initiated by Wipro, who took up this task for HDFC Bank and Yes Bank. According to Prasanna GK, senior vice-president of technology infrastructure services for Wipro Technologies, companies require new financial models for total asset management, as this kind of outsourcing also has affects on the balance sheet. He feels his company also need alliances and tie-ups to manage such large deals.

Experts feel that all IT service providers need not go for total outsourcing to reach the Nasscom projection. They can continue to focus on out-tasking. They also agree that Indian vendors are better prepared for out-tasking than asset takeovers. Most of them don't yet have the ability to jump in the total asset takeover field but they are on the right track, moving up steadily, winning deals against global competition.

Anuradha Shukla is a contributing writer from India. To see more of her articles, visit her columnist page.