TCS’ CFO: Mastering Global Innovation

S. Mahalingam talks with BusinessWeek’s Steve Hamm about the importance of differentiation and the benefits of global delivery.

By Maryann Jones Thompson, Sand Hill Group

With more than $4 billion in revenue and 89,000 employees in 32 countries, Tata Consultancy Services is a global technology force to be reckoned with.

In fact, TCS launched its own financial software division in May, making it one of the Indian services companies that is now both a service provider and an ISV.

S. Mahalingam, TCS’ executive VP, CFO and head of Global Finance, joined the company in 1970 just two years after it was founded. During more than three decades of service, Mahalingam has been a contributor to not only the growth of TCS but to the establishment of the entire Indian IT industry.

Mahalingam joined BusinessWeek senior writer Steve Hamm on stage at Software 2007 to discuss how TCS is working to differentiate its offerings and to leverage innovation globally.

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IBM-Watchfire to Forge New Ground

Software developers are rarely experts at IT security, and security professionals aren’t great at software architecture. Read why Tony Baer of onStrategies says that IBM’s acquisition of Watchfire could make strides toward bridging this gap in this week’s post to the SandHill.com Blog on SOA.

Overcoming the Challenges of Enterprise RSS

Security and scalability are only two of the hurdles that RSS technology must overcome in the enterprise. In the second part of “Is RSS Ready for the Enteprise?”, Yuval Tarsi of WorkLight examines the challenges and how to overcome each one.

Private Equity Marches On

Avaya and CDW are only the latest big tech companies to go private. Jeff Kaplan of THINKstrategies says many of today’s software PE deals are driven by the desire to move to SaaS. Read more in this week’s post to the SandHill.com Blog on Software Finance.

Publish Your Perspective!

The SandHill.com Blog wants your opinions. Send your thoughts on the enterprise software industry to editor@sandhill.com and we’ll publish them in our blog.

Innovation Showcase Videos Online Now!

The software industry’s most compelling new companies were on display at Software 2007’s Innovation Showcase. CEOs of these fast-growth vendors shared insight about innovation and their company’s unique value proposition with attendees. Watch the videos of all of the Innovation Showcase presenters at the post-conference site – all presentations are online now!

DON’T MISS: On the Radar - Spiceworks

The ad-supported software business model has become a reality. Spiceworks has broken new ground with its IT management application for small businesses – and company is set to become the “poster child” of ad-supported software. SandHill.com interviewed CEO Scott Abel about what sets Spiceworks apart, why the ad-based model makes sense and what advice he has for other software entrepreneurs considering the leap to an ad-supported model.

News Update: A Tiger Tale

TCS launches a financial software division; plus, a narrow miss for H-1B visas, a hit for source forecasts and a barrage of M&A deals and more software news of the week. Read these stories and more software news of the week in the latest SandHill.com Software News Summary.

DON’T MISS: Applying “Lean” to App Development

Lean techniques, originally developed to reduce waste in manufacturing, are boosting performance in application development and maintenance. Read how in this article from The McKinsey Quarterly.

Poll: India – Threat or Partner?

Will the major Indian IT services vendors become competitors to today’s major software companies?
Take our Pulse Poll >>

Last week, readers gave their opinions on how the transition to a mobile market will impact the enterprise software industry over the next two years.
Give us your opinion and see the results >>

More at SandHill.com:

The real cost of outsourcing.
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OpTier receives $15 million.
Monitor the latest software venture capital deals >>

Microsoft buys Stratature.
Size up last week's software M&A deals >>

HP names Randall Runk as SVP of U.S. Sales for its Technology Solutions Group.
See who’s made it to the top in our list of recent software executive appointments.

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Parting Thought

“Obviously everyone wants to be successful, but I want to be looked back on as being very innovative, very trusted and ethical, and ultimately, making a big difference in the world.”
–Sergey Brin

Courtesy of Malcolm Kusher, The Kushner Group