IT Industry: An Overview ang Ethical Perspective, INTRODUCTION ‘ ‘ar tiatian eeonony’ (TOOT gaineied with the information teehnalogy (1) revoluion ree speral retin wet This hicky eomneidence eataputiod India inte the league oF HE super prove, lee aftr hows tiizee the apyportunitien avaiable An global market to the WL With a ronsinE stor diy sv! Fonatied worviows (TTS) fnduatry efwarted a phenomenal double-digit growth of over 2 por cout gn the finanoial year 1909-2000, Tee contitnation tothe national (OP has risen fan 1,9 per cent in tinanciat yey 1900-2000 fo 54 pet Cent ih 2006 200%, 10 6.1 perwent in 2000-2010 and anda inated 6.4 perve uitry GDP nthe ye 20105201 |The ftustry reverie through sortwvave opment and service “Wk USE ANG billion tthe finanetal year endiny 2007, USK 82 billion iv the financial your 2007 2005 “USS 70.5 bitlion tH 2008-2000, ‘Total revennie of the induatry during 2009-2010 yay UNS TEL billion oh ‘andl servides seotor alone (exeluding the computer hardware sector) was UNS 6 | revession eontinied 1H the year 2010-2011, with the total indow ‘contidenee of the government of tndia on the growth of the HT iad seveniie ‘srotteted in the Hew yon Information Technology 2011, unveiled on 7 October 2011 6 : ssa eS the your 2020 is projected to be LSS 400 billion’ The ev papers a iy hohe lion (in 2011) fo UNS 200 Dillion by the year 2020 cE AL ACE | this HOOHOME BrOWth, hay also erated employmen! op ae abi 5 ‘hun Variouy institutes around the eountey. Today, thers are ym lore ban i eS diroet employnent in the Indian It | A million in the your 2010-2011, In the added to the industry, fn addition 0 this 2.5! ualian PATHS is estimated to have helpest cree ‘ et 11s also inereased considerably & jalth anxl other verviges, The Goverment ol lle root and indirwet influence on thee vs, spl egenoxnie ze, ce vty ALpoo! of 10 million skilled profess”! aking Inia preter he dire ta bil, The 7 i ny aperating at the Teadine ° ity that was not x0 come” ‘Scanned wih CemScannerT NDUSTRY! ANC sez Mamyaraduates fom top universities ike he 1Pshave sha ee gerne Catia fe of thrsbre chives sen sere eect weet jn India and abroad. It ee oe rr eR p res tofne an wei Fis sce and isuniquechancersicg wee OF IHITES INDUSTRY sepsis 1s popularly refered to as IT form the dominant sector ofthe industry in terms of revenues as wel Bape nens tor oft industy canbe unersoo nts of he value chain of series ito inITServices According to John Del Vecchio and Mike Trigg, a value chain is “a string of Syorking together to satisfy market demands”. Value chain consists of one or afew primary value ) suppliers and many others that add on to the value ultimately presented to the buyer. The fn the IT industry (Fig. 16.1) refers to a whole gamut of activities ranging from the introduction to the installation, usage and support of the solution, in a descending order Tier I: Consultancy and Product Development At the top of the chain are the consultancy and ent activities. A consultant works closely with the client company, identifying the various she business issue. The dynamics ofthe operations are captured, the market forces are icent- sare formulated backed up by action plans. The consultancy can cover the whole organiza stor focus on one particular business uniVarea/product. In many cases it slike partnership oF tthe other activity at the tp end isthe product development activity (¢., Mieroso and Orsel) fon, controls close to 5 per cent of the business in this value chain. nat this level are IBM, Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC), Electronic Data Systems epeuitancy companies like BCG, McKinsey and KPMG. None of the Indian IT companies place inthis top slot. Infosys has entered into this top tler and is ying 1 establish itself. Integration Infrastructure management and systems ‘activity to implement an IT strategy Infrastructre isthe foundation on which a strong IT func the desired standards for security, reliability and availability, optimal performance and cost. on, IT is a complex mix of technologies, platforms and applications. Systems integration diverse systems, applications and platforms for smooth information flow, taking in its stride, ‘Scanned wih CamScannerawa TC=-AN INDIAN PERSPECT Viant, Sapient and Exorlus Communication are some ofthe player IBM, CSC nd HDS, Infosys Technologies and Wipro Technologies ne ng en: inarked their presence at this level, ate two Indian py Ip Serves er IH: Application Development and Maintenance ‘The as fis ike ustom application development and maintenance. Custom solutions ena petive advantage, oil gaps nthe Functionality provided by commercial a Eerie Friese processes tha are unique to them for which no solution are availale ean raat evel wo also operate atthe lve three. All the Indian TT companies arc ne the revenue share ofthe top tern the value chain is 47 percent of heal 11 mae ration parers 22 per ent, IT outsourcing has 18 percent snd the custom applic swith 13 por cent. ompan seg hile system lopment is a IT-Enaateo Services COutsoureing a certain function of business isin vogue for the past few decades. For instance tn exteral accounting professional to prepare its financial statements ona specific contrat. Bu firm can ug uring (BPO) isthe practice of enacting a third party by an organization, to cary outa spa tito poessofitsbusines. Broa BPO operations can be of wo pes outsourcing om 2 eile xcesses, Front office operations include customer service, marketing, etc. Examples of ack — pros wae are logistics, supply chain management, etc, Of late, national and continental boundaries are ‘based in other countries, For instance, US-based companies would gu 10 outsource processes to compan roll activities and airlines would have their ticketing documentation done in India. ‘Another v lararee sometime ago was medical transcription, Besides such low-end transactions and coouncalal . institutions have set up captive units in India, like Citigroup Global Services formed s ‘can be categorized into core and non-core areas, depending on the primary object ‘ofa financial institution, preparing a financial statement by a financial expert isco rch done in India. NASSCOM sources predicted in 2002 that ndia will swell fivefold, to a USS 57 billion, with the an 7 per ent of India’ goss domestic ‘Scanned with CamScannerAT INCAAIE AN OVERVIEW AND: EDDICAL ERHERC IE ce coc wh serosa has be aed by aa aoa ae a se rgeneraliaion sbi and hither ga wv ‘at by aig ona wal Fee cerhotvars application Sana ae eer or ec peare td application, it has to scale over ans a ws treated as & builating Bhowk O& seer comin of ta we pn net wal wo vee ih ase scence wih Werth ayn so hh tr ent Pepsi yar wn a eee wal ee ah fgets, ity and henee, the cost. Hu the worlds sil charmed be tobe controlled in toca sae ae pinnae en ea sil charmed by the eat of oftware de seine. The med 0 Dexle Wat we an walsh coat ts es, while waking aA eek Brooks ply deserts te medium ss ing ny ee ee cevctk Ot Ct SN Sere nt anny ht, nly removed tes penn aoa i pretical put together, due to its non-repeating n eee Fee tebow dita per naring Spon Pooate pernand such perfection, itis nearly impossible octane es cmon ofthe a nie wi bates mon i ards. This brings us othe next unique characteristic at inst, eal. % jyoustey's WORKFORCE resource isthe most valuable asset in an IT company. An IT comps Marital than by tangible assets as inthe Arar easteiestettoe eases weal 'y sepryrees as one ofthe four intangible assets in its balance sheet, be vegan fe aeerextenal assets. In ft, the industry views human resource mana als tacrun Oriyne ofits senior most executive and ex-CFO,, V. Mahan Pa as head ol ata ers mifad made a similar non-linear move taking over as VP-HR at 1BM Incl Rhea 39 wo ‘head of Global Delivery, China’ ad en the Indian IT industry started to take shape, there was a huge demand for people with good anal Fc sll, During the late 1980s and early 1990s, engineers were hard pressed fox jabs a goed set ofthe Indian economy was not impressive due to shuggnness in the raanufec gineers forthe IT sector was supplied by the Mumet0us 6 ofthe branch of engineering, Indian IT companies recruited fesh engineer nance of young technologists has seta peculiar work culture in an dusty, grappling WAN dium of work to create a new kind of output, namely, the information processing took. SSCOM survey on the Indian IT industry revealed some interesting facts. The mesa es eerorals was 28.9 years, In infosys, the average age of employees is around 26 years WHIe ‘work force were in the age group of 26-35 years, 81 per cent of all software professionals ast -above. Seventeen per cent were MTechs, MBAs, CAS, of ICWAS; 69 per cent were Bee hs, 14 per eent were diploma holders or graduates.” This phenomsvon ‘of high-volume recruiting picked up after a couple of years ull during the early part of the decade, An atime says that around very day bythe [TES-BPO sector alone, during the ped 2004-2008." qualifications andthe crucial rote played in their companies ‘visa welt known fat of these professionals are quite ‘high when compared with many other industries, yc have in IT-ITES industry is predominantly young, ineligen: rich worktoree, WO, ‘that they are the heart ofthe industry which employs them, can easily set their own state Be, m PROCESS: INFORMATION AND Toots aaa : * y : using a highly tractable medium. creating? They make soars progres that conte ‘ication, automate factories to produce and dispatch goods, Manage financial trans Veal time, help doctors teat patients 1008 afew. ‘which is the Tite and ‘plood of toxlay's ara and software, 1 BeNeFTE ae ‘Scanned wih CamScanner *1482 BUSINESS ETHICS-“AN INDIAN PERSPECTIVE demand information, and make it accessible to the right person at the righ « decision Its redundant to state that onganizations the work over have wsica ‘and have started leveraging IT to grow, i ‘nation, Its products and services pk e IT industry is catering to this need in 'T-company in a critical i Position with ETHICAL PERSPECTIVE OF IT-ITES INDUSTRY Ts there any uniqueness of ethics in IT-ITES industry? Besides the aspects eomy TT-ITES industry has something very unique inthe ethical realm due to its thre fe the medium of work (technology), the workers who use it and the output they crear isnotto show the IT industry ina bad light, as unethical The very fact that companies any ‘over have reaped the benefits of IT; proves beyond doubt, the professionalism and lige ison to point out the areas in which the IP industry is uniquely susceptible to unethical ‘One way to categorize the possible unethical practices is onthe basis of : i — ofthe Te 1. Information handling 2, Dealing with intellectual property rights, and 3, Working culture and environment in the organization, Like any other organization, an IT company also has various stakeholders like its shar tomerslients, employees, governmental bodies and society at large. The unethical practices cates oe can be carried out by “oe 1. IT/ATES organizations towards their clients/customers. 2. TTITES organizations towards their employees. 3. imployees of IT/ITES organizations towards their own organizations, by IBM, a greater number of than physical rine (pre ‘Scanned wih CemScanneres of IT/ITES organizations towards ther clintscustomers coun zationslemployees together with their clientscustomers harming the other lorganiza and the society at large) ss ing discussion lists out some typical cass that fl into joes, Many such Eases have been reported in th 0 one or many ofthese categories of POF press in recent times (Box 16.1). finds oFunethical practices fall under this category At the lowest level, we find employees show gt to information Security processes. For instance, most 1T companies, expecially those work for banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) have a rule not to share passwords with ‘Most ofthe employees do not take this seriously, eventhough they are reminded gabout its importance. For fresh employees, the password is just a string of characters more, But the fact is that once the computer system is unlocked, 2 wealth of in- ‘whieh can be misused by unauthorized access ‘oF information security can be seen in case of cal centre operators, who force customers ion like credit card numbers, when itis not really required . Numerous cases of BPOs of leading banking institutions in Pune, Deli Hyder ment of large amounts of funds happened, fall into this category. Typ ‘eustomer information like credit card or account numbers can sl “who by fraudulent means ‘steal the money from the customers. Hi ‘being lost duc to extrancous factors (Box 1622) information like credit card numbers: even information like tax data, lifestyle data, credit data, email ids. etc. are freel sompanies (Box 16.3). In March 2006, NDTV has broadcasted 2 program tetective,successflly got hold of the private information of mobile pone paltry ‘money as bribe." a Ra tere iafoaton onthe neat yesh “2 ish false information or direct the visitors o other Stes. jloyees working in Web hosting ‘parties, which can lead to ‘Scanned wih CemScannerr for internet banking. The term wa . ing AOL members. Phishers set up fake Web em a sep that read something like this: Your ac ECS And spy juires you to login and confirm sone details’ ank has ena ek on te link provided in the e-mail, i directs you toa location thai a ze you have finished submitting your personal details, it will pecan ith i pleases withthe provided information, which coud include withdens, 8 in your name, The Anti-Phishing Working Group received over 24 ay ue the world over. This number does not account forthe thousands ofan that online money ransctons ae on the rise (with almos. 20.39 por erin ). You need fo be more suspicious of an unsolicited email than ofa sirnges fn P| cran Raghavan, regional head, RSA Security assets: “Banking sic te nse defence”. TwocTactor authentication means the user et atoota common implementations ofa two-factor authentication are poe plays amber Entering the played umber inte sytem ht eS sion of the card”, details Raghavan. The number displayed by deco cd eat re auetetng ks the unde whic ska ng and password is correct, the one is authenticated, To increase security the lee, about 50 per cent of mortgages, home equity loans and carloans lic sector, along with several financial institutions have repo. ystems, in the hope that customers gain confidence in their ystems successfully by banks in Hong Kong, the UK and other devel. ith the idea. Security companies are busy facilitating security ‘and are paying bills or managing mutual funds and re- ‘bar. It can be easily changed. ie? -we have cases of /T employees/organizations helping their eens 0 practise Je implementing IT systems, the software engineers can incorporate or 0 n information that can be harmful to the customers!mplO fext is about a project in which an IT company was commission “The client company had already a system inplace DS oS projects, this also was running late. The client su! y sson, But on deeper probe, it came out that the client ea ch on had a limitation and could only retrieve date f° ; 0 store so much data. It knew that y. With the old system, it could P w system exposed them 10 4 ‘Scanned wih CamScanner> a Me anbortapettesen ‘rived from the software, the sbility of sing, — ‘or them. When you enter “sch information as your mame and: ‘this information to pres on ten computers, which of a particular software on two computers, pro. 6 is for the benefit of users wor |e tele source code of the programs of the organization he or she works for. At for emaployees taking home such source code segments in the name of back ‘Scanned wih CamScanner -ecnisemerinnsis{AUINess ETHICS—AN INDIAN PERSPECTIVE the customerif the employee leaves inthe midst ofa project being executed. The : he org ‘money and efforts to recruit, rain and deploy another person in pace ofthe one wi plicitly stated that 1-3 months’ notice is to be given to quit the job itis quite com Po has eff hate his orher work abruptly. Such breach ofemplovment agreements is very rampage ‘Ataelatively lower level, the young employees in an IT company do not think cy like house rent allowance (HRA) and medical bills wth fraudulent bills 0 wet inn though such isues can be seen in other industries, these are more common in IT inden financial and accounting procedures, lusty dy TT-companies compete among themselves for customers as well a for employes, from competitors is quite common in IT industry. Even though this isnot illegal, it has ge ly atare in the industry and employees do not have eny remorse of leaving in the middle sn" asitis encouraged by the poaching companies themselves. ‘connie ‘Commitment to their customers on one side and employee attrition on the othe force IT o Petts various meens and mechanisms of retaining the employees. Some times, these can bee are some cases where the full salary offered at the time ofreruitment isnot given, Instead see tion ofthe salary is withheld by the company and disbursed only ifthe employee stays with then" fora stipulated period of time. This is clear violation ofthe employment agreement by the empl a other cases, the employee should deposit some amount of money withthe company as secur prinment. Some companies als resort tothe unethical and even unconstitutional practice of aig ‘cuits to sign a bond agreeing to work for the company for a minimum period of say, three years, tick away the person’s right fo choose a better career. akg _ Inthe name of inereasing the productivity, long and odd hours of work are quite common in IT-ITES ig dustry. Employees might have failed to finish the task in stipulated time due to the complexity of the task By s the aggressive bidding of completion time by the companies to their customers that resi 10th ag out giving prior information to the employee. This amounts to a breach ofp- ‘Shuva Mandal, of Fox Mandal, a law firm, has already dealt with a few privacy ‘him “Employee-employer disputes related to privacy are on the rise, Both are shts, even while companies are not defining privacy well”.'° ht in a world-class infrastructure and working environment to It the working conditions are not ergonomic. Video operator's distress ), cumulative trauma disorder (associated with mental stress, eye st to repetitive stress on hand/wrist are common work ral also do not bother about such issues in the begin n they become older do they start experiencing te ill zo in terms of employee training on such issues 1A) compliance. 4 computer + Information security nent + Cookie # Intellectual provers Frivolous _mails/nstant ‘Scanned wih CamScanner