IT cos charge premium for deals with niche skills
BENGALURU: Software services companies in India have typically played the pricing card to win traditional outsourcing contracts against global players such as International Business Machines (IBM) Corp. and Accenture but the demand-supply gap in digital has changed the game. They have now begun charging a premium for digital deals that involve niche skills which potentially add greater value to clients.
Infosys Ltd indicated during its December quarter earnings that pricing has seen some level of stability compared to the previous quarter. “We have put in place a very focused effort on communicating the value that we are helping create with our clients through the digital programs,” chief executive Salil Parekh said during the Q3 analyst call. Digital revenue continued to grow for Infosys at 42.6% year-on-year in constant currency, accounting for 58.5% of total revenue in the December quarter, up from just about 50% a year earlier.
With the growing share of digital deals, Infosys sees an opportunity for price increases in the long term. “On the pricing, as the digital work will increase…the value creation through digital will give us a larger opportunity for that (price increase) because the revenue will be larger,” Parekh added.
“Within digital, cloud is growing much faster as Infosys’s cobalt cloud capabilities are resonating well with clients.
With signs of improving pricing, Infosys is likely to benefit more with increasing share of digital revenue,” said Aniket Pande, research analyst at Prabhudas Lilladher.
For Mindtree Ltd, the demand environment for digital transformation services and capabilities continues to be robust and broad-based. As a result, “the pricing continues to be stable with an upward bias in deals reliant on premium digital skills,” said Debashis Chatterjee, CEO & MD, Mindtree.
The management of Tata Consultancy Services Ltd (TCS) also indicated that the pricing environment is stable with an upward bias. “We are seeing a slight uptick in pricing in the current quarter. And we should be able to get some of it, but keep it balanced by the fact that in long-term existing customer relationships, we will need to be more nuanced about it. But overall, there is definitely an expectation of a rising pricing environment,” Rajesh Gopinathan, CEO & MD, TCS said during an analyst call.
Experts believe the pandemic has led to a spike in demand for digital talent across sectors, causing a shortage of experienced talent relative to demand. “Therefore, IT companies are able to charge a premium for niche technology skills for which talent is not widely available. However, they have also realized that this is not sustainable, so everyone is increasing their fresher hiring which is the cheapest trainable talent available,” said David D’Lima, an independent IT consultant.
To be sure, higher pricing translates to increased margins for these companies. However, margins remained stable during third quarter amid pressure due to supply side challenges and higher talent retention costs.