How Stable Is IT Field ??

1996-2000,the era that witnessed the most spetacular revolution called as Dot.Com Revolution.The revolution that took all the world in it's surge.Millionaires were born overnight.The revolution led to the amalgamation of some of the greatest minds in the world to better the human life through computers.Sensex all over the world soared new heights and IT was the next big thing to happen to Europe after Industrial Revolution.India was not far behind,need for expertise and manpower increased ceaselessly and one could find every second graduate Indian rushing to the nearest computer center,which had mushroomed all over the city, to enroll for the latest computer course and packed their bags for a job abroad.Every day i could hear people making millions at Silicon Valley,the Mecca for Dot.Com revolution.It looked like IT God was valiantly riding on five power horses(capital,man-power,expertise,government policies and zest to do better).I was vying for engineering admissions around this time,i could see parents racing up and shelling loads of money to acquire a seat in IT or Computers.It was investment they decided to make that would gaurantee rich returns.

But nobody escapes Newton's Laws which says that whatever goes up comes down and the same happened to Dot.Com revolution.The power horses lost their steam,paralysing the IT God.Investors lost their money,companies were stranded in the middle of nowhere,pink-slips were issued,Indians were asked to pack their bag and leave foreign land.The Dot.Com bosses who once ate juicy meat were now struggling for mere bones.

2000,the IT industry in India was limping back to normalcy.

2004-Countries like India started witnessing a new devepolment called as Outsourcing.It generated thousands of jobs offshore.The funda was simple what Jack in US could do for 5$ ,Ram did the same in India at $3.US was looking for green pastures to improve it's profit and the answer was India.Cheap man power,good oral communication and brilliant technical expertise.IT industry boomed again,this time the weapon is Outsourcing.

But things are not easy,we have stiff competition from China ,a couple of days back i heard that Canada is also becoming a good breeding ground for cheap and good labour.We cannot live under the constant threat of other countries that are vying to acquire our jobs.Moreover what if the Bush Administration is thrown out of power,will the newly elected President support Outsourcing ??.Eventhough Outsourcing takes away only 6% of the total jobs in US but still there is big revolt on this issue.

The BPO arm of the IT industry doesn't look bright either,things have started to slip.At this point it is necessary that we analyse as to where we need to strenghten ourselves.The major source of revenue in any country is through Core Industries, Banking to name a few.With the advent of new tax laws by the government i am not sure as to whether people would prefer putting their money in banks.This is where Mutual Funds come up which give more returns and offlate Insurance has been the buzz word.We should use the revenues generated from these industries and offer them the leverage of using technology to provide more value to their customers.

My point is that government should make policies to strenghten these Core Industries from which the revenues can be generated for the IT Industry.IT generates lakhs of jobs for skilled people in this country and the government should provide us with firm base to fall back on instead of falling flat on a rugged ground if the Outsourcing Mantra comes to a standstill one day just like the Dot.Com Revolution.