To position Andhra Pradesh as the leading intellectual capital of the world, by nurturing entrepreneurship, research and innovation, to achieve global excellence in IT products and services.
To position Andhra Pradesh as the leading intellectual capital of the world, by nurturing entrepreneurship, research and innovation, to achieve global excellence in IT products and services.
Events
ITsAP - The IT and ITES Industry Association of AP – [Formerly HYSEA], announced its annual awards for the best software services for the year 2008-09 and for innovative software products from various companies from Andhra Pradesh during its two day 18th Annual Software Products’ Showcase, Awards and Conference 2010 on 12th and 13th March, 2010 at HICC, Hyderabad.
The Awards for the IT and ITES companies were evaluated by a committee based on last 3 years performance in exports, growth and portfolio mix as reported to STPI Hyderabad and the process audited independently by E & Y. This year, new awards were introduced for the Best Green IT Company and for the Best IT Services Company from Tier 2 Cities like Vishakhapatnam, Tirupati, Kakinada and Vijayawada.
There were over 120 nominations received by ITsAP for Software Product awards of which, more than 50% were from startup companies under five categories as follows:
The two day event attended by more than 750 delegates from all over the state was inaugurated on March 12th by Hon’ble Minister for IT&C, Govt of Andhra Pradesh, Sri K. Venkat Reddy. The Guest of honor was Shri. BVR Mohan Reddy, Chairman & MD, Infotech Enterprises. Mr. Narsimha Rao, President, ITsAP Welcomed all guests to the inaugural of 18th Annual ITsAP Software Products Showcase and Workshop said,” through the annual awards we celebrate the success and achievements of our colleagues and peers in the Industry who have made us proud during the year.
Speaking on the occasion Hon’ble Minister for IT&C, Govt of Andhra Pradesh, Sri K. Venkat Reddy, congratulated the IT Industry for demonstrating Leadership during hard times and helping Andhra Pradesh emerge as the 4th largest IT exporter in the country. He once again reiterated Governments commitment to investment and business friendly environment in the state and shared with the audience that AP Govt has sent a proposal to Govt of India on setting up the country’s first Information Technology Investment Region (ITIR ) which is expected to attract investments to the tune of approximately Rs . 3 lakh crores. The region will cover an area 202 kilometers.
The guest of honor, Shri. BVR Mohan Reddy congratulated ITsAP on its rechristening and the outstanding work it has done and continues to do for the IT/ITES Industry in the state.
He was of the opinion that though export business is growing, the Indian industry should also look at the domestic market. The future he said is in innovation with focus on products as it is more amenable to smaller setups.
The first day of the workshop included various panel discussions including eminent personalities in the IT Security, Green IT and Software Product Tracks in addition to the Software Product presentations by the finalist.
12th March 2010
PANEL DISCUSSIONS:
SOFTWARE PRODUCT TRACK:
Unconventional Sources of funding
Moderator: Anant Rao, Entrepreneur & Angel investor Swaroop CH, Product Leader, Infibeam KV Vishnu Raju, Chairman, Sri Vishnu Educational Society
A frequently heard grouse of entrepreneurs is lack of funding for start ups in India. While it holds true in several cases, in many others the root cause is lack of understanding of funding sources beyond VCs and Angel Networks. This panel focused on such unconventional sources of funding. It brought together some entrepreneurs who have benefited from such unconventional sources and some decision makers at such unconventional sources.
Challenges in social entrepreneurship
Moderator: Lindsay Clinton, Managing Editor, Beyond Profit
Yasmina McCarty, Co-Founder & CEO, Greenmango
NK Ramakrishna, Co-Founder & CEO, RangDe
Ali Asghar, CEO, Roshan Vikas
V Ramesh, Founder CEO & Director, Ecomove Solutions
For a developing economy like India with millions below the poverty line, social entrepreneurship is not yet a mainstream option. So what impedes India from producing more social enterprises? Why do such enterprises struggle to scale? What can we learn from existing successful social entrepreneurs and how can we accelerate the creation of large profitable social enterprises? This panel was successful in bringing the core issues into focus.
Indian Products Going Global
Moderator: Salil Godika, CSO, Mindtree
Girish G. Vaidya, Former Head of Finacle and Infosys Leadership Institute
Jay Pullur, CEO, Pramati Technologies
ST Prasad, CEO, Bartronics
DD Ganguly, CEO, Dimdim
It’s a received wisdom that Indian product companies fail in selling in global markets. The reasons usually cited are product mismatch due to distance from the customers, cultural dissonances, need for investments into local offices and relationships etc. Some entrepreneurs have challenged this received wisdom and have built revenues from international markets. This panel invited some of the entrepreneurs to share their stories and learning’s and also discuss how other entrepreneurs should approach international markets.
Business Plan Mistakes
Moderator: Sateesh Andra, VC, DFJ India
Raghu Batta, Partner, Ojas Ventures
Binny Bansal, Founder, Flipkart
Rohit Rathi, Co-founder and Product Development Head, Notion Ink
How to make a business plan continues to be a big question in the minds of first time entrepreneurs. Instead of yet another talk on this subject, this session had two seasoned entrepreneurs and investors recreate a business plan riddled with mistakes that they have seen and walk through it for the benefit of the audience. Two entrepreneurs from the audience also joined them on stage to pose alternatives and to question.
CIO Focus
Moderator: Suheim Sheikh, Founder, CEO, SDG Software Technologies
Ben Walters, CTO, Runaware
Dr.Richard Bentley, VP of Technical Services, Progress Software
Vikram Dhanda, VP & Head IT Operations, Reliance Tech Services
It was an interactive session with entrepreneurs and members from startups. CIOs, Technocrats and Industry Analysts gave insights into industry trends observed by them. They commented on the relevance and impact of latest global trends in enterprises and what opportunities it presents
IT SECURITY TRACK
Moderator: Bipin Chandra Pendyala, Vice President and Site Manager, CA, Hyderabad
Krishna Prasad, IPS, IGP, Police Computers
Gerard Lobo, CSO, Wipro
B. Krishna Murthy, VP & Center Head, Wipro, Hyderabad
The panelists discussed the current security scenario in the country and they shared thoughts on the best practices that may be implemented not only by the Government, but individual organizations, to make people’s lives secure and at the same time not compromising with individual freedom and rights. Mr. Krishna Prasad, IPS, IGP, Police Computers, elaborated on the proactive steps the state government has taken to safe guard the lives and properties of its citizens both from external threats and internal disturbances.
Mr. Krishnamurthy, VP & Centre Head thanked the Cyberabad Security council for playing an effective role in safeguarding the interests of IT Industry.
GREEN IT TRACK
Moderator: B. Krishna Murthy, VP & Center Head, Wipro, Hyderabad
M. Narsimha Rao, President, ITsAP
Sanjoy Sanyal, Country Director, New Ventures India
P. Raghuveer, IFS, CCF(Environment Cell), Govt of Andhra Pradesh
The panel discussed the various green initiatives in the country and why it has become imperative on us to start caring for the environment today. Mr. Narsimha Rao, was of the opinion eco-sustainability was very high on the agenda of IT industry today and cost cutting was not the sole reason for it have picked up in the recent times. Sanjoy Sanyal, shed light on the pioneering work/Innovations being done in the Energy space with a focus on both renewable energy and energy efficiency. He was of the opinion that IT companies could be a good market for testing environment friendly, innovative products like Radiant cooling systems from green SME companies. Mr. Raghuveer, IFS, spoke on the 5 R’s we need to diligently do – Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Replenish & Restore to care for the environment.
13th March 2010
PANEL DISCUSSION ON BUSINESS ECO-SYSTEM IN AP & ANNUAL AWARDS FUNCTION
The second day of the event had a panel discussion on Business Eco-system in AP, wherein eminent personalities like Mr. S. Mahalingam, Chief Financial Officer and Executive Director, TCS, Mr. Bhavish Sood, Principal Analyst, Gartner, Prof Y.V.Rao, Director, NIT, Warangal and Mr. Moorthy Uppaluri, General Manager, Developer & Platform Evangelism, Microsoft had shared their views on recession and its effect on Indian IT Industry and how Industry - academia interaction needs to be strengthened to cater to the ever increasing requirements of the Industry both in terms of numbers and quality of the workforce. Mr. Mahalingam said, “During hard times Indian IT industry withstood the challenges by re-examining its value proposition and improving efficiency parameters, as the customers' concern was for cost reduction”. He advocated striking a balance between research in institutions and requirements of industry so that the solutions/products could be tested quickly. He said the success of Silicon Valley in product development was mainly due to the cluster concept.
Mr. Moorthy Uppaluri, General Manager, Developer and Platform Evangelism, Microsoft said there was lot potential for growth within India but companies should focus on customisation and create products to suit Indian end users. He said new business models be created that could be used by millions of small and medium enterprises and ‘Mom and Pop stores' in India.
Prof. Y. V. Rao, Director, NIT Warangal, said it was time universities did activity based research that would meet industry requirements and address its challenges. He said while Indian universities and engineering colleges churned out huge numbers, percentage of employable candidates was insignificant. This called for greater interaction between industry and university.
There should be distinction between skill based and analytical based education to help both industry and research, he added.
Thereafter, a total of 20 awards in various categories were presented by Mr. S. Mahalingam, Chief Financial Officer and Executive Director, TCS.
Brig. K. Harikumar, Executive Director, ITsAP proposed the Vote of Thanks.
The event also included demos and presentations of products built in tier 2 cities & Hyderabad, both by domestic and MNC companies and deliberations through the day on how to further accelerate the innovation and production work in Andhra Pradesh. Of the 120 nominations received 65 were shortlisted to showcase their products at HICC Exhibition and around 30 companies demonstrated and presented their product before Jury.
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