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Indian outsourcing firm Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is ramping up its New Zealand operations, joining other South Asian tech giants in a rush for some big Kiwi ICT contracts.
The US$6 billion company has appointed former Sun Microsystems country manager John Mazenier to boost its local activity.
Last week, Infosys opened a Wellington office, while Tech Mahindra already has a large operation here delivering Telecom's new billing and CRM systems.
The other big Indian player on the local scene was Satyam, through an alliance with local firm Optimation. Satyam imploded spectacularly earlier this year after an accounting scandal and has now been bought by Tech Mahindra.
Even true blue US companies such as HP, through its Mphasis business unit, are adopting what they call an onshore/offshore model for delivery.
Varun Kapur, Tata's general manager for Australia and New Zealand says the appointment of Mazenier should not be considered a launch. TCS has been in New Zealand for 15 years, he says.
"New Zealand is part of a big jigsaw," he says.
Kapur says Tata's Australia and New Zealand business has been growing 70 percent year on year in 2008 and 2009 and even in the 2010 year is expected to hit double figures.
He says TCS has around 1,000 staff on the ground in Australia and New Zealand and another 1500 supporting them from abroad.
Clients include the New Zealand Stock Exchange, Woolworths, Australian energy company AGL and many banks, he says.
He says the appointement of Mazenier will allow the company to show its face more publicly.
"we've developed a sustainable business in Australia over the last three years and we want to duplicate that in New Zealand," he says.
Mazenier left Sun this year and joined integrator NSC in June. That company has picked up a number of staff from other firms that were undergoing takeovers, including Sun, which is being bought by Oracle, and EDS, which is now part of HP.
Mazenier say he helped NSC set up its local operation and to help affected Sun people migrate.
He says that was a transition phase and for the last two months he has been planting trees on a property north of Wellington.
Mazenier says he has been aware of TCS for a long time, but after beeing tapped on the shoulder he looked into the company more deeply.
"What amazes me is their scale and the emphasis on delivery," he says. "It's really a delivery organisation with massive capability."
He says there hasn't been a lot of "glitz and galmour" about the company's local activities, just a lot of delivery. He says his primary objective is to make people aware that TCS is in the market, targeting medium to large opportunities.
Computerworld asked whether impending projects such as the Joint Border Management project for Customs, or the Inland Revenue and Ministry of Social Development system replacements were part of the attraction.
"They are significant deals and you will see every local and regional integrator looking at those," he says.
Tata has delivered its TCS Bank Market infrastructure platform for use in the carbon market TZ1 and for the NZX, he says.
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