"CSC has loaded a wide-range of service in the outsourcing package. Beginning with consultancy, strategies on mergers and acquisitions, various market strategies, IT consultancy, ERP implementation and project management including Y2K," said company vice-president W Brinson Weeks. The corporation plans to set up a joint venture company for India, he said, but refused to divulge details about the partner. CSC also plans to tie-up with Indian computer education institutions. This, in effect, would allow the company to leverage on trained manpower for its forthcoming ventures. The fact that the country has vast resources in this area would be a major boost for CSC's future plans, Weeks said.

The obvious fact is that domesticsoftware programmers would substantially reduce manpower cost for the company, he said. On the infotech front, he said CSC offers software development, total system development and assistance in streamlining operations.

On the importance of outsourcing, he said it ensures an enhanced performance, keeping a company state-of-the-art and improving project management and efficiency.

CSC believes in leveraging the value of knowledge, he said. The company aims at blending skills so as to provide total business solutions. This could allow CSC to orchestrate and integrate the elements of business change thereby providing an efficient MIS network, he added.

On the financial front, globally the company services clients like JP Morgan, GE Capital and Merrill Lynch. It focuses on insurance and banking administration, credit card and payment systems, credit solutions and distribution management systems. CSC also caters to insurance majors like Washington National Insurance, Colonial Penn and Zurich-AmericanInsurance. "These companies made major strides in reducing cycle time, increased productivity and formed a low-cost structure," Weeks added.

On the information-technology front, CSC has assisted global majors in areas like majors/acquisition integration, dataprocessing on-site and remote and technology planning and transformation. Discounting the south-east Asian crisis, he said the company remained bullish about India. Given the remarkable growth rate of 64 per cent compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) which the Indian infotech industry achieved, CSC will not find difficult to establish a toe-hold in this region. Moreover, increased benefits given to the software industry in the recent Exim policy would be an added incentive for companies like CSC to enter the country.