With NIIT Tech’s new fiscal year well and truly underway, my thoughts were on how best to update you, our valued customers and colleagues. There is news to share on what we’ve been doing in the year gone by, and perhaps more importantly, our plans for the future. So, it is with great pleasure that we announce the re-launch of the UK NIIT Newsletter.

We have had a busy time over the last couple of months, what with the usual frenetic pace of our year-end. The targets somehow seem larger as the year draws to a close. But more of the moans on another occasion.

The good news is that we have managed our existing client base and new business acquisition fairly well. Among others, I would like to highlight our partnership with De Agostini, the leading Partwork publisher, who provide a range of products that, when collected, build into a complete work of reference on a given subject. We also welcome on board SITA, the world's leading service provider of IT business solutions and communication services to the air transport industry. SITA now have a dedicated Offshore Development Centre (ODC) in New Delhi enabling them to deliver solutions to market with greater speed. I hope you enjoy reading the details behind the 2 new client acquisitions linked within this newsletter. I am encouraged that there have been many other client additions, details of which will become too long to share in this short space. In the meantime our current engagements with some of the largest names in UK in the airlines, retail and media space continue to provide growth and challenges in equal measure.

It’s been a busy time too for our marketing team as we focus on lead generation through co-branded events, initiating a UK focussed PR and Brand Build programme and starting our very own India based Inside Sales Team. Great to see that we have finally ‘walked the talk’. After all, we spend our careers selling ‘offshore’ based services to our clients and it is satisfying that we will now manage this most critical part of our sales cycle out of India.

At our HQ base in the UK, we have been expanding in all divisions of the business. The teams responsible for Business Development and Human Resources have expanded to reflect the importance we place on both client and employee delight. Growth at this rate means we have to look for additional office space to accommodate us all! There is talk of the Adecco JV moving into our offices in UK. With NSS, NIIT and now the Adecco JV, the Westfields office truly represents the group beachhead in UK.

On a personal note, I am excited by the initiatives NIIT Tech is taking in IT+BPO convergence, SaaS offerings and IP led sales strategies through our acquisition earlier of ROOM Solutions and now Softec. These are forward looking initiatives that ‘future proof’ NIIT Tech dominance in thought leadership in this industry, along with local alliances with solution providers in UK in the areas of business consulting (Crimson) and managed services (Phoenix), we are well prepared for 2008-09 and beyond. We will always be on the lookout for any initiative that we believe will add value to you, our most important constituencies.

I very much hope that you enjoy reading this edition of the newsletter. If you would like to contribute to the next edition, please do not hesitate to send your articles here. For us back at HQ, our targets for the coming year have now been distributed, and everyone knows what we are gunning for… so for now, we’ll get cracking, and I look forward to updating you again in the next edition…hopefully you will not have to wait long for it.

From all of us at NIIT Tech, UK, here is wishing you the very best for the times to come.

Ravi Pandey
Sr. VP and Head of UK BU