Pune.2

Spider Logic

At this point, our group had visited HCL, Deloitte, and Infosys, which were larger companies in the BPO sector.  Our first visit today was to Spider Logic, a firm that services the BPO sector...but goes about it in a slightly different manner.

Wipfli, a business consulting/accounting firm based out of Milwaukee, acquired Spider Logic to act as a software services arm.  Spider Logic's target market is smaller enterprises that need custom software packages tailored to their plans for growth.  The company prides itself on being more nimble as a result of its smaller size (it only had 25 employees at its Pune location).  It is engineering-centric and pays attention to the details of software design.  Below is a sample from our Q/A session:

How does Spider Logic develop enough industry-specific knowledge to service clients looking for tailored IT systems?  Right now, the company has lots of expertise in the insurance industry.  When approached by a client in another industry, and needs to gain more industry-specific expertise, Spider Logic does one of three things: (1) relies on parent company Wipfli to supply in-the-know consultants, (2) it employs it, or (3) IT DECLINES THE PROJECT!  Wow...this last one surprised me. According to our speaker, however, it afforded Spider Logic the ability to guarantee quality.

What are some aspirations that Spider Logic has for its future? Spider Logic aspires for an organic growth, expanding into new countries purely through reference from existing clients. It also hopes to remain extremely selective in their hiring, bringing on more senior employees that are referred to as "surgeons".  These "surgeons" are good at identifying the source of an IT glitch and "operating" in a way that fixes the problem.

I'm glad that we visited Spider Logic.  It's easy to associate of the IBMs and the Infosys with the overall IT BPO industry, but this visit reminded us that smaller players--such as Spider Logic--that serve a very specific market within this industry.