Tata joins Indian rush for NZ business

John Mazenier, former Sun country manager, charged with boosting local operations

By Rob O’Neill, Computerworld, Auckland | Wednesday, 16 December 2009
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.

Read more at Computerworld.