Arun Jethmalani, Managing Director, ValueNotes

[Back to About ValueNotes]

Arun graduated from IIT, Bombay and completed his MS from Duke University, NC. In his 26-year working career, Arun has advised technology start-ups; run an equity research firm; and advised some of India’s largest corporations on market entry strategies, feasibility and project financing.

Apart from consulting and research, he has been extensively published in leading magazines and newspapers, both online and offline. His weekly investment column, called 'Value for Money', published in the Economic Times, ran for almost ten years.

Arun is a regular speaker at technology, Internet, finance and outsourcing events; and has lectured at several educational institutions. He has been (and is) on the board of several companies, including American-owned captive BPOs in India and technology start-ups.

Q: Tell us about ValueNotes and the work that it does.
A: ValueNotes is an end-to-end provider of business intelligence, information, and research products & services. We operate at multiple points of the knowledge value chain to provide information, research, analytics, knowledge management and intelligence to a wide variety of users, and via multiple delivery mechanisms. Our customers include some of the leading global corporations, management consulting firms, research publishers, PE and VC firms, and money managers.

ValueNotes’ products and services are made available by different Business Units:

Custom Research: Provides a wide range of bespoke services in the areas of business and financial research & analysis about specific markets, industries, companies and competitive environments.

Outsourcing Practice: Produces Market Intelligence on the (Services) Outsourcing Industry. Reports, Profiles, Newsletters etc. are sold individually or as configurable subscription packages. The publishing activity also supports specific custom research or consulting, focused on outsourcing.
ValueNotes.com: Is a search engine and financial portal that aggregates research, news, information and independent third-party articles/analyses, primarily about Indian financial and equity markets.

Q: What is different about ValueNotes (& its business model)?
A: Our business model revolves around building deep knowledge in select domains, driven by publishing of original (proprietary) research and intelligence. This creates a strong differentiator and competitive advantage, and opens up new opportunities in the research value chain.

The ValueNotes Outsourcing Practice is one of the largest information providers on the outsourcing industry. Our Outsourcing Practice uses a comprehensive, analytical framework providing fresh insights into the fast emerging and yet, complex outsourcing space. We extensively track the sector through a regular analysis of news and events and continuous primary research and contact with the industry. Our portal, www.sourcingnotes.com, showcases some of our research related to the global outsourcing industry.

We are one of the very few research firms globally, that are focused on BPO• Our brand is well established and our research is widely quoted in highly reputed media including Time Magazine, Washington Post, International Herald Tribune, Economic Times, Business Standard, Business Line, etc.

Our continuing, in-depth, original research has helped us develop our own intellectual property in select domains like legal services, publishing, BFS, auto design, market research outsourcing, etc.

Q: What is the extent of research coverage done by you?
A: The current scope of research covers primarily BPO and knowledge services, as (or may soon be) practiced in the following industries: Banking & Financial Services, Insurance, Healthcare, Legal, Publishing, and Engineering – with an emphasis on knowledge services.

Our products include a range of off-the-shelf research products, including industry reports, company profiles, executive briefings, deal and contract tracking, etc. Custom services include Opportunity Assessment, Due Diligence / Partner Selection, Investment Appraisal, Competitive Intelligence, etc•

Research coverage includes information about the vendor community, buyer insights, evolving trends, and emerging opportunities in outsourcing. This continually updated intelligence is built on exhaustive primary research, and seeks to deliver actionable insights.

Q: How can outsourcing companies gain by using your research?
A: Companies engaged in outsourcing (buyers, service providers and advisors), can leverage our research in various ways:

Keep updated with the latest developments, trends and insights on their markets, customers and competitors.
They can use our intelligence/benchmarking services to help select and evaluate investment and partnership opportunities including acquisition targets
Reach out to buyers via credible, unbiased, third-party coverage in our various publications and products.
Make more informed decisions about choices of location, business model, investment, and strategic initiatives.

Q: What is your vision & road map for ValueNotes?
A: Our objective is to be the most highly respected and recognized Indian research brand globally. In doing this, we will be the Pre-eminent source of actionable business information worldwide, in our chosen areas of focus.

Recently, we launched subscription services for several verticals/service lines, which provide a regular feed of up-to-date research on an ongoing basis. This will be expanded to new verticals, service lines, and geographies - to achieve comprehensive coverage of BPO and knowledge services.

We will also make available to our customers, a greater variety and flexibility in delivery mechanisms for our research, in tune with advances in technology. We will facilitate various interactions to enable exchange of ideas amongst industry leaders. Our corporate education programme will enhance the quality of our customers’ in-house business and competitive intelligence.

Q: According to your research, what are the key trends in outsourcing of services?
A: There are numerous trends arising from multiple environmental and economic factors. Further, there are industry specific trends that may vary by vertical or service line. However, some broad trends fundamentally impact the services outsourcing business model. These are:

From cost arbitrage to business outcomes: The primary driver may still be cost reduction, but business value, availability of talent and global delivery capabilities are fast taking precedence. The buyer-vendor relationship is now evolving to the third level, to that of a “strategic partnership”. This will drive the shift from cost arbitrage and transactional relationships to outcome based engagements.

The inexorable move towards a global services supply chain: While global supply chains in manufacturing are now mature, this “industrialization” trend has still to play out completely in services.

Integrated deals with multiple services, providers and geographies: Deals are becoming more complex, often shared between providers across locations making integration (into the supply chain) a crucial success factor. Service providers will face challenges in working with their competitors, and in standardization.

Best of breed: Buyers will seek best-of-breed providers for specialized expertise and execution capabilities. This will provide opportunities for differentiated and specialized suppliers, in select domains. On the flip side, barriers to entry, especially for undifferentiated providers will rise.

Newer deals will be transformational in nature: They will encompass end-to-end solutions versus discrete services. The emphasis will shift from lower costs via labor arbitrage to greater efficiency or value creation as a result of finding newer ways to deliver services.

Technology Integration: Service delivery will become increasingly dependent on technology as a means to enhance efficiencies and transform processes.

Shift to Knowledge: The emergence of knowledge services will change the face of outsourcing and offshoring as we know it. This will work along multiple directions:

(a) A proliferation of new opportunities that are very different from the traditional BPO with emphasis on individual knowledge. Given the ubiquitous access to the Net, non-knowledge entry barriers are negligible for providers of these new services. We believe this will result in a burst of entrepreneurial activity in India and other developing economies.

(b) Secondly, knowledge will become embedded in every service offering, whether IT or BPO. And this will have multiple dimensions – process knowledge, domain knowledge, technology know-how or even knowledge of a specific skill. Creating, nurturing and protecting this knowledge will be one of the biggest challenges for service providers.

(c) This environment will drive unprecedented innovation in service delivery, and a resultant creation of IP.