Mr. Dhume emphasized the need for offering the right kind of service, a balance of skills and resources. He said: "We cannot start with somebody fresh off the block. There has to be proven execution, a track record. There will be problems along the way, but it is important that things should be worked out in a mutually beneficial way."

Mr. Craig Allen, of KPMG LLP, said that his organization helped companies to set up operations here. Companies must keep in mind the tax situation, and the best ways to structure corporations, production facility and sales office. He said there are a host of different issues that come into play when starting up here, and KPMG LLP help out with corporate labor law. He said the key was to have the skills to make the company grow. There has to be a solid business plan. Also show that you are able to deliver the goods. That you have some kind of established reputation or track record.

"Obviously, if you have a track record, that�s the best thing. Without that, you must have a clear-cut business plan indicating how you expect to fulfill the client�s need, how you expect to generate revenues."

Rakesh Dawar, Regional Manager of Tata Consultancy Services, said that over the past year TCS had seen that there is a major requirement to have people locally present in the US, not only at the client site but also offsite. He said the trend today is for e-business. The timescale has gone from months and years to days and weeks. For that reason, there�s a lot of pressure to have people right there on site, either shoulder to shoulder with the team or somewhere else outside the client�s premises.

"To penetrate any one of these markets one needs not only to have credentials and references from clients but also to have some sort of processes. You need to have mature processes in place," Mr. Dawar said.

TCS has also tied up with universities, which was another way to penetrate the market. "There�s a lot of intellectual work going on in universities today. They don�t have the ability or funds available to try out their ideas, so it is organizations like us who partner many universities. We have tied up with universities and set up common R&D labs here as well as in India."

Mr. Dawar emphasized the importance of building a good relationship. "The key to success is relationships. You can derail it easily by setting wrong expectations of the client. When we go into an account, we must be honest about what we have and what we don�t have. What the company can offer in terms of skills and capabilities. If that is set up right from the beginning, then things will go smoothly. If your client has not worked in an offshore company previously then the onus lies on us to make them aware how these processes work. Make them understand what the pitfalls are and how we can handle them. If those things are all brought out clearly upfront, there�s no reason why a relationship should go sour."

Mr. Dawar added that it was also important to understand American culture and to be able to offer people who understand that. Not only technical skills, communication skills are also extremely important. "In Texas there is a saying that people do business with people they like. People are very conservative here, so first thing is you�ve got to make them like you. There are times when you will have problems with your projects but you should be able to manage those, to react to it the way the client wants you to."

Mr. Anil Sahai, Marketing Director of Scicom Americas, said his company�s focus was on the technical and scientific marketplace. The IIS (International Informatics Solutions) group of companies was formed in 1989. The chairman, Saurabh Srivastava, is also founder and chairperson of NASCOM.

"Our niche area at Scicom is technical and scientific computing. We do a lot of work for mainframe clients using their own mainframe. Our requirement really is for people in the scicom area -- which is quite a big area over here -- who have a mathematical or computational background. We train them in India for offshore projects and then after they gain at least two years� experience, if the client has an onsite requirement, get them to work on their project. But our forte is mainly doing projects offshore," Mr. Sahai said.

Mr. Sahai thought it was very important for Indian companies to obtain quality certification. "If you are competing with TCS or Satyam, who have the quality certification, if somebody has achieved that quality, smaller Indian companies will find it very tough. The only other way is to have a solid reference or proof of your having delivered projects on time and on budget."

Mr. Slocum said he frequently got calls from services providers. "The question I ask is what makes your company different from everybody else�s? As far as relationships are concerned, we try to make sure our vendors do everything they�re supposed to do. The other thing is to ensure that we at BMC do our share. After all, I want the partnership to be as successful as the vendor does."

Mr. Sahai added: "Some of the clients in companies I deal with are demanding much more than just software development. They want us to do software development, then move on to maintenance, product enhancement and finally support. We from India are supporting sites worldwide. If Indonesia has a problem, somebody from India handles that rather than someone in their own company. So we have all to be total solution providers."

Mr. Ashoke Nath drew attention to a point made by Mr. Dawar regarding making contact with educational institutions. "That is important. That is the ideal place to get a lot of ideas worked out and to get a lot of ideas."

Mr. Sudhir Desai of Compaq said that Indians today have achieved tremendous visibility, not just as dotcom entrepreneurs but in several fields.

"For the last couple of years the window of opportunity has been tremendous," he said. "The market is phenomenal. And it continues to grow. Compaq�s annual growth rate is still 18 to 20% and there are sectors within that which are growing even more phenomenally. Every few years we have a revolution. A couple of years ago, e-business was the hot term and it opened up a huge number of services opportunities.

"I think this is a phenomenal time to be in services in customer applications. There is a genuine problem here of a shortage of skills. What we have stepped up to do from India is a phenomenal thing. Everybody recognizes the tremendous pool of talent that we have got. So that again is a genuine opportunity. Shortage of manpower is a genuine problem. Services companies are the need of the hour. So, on one side of the picture is very rosy. The economy continues to grow. There is clearly an opportunity for all of us. The question is what is the next step? How do you build on that opportunity, what do you do with that opportunity?

"Some of you might be big enough to command attention but others of you might have to complement or supplement someone else�s IT. At Compaq we work with several partners. Even we, who could be self-sufficient, are not self-sufficient. We partner with a lot of different people. One of the earlier value propositions for Indian companies was cost, they were cheaper. That may still be the case to some extent but people are moving on and doing different things. Today, relationships are critical.

"America is not one country. We all speak the same language but there are vast differences and you have to be conscious of those differences. In the South, for example, things are very different from the way they are in the Northeast. Relationships are extremely important here in the South. Trust is very important here, in services. They want to know you, they want to be able to say �I went to somebody I could trust�. Part of doing successful business here is relationships.

"Several of my friends in business in India tend to spread themselves very thin. They have a directory of North American businesses, but it�s impossible to build business that way. Though there are tremendous opportunities, the challenges are no different from those anywhere else. You guys have the additional challenge of being thousands of miles away. Depending on your size, your scope, how deep your pockets are and how strong your presence is, you have to push your strategy," Mr. Desai said.

Q: What are the opportunities for associating with Compaq?

Desai: We are looking at partners every day. You have to ask the question �What do they look for in a partner?� The criteria are simple, there is no set prescription. You need to build the contacts, be responsive, initiate a relationship. Making that initial investment does take time.

In his vote of thanks and roundup, Mr. Ahluwalia said: "We will try to help as much as we can. The Chamber is here to help the community, to help India and Houston do business together and I wish you all success."