Company: LUMLEY TECHNOLOGY
State: NEW SOUTH WALES
Sector: INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Lumley Technology Limited is an independent Australian subsidiary of
the international insurance and financial services group, Lumley
Corporation. Lumley Technology offers clients in the insurance funds
management and collision and repair industries a comprehensive service
supplying leading edge software systems and packages designed to enhance
business operations and performance. Established in 1972, its Sydney head
office has approximately 120 staff.
Despite having heard of major developments in the Indian IT industry
through the mid and late 1990s, Lumley Technology did not seriously
consider relocating any programming work there until 1998 when it
discovered many major international companies were outsourcing to Indian
IT firms. With two small Indian software firms, it decided to bring Indian
software engineers to Australia. Although this program was a success in
terms of its output and objectives, Lumley Technology found it made
minimal cost savings.
Consequently, from early 1999, the company investigated establishing
software development operations in India. After some research and
discussion with various state governments, Lumley Technology established
an office in HI-TEC City in Hyderabad (Andhra Pradesh). Lumley Technology
India, a subsidiary of Lumley Technology Australia, was officially opened
in March 2000. In addition to an Australian manager, about 49 Indian
software engineers, technical writers and support workers staff Lumley
Technology India.
Lumley Technology India is now an important part of Lumley
Technology's programming and testing processes in developing new
software. As their experience builds, the Australian parent company
intends to move more design and development work there.
Lumley Technology concedes that despite the innovative approach the
Andhra Pradesh Government took to attract their business, India can be a
difficult place to do business. Red tape and official paperwork related to
business registration, customs and excise and labour laws abound. Despite
this, Lumley Technology remains very positive about its future prospects
in India. The company believes its Indian operation offers the opportunity
of improving Lumley Technology' s returns and human capital as well as
expanding its opportunities to supply products and services to markets in
India, East Asia, Europe and the United States. This bodes very well for
the future of its Indian operations.
Source: Lumley Technology, 2001.