As the IT industry's digital revenues reached $33 billion in 2018, clocking a 30 per cent year-on-year growth, 36 per cent of the CEOs of IT/ITeS companies voted for digital deals to drive growth in 2019, as per a NASSCOM survey.
Although the industry lobby outlined all evolving trends in the digital space, it fell short of defining what constituted 'digital' for the sector.
IT services companies have been calling out their digital revenues without service line break-ups, but an apple-to-apple comparison eludes us without industry standardisation. NASSCOM President Debjani Ghosh says companies are willing to share data, but arriving at a consensus on what constitutes 'digital' revenues will be a Herculean task.
But why are we bothered? The answer is, unless companies voluntarily disclose the break-up of digital revenues or the component itself is standardised, evaluating the real 'digital growth' of the IT industry will remain a mirage.