If the Y2K had vitalized the Indian outsourcing scene unlike anything before, the E2K is going to do India even more good, according to outsourcing guru Thomas Friedman. India was the only country in the late 90s with enough talented professionals to adjust all the computers whose internal clocks were not equipped to handle Jan 1, 2000. That it was offering these services at a very reasonable price also helped boost the Indian IT scene. In fact, the Y2K episode in effect launched the Indian outsourcing industry as we see it today.

According to Thomas Friedman, E2K is a whopping new opportunity waiting around the corner to revitalize the Indian outsourcing arena. If you’re wondering what E2K means, Friedman has the answer – "E2K stands, in my mind, for all the energy programming and monitoring that thousands of global companies are going to be undertaking in the early 21st century to either become carbon neutral or far more energy efficient than they are today. India is poised to get a lot of this work."

Dell Inc. was the first in the IT sector to declare its intentions of becoming "carbon neutral" in its operations. Dell aims at reining in its greenhouse gas emissions and will then reduce, eliminate or equalize these outputs. With carbon tax legislation impending in the horizon, more and more companies will be headed in the same direction. Friedman dubs this the next big global business transformation. Each company’s carbon trail will have to be assessed, measured and compensatory actions will have to be set in place on an ongoing basis. India by virtue of its cost effective brain power will be in a position to take on the programming, data and back-office management of these operations.

Many Indian companies are already showing the foresight to capitalize on this situation. Ramalinga Raju of Satyam Computer Services points out, “My impression is that there is certainly a significant opportunity for Indian outsourcing companies. The precise size of that business will depend on the speed and scale at which the carbon neutral policies are adopted by the global companies.” The E2K market centers on the possibility of modernizing the entire energy infrastructure of a company. Nandan Nilekani of Infosys Technologies points out, “Making your company carbon neutral is not a date, but it is an inevitability. E.T. (energy technology) can be used to reduce material costs, simplify logistics, drive down electricity charges and shorten supply chains.” I.B.M is another company positioning itself for this market. Indians are deriving a strategy whereby E2K positioning is seen not as a new cost to enhance brands or meet regulations but rather a tactical move to make money and strike a competitive edge. Indian companies are themselves installing solar systems and other energy efficient systems at their campuses.