Over the years, as one looks at IT Inc. in India, standards have played a key role. In the early days it was things like ISO and CMM level 5 certification. Later it was CMMi and PCMM. Today it is the ability to source talent and provide predictable and high quality work that conforms to clearly defined SLAs. In addition to these types of standards there were engagement models like the onsite offshore model that played a role in allaying fears about requirement gathering. All this was done while providing the clients with clear visibility into their work in progress. This has worked well for applications development and BPO work. As these firms move into more value added consulting work, what are some emerging standards that need to be incorporated? I see couple of roles becoming important -- business analyst and enterprise architects. These resources would form the interface between the onsite and offshore groups. Early indications of this trend can be found in the hiring patterns of IT vendors and some recent acquisitions.