Wednesday, November 30, 2005

BBC Finance to Outsource Support Operations

BBC Finance, the financial arm of the British broadcasting group, has announced a series of cost reduction measures including outsourcing of specific services, in order to plough back the savings into programming.

The move, expected to begin in 2006-2007, includes a number of steps including the creation of a Finance Center at the BBC headquarters, adoption of simpler business procedures, reduction in terminal trading along with the outsourcing of about 40 positions to a third party service provider.

The division is aiming at reducing the number of posts in the division from the current 650 to 310 in 2006-20007, and to about 260 by 2007-2008. The move, as per official, estimates is expected to contribute about GBP 20 million in savings to BBC Finance.
BBC officials said that the cost savings from the series of measures would be invested back to improve the content of broadcasts.

Thursday, November 24, 2005



Lloyds TSB Awards 5 Yr BPO Svcs Contract to Xansa

Lloyds TSB, the UK-based banking conglomerate, has selected Xansa, a UK-based BPO services firm, to provide customized back office services. The new contract, which will hold for five years, expands the portfolio of back-office services currently being provided by Xansa to Lloyds.

The contract service will help Lloyds to improve its customer services and better its competitiveness. The selection of Xansa is made as its services matched the quality standard, productivity requirements and cost efficiency.
EDS to Pay GBP 71.25M to HMRC for Faulty IT System

EDS, the UK-based IT services provider, has negotiated a settlement with Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs (HMRC), the revenue department of the UK, regarding the compensation for certain irregularities in IT system developed by EDS for HMRC. The settlement will be concluded with payments totaling GBP 71.25 million.

EDS had developed an IT system for HMRC to support the 2003 launch and subsequent operation of Tax Credits. HMRC claimed that because of the faulty IT system it incurred substantial losses. The specific terms of the settlement agreement are confidential and the settlement does not impact previously stated EDS’ estimates for 4Q 2005.


India and China Most Lucrative Outsourcing Destinations: AT Kearney

AT Kearney, a US-based management consultancy, has released an Annual Global Services Location Index, assessing 40 outsourcing locations across the world. The index places India and China followed by South-East Asian countries as the top outsourcing destinations.

India and China lead the index. India’s lead over China is still very large but has slightly reduced as compared to 2004. The wage inflation in India and increased competition are cited as the reasons for the reduction of the lead. China, with its improved infrastructure is well placed to target IT and back-office support market for East Asian countries namely Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore. The Southeast Asian countries continued to be lucrative destinations. Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand are placed between third and sixth positions successively. Thailand grossed a considerable leap from thirteenth position in 2004 to sixth in 2005. Indonesia entered the index at thirteenth.

For the first time, the annual AT Kearney index has also assessed low-cost cities in four developed countries as probable outsourcing locations. The US city of San Antonio was ranked at eleventh whereas Belfast in the UK was ranked twenty-eighth in a list of 40 destinations. Leipzig and Marseille representing Germany and France respectively were placed at thirty-first and thirty-fifth position.

The status of traditional Central and East European outsourcing destinations namely, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland witnessed slight decline, according to the index. The new entrants, belonging to the region, are Bulgaria, Slovakia and Romania. Russia remained the least attractive destination placed at the bottom of the Index.

In Latin America, Chile improved its ranking slightly whereas Brazil, Mexico, Costa Rica and Argentina have fallen. The main reason for this fall is attraction of South Eastern countries. Mexico and Costa Rica have improved their standing by two index positions each.
Finally, the index also reflected a strong performance by several countries of the Middle East and Africa. Egypt is ranked twelfth, Jordan at fourteenth and the United Arab Emirates at twentieth. Tunisia, Morocco and Egypt have emerged with their stress on their Spanish and French language skills combined technical proficiency as a unique selling point. Turkey and South Africa have not performed as well as the rest of the region because of the relatively high costs.

Tuesday, November 22, 2005



OPI Opens New Service Center in India

Outsource Partners International (OPI), a US-based financial services BPO firm, has opened a new service center in the Southern Indian city of Cochin (Kochi).
The center is the company’s second service center in the country.
Currently, OPI’s facility in Bangalore, India, employs about 600 associates. The new facility can accommodate 2,000 associates. According to OPI, the expansion will help the company to support its rapid growth. The company estimates that its current backlog of orders is likely to command about half of the new capacity.

Monday, November 21, 2005



BBC Shortlists Three Bidders for HRO Services

The BBC has selected three bidders in its final shortlist for a potential HR outsourcing partner. Accenture, the US-based outsourcing services provider, Capita, the UK-based outsourcing firm and Xchanging, another UK-based BPO services provider, are the three bidders.

According to BBC, the three firms are selected because of their strategic and service delivery capability. Over the next few months, the BBC will work with the selected bidders and announce the winning bid early next year.
The final HR outsourcing partner will be required to undertake the responsibility for recruitment, remuneration, development, HR administration services, relocation, and occupational health and disability access services. The broadcaster has further clarified that they would prefer one contract partner for all of the services. However, subject to the BBC commercial advantages and service quality concerns, they may award more than one contract.

Wednesday, November 16, 2005

TCS : Awake and Hungry

DTCC Partners with TCS to Revamp its Financial Processing Systems

The US Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) has partnered with TCS, an Indian IT consultancy and services firm, to transform its securities underwriting and corporate actions processing systems for the US financial services industry.

Currently, there are 60 separate underwriting and corporate actions legacy systems followed by DTCC. The partnership aims to integrate all the systems on one platform to streamline processing, improve efficiency, reduce costs and induce flexibility.

The revamp program will be conducted in several phases. Preliminary testing phase for the underwriting component is scheduled for the end of 2006. The corporate action component is planned for launch in 2009. The new platform will uphold ISO 15022 messaging formats. In 2004, DTCC processed underwriting distributions worth USD 3.1 trillion in and corporate actions worth USD 2.3 trillion.

Tuesday, November 15, 2005



TCS, SBI Team to Provide Financial Services

TCS, the Indian IT consultancy and services provider, has announced the formation of a joint venture with the State Bank of India (SBI), a state owned banking and financial services company. The joint venture, to be known as C-Edge Technologies, aims to provide technology solutions and domain consulting to the banking and financial services sector.

While the equity participation from TCS and SBI will be in the ratio of 51:49, the entity will have an authorized capital of INR 400 million. The joint venture will leverage domain and technology capabilities of the two parent companies.
The announcement marks new step in TCS’ strategy to develop specialized banking and financial BPO services. Recently, TCS has acquired Comicrom, a Chilean BPO with major interests in pensions and banking sector, and FNS, an Australian banking products company. Also, in October 2005, TCS had entered into exclusive discussions with UK’s Pearl Group to takeover its pension business segment.
EquaTerra to Merge with TPI

EquaTerra, a US-based outsourcing advisory firm, and TPI, a US-based sourcing lifecycle advisory firm, have entered an agreement to merge. The merger may be viewed as a collaboration of expertise to provide services across all geographies and all business support functions. The merger is expected to close by January 2006.

According to the two companies, the deal will position them well to respond to increasing demand for strategic, cross-enterprise outsourcing and shared services advice. The new firm will have 550 employees in the Americas, Europe, and Asia-Pacific.
EquaTerra singularly concentrates on providing outsourcing and insourcing advisory and research services. TPI provides for sourcing lifecycle advisory services, including strategy design, implementation and sourcing management.

Monday, November 14, 2005



Morocco to be French & Spanish BPO Destination - McKinsey

McKinsey, in one of its latest reports, has assessed Morocco to fast emerge as an outsourcing destination of choice for European companies looking at servicing French and Spanish clients.

The study claims that, between 2003 and 2018, outsourcing business could add 0.3 percent annually to the country’s GDP growth, reduce its international trade deficit by around 35 percent, and create a total of around 100,000 new jobs.

The consulting firm also claims that the BPO industry can offer large scale investment and employment opportunities to help offset the downturn in its traditional sectors like textiles and food processing. McKinsey considered a number of factors including the impact of globalization on the value chain and also benchmarked the country against 11 others before concluding on the opportunities offered by the BPO sector.

The prime factor making the country appealing is the availability of low cost and abundant labor resource. Other factors include its geographic proximity to France, and better telecommunications infrastructure. The report asks Morocco to capitalize on its strong position against competitors such as Mauritius, Senegal, and Tunisia.

Currently, the country's outsourcing market, with an estimated turnover of EUR 85 million, includes 50 mostly small providers that are expected to employ a total of about 10,000 people by the end of 2005. Morocco has already captured almost half of the call centers market servicing predominantly French-speaking companies. Recently, Telefónica, a Spanish telecom operator, had established a captive call center in northern Morocco, where Spanish is the second language.

Further, the report has stated that for further progress, the country should focus its efforts on 10 to 12 niches within selected BPO and IT functions.



Hewitt Reveals Rohm and Haas as HR Outsourcing Client

Hewitt, the US-based HR services firm, has announced that it has been delivering HR outsourcing services to Rohm and Haas, a US-based special materials manufacturer. Rohm and Haas was signed as an anonymous client of Hewitt HR outsourcing services in July 2005. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Hewitt began with the transition of payroll, HR service center, leave administration and tuition reimbursement from Rohm and Haas. The move was required to start the delivery of outsourced HR services to more than 12,000 Rohm and Haas employees in the US and Canada. The contract is an extension to the benefits outsourcing services that Hewitt has been providing to Rohm and Haas since 1993.

Sunday, November 13, 2005


Motorola Selects General Physics to Provide Outsourced Training and Vendor Management Services

Global performance improvement solutions provider General Physics Corporation (GP), a subsidiary of GP Strategies Corporation (NYSE:GPX), today announced that Motorola (NYSE:MOT) has selected GP to provide outsourced training and vendor management services. Under the terms of this major agreement, GP will select and manage training suppliers for Motorola to meet its workforce development needs in North America. When and where applicable, GP will also provide its own training expertise, web-based tools and automated processes to Motorola employees.

As part of this performance-based contract, GP is provided with incentives to procure and deliver training at reduced costs and is charged with leveraging its expertise to improve upon the significant returns already achieved by Motorola through its historic training investments.

"Our relationship with Motorola is a reflection of our strategy to help clients optimize the value of their training investment," said Scott Greenberg, GP's Chief Executive Officer. "We are proud to be affiliated with such a leader in corporate training, and we look forward to sharing in the benefits we expect to deliver to Motorola and its employees as we leverage our expertise to improve upon an already world-class training program."

Mr. Greenberg concluded, "This agreement continues to validate GP's position in the expanding area of Training Business Process Outsourcing. Through solid execution and delivery of value, we believe our relationship with Motorola will serve as a model for future BPO opportunities with our customers."


About GP

GP is the principal operating subsidiary of GP Strategies Corporation (NYSE:GPX). GP is a global performance solutions provider of training and e-Learning solutions, management consulting and engineering services. GP's solutions improve the effectiveness of organizations by delivering innovative and superior training, consulting and business improvement services, customized to meet the specific needs of its clients. Clients include Fortune 500 companies, manufacturing, process and energy industries, and other commercial and government customers.


Additional information may be found at www.gpworldwide.com

Saturday, November 12, 2005

BPO Creativity Vs Cost !

According to a study by the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA), offshore outsourcing has a positive affect on the US economy by lowering production costs for IT vendors which in turn has a positive effect on product costs for consumers. The net result is a lower rate of inflation. The study finds offshore outsourcing as a 'net positive for American workers and the US economy.' The study, conducted by Global Insight, further adds that the economic benefits derived from offshore outsourcing will create as many as 337,000 jobs by 2010. The new jobs will be over and above the number of jobs lost as a result of offshoring. The study also concludes that offshore outsourcing not only results in local wage raise but also contributes positively to the GDP. Offshore outsourcing, as per the study, will contribute to a USD 0.06 increase in US hourly wages in 2005 and about USD 0.12 by 2010.

However, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers-USA (IEEE-USA) has contested the study pointing that it has failed to take into consideration a number of sensitive factors like national security and that of the country's leadership in the field of innovation. According to IEEE-USA, the continued dependence on offshoring would result in the US losing its edge in developing new weapon systems and IT products. IEEE officials further added that the assumption that displaced workers are absorbed back into the working population was misplaced. As per a US Bureau of Labor Statistics survey, released in July 2004, out of 5.3 million workers who lost their jobs between January 2001 and December 2003, only 65 percent were re-employed by January 2004. The body also finds the increase in the number of H1B visas to have a detrimental affect on the local workers.

Thursday, November 10, 2005


WNS Acquires Trinity Partners

WNS, an Indian BPO firm, has acquired Trinity Partners, a US-based IT business solution provider to financial institutions. The acquisition will lead to formation of WNS Trinity Mortgage Services, a BPO firm specializing in mortgage outsourcing.

The deal also transfers all the contracts of Trinity, including a USD 60 million contract with First Magnus Financial, to WNS. WNS Trinity Mortgage Services will deliver lead qualification, loan setup and processing, risk management, post-closing, document indexing, quality control services. The company stated that the move will enable it to improve its market presence in the financial services vertical.
Outsourcing should be Core to Business Strategy - Study

According to a recent Gartner report, outsourcing has become an integral part of usual business practice. However, the report claims that many organizations employ outsourcing services without a clear and coordinated strategy. The report calls for a new approach of “Multisourcing” to maximize the benefit from outsourcing.
The research firm has highlighted several ways to transform the outsourcing strategy. Firstly, decisions pertaining to outsourcing should be a part of the core business strategy. In most organization outsourcing decisions are made separately and thus very often culminate into incompatible relationships. Secondly, all outsourced services should be coordinated with other in-house business practices to maximize the benefit. Lastly, the outsourcing relationships should not be considered static partnerships. Dynamism in the relationship with the provider will help in customizing the service to specific needs.
The study proposes that a new perspective in dealing with outsourcing will improve the utility of outsourcing as a tool. As an increasing number of companies are using outsourcing, its strategic handling becomes an important aspect of business.

for more visit www.Gartner .com

Wednesday, November 09, 2005

TCS Acquires Chile’s Comicrom for $23M

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), the Indian IT services and consultancy provider, has acquired Comicrom, a Chilean banking and pensions BPO provider, for USD 23 million. TCS has also acquired the IT services subsidiary of Comicrom with which it has an ongoing joint-venture.

Comicrom has a workforce of 1,257 and reported revenues of USD 35.5 million for FY 2005. The company is a leading player in the local banking BPO business with a 57 percent market share in the check processing business. About 70 percent of the operating banks are its customers.

The acquisition is a part of TCS' strategy of developing vertically integrated, specialized BPO offerings. Recently, TCS had signed an agreement with UK-based Pearl Group to manage its pension business segment. Also, along the same strategy, TCS had acquired FNS, an Australian financial services provider, to strengthen its presence in banking support business domain.


for more check www.tcs.com
IBM to Acquire Indian NetSol

IBM has announced its decision to acquire NetSol, an Indian IT services firm. The deal is expected to be between USD 75 million to USD 100 million. After the closing of the deal, which is expected in a month, NetSol will function as a subsidiary of IBM.

NetSol has a 1,400 strong workforce in India and supplies both IT infrastructure hardware and IT management services. The company is expected to grow at around 30 percent in the current fiscal year.

The acquisition will enable IBM, which is increasingly outsourcing its mid-market infrastructure services operations to India, to better service its data center and on-demand services clientele. The acquisition will also help IBM to consolidate its position in the wake of increased Indian domestic demand for infrastructure services.
No Easy Road for Philippine BPO Business – Study

According to a study by McKinsey Global Institute, Philippines, an emerging outsourcing destination, has to take some crucial steps to improve its competitiveness against established destinations such as India.

The institute predicts the offshore services market to create an additional 2.6 million jobs at various offshore locations including the Philippines. As per the study, the country offered around USD 1.7 billion worth of offshore services in 2003 and currently employs close to 100,000 people. The cost-reduction along with a higher density of skilled labor pool are the two most important factors in favor of region.

However, the study cautions that the country has been able to tap only a fraction of the global outsourcing market despite these credentials because of several adverse reasons. Prime among them is the poor risk profile of the country along with other reasons like frequent natural disasters, security threats, and data theft incidents. The lack of third-party vendors is also seen as a major hindering factor.
The report highlights that a supporting government and facilitating legal framework may augur well for the Philippines outsourcing sector as these will the country to successfully tap the cost conscious global outsourcing market.

Friday, November 04, 2005



DuPont (NYSE: DD) and Convergys Corporation (NYSE: CVG), a global leader in providing customer care, human resources, and billing services, announced today they have signed a contract under which Convergys will provide comprehensive Human Resources (HR) transactional services to DuPont’s 60,000 employees and 102,000 retirees in 70 countries and 30 languages around the world.

Convergys expects this contract to generate revenues in excess of $1.1 billion over its thirteen-year duration. DuPont expects to realize a 20 percent productivity improvement as services transition to Convergys, increasing to 30 percent after 5 years.

Convergys is the leader in developing global HR business process outsourcing solutions. Convergys will provide DuPont with a comprehensive suite of HR transactional services such as Organization & Employee Development, Workforce Planning & Deployment, Compensation Management, Benefits Administration, Payroll, Integrated Health Services, Recruiting, Employee & Labor Relations, HR Process Support Administration, Work Environment Support, Performance Management, Employee Data Management, Vendor Management, and HR consultative services. Deloitte Consulting, LLP will team with Convergys to support the implementation. Convergys will implement, host, and maintain a state-of-the-art HR information system for DuPont allowing for greater efficiencies, better service, and lower costs. The implementation is expected to take about two years.

"We are extremely impressed by the breadth and scope of the HR services we will be receiving as part of this agreement with Convergys," said Jim Borel, DuPont senior vice president, global Human Resources. "Convergys brings best-in-class global services to its clients, and DuPont will benefit from increased business performance through improved efficiency, reduced administrative costs, and better utilization of strategic workforce information. DuPont will be able to utilize world-class employee and manager self-service tools as well as state-of-the-art service centers located around the globe."

Borel continued: "Convergys is the right partner to enable the transformation of our HR transactional services by standardizing, simplifying, leveraging, and automating a number of our HR processes."

"DuPont is a recognized global business leader and one of the world’s most innovative companies. Convergys looks forward to supporting DuPont’s global employee base by delivering real value through a comprehensive suite of HR services and local support," said Jim Orr, Chairman and CEO of Convergys. "We’re pleased to have won DuPont’s confidence and look forward to a strong partnership."

For over 20 years Convergys has provided HR solutions to the world’s leading organizations including Office Depot, Avaya, Textron, Bristol-Myers Squibb, and Fifth Third Bancorp. Convergys helps companies improve their HR management processes, operations, and service delivery models. Convergys is outthinking and outdoing [tm] on behalf of its clients every day.


for more check www.Convergys.com