In the first phase of expansion, Wipro had tapped cities like –
Delhi, Mumbai, and Bangalore

In the second phase it had tapped cities like –
Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, and Pune.

Now Wipro is looking at the third phase of expansion
Nasik, Guwahati, Bhubaneshwar, Kochin, Vishakhapattanam, and Jaipur.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wipro’s employee strength of key delivery centers in India:
[Delhi and Pune: - ~3,000; Kolkata: ~2,900; Mumbai: ~5,000 ]

With established centers close to saturation point, it was logical to stabilize them and look at new cities. Wipro already recruits a lot from satellite towns for its Kolkata operations. The ratio of ‘met to offer’ to ‘fit’ candidates had declined from 15-16 per cent earlier in cities like Delhi or Mumbai, to 8-10 per cent currently in the big cities. In smaller towns, the ratio was lower.

Wipro preferred to have people on board who would stay on for longer periods and one way to do this was to ensure they started off with realistic expectations from the industry. Attrition rates fell 40 per cent since last year thanks to this. At the same time, Wipro developed incentive schemes, with around 200 employees going to offshore operations, and around 400 shifting from BPO to IT. The company today provided personal growth opportunities to deserving employees including on-going education while on the job. Candidates below internal criteria in some way or the other received training in skill-deficit areas and were absorbed if they cleared tests.

Kolkata was a leading training centers. Kolkata as a centre grew at 100 per cent over last year. Wipro would add 500 recruits in the coming six months. One of the major advantages of Kolkata was that it attracted talent from satellite towns like Jamshedpur, Ranchi, Bhubaneshwar, and eastern Indian cities.

Globalization Changing Service Delivery Models for Organizations’ Business Processes – EquaTerra

Globalization is rapidly forcing a paradigm shift in G2000 organizations’ delivery models for their core business and information technology (IT) functions, as per EquaTerra perspective paper titled, ‘How to Design and Optimize Global Service Delivery Models’. These delivery models are becoming increasingly global themselves, and encompass a mix of internal and external delivery options including domestic shared services centers, offshore captive centers, and local, nearshore, and offshore outsourcing.

Virtually all functions within an organization – including IT, human resources, finance and accounting, procurement, call center, engineering, research and development, logistics services, research and analytics, clinical trials, and legal – contain some processes that could be optimized if delivered via an external captive, offshore or outsourced delivery model.

Thus, according to the paper, the question for today’s leading organizations is not whether a global service delivery model is needed, but rather, how to design, deploy and manage such a model. Given the plethora of in-house and third-party delivery alternatives, corporations must address how to assess, prioritize, execute on and exploit the breadth of options to achieve the desired outcomes. The paper also identifies the value achieved when organizations move beyond a focus on just cost reduction or labor arbitrage, and include an increased emphasis on multi-pronged service delivery models to achieve process improvement and transformation.

Said paper co-authors Cliff Justice, EquaTerra’s Managing Director of Globalization, and Stan Lepeak, EquaTerra’s Managing Director of Research, ‘Today’s buyers must understand their global options and opportunities for enterprise-wide delivery of a broad range of functions and process areas. They must also assess their organization’s unique needs in terms of what benefits they seek, which service providers and geographic locations to add to their short list when outsourcing, how to prepare a retained organizational model to govern the effort, and how to undertake outsourcing and still support various regulatory compliance mandates.’

According to the paper, organizations must address many topics when developing and implementing a global service delivery model, including:

Firstly, a process to determine which business and/or IT functions are suitable for and should be outsourced beyond local providers and boundaries, as well as those that should be managed via domestic or offshore captive shared services centers. Secondly, what the business case is – including expected benefits – and how to measure achievements for a specific outsourcing scenario. Thirdly, a risk profile to identify and assess the additional potential risks involved (e.g., financial, personnel, regulatory, compliance, data privacy, intellectual property, negative public relations) in offshore and outsourcing models. In addition, processes to identify, vet, assess and select candidate service providers and service locations and geographies. Lastly, a retained organization and outsourcing governance model capable of supporting global sourcing efforts.

The paper also discusses how service providers are addressing the growing need for global service delivery capabilities, how to design a global services governance model, and graphically depicts how a services delivery model answers the questions of what work gets done, by whom, and how.

via:GlobalSourcingNow

RR Donnelley on Expansion Move in India

RR Donnelley & Sons, an Illinois-headquartered print and BPO service provider, has announced the opening of a 1,000-seater BPO delivery center in India at the Technopark Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. The new BPO facility will focus on delivering transaction processing and financial management services to the US and European clients. The company already has a BPO facility in the city with 500 professionals. In addition, the company’s Chennai-based Indian facility employs more than 4,500 professionals. It will continue to focus on offering non-voice BPO services. RR Donnelley specializes in delivering solutions in commercial printing, direct mail, financial printing, logistics, call centers, and content and database management to clients across several industries, such as publishing, healthcare, and technology.

Hewitt Associates has announced its decision to acquire RealLife HR to strengthen its benefits outsourcing services and solutions portfolio for middle-market companies. The transaction is expected to be concluded by end-August 2007. According to the acquisition, Hewitt will acquire RealLife HR's existing 35 clients with about 15,000 employees and/or retirees. The RealLife HR's clients will also have access to Hewitt's outsourcing and consulting services portfolio as part of the transaction. Post-acquisition, about 85 professionals and the facility of RealLife HR in Maryland will be transferred to Hewitt.

HOUSTON & LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--EquaTerra has acquired Morgan Chambers, creating the market leading independent sourcing advisory firm.

As EquaTerra and Morgan Chambers are, respectively, the world's number one and number two top ranking Full Service Outsourcing and Offshoring Advisors(1), the acquisition creates the advisory firm of choice for organisations seeking to improve their business and IT processes through shared services, outsourcing and offshoring.

The collective teams will provide unrivalled depth of knowledge and services across all business support functions, including Information Technology (IT), Human Resources (HR), Finance & Accounting (F&A), Procurement and Customer Care. The firms have additional expertise in sector-specific processes such as claims management, mortgage processing and policy administration. The acquisition will also broaden and solidify the firm's geographic reach, thereby providing greater value for clients. The combined firm has approximately 300 employees across North America, Europe and Asia Pacific.

Mark Toon, CEO, EquaTerra said, "The leadership teams of our firms are excited about this acquisition. We are in the unique situation of bringing together two organisations with a strong presence in different geographies, yet with similar cultures, methodologies and depth of experience in the markets we serve. The expanded geographic reach and enhanced service offerings, combined with the tenure and expertise of our advisors makes this acquisition a positive event for our clients, employees and business partners."

Phil Morris, CEO, Morgan Chambers said, "Both EquaTerra and ourselves possess a relentless commitment to our clients and their needs and objectives. We've built a well-respected advisory business in Europe and we feel joining EquaTerra gives us the organisational depth and geographic reach our clients need. We believe our collective strengths will further support our clients on their journey to create sustainable value in their business support functions."

Robert Morgan, Chairman and founder of Morgan Chambers will leave the organisation once the deal is complete. "Creating Morgan Chambers back in 1994 was such an exciting opportunity and I am extremely proud of what the company and its hugely talented staff have achieved for our clients. I am pleased to be able to hand over to such a likeminded organisation, which in turn provides me with the opportunity to invest in new ventures."

(1) Source: Black Book of Outsourcing 2007

Notes for editors:

ABOUT EQUATERRA

EquaTerra sourcing advisors help clients achieve sustainable value in their business and IT processes. With an average of more than 20 years of industry experience in over 600 global transformation and outsourcing projects, our advisors offer unmatched industry expertise. EquaTerra has deep functional knowledge in Finance and Accounting, HR, IT, Procurement and other critical business processes with advisors throughout North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. We help clients achieve significant cost savings and process improvement with outsourcing, internal transformation and shared services solutions. www.equaterra.com.

ABOUT MORGAN CHAMBERS

Established in 1994 with a single purpose - to provide high quality, practical and totally independent advice on the best client Sourcing solutions, Morgan Chambers remains true to these principles today. Morgan Chambers employs business and service delivery experts who passionately believe that balanced Sourcing strategies deliver sustainable business advantage and huge flexibility. Whether in-house, Shared Services or utilising external suppliers, we drive innovative, accountable and measurable solutions. Europe's leading specialist Sourcing advisory firm, we employ over 60 full-time consultants from eight offices world-wide. With more than 1000 client engagements in over 60 countries, we have unrivalled experience in achieving successful results. www.morganchambers.com

BEST IT EMPLOYERS in INDIA

1. Tata Consultancy Services
2. HCL Infosystems
3. iGate
4. RMSI
5. Synechron
6. IBM
7. Capgemini
8. Infosys
9. Tavant Technologies
10. Sun Microsystems

According to the annual survey conducted by Cybermedia's flagship publication Dataquest in collaboration with IDC India., TCS, with a large workforce based in foreign shores, followed innovative HR practices and maintained ethos across geographies to achieve consistency in workforce. The employees of HCL Infosystems were found to be satisfied with the growth opportunities, job security and relationship with peers in the company.

According to Pradeep Gupta, publisher of Cybermedia, multinational employers IBM, Capgemini, Sun Microsystems and CSC have mastered the art of managing Indian employees to rank among the Top 20 best IT employers in the country. "Others, especially many India-based IT employers, need to balance aggressive recruitment with the warmth and personal touch...to retain people as they ramp up headcount". A notable absentee in this list is Wipro

The seventh annual Dataquest-IDC survey was participated by 2,844 software, hardware and marketing professionals from 33 IT companies, totally employing 3,04,834 people in seven cities. The rating of employers was done upon the basis of employee satisfaction and HR scores.

"2007 - TOP 20 Companies in the Training Outsourcing Industry"

The 'Top 20' list includes those leaders in the training industry that have demonstrated experience and excellence in providing learning BPO services to a variety of clients.
Because of the diversity of services included in training outsourcing engagements, no attempt is made to rank the ‘Top 20’.

1. Adayana
Minneapolis, MN

2. Raytheon Professional Services
Dallas, TX

3. Development Dimensions International
Bridgeville, PA

4. IBM Learning Solutions
Armonk, NY

5. Delta College
University City, MI

6. Global Knowledge
Cary, NC

7. NIIT, Ltd.
New Delhi, India (World Headquarters)Atlanta, GA (USA)

7. Element K
Rochester, NY
[Note: For the purposes of the Top 20, NIIT & Element K are considered to be one company since NIIT acquired Element K in 2006]

8. GeoLearning
West Des Moines, IA

9. KnowledgePool
Berkshire, UK

10. Accenture Learning
New York City, NY

11. Expertus
Mountain View, CA

12. Convergys
Cincinnati, OH

13. Affiliated Computer Services, Inc. (ACS)
Dallas, TX

14. Aptech Worldwide Corporation
Mumbai, India (World Headquarters)San Mateo, CA (USA)

15. Lionbridge
Waltham, MA

16. RWD Technologies
Baltimore, MD


17. Intrepid Learning Solutions
Seattle, WA

18. General Physics - GP
Elkridge, MD

19. Innovatia
Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada

20. SkillSoft
Nashua, NH

FirstSource Solutions, has emerged as the frontrunner in the quest to buy the US-based healthcare player MedAssist.

• Approx deal size - $300 million (around Rs 1,200 crore).
• If materialised, it would be one of the largest overseas acquisitions after Wipro’s buyout of Infocrossing for around $600 million and the largest in the BPO space
• MedAssist, which has revenues of $90-100 million and provides patient services, eligibility services, patient financing and healthcare collections. It has around 1,400 employees and 950 healthcare providers as clients

[Disclaimer - This information has not been provided to thestock-exchanges, and is source-based]

FirstSource is also rumoured to be in the race to acquire Citi’s BPO unit after the first round of bidding. The sale of the BPO business, being run by Citigroup Global Services (formerly eServe), is expected to fetch Citi around Rs 3,200 crore.

Other bidders include WNS and Genpact. Around 13 per cent of FirstSource's revenue comes from the healthcare segment. In January this year, it acquired BPM — a Delaware-based healthcare claims outsourcing company — for around $30 million.

CAIRO, Egypt -- As rising wages and attrition rates in India spur some international companies to seek new locales for outsourcing operations, Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America have all been competing to become new offshore hubs.

Now, the Middle East and North Africa are elbowing into the race to host remote sales staff, service centers, tech support and the like, thanks to a favorable time zone, a multilingual work force and an oil-fueled investment and expansion spree. Companies also are attracted by some efforts by some governments there to diversify and liberalize their economies, as well as the prospect of tapping into the growing local market.

The offshore industry faces challenges in the Mideast, which is better known for political instability and ingrained bureaucracy than customer support. But underscoring the region's promise, some of the biggest outsourcing companies operating in India -- the industry's undisputed powerhouse -- are establishing outposts there.

Satyam Computer Services Ltd. is hiring 300 people for a new center in Cairo that will handle clients in Saudi Arabia and the Arab world. Earlier this year, Wipro Ltd. set up an outsourcing joint venture in Saudi Arabia and recently announced plans to enter Egypt. Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. says it will soon start offering services from Morocco to French-speaking European clients.

Indian companies pulled in nearly $1 billion of outsourcing revenue from the region in the fiscal year ending March 2007, up from $600 million the year before, according to India's National Association of Software and Service Companies, a trade group.
"There is a lot of money flowing in the region, and it doesn't make sense to not make best use of it," says Virender Aggarwal, Satyam's director and senior vice president for Asia-Pacific, Middle East, India and Africa.

Much of the Middle East offers the same appeal other outsourcing hot spots have: cheap, skilled labor. But companies are finding other advantages, including a time zone that roughly straddles the world's three biggest economies -- North America, Europe and Asia. The region's geographic proximity to Europe and a multilingual labor force also help. And with business booming in much of the Mideast, there is more demand for Arabic speakers.

In recent years, Egypt, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates have all broken into the top 20 most-attractive offshoring destinations, according to an index published by consultancy A.T. Kearney Inc. Tunisia, Morocco, Israel and Turkey made the top 50 in this year's list.
"The Middle East region is going to be, I think, the next big destination," says Simon Bell, an A.T. Kearney principal, who has worked with the Egyptian government recently on ways to draw in more offshore work.

Despite growing interest, Mideast countries are still small players, dwarfed by India and China and lagging behind hot spots such as Malaysia, Brazil and the Philippines. There are also some big obstacles to boosting growth. First among them: the perception that political instability or conflict in places such as Iraq, Lebanon and Israel makes the region a risky place. And while structural changes have cut red tape in places such as Morocco, efforts to ease bureaucracy elsewhere have lagged behind the rest of the world.

Talent pools in many Middle Eastern countries are relatively small, too. Egypt, the Arab world's most populous country, pumps out about 250,000 university graduates a year. But many of them need additional training to boost foreign-language and other skills before multinationals will consider them. Amid a wave of expansion, local information-technology workers are starting to see more job offers from regional companies. That could put upward pressure on wages and attrition rates.

Satyam's Mr. Aggarwal says wages in Egypt, especially among the more-experienced employees, may be slightly higher than in India. But with businesses expanding in the Middle East, hiring Egyptians still can be cost-effective. Cairo has long been the region's cultural capital, and its export of movies and soap operas, makes the Egyptian dialect familiar across the Arab-speaking world.

Language is also a big plus in French-speaking parts of Arab North Africa. In Tunisia, Paris-based call-center operator Teleperformance SA employs more than 3,500 people catering to its Francophone market. The company is looking to hire for a contact center in Cairo that can serve U.S. and European multinationals.

New outsourcing jobs are a big boon for a region struggling with high unemployment and a bulging birth rate, and some countries have been recruiting the industry. The Egyptian government is offering to pay 80% of training costs for new employees, and officials are offering cheap rates for voice and data links to major U.S. and European cities.

Dubai, in the UAE, is promoting an "outsource zone," one of several zones aiming to attract specific industries. While wages in the UAE are relatively high, officials highlight its advanced high-tech infrastructure and large talent pool, including educated Southeast Asian and Arab-speaking expatriates.

An outsourcing joint venture between Electronic Data Systems Corp. of Plano, Texas, and another UAE emirate, Abu Dhabi, is pouring $100 million into a new center aimed at Mideast customers. EDS recently started hiring in Morocco to service its European clients. It already has 450 employees in Egypt.

"We see the importance of this region both in itself as a market and as a center from which to service other businesses," says Charles Cox, EDS's regional vice president for Middle East and Africa.

Aug 21, 2007: Infosys Technologies Limited (NASDAQ: INFY) today announced the creation of the company’s first Latin American subsidiary, and the opening of the development center and office for the region based in Monterrey, Mexico.

The subsidiary, Infosys Technologies S. De RL De CV, provides the company’s full range of business consulting and information technology services for clients in all industries including banking, financial services, retail, consumer packaged goods, resource, energy and utilities.

The center provides key offerings in business process outsourcing, infrastructure management and packaged solutions implementation.

Often referred to as “nearshore facilities,” such operations provide client solutions in time zones which are more convenient to clients and still provide access to processes, systems, services and talent globally. The Monterrey facility provides Infosys with the dedicated resources to service clients in North America, Latin America and Europe with bi-lingual talent in an agreeable time zone and close proximity. Furthermore, it strengthens the company’s global delivery model capabilities and joins such new facilities already on the network such as a development center in Brno, Czech Republic and BPO facilities in India.

“The world continues to flatten, unlocking Mexico’s potential as a major business center and solidifying its role as a strategic location for technology innovators such as Infosys,” said Mexico Secretary of the Economy Dr. Eduardo Sojo.

After examining several countries in the region, Infosys chose to establish a presence in Mexico because of the broad language skills available in the region, its geographical proximity to Canada, the U.S. and Europe. Latin America is a strong emerging market and one where many of Infosys’ clients have operations already.

“The combination of human and intellectual capital, nurturing business community and entrepreneurial spirit found in Monterrey positions the state for amazing IT service growth,” said Governor of the State of Nuevo Leon Jose Nativdad Gonzalez Paras.
Infosys has appointed Mohit Joshi to head the new subsidiary. Joshi, formerly a group engagement manager with the company’s banking and capital markets organization has more than 12 years of client and leadership experience.

“Our clients are exploring opportunities to mitigate risk while expanding operations into the burgeoning market,” said S. Gopalakrishnan, chief executive officer, Infosys Technologies. “The facility will help us establish our services in the Central time zone which allows us to provide better support to our clients located across multiple geographies.”
For the first year, Infosys Technologies S. De RL De CV will have more than 250 seats. By its third year of operation, the Monterrey facility is expected to employ nearly 1,000 employees. Local and international hires will participate in the standard Infosys training programs to ensure global consistency.

Dallas-based Q Source Global Consulting Private Limited, a provider of BPO and IT staffing solutions, plans to start two more branches in India and one at Singapore.“We have decided to open offices at Hyderabad and Delhi in India and also at Singapore over the next one year,” Ashish Sawant, senior vice-president (Indian operations), Q Source, told media persons here on Friday.

The company currently has offices at Bangalore, Chennai, Pune and Visakhapatnam. It has overseas offices at UK and US.

The company aims to provide job opportunities to 800 graduates by ‘train and deploy mode’ in the country during this fiscal, Sawant said.

Apart from staffing solutions, Q Square is also into the software export business. “Last fiscal, our software exports were about Rs 10 crore,” he said.

Source: Business Standard

According to a survey conducted by Datamonitor, a majority of respondents agreed to outsource their infrastructure services to Eastern European countries, while about 38 percent respondent agreed to outsource their infrastructure services to India. About 15 percent respondents preferred China, while about 9 percent preferred the Latin American countries. Among the key findings, about 50 percent respondents revealed to outsource their infrastructure services to a Western services supplier having worldwide sourcing capabilities. About 35 percent plan to outsource such functions to their captive operations, while only 12 percent plan to outsource to offshore-based third-party service providers.

In addition, about 47 percent respondents revealed that they are expected to generate cost savings between 10 percent and 20 percent by offshoring such functions as against managing their IT infrastructure onshore, while another 41 percent expected savings to be between 20 percent and 40 percent. According to the survey, about 80 percent German respondents cited Eastern Europe as their preferred offshoring location, while about 21 percent respondents agreed to opt for multiple offshore locations to minimize risk. Moreover, security was cited as the prime concern by respondents who were reluctant to offshore their IT infrastructure in the near future.

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), an Indian IT service provider, has won a USD 16 million information technology outsourcing (ITO) contract from AGL Energy, an Australian gas and electricity retailer. The contract is in line with AGL’s IT change program, under which it plans to outsource its in-house IT operations.

AGL’s major IT change program will enable it to generate cost savings worth USD 60 million per year after the implementation of its new retail solution. The contract with TCS will support AGL’s plans of executing its major IT change program.

The deal is expected to generate cost savings worth USD 12 million per year for AGL over the next 5 years. Moreover, it will allow AGL to reduce its in-house IT support staff from about 300 to 20. According to an AGL spokesperson, the deal will also support the company’s newly integrated retail platform.

Pramod Bhasin

President and CEO, Genpact Limited

Professional Profile:

• Started his career with General Electric (GE), a $150-billion diversified technology, media and financial services company


• His career with GE and RCA Corporation spanned 25 years


• Served as CFO for GE Capital's Corporate Finance Group


• Served as head of GE Capital in India and Asia


• Established Genpact (formerly GE Capital International Services) in 1997


• Part of the Executive Council of NASSCOM


• Member of Band of Angels (group of Angel investors)
  
• Founding member of the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals


• Board of Director - NGEN


• Board of Governer – IIM –Lucknow
  

Academic Profile:

• Chartered Accountant from Thomson McLintock Co., London


• Holds a Bachelor of Commerce Degree from Delhi University
  

Personal Profile:

• Age: 55 years


• Lives in Jungpura, New Delhi and New York
  

Areas of Interest:

• IT products and services


• High end BPO services


• Retail


• Media, Real Estate, Industrial, Supply Chain

Reliance Expected to Achieve 30% Cost Savings by Outsourcing

According to media sources, Reliance Communications, an Indian telecom operator, is expected to award a 5-year outsourcing contract worth about USD 500 million by the end of August 2007. Several big information technology outsourcing service providers, such as Accenture, EDS, and IBM, are eyeing the contract.

As part of the outsourcing contract, Reliance is expected to outsource its entire infotech and related infrastructure functions including billing, call center operations, customer care management, and data management to one of the successful bidders. The successful bidder is expected to modernize the existing IT infrastructure of Reliance. The company expects to achieve cost savings of about 30 percent by outsourcing such functions.

Once this deal is finalized, it will be the third biggest deal awarded by an Indian telecom company over the last few years. About 3 years ago, Bharti awarded a 10-year, USD 750 million outsourcing deal to IBM covering its infotech infrastructure. A few months back, Idea Cellular awarded a USD 600–800 million deal to IBM covering infotech infrastructure and applications outsourcing.

Is the Party Over for Indian Outsourcers?

Infosys, TCS, and Wipro still rake in profits, but they face challenges ranging from a stronger rupee to the likes of IBM and Accenture romping on their home turf

read more | digg story

Wipro Technologies has acquired Infocrossing, Inc.

Deal information

• For US$600 million, this is the largest-ever overseas acquisition by an Indian IT firm
• The agreement is for $18.70 per share in an all cash deal

What’s in it for Wipro

• This deal will address the capability gap regarding capability gap we had regarding managed data center hosting services
• Wipro would be one of the world leaders in end-to-end IT infrastructure management solutions
• Through Infocrossing, Wipro would deepen their presence in the United States with the addition of five data center locations and approximately nine hundred employees
• Wipro healthcare arm is also going to get a boost as Infocrossing is also a heathcare solutions provider, where they have a unique IP and actually own the platform. Wipro will be able to provide healthcare solutions to their large customers, including the specific platform
• Infocrossing brings about 200 clients to Wipro, thus enhancing its total client base while providing an opportunity to cross-sell its other services

Other information:

Wipro was advised on the transaction by Citigroup and represented by the law firm of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich and Rosati, and Infocrossing was advised by Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC and represented by the law firm of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP.

About Infocrossing

Infocrossing, Inc. is a provider of selective IT infrastructure, enterprise application and business process outsourcing services delivering the computing platforms and proprietary systems that enable companies, regardless of industry, to process data and share information within their business, and between their customers, suppliers and distribution channels. Leading companies leverage Infocrossing's robust computing infrastructure, skilled technical team, and process-driven operations to reduce costs and improve service delivery by outsourcing the operation of mainframes, mid-range, open system servers, networks and business processes to Infocrossing

The International Association of Outsourcing Professionals (IAOP) has announced the names of companies that have been selected as 2007’s best outsourcing service providers – The Global Outsourcing 100.

Given below is the Top 20 list

Rank - Company - Strength*

1 - IBM - Size and Growth
2 - Capgemini - Customer Testimonials
3 - Hewlett-Packard - Executive Leadership
4 - Sodexho Alliance - Number of Centers/Locations
5 - Accenture - Balanced Strength
6 - Wipro Technologies - Balanced Strength
7 - Infosys - Customer Testimonials
8 - Genpact - Executive Leadership
9 - Tech Mahindra - Employee Management
10 - Cambridge - Executive Leadership
11 - Mastek - Methodologies/Innovation
12 - CGI Group - Number of Centers/Locations
13 - Xchanging - Size and Growth
14 - EDS - Methodologies/Innovation
15 - HCL Technologies - Methodologies/Innovation
16 - ARAMARK - Number of Centers/Locations
17 - ACS - Number of Centers/Locations
18 - Teletech - Balanced Strength
19 - Colliers International - Size and Growth
20 - Cognizant - Number of Centers/Locations

* Companies were judges on four critical characteristics: size and growth; customer references; organizational competencies; and management capabilities

For the full list visit http://www.outsourcingprofessional.org/content/23/152/1197/

International football organization chooses global consulting and information technology services company to deliver FIFA Extranet, Intranet, and customized Event Management System with Match AG

Satyam Computer Services, Ltd. (NYSE:SAY), a leading global consulting and information technology services company, announced today that it has signed two multimillion-dollar contracts to support FIFA and its major forthcoming events.

Thanks to the strength of its technical capabilities and flexible approach, Satyam has not only been selected to develop a customized Event Management System for one of the world’s premier sports organizations, but it has also been chosen to build an Extranet and Intranet for FIFA over the next 12 months. Satyam’s partnership will also include full, uninterrupted support for both solutions for FIFA, until the final whistle of each game.

Working primarily from FIFA’s Zurich headquarters, Satyam will provide in-country support for matches. It will also have teams work from offshore locations to enable lower costs and optimized CMM Level 5 quality.

“Clearly, FIFA organizes incredibly large-scale, high-profile tournaments. In fact, we host the world’s most widely viewed sporting events, with as many as 28 billion people watching the 2006 Tournament. As such, we cannot afford even a second’s downtime, even during the huge usage spikes throughout games,” said FIFA head of information technology solutions Michael Kelly. “That is why we have chosen the reliability, flexibility, and reusability of Satyam’s applications. This is the start of a long-term relationship that will see Satyam working closely with FIFA over the next few years.”

“We are delighted to have been chosen to deliver such critical applications for FIFA, and are committed to ensuring the success of managing its event logistics and Extranets/Intranet platforms,” said Dr. Keshab Panda, the senior vice president, director, and head of Satyam’s European operations.

A press release from Satyam Computer Services Ltd. website

Outsourcing can act as a key 'enabler' and catalyst for sectors such as telecom, organised retail, insurance, healthcare, hospitality and airlines, suugests a study.
According to a study by Everest Group, outsourcing can help the ''sunrise sectors'', which are witnessing tremendous growth for the last few years, in multiple ways, ranging from release of scarce capital, providing quality talent, innovative practices and management bandwidth.

The study further suggests that outsourcing may help these growth sectors free up their resources and focus on core business activities. ''So far, India has been seen as a leading supplier destination in the outsourcing arena. Its potential as a buyer of outsourcing has not yet been explored to the fullest. Today, sectors like telecom, organised retail, insurance, healthcare, hospitality, and airlines in India are witnessing unprecedented growth, which will further be fuelled by the increasing entry of global players, said Everest Group Country Head Gaurav Gupta.

It will be important to address the resultant operational growth challenges in these sectors to ensure that they maintain their momentum. Companies in these sectors will need to evaluate a range of 'build or buy' options, to address these constraints suitably, he added.

''Capital efficiency is a huge challenge for business leaders in these growing sectors. Outsourcing can create growth opportunities by releasing the capital otherwise required for investment in non-core assets and activities, thereby, reducing the capital investment required per unit of growth,'' said company
Senior Consultant Punish Mishra.

Outsourcing also reduces operating costs through more efficient and competitive service delivery. The study suggest that IT outsourcing alone can improve EBITDA margins by 30-50 basis points for the retailers, which is significant considering it is imperative for the retailer’s to expand margins.

This saving, apart from improving the bottom-line of companies, can be ploughed back into growth initiatives allowing retailers to drive additional four to five per cent growth with the same capital.

The study also highlights the impact of outsourcing and other challenges facing the country's sunrise sectors.

The study identifies issues of inadequate labour pool, poor quality talent and attrition by outsourcing to suppliers who have extensive experience in hiring in large numbers, creating a powerful engine to recruit and in training talent pool to meet global standards.

Source: http://news.webindia123.com/