Essar Unit Aegis on Acquisition Trail

Indian conglomerate Essar Group's BPO unit Aegis Ltd. is in talks with seven companies for a potential acquisition, as it aims to touch $1 billion in revenue by March 2012.

Aegis in the Indian BPO sector as it has acquired as many as 18 companies in five years. The company also recently received a record eight-year contract worth about $2 billion from phone services operator Saudi Telecom Company to provide customer care services.

Source:http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704364004576131990227300316.html

Outsourcing: Nasscom 2011 kicks off with focus on growth

Nasscom represents everything hi-tech in India. and is used to be dominated by Indian technology suppliers, and therefore be all about offshoring, these days there are representatives from more than 35 countries, all talking up the IT business.

The world of global IT services had two key issues: the sluggish return to growth in many developed economies where customers of IT firms have traditionally been found, and the political crisis in Egypt. 

Source:http://www.silicon.com/management/cio-insights/2011/02/08/outsourcing-nasscom-2011-kicks-off-with-focus-on-growth-39746942/

Lee & Nee Softwares Exports' board

The board of Lee & Nee Softwares Exports in its meeting on 29 January 2011 has approved the expansion of business of software development, KPO/BPO & specially ERP vendor/ implementer & ITES services for banking, finance & insurance sector & diversification as well as restructuring of the same for turnaround of the company. A new software development centre as unit in a SEZ in Kolkata is also to be set up apart from the co-developer of a FTWSEZ (Free Trade Warehousing Special Economic Zone).

Source:http://www.indiainfoline.com/Markets/News/Lee-and-Nee-Softwares-Exports-board-approves-right-issue/3541319166

Mid cap mantra: Aviation turbulence may hit Kale

The stock of Kale Consultants, an IT solutions provider for the airlines and travel sectors, has underperformed the broader market in the past six months due to sluggish topline growth. The divestment of its logistics business is likely to improve the scenario, but factors like higher crude prices and intensifying competition among airlines may impact Kale's performance.

In September 2010, the promoters sold their 35.61% stake to a France-based BPO firm Accleya Holding World. As a result, net sales fell by over 4% to 32 crore during the December 2010 quarter. 

The company is targeting organic growth in the range of 15-20% in the coming quarters.  

Kale caters to the airline and travel segments, which are highly vulnerable to changing economic conditions. The recent increase in the prices of crude oil may impact profitability of the airlines sector. Also, the fact that airlines are adding new planes to their fleet may intensify price-based competition among the players. These factors may have an adverse impact on Kale's financial performance in the near term. 

Source:http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/stocks/stocks-in-news/mid-cap-mantra-aviation-turbulence-may-hit-kale/articleshow/7456913.cms  

What India’s BPO Inc needs to do to reach $225bn

Building higher aspirations based on detailed analysis of global opportunities is important for companies and countries alike. The higher aspirations lead to creative thinking, development of new models and creating new markets rather than only serving existing ones. 

The IT BPO industry created its first aspirational vision in 1998 for the next decade At a time when industry was less than $2 billion, it built an aspirational goal of $50 billion, contribute to 4% of India's gross domestic product and employ over two million people.


The 2020 aspiration articulated that the industry has the potential to touch aggregate revenues of $225 billion, which is restricted not by demand but by capacity and capability to deliver. This demand will include technology and business services. 

The core markets for the industry are represented by large enterprises from  North America and  Westren Europe in verticals such as BFSI,telecom, retail, pharmaceuticals, manufacturing and travel. can expand further driven by the industry ability to reinvent business models, expand service offerings, domain and consulting expertise.These sectors are going through change and would need new innovative solutions.  

We are confident that agility, flexibility and adaptability will be the key attributes required to make the $225-billion aspiration a reality.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/news/outsourcing/What-Indias-BPO-Inc-needs-to-do-to-reach-225bn/articleshow/7453380.cms 

CA Technologies, Capgemini sign partnership agreement

CA Technologies and Capgemini have entered into a partnership agreement to provide a global Energy, Carbon and Sustainability Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) service.

Capgemini will use its BPO Business Unit while CA Technologies will use its ecoSoftware offering to help  customers manage complex sustainability data collection and reporting demands.

The new managed service captures all energy and carbon data and provides web-based reports to the UK Sustainability Board and operational dashboards to the Environmental team.

CA Technologies EMEA ecoSoftware vice-president sustainability Sonny Masero said together with Capgemini, they are delivering  new energy, carbon and sustainability outsourced managed service to give customers the freedom to clearly focus on their sustainability strategy and carbon reduction.

Source:http://contentmanagement.cbronline.com/news/ca-technologies-capgemini-sign-partnership-agreement-090211

BPO revenues seen surging to $25B

MANILA, Philippines—BPO companies operating in the Philippines will have to innovate and start offering higher-value services to clients if the country is to be able to maximize the industry’s potential for growth in the next five years.

Maulik Parekh, president and CEO of SPi Global, said that despite the impressive performance of the off shoring and outsourcing industry in the Philippines, “BPO companies should not be complacent.”

SPi Global is the biggest Filipino-owned BPO company employing 11,000 people in the country.The Philippine offshore market size is expected to triple by 2016.

Maulik said one of the firm’s recent major initiatives was the establishment of a so-called SPi Health care Academy, which aims to train workers to fill a gap in the industry that has yet to be fully tapped.

SPi is a unit of Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) through wholly owned unit ePLDT Inc.

Source:http://business.inquirer.net/money/topstories/view/20110208-319192/BPO-revenues-seen-surging-to-25B

India retains global top slot in BPO race

India continues to hold its position as the best outsourcing destination across the globe, despite the emergence of new rivals, according to the latest report from management consultancy firm AT Kearney.

The top three slots in AT Kearney's 2011 Global Services Location Index (GSLI) are occupied by three Asian countries - India, China and Malaysia.

India remains the unquestioned leader in the index, a half-point ahead of China and a full point in front of Malaysia. India is the all-around standout, able to provide manpower for any type of offshoring activity and still maintains the lion's share of the IT services market.

Egypt had emerged as the fourth best outsourcing destination.It added that China may not make a great impact in the call centre business as its most attractive avenues are high-end analytics and advanced IT, where it is an alternative to Russia and Eastern Europe which is strong competitor to India.

US remains the top customer for outsourcing services.

Asia is ranked highly among the rest of the top 10, which features Indonesia (5), Thailand (7), Vietnam (8) and the Philippines (9).

Source:http://businesstoday.intoday.in/bt/story/india-retains-global-top-slot-in-bpo-race/1/13038.html

For Cognizant, global benchmarks are the ones to beat

Buoyed by an earnings growth that has been consistently better than that of top-tier Indian IT companies, New Jersey headquartered Cognizant Technology Solutions now says it has its eyes set on global benchmarks rather than local.

Comparing to Indian Information Technology outsourcing firms such as Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Infosys Technologies or Wipro Ltd. In fact, recently, when Wipro made top level changes, analysts ascribed
the move to the fact that Cognizant is at their heels and could overtake them as the third-largest IT firm in India.

In 2010,Cognizant registered a growth 40% compared with the 17-25% growth registered by the top three Indian IT firms. Cognizant’s success has been widely attributed to its willingness to aggressively invest in front-end sales force and senior management who are local to the markets they operate in, such as North America, from where it gets over 77% of its overall revenues

Source:http://www.dnaindia.com/money/report_for-cognizant-global-benchm arks-are-the-ones-to-beat_1505227

Allsec (BPO) to acquire US-based firm

Allsec Technologies Ltd, a Chennai-based BPO service provider, is set to acquire a US-based mortgage servicing business company, Retreat Capital Management Inc, to expand into new verticals. R Jagadish, CEO,  said the company has signed an agreement to acquire 100 per cent of the US firm. Retreat Capital Management is an end-to-end provider of loss mitigation, portfolio management and management consulting services for mortgage lenders, servicers, asset managers and investors. The company was established in 2008, and is based in Lake Forest, California, has various delivery centres in country including Chennai, Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi, Trichy, Hyderabad, Pune and Kolkata and subsidiaries including Allsectech Inc, USA and Allsectech Manila Inc, Philippine.The operations of Retreat Capital Management would be continued as a seperate business entity even after acquisition..The Strength of the company through India, Philippines and US. Source:http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/allsec-to-acquire-us-basedfirm/424251/

Forecast on Retail Applications and BPO Services in Switzerland

• Ovum's Retail Applications and BPO Services Forecast in Switzerland to 2014 provides a comprehensive view of revenue opportunities in the Swiss retail sector for retail applications and BPO services across all key retail channels. The databook includes revenue estimates for 2008 and forecasts for 2009 to 2014.

• BPO services in the Swiss retail sector - BPO service revenue opportunity data, split by service domain and retail channel.

• Retail applications in the Swiss retail sector - Retail applications service revenue opportunity data, split by application and retail channel..
  

         Highlights

• The retail applications and BPO services market in Switzerland is expected to grow at a  compound      annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.7% over 2009-14.BPO services in Switzerland is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of  5.2% over 2009-14.

Source:http://www.live-pr.com/en/new-market-report-retail-applications-and-r1048728282.htm

The Consul General's Corner -- Good news from the Philippines

The editorial entitled "Bright Economic Prospects in 2011" discussed how emerging industries such as information technology, business process outsourcing and the tourism sector are seen as having bright financial prospects for 2011 by the National Economic Development Authority. Call centers of business process outsourcing industries already total 788 in 20 key locations in the Philippines and employ around 350,000 young Filipinos.

Along with India, the Philippines has captured a substantial share of the global outsourcing market and is considered a hub for the call center (including medical transcriptions) and software development needs of giant multinational corporations from the United States, Europe, Middle East and Asia.
Source: http://www.guampdn.com/article/20110206/COMMUNITIES/102060304

IT-BPO industry to cross $76b in FY11: Nasscom

Nasscom on Wednesday projected IT and BPO exports to grow by 16-18% to $68-70 billion for 2011-12. This is less than its earlier projection of 19% growth, due to uncertainty in some geographies and verticals.
http://www.mydigitalfc.com/opportunities/it-bpo-industry-cross-76b-fy11-nasscom-645