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

Offshoring: Reduce Risk When Gov't Threatens Restrictions

By Michael Overly, Matt Karlyn and Julie Kim, CIO
The focus, at all levels of government, on economic recovery and job growth has spurred proposed state and federal legislation that takes aim at offshore outsourcing.

For example, four proposals pending in Congress would define new rules for how companies use outsourcers. Three focus on offshore call centers, while a fourth would discourage offshoring by ending various tax benefits received by companies doing business overseas. Meanwhile, state lawmakers have proposed prohibiting companies that send business out of state or offshore from receiving government contracts and other financial benefits.

While none of the bills seem likely to become law soon, CIOs considering outsourcing business operations such as call centers should anticipate the affect that this type of legislation could have on the costs of outsourcing and include provisions in their outsourcing agreements to address the potential impact.


Source:http://www.networkworld.com/news/2010/091310-offshoring-reduce-risk-when-govt.html?page=3
This story appeared on Network World at
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2010/091310-offshoring-reduce-risk-when-govt.html