Offshoring and Outsourcing headlines – May 11th
Adlabs enters BPO business
Date: May 8, 2009
Adlabs Films Ltd has announced of establishing a BPO business for the media space which will be one of the largest digital restoration and content processing facilities in the world.Spread over 90,000 sq ft, it will employ 1200 persons within a year and comply with the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) standrards.The BPO is aimed at providing a comprehensive one point solution for the transition from analog to digital and physical media to digital media.
CSC fails to secure BEE lifeline
Date: May 8th, 2009
SOURCE: ITWeb, SA
Questions about the sustainability of ailing IT services outsourcing group Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) in SA have again been raised.
This follows the collapse of a potential black economic empowerment (BEE) deal, which would have been a vital lifeline for the company.
This week, ITWeb received a tip-off from a former CSC employee, who claims his services, as well as that of several other employees, had been terminated as a result of the deal’s collapse.
CSC previously stated it was searching for potential BEE partnerships to secure public sector contracts to offset the loss of its biggest outsourcing contract. Project Rosa was a R1.8 billion contract with Old Mutual and was awarded to T-Systems about a year ago.
Brazil: Hewlett-Packard ramps up on Sitel’s award-winning technical support platform
DATE: May 8, 2009
SOURCE: Call Center Clinic
Sitel, a leading global business process outsourcing (BPO) provider announced that HP has selected Sitel to provide technical support and customer care services from Sitel’s contact center in Brazil. Approximately 700 Sitel associates are taking in-bound calls from customers of HP’s personal computing products and services.
In order to deliver a more than 25 percent reduction in the average call handle time, Sitel’s Continuous Improvement team works closely with HP to apply Lean and Six Sigma processes to understand and fix the root cause of each customer issue. Sitel’s continuous improvement platform leverages advance people, process and technology to bring real improvement to day-to-day customer care management.
Layoffs at Satyam set to begin with BPO unit
SOURCE: DNA
Date; May 8th,
Tech Mahindra, after gaining control over the troubled IT major Satyam Computer Services, seems to be getting straight to business.
The company intends to downsize operations beginning with the business process outsourcing arm Satyam BPO (formerly called Nipuna).
Sources in the company said the layoffs will begin with the support department. “The billable staff is not going to be disturbed now. It is the support staff that is likely to exit,” the source said.
Satyam BPO has over 3,000 associates and the ratio of billable staff and the support staff is about 35:1. “The target is to make it 80:1. This means a major shake-up in the BPO arm,” the source said.
About 60% of the support staff face the axe.
ACS WANTS 50% OF WORKFORCE OFFSHORE, EYES ACQUISITIONS
SOURCE: INFORMATIONWEEK
DATE: MAY 7TH, 2009
Outsourcer Affiliated Computer (NYSE: ACS) Services is aggressively building out its offshore operations in an effort to tap low-cost talent and keep pace with overseas rivals. Ultimately, the Dallas company wants about one-half of its workforce in foreign locations, a senior company executive said in an interview Wednesday.
• “We’re letting our customers drive this,” said ACS executive VP Ann Vezina, who is also president of the company’s Commercial Solutions Group.
•
Vezina also said ACS is in talks to acquire IT and business shared-services units from companies that are looking to farm out activities unrelated to their core lines of business. “People are looking to pare down noncore assets in this economy,” said Vezina. She added that talks include negotiations with a major European media and entertainment company.
Vezina said offshore resources allow ACS to offer customers lower prices for IT work and business services. They also help the company remain cost-competitive with burgeoning Indian rivals such as Wipro, TCS, and Infosys. Currently, ACS maintains an onshore-offshore employee mix of about 70% to 30%, respectively.
Integreon Hires Veteran eDiscovery Experts Babs Deacon and Foster Gibbons
DATE: May 6th, 2009
Integreon, the global leader of Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO), today announced it has hired Babs Deacon and Foster Gibbons as Directors responsible for the company’s e-Discovery Consulting and Data Analytics, and Global Document Review Services groups, respectively. They join Integreon’s $40-million e-discovery business and will help litigation teams reduce total discovery costs.
Ms. Deacon has more than 20 years of e-discovery and litigation support experience. Prior to joining Integreon, she was a senior data analytics consultant for SPi Legal, a business process outsourcing services provider.
Previously, Ms. Deacon was a senior manager at Baker Robbins & Company, a technology consulting firm, where she managed the World Trade Center Unit project for the City of New York’s Law Department. Ms. Deacon was responsible for the project’s litigation support procedures and databases. She previously was a litigation support professional for several major law firms including Anderson Kill & Olick.
Mr. Gibbons joins Integreon from Pfizer, Inc. where he was corporate counsel and legal lead of its Discovery Response Team (DRT). At Pfizer, Mr. Gibbons designed and executed innovative e-discovery initiatives, serving as a liaison between in-house and outside counsel regarding all elements of the e-discovery process. Before joining Pfizer, Mr. Gibbons represented Pfizer on complex pre-trial discovery projects while working for Kaye Scholer LLP. Earlier, he served as a consultant to RBC Dominion Securities. He began his legal career as a litigation associate at Chadbourne & Parke, LLP.
“The addition of Babs and Foster enhances our end-to-end litigation support service with enhanced expertise to reduce data processing prior to review and subsequently enable a more efficient document review process,” said Chris Egan, senior vice president, Integrated Discovery Services, Integreon. “Over the past 12 months our presence in this market has grown substantially. The addition of two seasoned veterans to our team, which now includes the former ONSITE3, will benefit our clients and help Integreon grow our e-discovery business.”
Applied Materials Looks to Flexible Offshoring Deals
SOURCE: CIO.DE
DATE: May 11th, 2009
This year could be one of the toughest in Applied Materials’ 42-year history. The provider of nanomanufacturing technology solutions posted a US$133 million loss in the first quarter; new orders fell 64 percent from last year’s first quarter. Even the brightest spot on the horizon-its new business to produce equipment for solar photovoltaics and energy efficient glass-has seen a temporary demand slump due to the recession. More on CIO.com
“We were facing the worst semiconductor downturn in history, and then the global recession hit,” says . “Those things are beyond our control, so we are focused on what we can control. And 80 percent of that is costs.” Kifer knows: He was hired in 2006 to transform IT, reduce costs, improve service levels, and drive business transformation. He took a workforce of 580 full-timers and 1,000 consultants at 40 service providers and whittled it to 300 full-time workers and contracts with three providers to handle offshore IT services at prearranged prices, instead of by the man-hours. He cut by 35 percent over two years.
“We didn’t want internal resources focused on commodity activities. We wanted to refocus them on core competencies that drive value,” he says. He inked deals with IBM Global Services, Tata Consultancy Services and Wipro, which compete to provide services including application development, maintenance, desktop and database support. His own staff focused on strategy, architecture, cost management and program, portfolio, security, risk and vendor management. The plan eliminated expenses and improved services, making more IT budget reductions a delicate balancing act.
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