Reports & Surveys

According to a study by IDC, the Singapore BPO market is set to increase from USD 440 million to USD 817 million by the end of 2009. The study revealed that the BPO market in Singapore is considered semi-mature and more geared towards Finance and Accounting (F&A), HR and logistics. In comparison, the overall Asian BPO market is more complex because it contains a mix of opposites - semi-mature BPO markets such as Australia and New Zealand, and those in their infancy such as Malaysia and Thailand, as well as major outsourcing and offshoring exporters, such as India. Meanwhile, the Asia-Pacific BPO market is projected to grow by 15 percent a year between 2005 to 2009, to cross the USD 12 billion mark. The growth is expected to occur despite the challenges presented by the size and complexity of the region's BPO services market.

According to a report by Gartner, EMEA Financial Service Providers (FSPs) are expected to spend USD 46.2 billion on IT services in 2005. However, the report states that less than 30 percent of these firms will outsource any strategic projects by the end of 2006. Gartner stated that most FSPs currently use outsourcing tactically to augment staff for faster-project turnaround or to reduce operational costs, rather than for strategic value. The company added that FSPs should now begin outsourcing strategic projects in order to gain larger-scale, enterprise-wide value. Gartner believes that if used properly, outsourcing can be a strategic tool to help FSPs transform their organizations, gain operational efficiencies, respond to shifting industry conditions and better meet top-level business objectives, such as increased profitability. However, if outsourcing is used incorrectly or not properly managed, it is a risk endeavor and can lead to wasted time, money, project failures and business failures.

According to a study by Gartner, the Indian ICT export industry will be worth USD 16.5 billion by 2005. The study predicts that application outsourcing will constitute the major component, followed by IT services and high end BPO services. By the end of 2005, IT services are projected to grow at 35 percent, while BPO services are estimated to grow at 45 percent. Gartner also estimates that by 2008, the Indian ICT expenditure will exceed USD 54.8 billion, up from USD 29.5 billion in 2004, representing a CAGR of 19 percent. The study revealed that domestic vendors presently account for 42 percent of the market share, as opposed to 58 percent held by foreign vendors. The study also warns that if Indian vendors do not focus on the domestic market opportunity, this percentage could slip even further by 2008.

According to a recent Nasscom survey, the current skilled manpower pool in the Indian BPO industry is two hundred thousand, while the requirement is about eight hundred thousand. A research done by temporary staffing major, TeamLease reveals that 15-20 pct of staff globally in the BPO-ITeS industry are temporary, part-time or just contingency workforce. In India though, temporary staff in this industry is still less than only 5 pct of the total workforce. This number is set to increase. According to Mr Ashok Reddy, managing director, Teamlease says, 'There is a huge gap between demand and supply here. Temporary staff brings in the alternate staff to the job market.'

US Law firms to source from India
Forrester Inc has found that at least 12,000 legal jobs have been outsourced from the US to offshore locations till 2004. Further, the firm has projected that of the 35,000 US lawyer jobs expected to be shipped out, 60 to 70% could be headed India’s way. The range of processes being outsourced in the legal sector has evolved from transcription, secretarial support, voice messaging and word processing to more domain specific work typically performed by paralegals, legal assistants and professional support lawyers. This includes contract review, drafting and management, patent research, analysis and writing, litigation support and legal research, general research and review.

ABN Amro in €1.8bn outsourcing bonanza
Dutch bank ABN Amro is outsourcing its infrastructure and application development in a series of deals, with Accenture, IBM, Infosys, Patni and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), worth a total of €1.8bn.The bank is aiming to save around €258m per year through the deals and is slashing its full-time headcount from 5,000 staff to 1,800 with around 2,000 transferring across to the IT outsourcers.

Nordea outsources to Itella
Scandinavian banking group Nordea is outsourcing its payments-based document management services at its Finland operations to Helsinki-based Itella

Logica vows to extend offshore IT to Philippines
Computer services giant and dotcom hero, Logica CMG, is flexing its muscles on the back of near 50 per cent increase in pre-tax profit by pondering the start of a new IT outsourcing operation in the Philippines. Mr Read reportedly cited the possibility of migrating the company’s software development and application management arm to the Philippines.

Blackstone plans India facility for portfolio
The Blackstone Group, a private investment and advisory firm that manages $14 billion globally, is looking to tap India's offshore services sector for its U.S.-based clients, a top official said on Tuesday.

State Street Global Advisors Wins $330 Million Mandate from Assuranceforeningen Skuld
State Street Corp. very recently had been appointed as as global custodian for four local government pension funds in the U.K.: the Rhondda Cynon Taf Borough Council Superannuation Fund (sole custodian, GBP580 million), the London Borough of Lambeth Superannuation Fund (GBP115 million), and the London Borough of Barking & Dagenham Superannuation Fund (sole custodian, GBP415 million).

BMC Software chooses Symphony for PDLC services
The services include product development, quality assurance and level-3 customer support for selected BMC products, a Symphony statement said.

BANK NEGARA Indonesia Award deal to TCS
BNI is Indonesia's third largest bank by assets, loans and deposits, and with more than 7.5 million customers, nationwide has selected Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) to implement a business performance consulting project. TCS will be implementing the Malcolm Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence (MBCfPE) framework for BNI. The scope of the project will cover organizational performance, excellence planning, deployment, and assessment and awareness.

British Nuclear Group signs £74m outsourcing deal
Under the contract, CSC will manage and support British Nuclear Group's IT operations in the UK, including help desk and desktop services; software applications support; networks; midrange computing; telecommunications; and managed security.

Indian IT Cos Should Move To Specific BPO Verticals: Gartner
Indian IT companies should move to industry specific business process outsourcing (BPO) verticals such as financial services, manufacturing and government from generic BPO verticals, according to leading IT research and analysis firm Gartner.

Over 25,000 IT jobs in Chennai, India
A quick back-of-the-envelope calculation, based on the announcements by several IT companies, reveal that well over 25,000 new IT and IT-related jobs will be created in Chennai over the next year or so. The demand for techies is expected to be met with smooth supplies as there are about 100 technical educational institutions in Tamil Nadu, churning out over 65,000 engineering graduates every year.

AlphaStaff Group, partners with Tamarac
AlphaStaff Group, a US-based HR outsourcing company, has signed a partnership agreement with Tamarac Administrative Services, which operates senior citizen housing in 40 locations across Florida and Georgia in the US. Under the partnership, AlphaStaff will provide a series of HR services for over 5,000 Tamarac employees, based out of the company's housing locations.

ACS wins $100.5M GlaxoSmithKline contract
Affiliated Computer Services (ACS) has won an additional IT outsourcing contract from GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), the UK-based pharmaceuticals company. The five year contract is valued at USD 100.5 million. Under the contract, ACS will provide remote server management and monitoring services for more than 5,000 UNIX, Wintel, OS390 Mainframe, and Open VMS servers located at GSK data centers in the US and UK.

UGS to open centre in Pune
Leading global product lifecycle management (PLM) services and software provider UGS Corp is setting up a PLM implementation centre at its Pune facility to service offshore clients.

SDG to invest $250,000 in India
Connecticut-based SDG Corporation, a technology consultation provider is planning to invest $250,000 in India in the next two - three months and increase its headcount here to over 450 from the current 150 by the end of next year.

Wincor to open IT operations company in October
Wincor Nixdorf, a German provider of IT solutions to retailers and retail banking, has formed a Joint Venture (JV) with German savings banks, Hamburger Sparkasse (Haspa) and Sparkasse Bremen, to provide IT services to financial institutions.

Accenture all set to hire 30,000 pros
The global technology and outsourcing major, Accenture , will be hiring big time in India. It plans to hire 30,000 - 50,000 people in India, China and Phillipines over the next 3 years.Chennai will be the next big hub for Accenture, with plans to move to a facility with a capacity of 5,000 seats in the city. Currently, it has less than 1,000 people operating out of an incubation facility.

Cognizant inaugurates development centre in Mumbai
Mumbai is Cognizant's seventh location in India expects to employ 400 people there within a year. The centre will be used mainly to service pharmaceutical and financial services industry customers.