OFFSHORE COMPARISON SHOPPING: BEST BUYS ABROAD

Gartner snapshot on India's cost and scope of services paints a vivid picture of India's advantages. The average salary for programmers in the U.S. in 2004 was approximately $65,000, compared with just under $10,000 in India, according to the Gartner report. Anything under $15,000 gets a rating of excellent from Gartner. Of the 18 countries measured on programmer salaries in the report, only Vietnam, a neophyte in the offshore market, pays their programmers less than India does -- roughly $5,000 a year.

'In terms of size and number of IT professionals, only China comes close to India in potential,' Marriott said. 'Although a long-term sourcing strategy may include several countries, India should be carefully considered, because it is the leading offshore contender with a successful track record.'

But there are other options to consider, Gartner said, should you choose to embark on the often-painful process of country selection. Interest in near-shore countries for IT services and business process outsourcing is strong, particularly among European companies because of language requirements and in the United States because of the immaturity of the BPO offshore services. The United States, Canada and Mexico appear to be the most likely close-by options, according to the report; Canada for currency reasons and Mexico because of its obvious ability to serve the growing U.S. population of Spanish speakers.

Europe, Ireland and Scotland offer mature call center services, but with the expansion of the European Union to Eastern Europe, the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary are attracting offshore investment, the report found.

One of several big warnings: India's success in taking on business process services has led other countries to jump on the BPO bandwagon, such as Mauritius, Barbados and China. But business process services are much more complex and long term, compared with application services. This means that a country's sociopolitical turbulence, physical and cyber security, and the enforcement of IP and patent law are of paramount importance when evaluating where to go for offshore BPO.

When comparing scope of services, Canada is on a par with India in offering expertise in applications, IT infrastructure and business process outsourcing. But the neighbor to the north doesn't begin to match India on labor cost. The average salary for Canadian programmers in 2004 was just under $40,000. When considerations other than cost are factored in, such as government support, labor pool, educational system and security are factored in, India remains head and shoulders above other countries, Gartner said, despite ranking only fair in key areas, such as infrastructure, political stability and cultural compatibility.

For companies that like to see what's on the far horizon, the Gartner report lists early entrants. In alphabetical order, they are: Argentina, Cuba, Fiji, Ghana, Morocco, Nepal, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Senegal, Slovenia, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Venezuela and Vietnam.

Global R&D to Reach $1 Trillion in 2006
While the U.S. share of global R&D slips, China's share is expected to increase during that period, from 11.8 percent in 2004, to 12.8 percent in 2005, to 13.6 percent in 2006. In addition to China and India, Singapore and Korea are hot R&D markets.

Tax change on insurance services would force UK jobs offshore to India
Liberata Financial Services, which provides intermediary insurance services to over 3 million policy holders, said implementing the VAT change would result in the loss of 10,000 outsourcing jobs in the UK, based on a recent study

Boots signs £26m outsourcing deal top up
Health and beauty retailer Boots has extended its outsourcing contract with Xansa by another two years in a £26m deal. Xansa will also take responsibility for the Boots Advantage Card service, which will use the company's offshore capabilities.

Fiserv Inks Outsourcing Deal With MortgageServ To Provide Credit Processing Services
Fiserv Lending Solutions (Unit of Fiserv Inc) has clinched an outsourcing deal from MortgageServ to provide credit-processing services. According to the deal, Credit card support within MortgageServ would enable lenders to leverage the point of purchase habits of today's consumers.

Nordea to roll-out pan-Nordic cash management system from TietoEnator
Nordea is set to implement a pan-Nordic cash management solution from TietoEnator. The bank is to upgrade its existing TietoEnator cash management technology in Norway and Sweden and will implement it for the first time in Finland and Denmark.

Microsoft to increase development staff in India
The Hindu Business Line, a local daily, quotes Tess Field, director of human resources at Microsoft India as saying that the company is doubling the number of staff it has in Hyderabad and Bangalore, taking the total number of staff to 3,000.

Orange to outsource jobs to India
Orange is likely to outsource about 700 jobs from its UK unit to India by the end of 2005. The decision follows successful call center trials held in Delhi, India, through BPO companies Vertex and Convergys. The group stated that it was looking to expand the number of calls handled offshore by its third-party partners. However, the operator also stressed that the offshoring of calls to India would not lead to reduced staffing levels in Britain.

NewPage Corporation to Outsource IT and HR to Accenture
Under the information technology agreement, Accenture will haveday-to-day operational responsibility for NewPage's enterprise ITfunctions, including infrastructure operations and maintenance,application maintenance and systems integration. Under the human resources agreement, Accenture will provideNewPage with payroll, benefits administration, health and welfareadministration, contact center management and related IT services forthe company's more than 6,300 employees.

India ICT industry at crossroads: Gartner
Gartner estimates that Indian Information & Communications Technology ( ICT) spending in India will surpass US$54.8 billion by 2008, a rise from US$29.5 billion in 2004. Analysts said that India continued to have the fastest growing ICT market in the world, and predicted a combined annual growth rate (CAGR) of 19 percent from 2004 through 2008. However Indian ICT companies may be missing a significant opportunity by concentrating their efforts on India's much-hyped export market and failing to capitalise on the country's burgeoning domestic market, warned Gartner.

Ventura commences India operations
Ventura has invested over 10 million pounds for its India operations. In its five months of operations in India, the company has a strength of 500 people.The India center will serve three clients – Next Directory, British Midlands and Book Club Associates

LogicaCMG consolidates global services business
European IT services major LogicaCMG has decided to consolidate all its worldwide IT services into a new unified business unit called Global Services delivery organization. This is aimed at streamlining its services business and drive standardization of processes across the company. The new entity consisting of 4000 employees spread across the company's offices in India, UK, Netherlands, Germany, Czech Republic and Slovakia, would have a separate CEO.

Nasscom, QAI launch certification programs for ITES industry
Aimed at taking India's ITES-BPO sector to the next level, NASSCOM and QAI - a quality consultancy in India, have announced a nationwide launch of 'Certification programs for Building Frontline Managers' for ITES- BPO industry. Candidates would acquire the designation of Certified BPO Team Leader (CBTL), Level-1 and Level-2 and Certified BPO Quality Analyst (CBQA). The three-day certification program will help address some critical issues faced by the Indian ITES-BPO industry at the organizational level.

PacificNet Epro Selected by Bank of China to Provide CRM Consulting and Call Center Training Services
PacificNet Inc. announced today that its PacificNet Epro subsidiary has been selected by Bank of China's Shanghai Branch to provide CRM consulting and call center training services.

Wax Wins Top Uk Outsourcing Award
Cambridge based Wax info Ltd., one of the country’s leading developers of secure distributed content management software, has won the UK’s top award for the use of outsourcing by an SME.