Analysis & Opinion 2010

• Gartner highlights outsourcing drive
  More than half of European organisations plan to increase their use of outsourcing this year, according to Gartner, even though overall spending may not rise.
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• Gartner identifies six lessons that BPO can learn from IT outsourcing
  In the current economic environment, organisations and the providers of their business process services face a constantly changing set of demands. In the last year, we have seen more businesses in the US, Western Europe, Australia and Japan examine business process outsourcing (BPO) as a viable solution to recessionary economic environments. By Ian Marriott, Gartner CIO UK
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• TCS Is now the 2nd largest insurance BPO provider in UK
  Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has become the second-largest insurance business process outsourcing (BPO) provider in the UK, after winning two deals worth £250 million (around Rs1,800 crore). UK-based Capita is the number one player in this space.
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• Business Process Outsourcing Can Help the Hospitality Industry Drive Growth
  The hospitality industry globally is slowly recovering from its worst ever economic downturn in 60 years.
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• Is China ready for your outsourcing work?
  While China is well on the way to establishing itself as an outsourcing hotspot, the country isn't set up for European and Northern American offshoring business just yet, according to new research.
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• Offshoring and migrants plug UK talent gaps, says CIPD
  UK employers are turning to offshoring and recruiting migrants to fill gaps in home-grown talent as the UK economy recovers, the latest CIPD/KPMG Labour Market Outlook survey has found.
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• 2010: an eventful year for outsourcing
  Summer is drawing to an end and although most tend to believe that summer is a quiet time, a great many events have already unfolded this year, all of which mean that the market continues to be impacted by the global economic crisis.
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• Indian process management services market to reach $683m in 2010: Gartner
  Indian domestic process management services market is expected to reach $683m in 2010, an increase of 31.1% compared to $521m in 2009, according to IT research and advisory firm Gartner.
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• Extensive EquaTerra Research Study Reveals Outsourcing to be a Success Story for Leading European Organisations
  EquaTerra’s 2009-2010 European Service Provider Performance and Satisfaction Study offers deep insights into the changing dynamics of the outsourcing market in Europe.
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• Everest: China Emerges as Mature Location for Outsourced Services Delivery, but Lacks Some Capabilities for North American Buyers
  China has joined India and the Philippines as a mature location for offshore delivery of outsourced services, but the country is only best suited for regional work and lacks some capabilities that global companies seek for supporting North America and Europe, according to Everest, a global consulting and research firm.
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• China offers new tax break to woo outsourcing businesses
  China, keen to end India's dominance in the outsourcing industry, today announced it will not levy operating taxes on offshore service outsourcing business in 21 of its key cities till 2013 to promote growth of the industry.
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• TCS BPO bags 6 awards for HR leadership
  TCS BPO Services, the business process outsourcing arm of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), has won six awards for outstanding HR leadership at Asia's Best Employer Brand Awards 2010, in Singapore.
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• SourceRight Solutions Named Number One Overall RPO Provider in HRO Today's Baker's Dozen Listing of Top Recruitment Process Outsourcing Providers
  SourceRight Solutions today announced that it has been named the top RPO provider in HRO Today's annual "Baker's Dozen" listing. Additionally, for the third consecutive year, SourceRight was recognized as the number one provider in the 'Quality of Service' ranking.
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• BPO segment leads growth in IT contracts in June quarter: report
  Global outsourcing saw a 12% rise in the number of registered deals to 498 in April-June over the preceding quarter, but the annual contract value of such deals declined by 22% to $3.03 billion (around Rs14,000 crore), says a report by Everest Group.
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• Smaller cities lucrative destinations for IT, BPO firms
  Driven by lower operating costs and incentives in the form of tax holidays and subsidies by state government, smaller cities like Jaipur, Chandigarh and Mysore have emerged as lucrative destinations for IT and BPO firms.
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• IT, BPO to create 30m jobs by 2020: Nasscom
  After a tough year that saw the IT & BPO industry cutting back on hiring, software lobby Nasscom has now given a positive forecast for the next decade. Nasscom estimates that the IT & BPO sector will provide direct employment of 10 million and indirect employment of 20 million by 2020.
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• Cameron rules out outsourcing curbs, but wants India to create jobs in UK
  On his first visit to India as the British prime minister, Conservative leader David Cameron allayed fears of any curbs on the IT outsourcing by the country’s government departments, even as he asked Indian companies to create more jobs in the UK.
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• TCS tops IT-BPO Employers list: Nasscom
  IT Solutions provider Tata Consultancy Services continued to remain on the top slot in the Top 20 IT-BPO Employers in India for the 2009-2010 fiscal, according to industry body Nasscom.
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• Outsource jobs good, but conditions could be better: UN
  Global back office outsourcing is creating "reasonably good" jobs in poorer countries, but staff are stressed and some work conditions have to be improved, a United Nations study said Wednesday.
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• TPI Index: Global Outsourcing Market Not Yet Bouncing Back
  TPI, the largest sourcing data and advisory firm in the world and a unit of Information Services Group, Inc. (ISG) (Nasdaq: III), an industry-leading information-based services company, released data today showing that the global outsourcing market is not yet bouncing back as economic uncertainty continues to weigh on corporations around the world.
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• EquaTerra Reports 2Q10 Demand Growth for Outsourcing and Third-Party Services Dips Slightly as Buyers Explore Alternatives
  Organizational spending on third-party services continues to be dogged by uncertainties resulting in a persistent hesitancy to invest and slowed deal flow, according to EquaTerra’s 2Q10 Advisor and Business/IT Service Provider Pulse Survey.*
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• Need to ensure outsourcing creates decent work – ILO
  The offshoring and outsourcing of business services from developed to developing countries is creating good jobs by local standards, but the industry still has to work on achieving full decent work, says the United Nations labour agency.
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• Outsourcing and Offshoring Set to Expand, Says Plunkett Research
  Plunkett Research, Ltd. has released its newest market research and competitive analysis report, Plunkett’s Outsourcing and Offshoring Industry Almanac, 2011 edition, which identifies and analyzes major trends shaping the outsourcing and offshoring industry.
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• BPO – how far can you go?
  In human years the offshoring industry as we know it is getting close to the prime of its life. It has grown from bouncing baby when doting customer service managers and CIOs looked on, excited as their costs fell thanks to those happy offshore agents and developers.
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• Business Process Outsourcing Helps Companies Thrive in a Tough Economy
  If implemented properly, business process outsourcing (BPO) can be a fast and simple tool to help companies survive the current downturn and then thrive when the economy rebounds, according to a whitepaper offered by WNS Global Services.
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• Andhra gives nod for India's first BPO in jail
  India's first Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) facility in jail will become a reality with the Andhra Pradesh government Wednesday giving its nod to the proposal.
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• Outsourcing to India Gets Cheaper as the Service Providers Turn to Rural Economies
  As the outsourcing to India industry matures, companies are readily shifting their offices to rural areas where they get an access to cheaper labor and eliminate the unproductive possibilities found in the employees in the big city offices.
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• Outsourcing sector prepares for emergency budget results
  There has been much speculation around the emergency budget announcement due today and it is already raising concerns among the general public. Further spending cuts are likely to affect social programmes and the unemployment rate.
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• Indian BPO firms forced to set up new global delivery centres
  Indian BPO firms are tuning in to a global delivery model — doing the right thing from the right geography — as value creation for customers take primacy over cost arbitrage, political pressures mount against offshoring and new offshoring destinations gain traction.
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• Genpact Recognized as the Business Process Outsourcing Service Provider of the Year by Frost & Sullivan
  Genpact Limited, a global leader in business process and technology management, has been recognized as the 2010 Business Process Outsourcing Service Provider of the Year in Asia-Pacific by global consulting firm Frost & Sullivan.
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• Study Shows Industry Outsourcing Adoption Patterns Changing
  TPI today announced the release of the TPI Momentum 2010 Market Trends & Insights Vertical Industries Report, a comprehensive look at outsourcing activity in 27 major sectors of the economy that shows the factors driving new outsourcing adoption, client decision-making, and spending levels vary dramatically by market segment.
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• Should Companies Outsource HR to be More Strategic, or to Save Money?
  Outsourcing some or all HR functions is widespread among businesses, but the reasons for doing so vary widely when comparing the practices of higher-performance organizations to their less successful counterparts.
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• BPO firms eye next-gen growth
  Like with most other industry segments, the BPO (business process outsourcing) sector too is beginning to look up, after the trough brought on by the global slowdown.
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• Alsbridge Unveils Warning Signs of Troubled Outsourcing Agreements
  Alsbridge, Inc., an award-winning global advisory firm that redefines the way companies reduce costs and improve back office operations, today unveiled its Top Six Warning Signs of Troubled Outsourcing Agreements.
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• India's KPO mkt may grow 25-30% annually till 2013: Gartner
  India's Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO) market is forecast to grow by 25-30 per cent annually till 2013, driven by rising demand for professional services, global research firm Gartner said.
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• Why recruitment outsourcing is growing in importance
  Outsourcing in the UK was originally seen as a way of reducing costs and passing clerical and low-level customer contact tasks to another company and often another country. By Wanda Goldwag
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• BPOs embrace 'onshore' outsourcing to boost business
  Having successfully serviced American and European clients from India for almost a decade, BPOs are now strengthening their 'onshore' presence in these countries to tap new opportunities.
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• MNCs back in control of 50% of Indian pharma market
  Foreign drugmakers are poised to regain the supremacy they ceded during the 1970s, thanks to their strategy of gobbling up India’s leading pharma companies.
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• Knowledge process outsourcing sector attracts PE
  Companies that have domain knowledge in the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector have started appearing on the radar of private equity (PE) players.
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• NASSCOM: ‘Outsourcing’ and ‘Offshoring’ Have Negative Connotations In U.S.
  After taking a long hard look at the some of the negative connotations around the terminology, “offshoring” and “outsourcing,” the Indian trade lobby group is turning away its use. This is particularly in light of some reaction that has come from mature markets such as the U.S.
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• IT-BPO revenues from Germany, Switzerland, Austria may grow to $10 bn by 2020
  Indian information technology (IT) and business process outsourcing (BPO) sectors may get almost $10 billion from Germany, Switzerland and Austria by 2020, up from the $2.6 billion they earn from this region across the IT, BPO and engineering services space, against the addressable market size of more than $53 billion.
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• Shared Service Centres Continue Growth in Hungary
  After the rapid expansion during the past decade, Hungary’s shared services industry is growing into one of the country’s largest employers with 30,000 jobs.
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• Legal Process Outsourcing on the Ascendant - Top Ten Firms Show the Way
  http://outsourceportfolio.com, the definitive outsourcing industry mouthpiece, has this time come out with a report on the fast emerging legal processing outsourcing sector.
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• India to get first outsourcing unit operating from a jail
  A prison in India's technology hub of Hyderabad is set to run an outsourcing unit from its premises, a newspaper reported Wednesday.
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• BPO leader Intelenet hiring 7,000 in India
  BPO major Intelenet has announced its intentions to hire as many as 7,000 personnel in India in 2010.
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• Well-defined outcomes now critical to outsourcing success, says Gartner
  Business outcomes are increasingly being written into outsourcing agreements as companies respond to the recession, according to analysts at IT market research company Gartner.
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• Shared services centres to take over from in-house finance?
  Work performed by in-house finance departments is being farmed out to shared services centres as organisations look for fresh opportunities to save money.
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• Continental markets drive first-quarter European outsourcing deals
  Sweden, France and Germany were the strongest outsourcing markets outside of the US during the first quarter of 2010, surpassing the UK for the first time, according to outsourcing advisory firm TPI.
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• IT/BPO firms increase hiring but exercise caution
  With business showing signs of normalcy returning and projects increasingly getting the green signal from clients, the information technology/business process outsourcing (IT/BPO) sector has started increasing its hiring after a lull of almost two years.
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• Outsourcers jockey for slice of New Zealand telco deal
  Wipro, Tech Mahindra, IBM and HP are among the companies rumoured to be in negotiations with Telecom Corp of New Zealand for an outsourcing contract potentially worth up to $1 billion, according to reports in India’s Economic Times.
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• Why should CEOs give top priority to outsourcing?
  The hard-pressed CEOs are devoting more attention to outsourcing, because a considerable amount of most large organizations' cost base is already with outsourcing service providers and this amount is rising at a rapid pace.
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• Shared services – it takes a lot of skill
  Most local authorities want to do it – but not all of them have the expertise the job requires. Mike Lowe reports from Public Service Events' Shared Services conference
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• Large Contract Restructurings Lifted Outsourcing Market in First Quarter
  TPI, the largest sourcing data and advisory firm in the world and a unit of Information Services Group, Inc. (ISG) (NASDAQ: III), an industry-leading information-based services company, released data today showing that contract restructuring, in which clients renewed, renegotiated, or expanded existing contracts lifted the global outsourcing market during the first quarter of 2010.
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• HR outsourcing to get a boost from recovering economy
  HR outsourcing (HRO) is set to pick up this year in the UK.
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• EquaTerra Reports Appetite for Outsourcing Healthy but Deals Harder to Digest as Cautious Buyers Weigh Options
  Slow, deliberate and risk averse are the key descriptors characterizing current buyers of outsourcing and third-party services, according to EquaTerra’s 1Q10 Advisor and Business/IT Service Provider Pulse Survey.
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• Accenture Named Top Outsourcing Provider by International Association of Outsourcing Professionals
  Accenture has been ranked No. 1 on the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals' (IAOP(R)) Global Outsourcing 100 list, marking the third consecutive year that Accenture has topped this ranking of the world's best outsourcing providers.
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• Public-sector cuts 'could create HR outsourcing boom'
  HR outsourcing companies have predicted a spike in demand for their services after the election as the public sector faces huge efficiency drives and budget cuts.
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• Satyam will take two years to rejoin race against TCS, Infy & Cognizant: CEO
  Beleaguered Satyam Computer, which was taken over by the Mahindras a year ago and renamed as Mahindra Satyam, is still facing major operational challenges, said CEO CP Gurnani.
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• BPO firms look for new talent to drive growth
  Business process outsourcing firms across the country are drawing in new leadership as they face challenges in services delivery and growth.
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• Shared Services Could Protect Front Lines Says CIPFA
  Councils and other public bodies need to start sharing services, people and other assets if they hope to protect front line services during the post-election cuts, according to the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA).
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• Outsourcing would make US weaker, says Geithner
  US treasury secretary Timothy Geithner on Tuesday said India and the US economic relationship had far more things in common than areas of discord.
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• Business process outsourcing market to grow 19% through 2013:Gartner
  According to Gartner, the business process outsourcing (BPO) market in India is estimated to grow 19 percent through 2013.
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• UK Outsourcing Challenges Offshoring as Firms' Favourite
  Data from outsourcing consultancy Fronterion reveals that 44 percent of legal process outsourcing (LPO) vendors aim to increase the number of onshore personnel and qualified lawyers they employ over the next three to five years, with 56 per cent claiming they are receiving increased interest from qualified candidates
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• South-East Asia chases India and China’s crowns
  India and China are still top in Asia-Pacific IT and BPO, but sizeable investments have seen various countries emerge as credible alternatives, according to a new Gartner study.
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• £25bn a year wasted in public sector procurement
  At least £25bn can be saved for the public purse by restructuring procurement and using more shared services and outsourcing.
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• Outsourcing contract volume to rise in 2010: TPI
  Number of outsourcing contracts awarded globally are expected to rise in 2010 as organisations look for new ways to optimise business operations in an improving economy, according to a research by sourcing data and advisory firm TPI.
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• Philippines soaring in BPO industry
  BPO firms in the Philippines are hiring new personnel on expectations of strong business growth from the United States and Europe, the Asian Times has reported.
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• Outsourcing industry in Bulgaria on the rise
  Outsourcing companies are poised to create more than 2500 jobs in Bulgaria in 2010, Call Point New Europe said, cited by Investor daily on March 4 2010.
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• FAO growth expected as economy recovers
  The Finance and Accounting Outsourcing (FAO) market is expected to grow at almost 20 per cent this year, reaching an annual contract volume (ACV) of US$3.7 billion, according to Everest Consulting.
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• Outsourcing's latest trend: Companies should give KPO a chance
  Knowledge process outsourcing has failed to live up to its potential. So is it doomed to fail? Or does hope lie ahead? The National Outsourcing Association's Martyn Hart has the answers.
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• Outsourcing: CFOs poised to spend $3.7bn this year
  Nearly $4bn will be spent on finance and accounting outsourcing (FAO) this year as services spending reverts to pre-recession levels, according to analysts.
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• Small, midsize BPO firms seek buyers as margins begin to shrink
  At least a dozen small and midsize outsourcing firms grappling with thinning margins, tight working capital and lack of opportunities for scaling up, have mandated banks to scout for buyers, said five investment bankers familiar with the development.
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• Outsourcing to India: Europe plays strictly by the rules
  European outsourcing customers prefer contract staff and local delivery, as per a latest Forrester study. Western Europe, which accounts for nearly $6.8-billion worth of India’s software exports, follows strict local labour rules and plans to avoid any move that could be viewed as anti-social, according to research firm Forrester.
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• BPO targets 90,000 more jobs in 2010
  The business process outsourcing industry has estimated that 90,000 new jobs will be created this year as companies abroad continue to seek lower costs and tap the Philippines for skilled workers.
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• Obama again slams outsourcing to India, calls it unfair practice
  Accusing US companies outsourcing business to India of following unfair business practices, President Barack Obama says his proposal to tax firms shipping jobs overseas was only intended to provide a level playing field.
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• Indian IT-BPO exports to reach $50bn, says Nasscom
  Export revenues for the Indian IT-BPO industry are expected to grow by 5.5% to reach $49.7bn in FY 09-10, According to industry body Nasscom.
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• KPO: The way to go?
  Knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) has reached something of a revered status over the past year or two, hailed as the exciting progression of BPO into more specialist arenas. However, perhaps the sector isn’t quite as advanced as the hype would have us believe.
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• World Cup the Perfect Opportunity for South Africa to Display Its BPO Capabilities: Frost & Sullivan
  The financial turmoil of 2009 led a number of companies to increase their focus on BPO services. This is due to the significant savings they offered, as a means to control spending.
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• Outsourcing sector stages dramatic turnaround
  The EMEA outsourcing market staged a drastic recovery in the final quarter of 2009, according to the latest data from TPI.
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• Obama aims to keep jobs in US
  Barack Obama has announced plans to slash taxes for American firms to generate jobs in the US, it has been widely reported.
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• UK economy officially out of recession but finance and accounting outsource market to grow in 2010
  The first official figures out this week reveal that Britain is technically out of recession, but pressure on companies to cut costs remains intense.
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• Outsourcing market has best performance in six quarters
  TPI and Information Services Group have today released fourth-quarter and full-year 2009 data indicating the global outsourcing market has had its best performance in the last six quarters.
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• CFOs to Expand Finance and Accounting Outsourcing Programs in 2010
  The demand for finance and accounting outsourcing (FAO) services is strong and will continue to grow in 2010, according to the findings of The WNS Annual CFO Survey 2010.
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• Public sector looks to outsourcing as costs slashed
  The public sector will see a surge in outsourcing during 2010 as it attempts to deal with budget cuts, according to new research by the National Outsourcing Association (NOA).
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• Small US firms offshoring more
  Despite Barack Obama's efforts to discourage offshoring by US companies, there is some evidence to suggest that now even smaller  companies in the country are increasingly looking at outsourcing to regions like India to cut costs.
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• Are Companies Paying The Right Price For Telecom And Outsourced Services? - Two Ceos Have The Answer
  Determining the right price for outsourced IT and business process services is getting more difficult for companies of all sizes according to Ben Trowbridge, CEO of Dallas-based Alsbridge, Inc.
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• Outsourcing 2010: Green growth, public sector deals and rise of the SME
  What to expect from all types of sourcing this year? The National Outsourcing Association's (NOA) Martyn Hart offers his predictions.
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• Indian outsourcing cos face challenges from new entrants: PwC
  After being market leaders for a long time, outsourcing firms in India and North America are now faced with increasing competition from new entrants amid rising demand for services globally, a survey says.
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• Six Offshore Hotspots for 2010
  Industry watchers predict an increase in offshore IT outsourcing in the new year. But 2010 is hardly expected to be a banner year for offshoring-better than 2009 but far from historic growth levels.
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• What will happen in the outsourcing sector this year?
  Harry McDermott, CEO art consultancy Hudson & Yorke which works in the Telecoms sector, believes a mobile operator will acquire a company to add managed mobile services to its portfolio.
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• Next Step for BPO: Carbon Accounting
  Carbon accounting outsourcing (CAO) may well be the next big thing in business process outsourcing.
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• Platform BPO: Outsourcing's Next Wave
  Standard platforms will become much more common as outsourcers seek to cut their costs.
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