BPO Blog

Visa cut will force US firms to outsource

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 09:47:18 -0500

The US decision to cut visas to skilled manpower from countries like India would not protect American jobs, but goad American companies to opt for outsourcing, a leading think tank has warned.

In a report released on Wednesday, RAND Corp, a non-profit global policy think tank, said curbing the inflow of foreign science and engineering workers would force US firms to outsource research and development or locate new facilities overseas.

"Rather than protecting jobs, this could lead to reduced investment and employment at home," said RAND, known for its non-partisan analysis and policy recommendations. click here

E-REVOLUTION: Residents of Saurath village in Bihar run a BPO

Sat, 31 May 2008 17:28:01 -0500

A five-hour drive from Patna is one of the India's first BPOs being run out of a village, by the village, and for a large part, for the village.

The people who live in Saurath village in Bihar had never heard of a computer, let alone use one just a few years ago.

But now, they are busily tapping away on their keyboards and an entire area, cut off from urban centres, is connected.

Just a year ago, Saurath was like any other village that had come to terms with it's geography - that they could never easily get what they wanted - be it a top-up card for their mobile phones or a life insurance policy.

It was a two to three hour drive to the nearest district town.

That's when a tech company stepped in and offered them the chance to help themselves.

And Saurath agreed. At the cost of Rs 7,000 per head for six months to learn how to use computers that they had earlier seen only in Hindi films.

"Earlier I would feel scared. Now I feel proud that being a village boy, I can work on the computer," Bauajee Paswan, a BPO worker, says.

Today the people of Saurath, who put in their hard earned money, are part of a revolution. The confidence levels are so palpable that one can almost see the kind of respect they have earned for themselves.

Thirty-eight year old Asha Jha was just a housewife who spent the entire day in the kitchen with her pallu (part of saree) draped over her head looking after her family.

But when she found out about the training course that empowered people like her, she didn't have to work too hard convincing her in-laws to lend her the money for her classes.

Now Asha earns about Rs 17 an hour, which come to a little more than Rs 4,000 a month. That has brought smiles on the faces of her in-laws.

And like any other woman balancing the work place with a family life - Asha seems to be pulling it off brilliantly.

"Even I wanted to do some thing. Now I manage my house and office," says Asha.

The process is simple. If a man, for example, wants to buy a mobile phone in the next village, he goes to a kiosk in his village, chooses the phone he wants and places an order.

The kiosk owner then calls up the BPO and tells the person on the other side about the order. They, in turn inform the tech company that runs the BPO who then send over the product, which is then delivered to the man who placed the order.

click here

Companies buck the outsourcing trend

Mon, 12 May 2008 12:43:43 -0500

Workers at the New Balance factory in this suburb of Boston create the sound of "made in the USA." The company, striving in a world dominated by Nike, Adidas and Reebok, keeps 25 percent of its manufacturing in America � the only company to make any athletic shoes here.

"Our labor costs are 10 to 12 times higher," says President and Chief Operating Officer Jim Tompkins. "But productivity at New Balance's five U.S. plants is much greater, lowering other costs. We're able to deliver into the market in a matter of days, where our competitors are looking at a matter of weeks and sometimes months."

To speed up production, employees assemble in teams, designed to maximize output and minimize waste.

Not so long ago, we used to make a case of shoes, 12 pairs, in eight days," says Lawrence, Mass., plant manager Claudio Gelman. "Now we're down to three hours."

Other companies are actually bringing jobs back to the U.S. One is Long Island's North Fork Bank. Even though its customer service call center in India was a bargain, there were problems.

"That amounted to a savings of about $20,000 a head," says North Fork President, CEO and Chairman John Kanas.

North Fork's reputation as a neighborhood bank suffered.

So Kanas brought the jobs back to Long Island, adding $2 million a year to his expenses.

"We've kept it here because of the tremendous importance of quality of that experience to us," he says. "And we think the tradeoff for the money is worth it."

Unlike other carriers, Denver-based Frontier Airlines keeps all its work in-house, refusing to outsource its maintenance or its call centers to other companies in America or overseas.

"Our employees here take ownership," says Frontier CEO Jeff Potter. "They are so committed to our customers, and I'm not sure that's something you could find offshore."

New Balance, Frontier and North Fork Bank have all discovered that while it is more expensive to keep work in this country, it ultimately delivers a bigger payoff.

So much so that New Balance plans to expand its U.S. manufacturing, believing that "made in America" still has a competitive edge. click here

BPO bubble bursts? China overtakes India as world fave

Wed, 05 Mar 2008 05:26:11 -0600

India's dominance as a low-cost outsourcing destination seems to be on the decline, with countries like China, Morocco and Hungary fast emerging as the preferred choices by IT services providers, a recent study says.

Focused on UK's top IT service providers, a study by Pierre Audoin Consultants (PAC) showed that China, Morocco and Hungary are the new locations of choice to set up offshore sourcing centres.

Pierre Audoin Consultants is a European market research and strategic consulting firm for Software and IT Services Industry (SITSI).

According to the study, since the beginning of January 2007, UK's 20 largest IT services suppliers have opened 21 new global delivery centres. However, of these only two are were located in India. Four such centres were set up in China, while Eastern Europe and Morocco had three each, the study added.

"India's position as the premier low-cost IT sourcing centre is not under serious threat in the near term. But what we are seeing is vendors (are) looking to reduce theirreliability on India's heated labour market...," Nick Mayes, a senior consultant at PAC, said in a statement

The 20 largest IT services vendors in the UK are based on rankings in PACs annual SITSI report. These include EDS, IBM, Fujitsu, Capgemini, Capita, Accenture, CSC, HP, BT Global Services and LogicaCMG.

The two new facilities launched in India were both outside the traditional hot spots of Bangalore and Mumbai, IBMs new centre has been set up in Noida, while Tata Consultancy Services' expansion site has come up at Hyderabad, it said.click here

General Motors Corp. (GM) said on Thursday it would outsource up to $15 billion of information technology work as it tries to cut costs and restructure operations.

Wed, 13 Feb 2008 21:07:56 -0600

Five-year contracts were given to Electronic Data Systems Corp. (EDS), Hewlett-Packard Co. (HP), International Business Machines Corp. (IBM), France's Cap Gemini, the Compuware Covisint unit of Compuware Corp., and India's Wipro Ltd.

About half of the $15 billion in five-year contracts were awarded on Thursday, GM said.

The world's largest automaker said the initiative was driven by the end of a deal with EDS that expired in June, 10 years after EDS was spun off from the No. 1 automaker.read more

NASSCOM-EVEREST India BPO Study �Roadmap 2012 - capitalizing on the expanding BPO landscape� released

Tue, 29 Jan 2008 21:29:35 -0600

NASSCOM, the premier trade body and �voice� of the Indian IT-BPO industry, along with Everest Group, a global strategy consulting firm, today released the findings of the landmark study on India�s BPO industry, titled, NASSCOM-Everest India BPO Study - Roadmap 2012 - Capitalizing on the Expanding BPO Landscape. This study provides a comprehensive fact-based view of capabilities of sector, opportunities and growth imperatives for the Indian BPO industry and its key stakeholders. It sets the stage for the next wave of the industry�s growth.

Speaking at the launch, Som Mittal, President, NASSCOM said, �The Indian BPO sector has evolved tremendously since its inception, not only in its size but also in terms of maturity - service lines, service delivery capability and footprint. This US$ 11 billion industry today employs more that 700,000 people across 25 countries and accounts for approximately 40 percent of the global BPO offshore market thereby creating huge job opportunities and impacting the economy. The future potential is even larger. This study not only estimates the opportunity ahead but also lays down specific agenda for all stakeholders to help achieve this.�

Gaurav Gupta, Country Head, Everest Group added, �Though the initial focus was on moving activities regarded as non-core in order to cut costs, today an increasing number of buyers are showing the confidence to pursue complex global sourcing and transformational programmes with offshore providers, including third-parties and captives. This confidence reflects in the Indian BPO industry�s rapidly evolving capabilities and an exciting future for its stakeholders.�

The NASSCOM-Everest study presents a detailed, bottom-up analysis of the Indian BPO industry and perspectives from constituents including buyers, suppliers and captive BPO organizations. The effort covered over 60 percent of the Indian BPO market, with detailed findings and opportunity assessments in a variety if industries and functions. Adds Gaurav Gupta, �the report indicates a possible target of US$50 billion by 2012 for the Indian BPO industry. This reflects a 5-fold growth over the next five years and can create up over 2 million direct jobs in India.�

Raman Roy, Chairman and Managing Director, Quatrro said �The right choices by stakeholders of the Indian BPO industry will decide and impact this potential five-fold growth. Less than 5 percent of the total opportunity has been tapped till now, which is indicative of the enormous growth potential available to the industry. While the aspired target is aggressive � it is definitely achievable, and will bring huge payoffs to India�s economy, employment and development.�

The report outlines the need for significant collaboration between the industry, government and other stakeholders on a range of initiatives including education, infrastructure, country-competitiveness, and domestic BPO. Nikhil Rajpal, Global Services Practice Head, Everest Group, said �capturing the true benefits of this opportunity will require significant change to how buyers and suppliers operate in an increasingly competitive market for global services. The government will need to actively support and partner with the industry to ensure that India does not lose out on the opportunity to add up to 2.5% to its GDP by 2012.�

From a talent perspective, while the number of people required to capture a five-fold growth are available, there may be a requirement of employable talent, of which approximately 50 percent of the additional talent requirements will have to be met from Tier 2 and 3 cities in India, necessitating the creation of physical and social infrastructure in these cities.

Read More

2008 will be a crucial year for the BPO industry

Mon, 31 Dec 2007 21:12:16 -0600

With the slowdown in the US economy, a strong rupee and questions over extension of the Software Technology Parks (STP) scheme looming large, 2008 will be a crucial year for the Indian BPO industry. While players and analysts agree the troubled American economy is unlikely to have a significant impact on the industry, the decision on STP-extension closer home is seen as a clincher.

Analyst firm Forrester has predicted that the US technology economy will flirt with recession but will post another decent growth year in 2008. �The US economy is expected to be weak in the first quarter of next year but will be stronger as the year progresses,� it said.

It�s the extension of the STP tax holiday, which expires in 2009, that tops the industry�s wish-list this year. �STP extension is important for India to remain competitive on the global platform where China and Philippines are offering 10-year tax holidays. Whether the tax holiday is extended or not will have a decisive impact on the BPO industry,� said Quatrro BPO Solutions managing director Raman Roy.

While it battles such issues, the industry is looking forward to some consolidation and heightened merger & acquisition (M&A) activity in 2008. �Captives, which is how this industry got started, are going to become rarer next year,� adds Mr Roy. While clarity on the Citi captive sale is expected to emerge next year, Aviva�s offshoring centres, too, are on the block.

Analysts also see greater investor interest, due to more realistic valuations. �One can expect greater interest among private equity (PE) firms to invest in BPO/ KPO firms. After an upbeat 2007 where valuations were a bit on the higher side, 2008 will bring more realistic valuations, giving a boost to consolidation,� says offshoring advisory firm Tholons president Pradeep Mukherji. The year 2008 assumes greater importance as the US goes to polls. While outsourcing has already become an election issue, more anti-outsourcing rhetoric is expected as the race hots up. �Wait till the first quarter of 2008 and the rhetoric against job-loss and outsourcing would gain ground to gain votes,� says US India Business Alliance vice-chairman Abhi Shah.

However, players think the impact would be insignificant. �Considering the recession in US, offshoring is an imperative and hence, anti-outsourcing rhetoric won�t have much impact. BPOs in India are going to benefit from the global credit crunch as companies will resort to more offshoring to minimise impact on falling margins,� said HCL BPO chief exec Ranjit Narsimhan. Adds ExlService Holdings president & COO Rohit Kapoor, �It�s expected that banks and other financial institutions will downsize staff in the first half of 2008. After the restructuring, these institutions will start outsourcing their back-office work to cut costs.�

The BPO industry could see some sobering in salary hikes in 2008. �Salary increases won�t be as dramatic as last couple of years. We expect a 9-12% wage hike, rather than a 15-17% hike as in the past. Also, we expect more and more companies to weave in the variable component into contracts at all levels,� said Mr Mukherji. click here

The 2008 Outsourcing World Summit

Fri, 28 Dec 2007 13:41:39 -0600

The International Association of Outsourcing Professionals (IAOP) in association with FORTUNE� Custom Projects is pleased to present the 11th edition of its world-renowned conference series � The Outsourcing World Summit.

This year�s theme is Built for Change: Reconceptualizing the Corporation in an Era of Outsourcing, Offshoring, and Globalization. Outsourcing, offshoring, and globalization have proven to be powerful value-creation engines for customers, providers, and the economy as a whole. But they�re still too often seen as simple extensions of the company�s basic way of doing business; adding value, but not changing the company at its core.

IAOP believes that tomorrow�s winners will actually be those organizations that truly use these new management models to redesign their businesses from the ground up as change-enabled enterprises � ones with the ability to adapt, respond, anticipate and most importantly capture markets in ways never before thought possible.

Download 2008 Summit Program

BPO Salaries

Fri, 07 Dec 2007 19:05:27 -0600

BPO Manager in New York, NY $96,000
BPO Manager in Palo Alto, CA $93,000
BPO Manager in Boston, MA $84,000
BPO Manager in Los Angeles, CA $69,000
BPO Manager in Seattle, WA $68,000
BPO Manager in Boulder, CO $64,000

View Larger Salary Graph

ABC News Report On Outsourcing To India

Wed, 14 Nov 2007 21:16:19 -0600

Big IT, BPO names dominate with 40% growth

Mon, 12 Nov 2007 05:35:01 -0600

The growth story of Indian IT and ITeS sectors may continue unabated, but it is the big names that are dominating the market with double the growth rate recorded by the rest.

The six IT majors -- TCS, Infosys, Wipro, Satyam, HCL Technologies and Congizant -- along with two BPO giants Genpact and WNS are recording a yearly growth rate of over 40 per cent, according to technology consultancy firm Everest Group. Read More

Rising Rupee: Boon or a bane for IT/BPO

Wed, 31 Oct 2007 05:46:45 -0500

The IT sector and BPO companies have seen only good times, except in early 2000. This trend of the rising rupee will force them to be more innovative in managing their treasury, operational efficiency and their geographic footprint. For last several years, many Indian companies (the top 10), were satisfied with their on-site /offshore (read India) model.

Now it has become important to speed up plans to not only spread the geo-political risk but to manage the strategic risk. Indian IT/ITES companies have also started diversifying globally in order to reduce their exposure to the US market. For instance, the big five Indian IT companies, derive about 70% of their revenues from the US, have now started focusing on Europe in a big way (Infosys, WIPRO and TCS get about 28%-30 % revenue from Europe.)

The Indian rupee is on a rising curve. In the past one month it has appreciated by 3.6% to the dollar and since January 1 by a whopping 12% to the dollar. The rising rupee has become a major cause for concern among Indian ITES/BPOs firms, especially the smaller firms that are not adequately hedged. Minimum alternative tax (MAT) and service tax further add to their blues. With every 1% appreciation in the rupee the operational margins decline by almost to the tune of four basis points.

The BPO companies are primarily offshore driven. More than 95% people are from here, so that means their cost is in Indian rupees and many of them earn in dollars. So, they will have a larger impact than the IT companies with a large part of onsite component where people work in the US so their salaries are also paid in the US. So to that extent, there is less impact . Almost all Indian companies have started hedging their currency positions. Some companies park a part of their dollar deposits abroad, so as to avoid the risk of currency movements.

Companies are trying to bring in efficiency in various ways to mitigate the impact. The improvement in billing rates can offset some of the currency impact. More importantly, new clients are coming in at higher price points. This may be difficult as the local companies are not affected by this trend and compete very well with the global delivery capabilities of the Indian companies. Read More

Yoga stress buster for BPO cabbies!

Tue, 23 Oct 2007 20:00:35 -0500

The BPO industry wants to initiate its notorious bunch of cab drivers into meditation to bring some sense of discipline into their driving. So, after senior-level employees and agents, it�s the turn of BPO cabbies to take to the stress-busting sessions.

The initiative has been crystallised by the recent incident of a BPO cab mowing down seven people in Delhi. Even in the past there have been a spate of incidents of rash driving by BPO cabbies, which have caused fatal accidents.

There�s a thought within the BPO industry that cab drivers, who are often on duty almost 16 hours a day, have little time to catch up with sleep or family.

�We are looking at yoga consultants and mediation sessions to reduce their stress levels,� says the president of Call Centre Association of India, Sam Chopra. �We are also devising tools for stress management, as a rash cab driver not only endangers his own life, but also that of the other seven people in the cab.�

Due to water-tight login times, cab drivers have to meet sharp deadlines every day. Cab drivers often over-speed to save on the penalty imposed by BPOs if they delay on reporting times. Courses like Art of Living will help alleviate their stress levels, the industry feels.

Many vendors make drivers do double shifts that stretch up to 16-17 hours. Seeing the rash behaviour of call centre cab drivers, the Delhi Traffic Police came out with a notice threatening to cancel permits if cab drivers speed over 40 kph in Delhi limits.

�All cabs will run in the middle lane. Violation will lead to impounding and suspension or cancellation of permits from November 1,� the Delhi Police notice said.

The notice has, however, evoked conflicting reactions from the industry. �It will lead to longer travel times and thus, more stress amongst employees and cab drivers alike,� says a senior call centre executive. �It can lead to a rise in attrition.�

Some BPOs have, however, welcomed the move. �It may lead to more travel time, but it will be safer for employees in the industry,� says Harsh Vinayak, MD, Keane BPO at Gurgaon.

�We already have severe penalties for over speeding such as cutting down margins of cab vendors if our service agreements are not met.� Some BPOs, however, just terminate or ground a driver permanently if he is found overspeeding.

The BPO concentration in satellite towns of Noida and Gurgaon has made cab service very lucrative, tempting villages around to start cab and taxi services.

Some village families own up to 15 cabs and run taxi services with hired and poorly-trained drivers. This has made such erring drivers a nuisance to the city.
click here

Hillary Clinton walking fine line on outsourcing

Mon, 10 Sep 2007 08:51:10 -0500

Democratic Presidential hopeful Hillary Rodham Clinton, who has received backing from leading Indian Americans, is walking a fine line on the sensitive outsourcing issue as key labour unions withhold endorsements pending clear position from the candidates on it, a leading American newspaper has said.

Media has profiled the predicament of Senator Clinton in a front page article contrasting the two different positions she has taken on the issue over the last two years.

Clinton has been pressed by Labour leaders on her support for expanding temporary US work visas that often go to Indians who get jobs in the US, the report said. click here

GB Prabhat, CEO of Anantara Solutions, on Second Generation Outsourcing

Sat, 18 Aug 2007 21:13:01 -0500

GB Prabhat helped net in $200 million in revenue when he decided to quit Satyam Computer Services, one of India's largest software companies. Prabhat left his cushy job to found a startup called Anantara Solutions which received investments of $6.5 million from Helion Venture Partners, Walden International Silicon Valley Bank.

His new company focuses on Second Generation Outsourcing (SGO), a business paradigm that "radically improves first generation outsourcing which is predicated primarily on cost arbitrage."

Prabhat says �By pioneering SGO, we at Anantara Solutions are reinventing the offshore delivery model combining the efficiencies of a top-notch consulting firm and a high quality offshore delivery firm.

In 1995, he co-founded Satyam Renaissance Consulting, a then subsidiary of Satyam Computer Services. Prabhat believed strongly that, much as IT services work was beginning to be offshored, all manner of consulting services could be delivered using the onsite-offshore model with India as the hub of such services.

Prabhat is also a writer of fiction. His first novel, Chains, was published in November 2000 to critical acclaim and his second novel, Eimona, was published in 2006. click here

http://www.anantsol.com/sgo.html

Acquiring a BPO's no longer an attractive growth tool

Tue, 07 Aug 2007 20:41:39 -0500

Five years ago, when Wipro wanted to build back office outsourcing capabilities, it acquired Spectramind. Later, IBM built its business process capabilities in India by buying out Daksh. Such acquisitions gave companies a quick way to enter the booming sector or scale up existing capabilities.

But acquisitions are no longer the only route for technology companies to achieve inorganic growth in India and new cost-effective alternatives are gaining popularity. Companies are experimenting with carving out of business functions, reverse build-operate-transfer and other means that don�t involve buying up a firm but still boost size and add expertise in new service lines.

Infosys BPO, for instance, initially considered acquiring a stake in Citigroup Global Services but dropped the idea as it considered the asking price too high. Recently, it entered into a deal with Philips Electronics and took over the latter�s finance, accounting and non-product related procurement functions along with a staff of 1,400.Read More

Rising rupee may hit IT hikes

Mon, 23 Jul 2007 06:10:54 -0500

Is the IT party over? For the moment, it looks so.
With the strong rupee impacting adversely the profits of every IT company, salary increments are expected to take a hit. And more of the salary is likely now to become part of the variable component, so that you get more only if you work more and perform better.

"There is tremendous pressure to keep costs down," says Venkat Shastry, partner in executive search firm Stanton Chase International. "Over the next few quarters, I don't see anybody providing for any serious salary increases or making corrections, even if that means higher attrition. It's been madness in 3 to 10 years' experience category in the past few years. That will taper down."

Salary cost is by far the biggest component of cost, accounting for 45% of IT companies' costs and 40% of BPO costs. With many mid-size and small IT/BPO firms seeing a fall in profits in the Q1 of this fiscal, and most larger ones witnessing a sharp slowdown, varied options are being considered to keep the salary component under check or to get more work out of each employee.

The pressure to do this is more so as Indian IT's competitors like IBM, Accenture and EDS have not been impacted by rupee rise as much, given that they have only a fifth or less of their workforce in India.

Says Gangapriya Chakraverti of Mercer India, "Variable pay will come up in a big way. Compensation related to productivity and contribution will take over. Companies will have to be careful about headcount. They will no longer have the luxury of maintaining a large talent pool that's sitting idle." Such pools are maintained to provide for attrition or to use in the event of the firm suddenly bagging a big project.

Adds Gautam Sinha, CEO of TVA Infotech, "The mid quartile which has been getting close to 15-20% increments in compensation packages, will see tightening. Companies might not decrease the percentage of increment; instead they might link it to productivity and performance and downsize number of people being awarded raises. This is because companies are getting work and signing new deals. So they need the workforce to deliver the job. But they can afford to be choosy about who they want to appraise."

Rupee's rise is expected to hit BPO employees harder than IT. Unlike infotech, where 30% to 50% of employees work on-site and paid in dollars, in BPOs, 90% of the work is done in India and employees are paid in rupees. "Mid and senior level executives in BPOs have been getting increments of 14-20%. I think that will come down to 8-15%. Overall weighted average of increments used to be 7-8%. That may be down to 4-5%," Vashistha says.

Times of India

Indiatimes BPO Industry Awards on Sept 28

Thu, 19 Jul 2007 15:23:09 -0500

To honour the achievements and successes of the BPO industry, Indiatimes is bringing the second edition of the awards for the industry. The function will be held in New Delhi on September 28 . The awards are divided across nine categories: Company of the Year; CEO of the Year; Emerging Company of the Year; Most Significant Contributor to Industry; Award for Operational Excellence and Quality; Most Admired Company to Work For; Technology Award; BPO Innovator of the Year; and the Award for Professional Excellence.

The awards will be given after a through research and analysis done by QAI. An independent process auditor in PricewaterhouseCoopers will audit all the processes.

The event is conceptualised and managed by Indiatimes Mindscape. The corporate world is widely supporting the Indiatimes BPO Industry Awards 2007. DLF has associated with the event as the Presenting Sponsor and Plantronics as a Gold Sponsor. Economic Times

Crackdown on Indian Outsourcing Firms

Sat, 19 May 2007 12:45:06 -0500

Concerns about foreign companies that benefit from a visa program designed to make the U.S. more competitive are taking center stage in Washington, with two senators demanding explanations from overseas users of the system. Senators Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) on May 14 sent letters to nine foreign outsourcing companies requesting detailed information on how they use temporary work visas, known as H-1Bs, to bring foreign workers into the U.SRead More

You can sit home and earn. Here's how!

Thu, 17 May 2007 11:35:12 -0500

Information technology gaints like IBM, Infosys, Wipro and WNS - providing offshore services from India to clients in the developed part of the world - have got a new rival on the fast expanding BPO landscape. More importantly, the new challenger is not some thousand-employees strong BPO firm, but individuals who could be sitting anywhere alone before their personal computer, but have an addressable market worth over $20 billion in the US alone. Economic Times

KPOs

Wed, 16 May 2007 05:07:13 -0500

Knowledge Processing Outsourcing (popularly known as a KPO), calls for the application of specialized domain pertinent knowledge of a high level. The KPO typically involves a component of Business Processing Outsourcing (BPO), Research Process Outsourcing (RPO) and Analysis Proves Outsourcing (APO). KPO business entities provide typical domain-based processes, advanced analytical skills and business expertise, rather than just process expertise. KPO Industry is handling more amount of high skilled work other than the BPO Industry. While KPO derives its strength from the depth of knowledge, experience and judgment factor; BPO in contrast is more about size, volume and efficiency.

Got a PC? You can now work for a $20 bln market

Tue, 15 May 2007 12:18:56 -0500

IT giants like IBM, Infosys, Wipro and WNS -- providing offshore services from India to clients in the developed part of the world -- have got a new rival on the fast expanding BPO landscape.

More importantly, the new challenger is not some thousand-employees strong Business Process Outsourcing firm, but individuals who could be sitting anywhere alone before their personal computer, but have before them an addressable market worth over $20 billion in the US alone.Hindustan Times

Infosys, TV18 to set up media outsourcing firm

Tue, 15 May 2007 05:07:27 -0500

Infosys BPO on Monday said it will launch an outsourcing firm to provide services to media and entertainment companies globally, in collaboration with TV18 Group.

The proposed entity, to be called Source 18, will offer services including digital archiving and metatagging, re-purposing content, work flow charting, re-editing, transcoding, quality control as well as media process outsourcing. The Hindu

India's largest BPO plans $600 mn IPO in US

Mon, 14 May 2007 12:55:00 -0500

India's largest business process outsourcing (BPO) firm, Genpact, plans to raise $600 million (around Rs 2,500 crore) in an initial public offering (IPO) of its shares on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). The face value of the offered shares is 1 cent.

It will thus become the largest Indian IPO in the US and follows two other Indian BPOs - WNS (NYSE) and EXL Services (Nasdaq). The proceeds from the share sale will be used to repay debt and for general corporate purposes, including potential acquisitions, according to a filing with the U S Securities and Exchange Commission which has not yet become effective. Business Standard

BPOs find smaller towns attractive

Fri, 11 May 2007 11:00:28 -0500

The spiralling real estate costs, capacity constraints, high attrition rates, wage inflation and talent shortage are pushing business process outsourcing (BPO) firms to tier-II and tier-III cities.

Thanks to this move, the estimated $9.5 billion (exports and domestic revenue) sector is hopeful about maintaining its cost advantage. MSN India

BPOs to tap local market for business

Wed, 09 May 2007 10:05:46 -0500

The domestic market for business process outsourcing - which is growing at a compound annual growth rate of 50 per cent - is catching the attention of BPO companies that have traditionally catered to the international market

BPO hotspots

Fri, 04 May 2007 09:26:52 -0500

Bangalore, Delhi and Mumbai, lesser-known Indian cities, such as Kochi and Nagpur, have the most potential to be the next big outsourcing hotspots for major international corporations

Outsourcing grows, deal value drops in India

Thu, 03 May 2007 09:15:21 -0500

While the outsourcing momentum continues to grow, contract values and their duration in software services segment are declining as companies are renegotiating a large number of old deals to realign their business priorities with changing market trends