The Outsource Blog

General discussion, news & views about Outsourcing and Offshoring

Archive for February, 2010

Patrick Grubbs joins HCL AXON as global head of travel and transportation practice

February 16th, 2010

HCL AXON, a division of HCL Technologies, a provider of Business Transformation consulting services through the innovative implementation and support of SAP applications, is pleased to announce that Patrick Grubbs has joined HCL AXON. Patrick will serve as Global Head of the Travel and Transportation Practice. In this role, Patrick will be responsible for the continued growth of HCL AXON’s SAP footprint in the Travel and Transportation industry. Patrick will help drive HCL AXON’s expansion through the extension of its service portfolio within its existing global customer base, while focusing on the acquisition of new strategic customers across the industry.

Patrick has more than 20 years of experience in the Travel industry prior to joining HCL AXON. Most recently, Patrick was a key leader in Oracle’s Travel and Transportation industry business unit where he successfully grew the business for three straight years. Prior to his tenure at Oracle, Patrick held key leadership, operational and sales positions at Sabre Holdings, American Airlines and United Parcel Service.

“We are delighted to welcome Patrick to HCL AXON to lead our highly experienced and respected Travel industry professionals. With Patrick’s 20 years of experience in the Travel industry, combined with HCL AXON’s strong global presence in the sector and focus on developing specific industry solutions, we have a fantastic opportunity to really drive global growth,” remarked Todd Crandall, Global EVP of Strategic Industries, HCL AXON.

Regarding his new role, Patrick stated, “I have had the opportunity to work with many transformational consulting companies, but HCL AXON clearly stands out above the crowd. Recently, I have come across HCL AXON in competitive situations and have been impressed with its innovative approach to driving business outcomes through the implementation of SAP solutions. As a winner of SAP’s Pinnacle Award for Co-innovation related to iMRO and through HCL AXON’s industry-based add-on solution to SAP ERP applications for the Aviation, Aerospace, and Rail industries, HCL AXON is demonstrating leadership and commitment to a highly complex maintenance environment.” Patrick continued, “I am very excited to be able to take on the global role for HCL AXON and bring these transformational methodologies, product offerings and skilled consultants with their proven track records to our Travel and Transportation portfolio around the globe.

Patrick holds a Master of Business Administration from SMU’s Edwin L. Cox School of Business and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of California at Santa Barbara. Patrick resides in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.

Source:http://www.marketwatch.com/story/patrick-grubbs-joins-hcl-axon-as-global-head-of-travel-and-transportation-practice-2010-02-15?reflink=MW_news_stmp

Share and Enjoy:

Comments Off »

Posted in News

Tags: HCL IT SAP

Breaking news from ihotdesk, the home of IT outsourcing in London

February 16th, 2010

Share

A new government campaign will attempt to tackle cyber crime from fraudsters and rogue traders, IT outsourcing holders have been told.

Figures from the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) reveal that 73 per cent of UK residents have received a scam email in the last year, with cyber fraud costs consumers around £3.5 billion each year.

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills revealed a specialist cyber enforcement team will be formed to deal with crimes which use the internet to con businesses and consumers.

Consumer minister Kevin Brennan commented: “Our investment will help the OFT and Trading Standards to put in place the new specialist teams, training and technology required to take the fight to these criminals.”

A recent study from research consultancy IDC predicted that IT security industry will perform well during the coming 12 months, as firms are expected to increase their spending on protection by 19 per cent.

Source:http://www.ihotdesk.com/article/19616568/Govt-to-fight-cyber-scams

Share and Enjoy:

Comments Off »

Posted in News

Tags: IT London Outsourcing

Indian IT to benefit from improvement in demand, says CRISIL

February 16th, 2010

Share

Ratings agency CRISIL said that it believes that Indian IT service providers have strong long-term prospects and that they are well positioned to benefit from the gradual improvement in demand, as key markets like the US and Europe show signs of economic revival.

Pawan Agrawal, director, CRISIL Ratings said, “CRISIL-rated Indian IT service providers have responded to a challenging business environment by enhancing operational efficiency, diversifying their business profiles, enhancing risk-management practices, and maintaining strong liquidity.”

Notwithstanding recent challenges, the long-term prospects for the Indian IT services industry are healthy, given India’s competitive strengths in outsourcing, the benefits of the global delivery model, and customers’ focus on cost reduction.

However, the revival of demand may be gradual, as the economies in key markets remain fragile and discretionary IT spending by customers may remain subdued over the medium term, the ratings agency said.

CRISIL said that Indian IT service providers have focused on increasing the proportion of fixed-price contracts, changing effort mix in favour of offshore operations over onsite, and improving manpower utilisation. Players have also begun to increasingly focus on high-end services such as infrastructure management and enterprise applications, which have higher margins than traditional low-end application development and maintenance services. Furthermore, most players have maintained low gearing and robust liquidity in the form of substantial cash and bank balances and liquid investments, it added.

“Given the measures implemented by IT service providers, their healthy long-term growth prospects, and strong financial risk profiles, there have been no downward revisions in the ratings of CRISIL-rated IT service providers despite the weak business environment, though a few rating outlooks have been revised downwards,” said Sudip Sural, head, CRISIL Ratings, in a release.

Source:http://www.moneylife.in/article/8/3723.html

Share and Enjoy:

Comments Off »

Posted in News

Tags: Indian IT

Logicalis earns IBM software value plus certification

February 16th, 2010

Share

Logicalis, a leading provider of high-performance technology solutions, announced it earned IBM’s new Software Value Plus certification. Through the program, Logicalis is authorized to sell and support its clients in the implementation, design and management of IBM Tivoli, Lotus, Websphere, Rational and Information Management software.

“Certifications are like key line items on a resume,” says Roger Finney, Director of Software for Logicalis. “They give clients a place to start when evaluating whether or not you have the needed skills to do the job they need done.”

The IBM Software Value Plus (SVP) initiative is designed to meet the demands of clients who are looking to drive more value from their technology investments by working with trusted partners who possess proven skills to quickly and effectively implement new infrastructures. Being an SVP-certified solution provider enables IBM Business Partners to set themselves apart by asserting that they have the key technical and industry skills necessary for smart technology implementations that help clients achieve their business goals.

Logicalis is a Premier IBM Business Partner with a long history in delivering technology solutions built around IBM platforms to its customers.

“IBM is committed to supporting an ecosystem of skilled partners that can provide the most value to our shared clients,” says Sandy Carter, Vice President, IBM Software Group Channels. “Business Partners who invest in the proper skills and expertise are well positioned to help clients achieve a faster time-to-value with the right solutions, reduce risk in solution development, and increase their return on investment over time.”

Logicalis and IBM are focused on creating infrastructures and systems that can unlock customers’ core innovative energies.

Through the SVP initiative, IBM software partners choose the IBM software platforms they want to build additional technical, marketing and sales skills in and can become certified and authorized to sell those products across multiple industries.

“Logicalis has invested in IBM software solutions for many years and we are pleased to see our investment pay off with our recent Software Value Plus certification achievement,” Finney says.

Under the SVP program, to secure authorizations in 11 software groups, Logicalis was required to earn over 30 specific certifications. These certifications are all additions to Logicalis’ 2009 Specialty Elite Dynamic Infrastructure Virtualization and Consolidation certification, and Logicalis’ six Deployment Accreditations, which include Tivoli Storage Manager, Productivity Center, FastBack, Monitoring, Application Dependency Discovery Manager and Service Management Storage.

“Logicalis consultants are some of the most highly skilled resources in the industry. Customers rely on our extensive capabilities in application, data center, and outsourcing services to deliver secure, instantaneous, and transparent solutions with technology that grows more complex every day,” says Bill Mansfield, IBM Software Solution Architect at Logicalis.

Source:http://www.24-7pressrelease.com/press-release/logicalis-earns-ibm-software-value-plus-certification-136699.php

Share and Enjoy:

Comments Off »

Posted in News

Tags: IBM Outsurcing Software

Netsurit comes in top 100

February 16th, 2010

Share

South African company Netsurit has ranked as one of the world’s top 100 managed service providers (MSP) by leading blogsite MSPmentor.

Over 1 000 of the top MSPs worldwide entered and completed the survey, the largest amount to date. Netsurit received a ranking of 53rd, which is the first time ever a South African-based MSP was ranked this high and only the second time a South African ranked MSP has made the top 100.

Instead of ranking MSPs merely by total revenue, MSPmentor calculates an index measurement using such metrics as overall managed services revenue, overall managed services revenue growth, percentage managed services revenue growth, managed services revenue per employee, number of devices managed, and other data points comparing fiscal 2009 to fiscal 2008.

This index approach ensures small, midsize and large MSPs from around the world are recognised on the MSPmentor 100.

Netsurit is South Africa’s largest managed outsourced IT provider specialising in small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Netsurit endorses the outsourcing principle as the most logical option for SMEs looking to optimise their IT investment. Making a decision to outsource the day-to-day, online monitoring and management of the network can dramatically reduce SME staff costs, and this reduction in cost translates to an ongoing management benefit.

Netsurit attributes its success to working with the world’s leading managed services provider, Kaseya, which has allowed the company to go from strength to strength. According to Orrin Klopper, managing director of Netsurit: “Historically, the technology needs of SMEs have been sorely neglected – often as a result of a poor understanding of what small businesses require from their technology network. We have a single-minded obsession to understand the unique needs of our clients and to develop programmes that help them to meet their own strategic objectives. Technology has a special ability to unlock true value for SMEs that know how to use it. This is why we are in business.”

Garth Hayward, Regional Manager Kaseya for Africa, believes this is a huge coup: “I am thrilled that one of our South African partners have made the top 100 list. Given the constraints that South African managed service providers have to deal with this is indeed a great achievement by Orrin and his team, and shows that South African MSPs are able to compete with the best companies in the world and achieve recognition.”

Source:http://www.itweb.co.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=30365:netsurit-comes-in-top-100&catid=69:business&Itemid=58

Share and Enjoy:

Comments Off »

Posted in News

Tags: Africa IT

Half of IT firms plan to offshore jobs

February 16th, 2010

Share

Almost half of IT companies plan to relocate jobs abroad, making the technology industry the UK’s likeliest private sector employer to build-out operations offshore.

In a survey of more than 700 employers, India emerged as the preferred overseas destination for the 10 per cent of respondents looking to export jobs from the UK.

Out of those UK employers with offshore intentions, less than a fifth were manufacturers, while almost half (44 per cent) were in the Computing and IT sector.

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, co-authors of the survey, said such jobs outsourcing represented “a medium-term concern” for the UK economy.

Whether they are eyeing India, or Eastern Europe – the other hotspot, the companies hope to find the right balance between skills, quality and cost reduction, CIPD said.

Almost regardless of their motivations, the chief executives of UK IT companies planning to outsource jobs will be reassured that India is sizing up their needs.

At India’s principal IT conference last week, the nation’s industry body Nasscom predicted that 150,000 IT jobs would be created this year.

India’s retail, healthcare and utility sectors are growing three times faster than the core markets, the group said, indicating they will create IT jobs the quickest.

But according to Jim Champy, chairman of Dell Services’ consulting arm, the money spent on IT outsourcing by Asian companies is set to grow faster than in Western companies.

In other words, the trend of more companies in Europe and the US buying computer services than those in India is set to reverse this year, Mr Champy told the Financial Times.

Seeming to confirm his outlook, western IT firms are already scrambling to “get a slice of the Asian action,” say analysts at TechMarketView.

Evidencing their claim, they pointed out that Steria, a UK IT services firm, has started using its India offshore services unit, thanks to acquiring Xansa, to sell into India’s domestic market.

The analysts say they are “absolutely convinced that other players will follow suit,” in order to tap into Asia’s growing appetite for IT outsourcing.

According to Nasscom, Asia will account for more than a quarter of global consumption of IT and business process outsourcing services in the next decade, up from nearly 20 per cent today.

Source:http://www.contractoruk.com/news/004748.html

Share and Enjoy:

Comments Off »

Posted in News

Tags: IT Jobs offshore Outsourcing

ProBenchmark hosts eseminar “IT pricing trends: past, present and predicted”

February 16th, 2010

Share

ProBenchmark™, a service of Alsbridge, Inc., and the No. 1 provider of IT price benchmarking services, today announced its upcoming eSeminar: Q1 2010 IT Pricing Trends: Past, Present and Predicted.

“Due to the current global economic uncertainties, financial volatility, and the dynamic business climate, now more than ever, clients must understand trends in the outsourcing industry,” said Ben Trowbridge, CEO of Alsbridge, the parent company of ProBenchmark.

ProBenchmark experts will help you gain up-to-the-minute analysis of outsourcing deal pricing trends, gain insight into how services are configured and packaged in the marketplace, and understand the impact of recent market trends on the direction of market prices.

“Knowing these trends allows organizations to make informed, quality decisions to gain market leadership,”

Source:http://www.transworldnews.com/NewsStory.aspx?id=193173&cat=1

Share and Enjoy: