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General discussion, news & views about Outsourcing and Offshoring

Archive for October, 2010

Avazpour Networking Services Acquired by Technology Capital Investors, Plans for Growth and Future Services

October 28th, 2010

Avazpour Networking Services, a local leader in IT cloud computing solutions, has been acquired by Technology Capital Investors (TCI). TCI is a New York-based investment group that manages and invests in IT outsourcing and cloud computing companies. This move expands TCI’s geographic presence in the Midwest, while giving Avazpour the capital and resources to grow their business and expand their menu of service offerings.

Jim Avazpour, the company founder, remains as President and leader of the business. “We’ve known the people at TCI and their portfolio companies for many years. I know how capable they are, and I look forward to tapping into their infrastructure and resources to continue to bring additional value to our clients,” Avazpour said.

“Avazpour is a great addition to TCI’s portfolio of companies,” said Sam Attias, founder and managing partner of TCI. “I am very excited to have Jim as a partner, and am impressed with the high operating standards of his company as well as the caliber of people in the organization. We’re excited about this transaction because Avazpour has been a pioneer in cloud computing services, a distinction that separates it from many managed services providers. Our inherent belief is that the cloud is the future of IT outsourcing.”

TCI’s expertise is in operating and growing managed services providers, and it is also the investment group behind External IT, a national leader in IT services including cloud computing. External IT pioneered a cloud computing technology called the “portal desktop.” As part of the acquisition, Avazpour and its clients now have the opportunity to tap into External IT’s vast set of resources. Customers will benefit from increased reliability with infrastructure, backup, replication options and security of data centers that are best in class. The move also makes Avazpour part of a nationwide network of six data centers.

“From day one we’ve worked to be an industry leader,” said External IT’s founder and CEO David Matalon. “And for years Avazpour has also been a very well respected name. Going forward, we’ll be working with their team to find ways in which we can further enhance their infrastructure, and ultimately deliver a level of reliability and security that is unsurpassed in Kansas City and across the country.”

In business in Kansas City since 1997, Avazpour has offered data protection, cloud computing services and managed online hosting for companies throughout the region and nationally. Over the coming months Avazpour will be releasing new capabilities and services they can offer to clients. Avazpour is also working with TCI to help them identify other managed services providers in the region that fit their caliber of standards.

“Our immediate next step is to hire more talented people and expand our geographic reach,” explains Jim Avazpour. “With TCI’s arsenal and resources behind us, we can finally put our ideas and plans for growth into action. We have a bright future and everyone is excited about our direction.”

Source:http://www.sunherald.com/2010/10/27/2587971/avazpour-networking-services-acquired.html

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Tags: Avazpour Cloud Computing IT Outsourcing

Sitel Reports Rapid Results with HomeShore eTraining Solutions

October 28th, 2010

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Sitel, a leading global business process outsourcing (BPO) provider, today released the early results of its implementation of inContact Inc’s (NASDAQ: SAAS) eLearning and eCoaching Solutions with the company’s home-based agents. In the first six months of launching inContact’s customized training and communications solutions, Sitel’s HomeShore agents increased their training efficiency, reduced training costs and enhanced their collaboration with call center supervisors.

The latest results define Sitel’s dedication to building a network of partners, leveraging best-in-breed technology and industry expertise to deliver a single source of unmatched call center services. Sitel’s product innovation with inContact is improving agent efficiency focus and creating immediate value for the world’s most renowned brands through the timely delivery of ongoing education during agent wait times.

Key results include:

* Increased agent training efficiency: Thousands of eLearning and eCoaching courses were completed, equipping Sitel’s home-based agents with the skilled product knowledge and industry best-practices needed to meet complex customer requests, increase conversation rates, and fulfill key performance indicators.
* Agents spend more time on the phone than in training. Excess training time was eliminated, with all training conducted during wait or down times. Clients gain added opportunities to service more customers.
* Deeper agent/supervisor collaboration. A significant reduction in the creation, management and analysis of training development templates, freeing valuable resources for Sitel’s coaches to work more directly with agents, for ongoing continual improvement initiatives.

“We’re continually finding new ways to mean more to our clients and deepen the value we provide while we reduce costs and improve customer service quality,” said Bert Quintana, president of Sitel. “inContact has rapidly proven to keep our home-based agents in tune with the latest industry and product trends, ensuring we’re delivering the highest return on investment, with each and every call.”

Sitel’s customized eTraining program transforms the training model for call centers based on a client’s individual needs. Traditionally, customer service levels are sacrificed due to structured, scheduled sessions that take agents away from managing customer requests. The patented RightTimeTM technology in the eLearning and eCoaching solutions ensures training is dictated by demand, using pre-defined business rules and real-time call volume data to confine training during dips in call volume. This also eliminates the highly intensive manual, administrative process of coordinating and developing these programs, which often consumes thousands of dollars in unnecessary resources.

Source:http://www.bradenton.com/2010/10/27/2687562/sitel-reports-rapid-results-with.html

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Tags: BPO IT Outsourcing Sitel

Wipro latest Indian supplier to declare its intent in UK government sector

October 28th, 2010

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I have been blogging recently about what the Indian IT suppliers are planning in the UK government sector.

This is on the back of chancellor George Osborne’s invitation to Indian IT firms to bid and then the point being reiterated by government CIO John Suffolk.

So far we have Cognizant retaining its private sector focus, Infosys trying to grow its private sector business further, while HCL and Mahindra Satyam are up for the challenge. TCS is already on the trail with a recent contract with the Personal Accounts Delivery Authority (PADA), to administer the National Employment Savings Trust (Nest) pension scheme.

I bumped into Wipro’s European head, Jeffrey Heenan Jalil, at the recent National Outsourcing awards, and asked him his government sector plans.

He said Wipro would be going for it.

“The Government sector is an integral part of Wipro’s growth strategy in the U.K. as with other markets across the globe. Wipro brings tried and tested, efficient IT models that can help local and national governments deliver greater efficiency.”

Source:http://www.computerweekly.com/blogs/inside-outsourcing/2010/10/wipro-latest-indian-supplier-to-declare-its-intent-in-uk-government-sector.html

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Tags: IT Outsourcing Wipro

IT outsourcing Ménage à trois will support pay for results

October 28th, 2010

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I have had many meetings recently about how IT outsourcing contracts will increasingly be structured in a way that the customer pays for results and passes the risk to others.

When you buy something from John Lewis for example and something is wrong you get your money back. If you are inconvenienced they might even give you something extra. But outsourcing contracts that go wrong always seem to cost the customer. Unless you are prepared to go to court like BskyB did to get money back from EDS.

Something always goes wrong between signing the contract and the project being completed. The risk should be shared between suppliers, consultants and the customer.

Even consultancies are changing. Bryan Cruickshank, partner at KPMG, told me that contracts need to be benefits driven and consultancies need to change as a result.

Burnt-Oak Partners was set up at the height of the recession by industry veterans in the form of Morgan Chambers founder Robert Morgan and former EDS global head off financial services Jean-Louis Bravard.

Perhaps the recessionary backdrop of when it was launched inspired its new sourcing consultancy model.

So the difference between Burnt-Oak Partners and many sourcing consultants is that it does not disappear once the deal has been singed. As only a Frenchman (Jean-Louis) could put it “we stay in the bedroom after the marriage to make sure it is consummated.”

Burnt-Oak negates 40% of its fees if the targets are not met and gets a 20% bonus if they are.

So the consultant is absorbing significant risk.

The company is growing quickly. It already has 19 consultants and operates in three European regions. Benelux, Nordics and the UK.

Another good example of passing on the risk, this time to a supplier, is a deal between airline SAS and CSC.

Nigel Hughes, director at business and IT consultancy Compass Mangement Consulting, told me earlier this year that the deal segmented a business process. It saw the supplier run all the systems involved in putting passengers on board aircraft. CSC was paid a fixed price per passenger. “This left CSC to drive more efficiency,” adds Hughes.

Yet another example I was recently given of payments for results, this time from KPMG, is for a contract the government’s Work Programme. This is a programme that will help people back into work. The suppliers will be paid when people are put into sustainable work.

KPMG told me that the likes of Accenture, Atos Origin and Capgemini are bidding for this work so it shows being paid for results is attractive to suppliers.

Source:http://www.computerweekly.com/blogs/inside-outsourcing/2010/10/it-outsourcing-menage-a-trois-will-support-pay-for-results.html

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Tags: IT KPMG Outsourcing

BPO industry moving up the value chain

October 28th, 2010

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The local information technology and business process outsourcing industry has begun to move up the value chain, proven by the faster growth of revenue vis-a-vis employment.

According to Raju Bhatnagar, vice president for BPO and government relations of Indian IT-BPO industry association Nasscom, the non-linear growth of revenue and employment numbers indicated that higher value was being derived from the same employee pool.

“This needs to be sustained. Otherwise, you’ll just be adding more of the same work,” he said in a briefing at the International Outsourcing Summit.

Moving forward, he said the industry’s growth would be more supply-constrained, referring to the availability of qualified talents, than demand-constrained, as companies the world over continued to increasingly embrace offshoring and outsourcing.

To sustain the industry’s growth momentum, efforts must be directed toward developing the future talent pool, not only those at the rank-and-file level, but those in middle management, he said.

“You have to take care of the middle- management people. Some progress has been made and you’ve started to reduce the stress level and the crunch on middle managers. The problem is those on the entry level in middle management,” he said.

He said preparing IT-BPO professionals to eventually become middle managers should start at the grassroots, by tweaking the college curriculum to enable students to meet the demands of the industry.

Also, the government should be ready to pass legislation that would make the Philippines even more attractive to companies wanting to offshore and outsource some of their functions, he continued.

“You have to prepare the environment and the ecosystem so companies will be more comfortable to outsource here. Issues on data privacy and cybercrime should be addressed by proper legislation,” he said.

The Business Processing Association of the Philippines, with the help of the American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines and other foreign chambers, continues to push for the necessary legislation to further boost the industry and sustain its momentum.

Earlier, BPAP chief executive Oscar Sañez said the most critical law that legislators could pass was the Data Privacy Law, as this would help make the country a more attractive investment destination for companies looking to offshore some of their functions.

According to the BPAP IT-BPO Road Map 2011-2016, the industry is poised to generate as much as $25 billion in revenue and 1.3 million in new jobs by 2016, with steady government support and strong public-private partnerships.

Source:http://business.inquirer.net/money/topstories/view/20101027-300105/BPO-industry-moving-up-the-value-chain

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Outsourcing, school choice proposals draw concern in Marlboro

October 28th, 2010

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A proposal to outsource school aides and transportation and plans to allow out-of-district students to attend school in the district drew more than 200 parents, staff and district union members to Tuesday’s Board of Education meeting.

Superintendent of Schools David Abbott said both measures combined could save the district more than $2 million. The district next year is facing a $2.2 million shortfall, he said.

Parents and employees said they were concerned about children’s security, among other issues, should the district allow outside companies to provide staff.

Abbott said the board may need to consider outsourcing should the district be unable to find substantial savings elsewhere. That proposal is still under review, district officials said.

The board voted by majority to allow Abbott to apply to the state to participate in the Interdistrict School Choice Program. Signed into law as a permanent program by Gov. Christie in September, the program allows students in other districts to attend school in participating districts of the families’ choice. A pilot version, which allowed only one choice district per county, was created in 2000. The permanent program is set to launch in 2011-12.

The board also approved a policy on advertising on district property, publications and the district Web site. The move is expected to create a new revenue stream for the district.

Police and a fire marshal arrived shortly after the start of meeting business to clear the room, as it had become overcrowded.

Source:http://www.app.com/article/20101027/NEWS/101027036/Outsourcing-school-choice-proposals-draw-concern-in-Marlboro

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Offshore outsourcing: the controversy over moving jobs overseas

October 27th, 2010

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Every day thousands of workers find and lose jobs as businesses grow or close.

Each new job found represents income for food, shelter, and education.

Each job lost may represent giving up some or all of these basic necessities.

When a global company decides to move its business operations overseas – a process called “off-shoring” – one country’s or worker’s loss of jobs may translate into another country’s or worker’s gain.

The growing phenomenon known as off-shoring presents both benefits and challenges for the developed and developing world.

Source:http://a-h-enews.com/archives/1675

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