Archive for December, 2011

BPO industry unfazed by new US Call Centre Bill

December 21st, 2011

The Indian offshore industry on Tuesday termed as “protectionist” a new US Bill that attempts to make American companies moving call centre jobs overseas, ineligible for Federal loans or grants for five years.

Apart from blocking Federal grants and loan guarantees to such companies, the proposed legislation also stipulates that offshore call centre employees will have to disclose their location to American callers. Moreover, callers will have the option of asking the call centre agents to transfer them back to a US call centre.

But BPO industry veteran and non-executive Vice-Chairman of Genpact, Mr Pramod Bhasin, said he was not overtly worried as such Bills come up all the time and many are not passed. “I would not worry too much because with the US elections around the corner, there will be a lot of noise,” he said.

The US Call Centre and Consumer Protection Bill, if enacted, could cripple the call centre model in low-cost offshore locations such as India and the Philippines. But, the Indian outsourcing industry maintains that umpteen such Bills are introduced in the US but not eventually passed. Even where they are, it is only after a lengthy passage through the House of Representatives and the Senate.

According to the reports emanating from the US, the Bill also requires the list of companies that offshore call centre work to be made available to the public. It also requires notification to Secretary of Labour 120 days before any offshore move is made.

“The provisions are fairly protectionist. But it has just been introduced and there is still a long time for it to become a law, if it becomes a law….Many Bills are introduced in the House and the Senate but only a small percentage of them actually sail through,” said the Nasscom Vice-President, Mr Ameet Nivsarkar.

The Bill was recently introduced by Rep Tim Bishop and Rep David McKinley in the House of Representatives and has a strong backing from the Communications Workers of America – a union which represents 1,50,000 call centre workers in the US.

“We have no problem disclosing the location…in fact most agents do it even today when asked. But the provision on call transfer (back to the US) is a red herring…The question is whether or not American companies are willing to pay extra, for transfer of calls to US locations,” Mr Bhasin said. India’s IT and BPO export revenue is estimated to grow 16 to 18 per cent in 2011-2012 to $68-70 billion.

Source:http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/info-tech/article2732354.ece?homepage=true&ref=wl_home

Share and Enjoy:

Comments Off »

Posted in News

Tags: BPO Call Centre

Wipro: IT Outsourcing Meets the Smart Grid

December 21st, 2011

India’s IT outsourcing giant is getting into smart grid and green power in a big way, both abroad and at home.

There’s a pretty short list of IT services giants that are making a big name for themselves in the smart grid — think IBM, Capgemini, Accenture, Logica and the like. Wipro, India’s IT outsourcing giant, wants to add its name to that list.

It would appear to have a claim to the title. Wipro has utility projects underway in Europe, Asia, Australia and North America, ranging from bread-and-butter enterprise asset management and smart meter integration projects to building and selling smart meters into the European market and designing and building solar farms in India.

It’s had U.K. utility National Grid as a client of its asset management services for more than a decade, and is building a private utility cloud for the utility’s OnStream gas and electric metering subsidiary. In the United States, Wipro is helping utilities deliver energy usage data to customer smartphones and iPads, Subbi Lakshmanan, vice president of industry practices for Wipro’s energy, natural resources and utilities business unit, told me in an interview last month.

On the renewable energy front, the Bangalore-based IT giant is managing massive solar power plants in India and in the U.S. Southwest, according to Anand Padmanabhan, senior VP at Wipro’s utility unit. It’s also working on cloud computing models to deliver solar power management services, whether for solar farms or distributed solar rooftops, he said.

These kinds of projects — particularly its cloud computing platform efforts — would appear to put Wipro in competition with the big boys of smart grid IT. Indeed, Wipro has been winning deals in head-to-head competition against the likes of IBM, Capgemini and Accenture, Padmanabhan said — and it’s not just because Wipro’s services are cheaper.

“It’s not just a story of India offshoring because it’s cost-effective,” he said. “Smart grid isn’t really about funds — it’s about implementations and getting it right the first time.”

On that front, Wipro can point to some experience. Utility and energy projects now make up about 13.5 percent of the company’s business, up from about eight percent last year, and that business is growing at an annual rate of 30 percent or so, he noted.

That’s significant, considering that parent company Wipro Limited has 131,000 employees and clients across 54 countries and reported profits of $265 million on $1.9 billion in revenues in the most recent quarter ended Sept. 30.

Still, there’s little doubt that Wipro — along with Indian IT competitors such as Infosys, HCL and TCS — is hoping that its cost-competitive positions can help the company gain market share in smart grid IT along with its broader enterprise IT work.

Wipro started targeting the green IT sector in a big way a few years ago, and has been pitching the value of “outsourcing smart grid” services at conferences over the last year. Projects includes smart meter integration for utilities in Nevada and Arizona and customer care and billing for Australian retail utilities like TruEnergy, among others.

This integration work also touches a laundry list of smart grid partners. In Australia, Wipro is helping utility Origin Energy integrate Tendril Networks’ demand response software into back-office software from SAP, for example. Its work for U.S. utility UGI involves integrating Oracle financial databases, and Wipro is also building a gateway for Oracle’s meter data management platform, Lakshmanan said.

Wipro doesn’t build meter data management software to compete with the likes of Oracle, Aclara, Ecologic Analytics and eMeter (now being bought by Siemens). But it does have a line of business unusual for its IT-based competitors, Lakshmanan noted: “We’re also a hardware company,” building PCs and servers for Indian markets, as well as meters that it’s now selling into Europe under another brand.

Lakshmanan wouldn’t give many more details about Wipro’s smart meter work, though he did say the company was interested in developing systems that could meet the technical specifications of some of Europe’s larger planned rollouts, such as France’s planned 35 million smart meter deployment.

It will be interesting to see how Wipro applies its expertise to its home market. India’s smart grid market is projected to hit $1.9 billion by 2015, according to research firm Zpryme. Smart meters that can serve remote rural areas and protect against power theft in urban areas will be important — and they’ll need to be cheaper than the smart meters being installed in the U.S. and Europe.

Beyond that, India wants to add more and more green power to a grid that’s already struggling to deliver electricity to the majority of its citizens. IT outsourcing giant Infosys has a huge report on how IT can serve India’s smart grid needs (PDF).

In particular, India could be a proving ground for distributed power generation and microgrid systems that can leapfrog ahead of inadequate central power delivery systems, much like cellphone service has leaped ahead of wireline telephone service there.

Source:http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/wipro-it-outsourcing-meets-smart-grid/

Share and Enjoy:

Comments Off »

Posted in News

Tags: IT Outsourcing Wipro

Wipro Limiting Staff Stints at Client Locations

December 21st, 2011

Wipro Ltd. said Tuesday it is strictly restricting the time an employee of its technology outsourcing division can spend at client locations to two years, in a move perceived to be aimed at checking attrition.
In a statement, India’s third-largest software exporter by sales said it will start rotating employees on assignments at client locations as part of the policy, which was designed a few years ago.
“We have found that this rotation policy provides an equal opportunity for all employees to be part of the client’s environment,” it added, adding that it could extend the period by up to six months if there is any customer requirement.
Assignment at client locations abroad has been a tool that Indian technology companies use to attract employees.
The policy may help Wipro motivate its staff as such assignments are often considered lucrative as those working abroad get payments in foreign currencies for the number of hours they put in.
At the end of the September quarter, Wipro had 131,730 employees at its outsourcing unit, where the attrition rate was more than 21%.
Bangalore-based Wipro restructured its technology services division earlier this year to give an impetus to the business that has been struggling to find traction after the economic slowdown.

Source:http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204879004577109913912351698.html

Share and Enjoy:

Comments Off »

Posted in News

Tags: Client Outsourcing Wipro

Germany: Internet, E-Commerce & Data Protection

December 21st, 2011

At Taylor Wessing, Axel Freiherr von dem Bussche is a specialist software, e-commerce and data protection lawyer. He advises public and private insurance companies, new media and online gambling companies on regulation. In Munich, Christian Frank focuses his practice on advising software and technology companies on licencing, specialist contracts and competition related matters. Alongside him is the “impressive” Jörg Wimmers while in Frankfurt the “highly regarded” Kai Westerwelle is known for his e-commerce and multimedia work for domestic and foreign entities.

Heymann & Partner enjoys three listings. Founding partner Thomas Heymann is “well known” for his work in IT, outsourcing and M&A matters for technology companies. His team includes former Microsoft GmbH counsel Katharina Scheja, who is a “smart” outsourcing and IP lawyer, and Lars Lensdorf, an experienced IT, outsourcing and data privacy practitioner.

At Bird & Bird, head of the German IT commercial and outsourcing group, and joint-head of the global IT and commercial group, Alexander Duisberg’s practice covers the full range of IT related work, including online commerce, cloud computing, data protection and security. Similarly, Fabian Niemann is lauded for his “quick understanding of technical issues” and contract knowledge in this area.

Based in the Munich office of Hogan Lovells, Stefan Schuppert advises on new media concerning intellectual property, contract law and data.

As a leading technology firm, SKW Schwarz earns four nominations in this field. Andreas Peschel-Mehner focuses on IT, internet and e-business law, with a particular interest in gaming and entertainment, as does Stefan Schicker, but for biotechnology clients. Mathias Schwarz has over 25 years experience advising media, publishing and e-commerce clients, covering IP and contract matters. Matthias Nordmann advises on general contract and corporate law, with an emphasis on M&A. His clients include IT companies and users in internet, e-commerce, software and data protection matters.

SSW Schneider Schiffer Weihermüller is represented by three lawyers in this chapter. Elke Bischof is a specialist IT, electronic data-protection and software lawyer. She drafts and negotiates contracts and advises on procurement procedures. She has over 10 years experience advising the Munich Justice Department and has consulted for domestic companies. Isabell Conrad is a specialist in IT and telecommunications. She drafts and represents major IT and software companies on their operations and advises companies in a range of industries on their data privacy and internal warning systems. Jochen Schneider is a litigator with an emphasis on software, IT contractual disputes, internet law, copyright and media queries.

At CMS Hasche Sigle in Stuttgart, Axel Funk advises companies in the IT and telecommunications sectors, with a concentration on patent and trademark related matters. In Hamburg, Malte Gruetzmacher guides companies in software transfer, production, outsourcing and IP protection matters.

The newly established Bartsch Rechtsanwälte was set up by the “smart” Michael Bartsch who practices IT and software law. Rupert Vogel of Vogel & Partner Rechtsanwälte is a specialist IT and computer science lawyer who advises companies on data protection in relation to the Civil Code. From Bender Harrer Krevet, Birgit Roth-Neuschild is an IT, internet and e-commerce lawyer. Her practice is focused on assisting on copyright, licences, data protection and international contract law. She also advises publishing companies on their distribution rights and privacy.

Two White & Case LLP lawyers feature. Detlev Gabel addresses national and international IT outsourcing and business process outsourcing needs of companies who operate in the financial services sector, as does Jost Kotthoff, who has broad experience in advising clients on their internal IT systems.

In TCI Rechtsanwälte München, Michael Karger works in IT law, particularly project contracts, sourcing of IT services, e-commerce, internet, social media and data privacy. He is principally a contract and regulatory lawyer, as is Thomas Stögmüller, who has experience acting on antitrust matters relating to this field.

Härting Rechtsanwälte features two lawyers in this chapter. Founding partner Niko Härting and Martin Schirmbacher draft and negotiate terms and conditions in contracts providing internet services assistance in the setting up of websites, and act for companies during domain disputes and general related litigation.

At AUER, Astrid Auer-Reinsdorff specialises in IT and related fields, acting on outsourcing, software-licensing contracts and e-commerce compliance. From Baker & McKenzie LLP Mattias Scholz in Frankfurt is “outstanding”. He chairs the European steering committee of the firm’s IT/communications practice and is known for his advice on contract relating to IT, e-commerce, outsourcing and trade.

Former chairman of the German society of law and information technology, Wolfgang Büchner counts SCM Microsystems and Salesforce.com as clients and represents Jones Day in this chapter.

At DLA Piper LLP in Munich Jan Geert Meents is highly nominated and Jan Pohle in Cologne is considered an “IT specialist” for his work on contracts for software clients.

At Field Fisher Waterhouse LLP in Hamburg, Felix Wittern advises on regulation and data protection compliance. Peter Chrocziel at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP in Munich is the former co-head of the global information technology group and the current head of the German patent practice. He covers a range of IT and internet issues affecting trademarks and patents for clients.

Stefan Weidert at Gleiss Lutz is a skilful IT lawyer, with a lot of experience advising clients on outsourcing, cloud computing and e-commerce. He drafts contracts and assists on licencing applications and agreements.

Henning Harte-Bavendamm of his own firm, Harte-Bavendamm Rechtsanwälte, advises major clients such as Procter & Gamble and TNT on IT, IP and trademarks issues.

At Heinle Baden Redeker + Partner GbR Rechtsanwälte, Helmut Redeker is an “expert” in administrative and internet law, focusing on the civil and privacy rights involved. He contests disputes for clients and counsels them on contract formulation.

Dirk Uwer from Hengeler Mueller‘s Düsseldorf office practices mainly in privacy and data protection relating to the energy and life science industries. He is “impressive”.

At Heuking Kühn Lüer Wojtek, Michael Schmittmann combines his IT practice with antitrust law and media and telecommunications expertise. He advises companies and state institutions on e-commerce and gaming law.

Peter Huppertz at Hoffman Liebs Fritsch & Partner practices in IT and data protection law. He litigates and arbitrates on privacy issues and advises on internal organisation and compliance for domestic and foreign entities.

At Jaschinski Biere Brexl (JBB Rechtsanwälte), Till Jaeger has developed “solid” experience in drafting contracts, licensing and online matters and in copyright disputes. He advises corporate clients as well as government agencies and software developers.

Latham & Watkins LLP is represented by Ulrich Wuermeling, the head of technology transactions in Frankfurt and the global co-chair of the IT industry group. He is a privacy, advertising and marketing, communications, IT and outsourcing practitioner and works for clients in the clean tech, IT, internet and digital media sectors.

At MLawGroup, Florian von Baum is a business and technology transactions lawyer in Munich. He has a range of experience and regularly advises on IT, software and telecommunications in the automotive, life sciences and biotechnology industries. Similarly, Jürgen Hartung from Oppenhoff & Partner provides IT, outsourcing and data protection assistance to international technology companies.

At Noerr, IT, computer, data processing and media lawyer Peter Bräutigam is “exceptional” in his knowledge of the area. He is recognised as a leading IT and outsourcing practitioner. Digital business lawyer, Konstantin Ewald at Osborne Clarke in Cologne regularly drafts IT contracts for domestic clients and is credited with “impressive know how”.

SBR Schuster Berger Bahr Ahrens is represented by Fabian Schuster, an IT, media and technology practitioner, and at teclegal Habel Rechtsanwälte Partnerschaft, founding and managing partner Oliver Habel is a contract drafter and skilled in IT law, particularly for engineering, construction and logistics companies. In Berlin, Anselm Brandi-Dhorn at v. Boetticher Hasse Lohmann focuses on litigation for IT companies relating to patent and trademark issues.

Source:http://www.whoswholegal.com/news/analysis/article/29424/germany-internet-e-commerce-38-data-protection/

Share and Enjoy:

Comments »

Posted in News

Tags: Data Protection E-Commerce Internet

Emerging Markets Decade of Disruption

December 21st, 2011

Over the past decade, emerging markets have become the global economy’s main growth engine. According to HSBC, 19 of today’s emerging-market countries will be among the world’s 30 largest economies in 2050, and they will be more important than the current OECD countries.

Emerging markets have already captured 40% of world GDP and 37% of global foreign direct investment. And, while OECD countries continue to stagnate in 2011, emerging markets are growing strongly. China this year jumped ahead of Japan as the world’s second-largest economy, while India attracted a record $80 billion in FDI, double that of 2010. Brazil’s Petrobras, already one of the world’s largest petroleum companies, had a record-setting $67 billion IPO last year.

These economies’ growing wealth is attracting a rising number of OECD multinationals. In Asia, the middle class now represents 60% of the total population (1.9 billion people). China became the world’s top car market in 2010. The world’s richest person is from Mexico. And rapid economic growth is occurring in an environment of small deficits, low debt, and controlled inflation.

But there is another, quieter revolution bringing companies from OECD countries to emerging markets: disruptive innovation. On one hand, emerging-market multinationals are excelling even in high-value-added and technology-intensive sectors; on the other hand, firms from OECD countries are increasingly re-importing innovation from emerging-market companies.

According to the United Nations, there are roughly 21,500 multinationals based in emerging markets. Some, such as the Mexican cement company Cemex, the Indian IT outsourcing firm Infosys, and the Chinese battery manufacturer BYD, are already leaders in their sectors. The main suppliers to the world’s telecoms companies are found in China, where Huawei is now head to head with Sweden’s Ericsson. In 2008, Huawei registered more patents than any other company in the world, and finished second to Japan’s Panasonic in 2009.

In the telecommunications sector, there are now a half-dozen emerging-market multinationals in the global top ten. Brazil’s Embraer revolutionized airplane manufacturing with a business model that others have imitated. India’s Tata sells cars for 75% less than its European competitors. China’s Mindray has developed medical equipment at 10% of the cost of its Western competitors. Kenya’s Safaricom is transforming the market with its M-Pesa mobile-banking service, just as Indian outsourcing multinationals such as TCS and Wipro have done.

Even the digital world is being affected by emerging-market growth. Facebook could have been Latin American: one of its founders is Brazilian. The Chinese Internet group Tencent Holdings is the world’s third largest in terms of market capitalization ($45 billion in 2011). Its top financial shareholder is another emerging-market multinational, South Africa’s Naspers. The two companies invest in start-ups together – not in California, like Google, but in emerging markets. In 2010, they invested $700 million in Russian Internet giant Mail.ru. Russian Digital Sky Technologies (which owns Mail.ru) is present in key US Internet start-ups such as Facebook, Zynga, and Groupon.

These emerging-market multinationals are not only disruptively innovative; they are also massively frugal, making them lethal competitors. And they are rapidly climbing the value chain: in 2010, [WA1] according to Booz & Company, South Korea’s Samsung became one of the world’s top ten companies in terms of R&D investment. Israel has launched more than 4,000 start-ups – ranking second in the world in the number of companies quoted on the NASDAQ.

As a result, reverse innovation by OECD multinationals is now common practice. Indeed, the OECD Fortune 500 multinationals now have nearly 100 R&D centers based in emerging markets, mainly in China and India. GE’s R&D center in India is the company’s biggest worldwide. Cisco spent a billion dollars on another one in India. Microsoft’s largest outside of the US is in Beijing. IBM now employs more people in India than in the US, and Germany’s Siemens has based 12% of its 30,000 R&D engineers in emerging Asia.

To grasp the speed of this global rebalancing, consider that in 1990, more than 95% of R&D was carried out in developed countries; a decade later, the developed countries’ share had dropped to 76%. Today, emerging markets account for 40% of the world’s researchers. As a report from UNESCO recently highlighted, China, which now spends more than $100 billion annually (2.5% of GDP) on R&D, is on the verge of surpassing the US and Europe in terms of the number of researchers. In 2010, 40% of all Chinese university students were studying for science or engineering degrees, more than double the share in the US.

Emerging-market countries will not only claim the lion’s share of global growth in the coming decade; they will also increasingly be the source of disruptive and frugal innovation. By 2020, the geography of innovation, in addition to that of the wealth of nations, will have undergone a massive rebalancing process.

Source:http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/santiso1/English

Share and Enjoy:

Comments Off »

Posted in News

Tags: Decade Disruption

This Just In: Upgrades and Downgrades

December 21st, 2011

At The Motley Fool, we poke plenty of fun at Wall Street analysts and their endless cycle of upgrades, downgrades, and “initiating coverage at neutral.” Today, we’ll show you whether those bigwigs actually know what they’re talking about. To help, we’ve enlisted Motley Fool CAPS to track the long-term performance of Wall Street’s best and worst.

SocGen says “sell” Accenture
As you may have heard, Accenture (NYSE: ACN ) reported its fiscal first-quarter earnings last week. And how did it do? It depends on whom you ask.

Reuters said the company was “upbeat” on its future prospects, but The Associated Press called Accenture’s guidance “disappointing.” Barron’s notes that revenue and earnings were slightly ahead of expectations in Q1, while Zacks seemed obsessed with Q2 — calling the company’s sequential growth prediction weak not once, not twice, but three separate times.

Meanwhile, over in analyst-land it appears the “glass half-empty” arguments are carrying the day. French investment bank Societe Generale confirmed Monday that it’s withdrawing its hold rating on Accenture stock and recommending investors sell the shares.

I couldn’t disagree more.

The trouble with Europe (and analysts)
Most of the commentary I’ve read, written by Accenture bears, focuses on the company’s exposure to Europe — not to any particular “sick man of Europe,” but to the entire terminally ill continent. But really, folks, if it’s Europe that scares you, what stock wouldn’t you be afraid to buy? Everybody who’s anybody does business there; Accenture is no exception.

Indeed, if there’s one thing that encourages me more about Accenture than anything else, it’s the exceedingly low expectations investors seem to have for this company. Pegged for 10% growth over the next five years, Accenture is happily free of the “IT outsourcing” hype that has investors demanding 15% to 20% growth from the likes of Infosys (Nasdaq: INFY ) or Cognizant (Nasdaq: CTSH ) .

At the same time, the growth people do expect to see at Accenture compares well to the depressing, single-digit growth prospects at also-ran IT consultants Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ ) or Dell (Nasdaq: DELL ) for example (both pegged for 4%-5% growth), and is almost at the level of IT consulting star IBM (NYSE: IBM ) (11%).

Growth and value
At the same time, though, Accenture’s low expectations bring with them an enticingly low share price. The stock costs about 16 times earnings at today’s prices. And while that seems more expensive than IBM, it really isn’t.

Consider: Unlike IBM, which carries nearly $20 billion in net debt on its balance sheet, Accenture is essentially debt-free, with $5.7 billion worth of cash in the bank vastly outweighing its mere $4.4 million in debt. The company also generates far more free cash flow, as a percentage of net income, than does IBM. While claiming only $2.4 billion in net income over the past 12 months, Accenture actually generated $3.4 billion in free cash. As a result, it sports an enterprise-value-to-free-cash-flow ratio of just 8.4, versus IBM’s EV/FCF of 15.4.

Foolish final thought
The way I calculate it, an 8.4 EV/FCF on a 10% grower like Accenture works out to about a 16% discount on the stock. But if getting the chance to buy a dollar for $0.86 isn’t a good enough deal for you, consider that Accenture pays its shareholders a tidy 2.5% dividend yield. That’s money in the bank, year in and year out, that you get to collect while waiting for Mr. Market to wake up and charge a more appropriate price for the shares.

To me, this is quite a nice bargain investors are being offered. While Societe Generale says to sell the shares, I think you’re better off buying. And in fact, I’ll put my reputation where my mouth is. Right now, I’m heading over to Motley Fool CAPS to mark Accenture down as an “outperform.” Feel free to follow along if you like — and hold me accountable if it turns out I’m wrong.

Source:http://www.fool.com/investing/value/2011/12/20/this-just-in-upgrades-and-downgrades.aspx

Share and Enjoy:

Comments Off »

Posted in News

Tags: Downgrades Upgrades

Employees aren’t waiting around for IT to deliver new apps

December 20th, 2011

Today’s tech-savvy employees aren’t waiting around for IT to deliver new applications. They’re taking matters into their own hands, according to new survey data.

Intuit QuickBase found that among 900 information workers surveyed, nearly 20% have built or customized a Web app or software for work purposes without support from IT. In addition, 50% of workers said they use tools such as online databases, Web-based productivity apps, instant messaging, video chat and social networks to solve their own business problems.

The DIYers work pretty quickly: 68% of respondents who’ve built or customized an app said they completed the work in less than a week. The majority (82%) also said their DIY solution is still being used within their organization or team.

DIY apps can increase productivity, enable better collaboration among employees, and improve customer service, according to Allison Mnookin, vice president and general manager of Intuit QuickBase, which makes business and financial management software for small and midsize enterprises.

“These motivated employees are taking advantage of easy-to-use, Web-based platforms to respond to the accelerating pace and increasing complexity of business demands,” Mnookin said in a statement. “With intimate knowledge of customer and workgroup needs and easy-to-use cloud tools, information workers solve their own problems faster than IT can accommodate them. IT departments that embrace and empower these employees can drive competitiveness for their businesses.”

Of course, not all companies see it that way. Despite the potential benefits of allowing employees to find their own tech solutions, many companies won’t sanction employee-developed apps: 35% of workers polled said their businesses do not enable or encourage employees to create solutions independently.

As expected, there are also a fair amount of employees who are determined to create their own apps regardless of corporate policy and don’t care a whit about getting permission. In technology-restrictive environments, 17% of information workers said they select tools and software to meet their needs without IT approval or support.

“These ‘rogue’ employees can be extremely beneficial in their motivation to solve business needs, but their energies are best harnessed if management supports them by providing the resources they need to succeed,” Mnookin said. “Otherwise, if they leave the company, IT will not necessarily know how to replicate or maintain the success.”

Intuit found the flight risk among rogue employees who feel technologically restricted at work is high: 50% said they’d consider switching jobs to have a more technologically free work environment. Among workers who feel empowered to solve customer and work process problems on their own, far fewer — just 26% — said they’re open to switching jobs.

Source:http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/79434

Share and Enjoy: