CeBIT is an annual trade show exclusively for the digital industry. At this event companies from world over exhibit their products and services, showcase their innovative solutions and industry experts host conferences on prominent IT issues. This year CeBIT is organized in the city of Hannover, Germany from 6 March to 10 March 2012. Eric Schmidt, Executive Chairman of Google will be the keynote speaker at the opening ceremony of the event.

Over 20 years, CeBIT has emerged as a vital platform for businesses to meet clients, initiate deals, form synergistic partnership and a unique opportunity to network with top influencers of the digital industry. India is the global hub for offshore IT services. Around thirty companies from various states of the country are participating in CeBIT 2012 trade show. The interesting fact, however is that, about one third of these is from the western state Gujarat. Companies such as OpenXcell Technolabs, Cygnet Infotech, Elitecore Technologies and Radixweb are enterprise solution pioneers in their own rights and will showcase their services in the CeBIT IT trade show.

“It is exciting to know that most of the peer group companies such as Elsner Technologies, Hi-Tech Outsourcing Services, InheritX Solutions are going to exhibit in CeBIT 2012” says Mr. Jayneel Patel, Director of OpenXcell Technolabs, a software and consulting company in Gujarat. Last year the IT trade show attracted over 300,000 visitors from more than 110 countries among which were USA, Romania, Iran, UK, China, Egypt, Germany and Spain. Revealing his mind on such a positive participation of Gujarat based companies Mr. Jayneel Patel says, “This is a strong indication of Gujarat becoming the next big IT center after Bangalore.”

CeBIT is focused on encouraging innovation and developing rewarding solutions in the field of information and communication technology (ICT). This year the event will be organized under four theme-centric platforms such as Lab- for research, Life- for enhancing lifestyle, Gov- for public sector and finally Pro which is a dedicated platform for business operations solutions.

Participants can exhibit their products and services as a stand-alone presentation, in group pavilion or choose from special offer packages. The event attracted 500 top decision makers and CIOs from the world’s biggest companies the last year. Over a thousand journalists directly report about the event. Participation of Indian companies will get their efforts and good work noted by the top IT honchos and potential customers globally.

OpenXcell Technolabs will be presenting at CeBIT 2012 in hall 6, stand D44 all through 6 March to 10 March 2012. The India based company will showcase its premier CRM and ECM solutions along with cross platform mobile solutions at the event. It is an ISO 9001:2008 certified company.

Source:http://www.sbwire.com/press-releases/sbwire-126375.htm

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Indian second-largest software company, Infosys, found out last month that sometimes beating expectations on profits isn’t enough to please the markets.

On Wednesday, Cognizant – the US-headquartered competitor that’s making things tough for Indian behemoths like Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services – found out that sometimes projecting double-industry-standard growth just isn’t enough either, when its stock fell 1.75 per cent compared to a 0.41 per cent rise in the Nasdaq. What’s the problem? And what are the lessons for its Indian competitors?

The problem it seems is that Cognizant, after eight straight quarters of outperformance, merely met expectations. It saw a 16.4 per cent rise in net income to $240.1m for the quarter ending in December, on the back of a 26.9 per cent rise in revenues, to $1.66bn, just below the $1.67bn consensus. It forecast a minimum 23 per cent rise in revenues for 2012, to $7.53bn, according to results released on Wednesday.

Analysts told beyondbrics that the company will benefit from an improving economic environment in the US – where it earned nearly 80 per cent of its revenue in the quarter ending in December – but that its growth projection for the coming year, despite its 33 per cent increase in revenues for 2011, might be a tad ambitious, given the overall economic picture.

“Twenty-three per cent minimum guidance is a good number, but for the first quarter of next year, they are guiding at 2.2 per cent which means that the growth rate for the remaining 3 quarters would have to be at 6.8-6.9 per cent,” said Ashish Chopra, analyst at Motilal Oswal. “[That]is a strong number to assume in the current environment.”

But R Chandrasekaran, Cognizant’s chief executive for technology and operations, told beyondbrics that the company was confident that it could maintain much greater growth than the 11-14 per cent projected for the industry during the fiscal year ending in March 2013 by trade group Nasscom.

“We are also entering 2012 with a great deal of confidence stemming from a very loyal customer base,” he said. “The traction we are seeing from some of the new [products] like consulting [and] infrastructure outsourcing… is really helping us.”

Cognizant, which has around three-quarters of its workforce in India, took over from Infosys in the north American market last year. It competes with the “big four” Indian IT services and consulting firms of Wipro, Infosys, TCS and HCL, and overtook Wipro in terms of reveune mid-2011.

Indeed, analysts told beyondbrics that what separates Cognizant from its Indian competitors is the way it reinvests in itself in order to build up the company’s front-end and sales operations.

“They’re much more market facing, their ability to understand clients’ needs is much higher, their ability to connect with clients is much better and they are more business focused,” said Sudin Apte, analyst at Offshore Insights. “That has helped them to bring in better returns.”

When it comes to tough economic times, IT companies like Cognizant can benefit as other companies need to save money, by outsourcing operations that would cost more to do in-house.

“Even if [a customer’s budget] remains flat… in absolute dollars he’s spending same amount on technology but wants to do more with the same budget,” said Chopra. “The only way to do that is to take out costs on the existing work – if it’s being done onsite then you have to move it off-shore, and that directly plays into the hands of the offshore providers.”

“That drives the growth for these guys even during the tough times,” he added.

It’s not necessarily a new lesson – just one that needs to be done better than before as competition increases and the market demands ever-better results.

Source:http://blogs.ft.com/beyond-brics/2012/02/09/cognizant-lessons-for-indian-it/#axzz1lxmYyVXN

According to a new report from analyst firm IDC, amid the threat of “another recession” the cautious optimism will continue in New Zealand and that the IT services market in the country will still grow by 3.8% to reach NZ$3.08 billion this year.

While many of New Zealand’s CIOs are reviewing all their IT spending, IDC predicts that many will continue to spend on strategic areas of investment, particularly on mobile devices, virtualisation and security, lifting the opportunity for service providers (SPs) in 2012.

“2012 looks set to be another economically uncertain year, but nonetheless organisations and SPs alike will need to seek opportunities that not only make business sense but also capture the innovative element that will make organisations stand out in the competitive ecosystem,” Rasika Versleijen-Pradhan, senior IT services analyst, New Zealand IT services market, said.

“Ultimately it will require SPs to rethink their aspirations and capabilities in the market, forcing some organisations to move out of their comfort zones.

“As the demand for technologies such as cloud computing, analytics, mobility and the rate of convergence accelerates, IDC expects to see a more fragmented ecosystem develop, resulting in the restructuring of business models for some SPs,” Versleijen-Pradhan added.

Other key predictions by IDC for the New Zealand market this year include:

• Cloud Will Move from a Cost Management to Innovation Driver Role: The role of cloud to help manage costs will shift towards one that will encompass cloud as a means to driving innovation within an organisation.

• Business Analytics Will Ride a New Wave, Sending “Big Data” Further in Motion: Big Data analytics will become critical in verticals that are challenged by the huge amounts of data sets and the widespread use of collaborative and mobile technologies.

• The Government Will Reduce and Reallocate IT Budgets: The government has stated that its initial focus will be on common capability, networks and infrastructure and the sharing of business systems resulting in greater shifts in IT spending allocations in 2012.

• The Services Ecosystem Will See the Formation of More Service Aggregators: This will be driven by customers who lack resources and will look for service aggregators as the external managers to their organisation.

• Market Pressures Will Reshape and Restructure Existing Outsourcing Contracts: The outsourcing market remains competitive, and existing customers continue to challenge their incumbent SPs to match the services and benefits offered by competitors, sometimes insisting on renegotiating an existing contract.

• Service Providers Will be Forced to Create Disruptive Business Units: If traditional SPs are to really compete in the cloud space they will need to make some radical changes to their business model. Subsequently this will, lead to the creation of a disruptive business unit.

• The Channel will Make Bigger Strides in Delivering Higher-Value add Services: IDC predicts that in 2012, the services component of partner businesses will be led by managed and cloud-oriented services as opposed to legacy maintenance and support services.

• Datacentre Services Will Experience High Growth: IDC’s Asia-Pacific Continuum survey in 2011, revealed that 40% of organisations surveyed plan to utilise third party datacentres by the end of 2012.

• Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Will Maintain its Priority Level: IDC believes that business continuity will remain a key component of the executive agenda, regardless of the next upheaval.

Source:http://www.itwire.com/it-industry-news/market/52705-nz-getting-on-with-it-but-caution-prevails-report

The Veterans Affairs Department is being accused of undermining its own goal of hiring more veterans by expanding its outsourcing practices that eliminate many federal jobs currently, or historically, held by veterans, according to the union representing 205,000 employees at the VA.

In November, President Barack Obama signed into law the “VOW to Hire Heroes Act,” which included language to set up an expedited process for hiring returning solders for federal jobs.

But the VA’s own outsourcing, which began to grow under the Bush Administration and are continuing to expand, are abolishing many federal jobs currently held by veterans, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), an AFL-CIO union, said in a Feb. 8 news release.

For example, the Veterans Benefits Administration recently entered into a $54 million three-year contract with ACS Government Systems to perform claims processing work.

That work currently is being performed by “large numbers of veterans,” the union said. “To add insult to injury, the VBA employees are being asked to volunteer to train the contractors to do their work.”

“Contract claims processors working for profit will now handle the most personal information of our veterans.” AFGE National President John Gage said in the release.

In several other outsourcing contracts in recent years, the VA also has gotten rid of many government jobs historically held by veterans, AFGE said.

Other jobs recently outsourced by VA medical centers and cemeteries, which historically had been held by veterans, included cemetery caretakers, laundry and food service workers, housekeepers, groundskeepers and transportation assistants.

The VA also has failed to comply with a 2009 law that requires the agency to do a cost-benefit analysis before each outsourcing contract is awarded, to determine whether the contract is cost-effective for taxpayers, the union said.

“The agency continues to violate federal law by contracting out work that has been traditionally performed by veterans,” the union said. “The outsourced jobs include many entry level jobs that disabled veterans rely on to get back on their feet after returning from the battlefield.”

The union also claimed the VA conducts “excessive contracting” of physician and nursing services rather than hiring clinicians from within the military.

“Contract physicians and nurses lack the specialized skills and best practices of clinicians who dedicate their lives to serving the veteran population as VA employees,” said AFGE National VA Council President Alma Lee.

VA officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Feb. 9.

Complaints about VA outsourcing have arisen on a regular basis in recent years. In 2009, the president reversed course on a proposed third-party billing initiative for veterans medical care following negative media attention about it.

Source:http://fcw.com/articles/2012/02/09/va-accused-of-excessive-outsourcing-of-va-jobs-held-by-vets.aspx

In the world’s biggest outsourcing market US, Cognizant Technology Solutions is now only $50 million behind Tata Consultancy Services, according to the October-December quarter revenues earned by these companies.

TCS, which counts General Electric and Citibank among its top US customers, earned $1.37 billion during the quarter ending December from the country, compared to Cognizant’s $1.32 billion.

From a gap of around $150 million in quarterly revenues from North America in March 2010, Cognizant is now looking set to become the biggest India-based outsourcing firm in the region.

On its part, TCS has a much more diversified client base when compared with Cognizant. For instance, while Cognizant gets almost 80% of its revenues from the US, TCS’s North American business contributes 53% of the total revenues. TCS has UK and Continental Europe customers contributing a quarter of its total revenues.

Cognizant, which counts JP Morgan, Merck and 3M among its top US customers, grew its revenues from the country sequentially by 6.1% and 31.2% compared to the December quarter of 2010.

TCS reported a 2.2% sequential growth in its America revenues and 20.2% compared to the same period last year.

Analysts tracking the sector said Cognizant is expected to narrow its gap with larger peers by growing its share of spend from top healthcare customers-a segment where others are not as strong.

“Its well-entrenched position in the healthcare segment (27% of revenue, which grew at 37% in FY11), where we see limited competition from tier-1 IT peers, and continued growth, motivated by regulation-driven spending, help the company,” Nomura Research analysts said in a note on Wednesday.

“Indian IT companies have grown 10-15% slower than Cognizant through good and bad times, and we do not see that changing anytime soon,” CLSA analyst Nimish Joshi said. Cognizant surpassed Infosys’ US revenue during March 2011 quarter.

Source:http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/ites/cognizant-technology-is-just-50-million-behind-tcs-in-the-us/articleshow/11829314.cms

British experts have a “very positive” outlook of the Philippines’ business process outsourcing (BPO) industry, the Department of Foreign Affairs said.

The DFA said British-Philippines Outsourcing Council (BPOC) Board Members Ian McGowan and Richard Patterson disclosed this to Philippine Ambassador Enrique Manalo early this month.

“(They said) that while most BPO clients served from the Philippines were American, there has been a ‘noticeable increase in interest’ from British, Australian and Asian firms wanting ‘extraordinarily high skill sets and competitive pricing,’” the DFA said.

McGowan and Patterson had paid a courtesy call on Manalo at the Philippine Embassy on Feb. 2.

During the call, the two said outsourcing was “not bad” for developed economies, such as the United Kingdom, emphasizing that companies outsource to the Philippines “to compete globally and be successful.”

Also, they said their extensive experience with various British companies with BPO services in the Philippines showed that “for every job created in the Philippines several more jobs are created in Britain.”

For his part, Manalo expressed support for BPOC’s efforts to promote the Philippines as an investment destination.

“The Embassy, as part of its economic diplomacy program, will continue to work with organizations such as BPOC to actively showcase the Philippines as a prime, value-for-money business location. The BPO industry is one of the country’s leading lights, especially here in Britain where the Philippines has been regularly adjudged Best Offshoring Destination thrice over the past few years. BPOC will be an important partner in developing a bigger market in this country,” he said.

BPOC is a non-profit, independent organization based in London. It was established in 2009 to promote the Philippines as a BPO destination to British businesses.

Its membership is open to all companies with a base in the United Kingdom who either operate outsourcing services in the Philippines, outsource work to the Philippines or provide advisory services to the outsourcing or buyer communities.

Estimates by the Business Process Outsourcing Association of the Philippines (BPAP) show the BPO industry grew by 22 percent to US$10.9 billion in 2011, employing 640,000 people.

Source:http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/247507/economy/business/british-experts-say-phl-bpo-industry-outlook-very-positive

MSPexcellence, the business-building consultancy for Managed Services Providers (MSPs) and Cloud Solutions Providers (CSPs) has been selected by two leading providers of hosted cloud services to expand their market coverage with a channel of indirect sales partners to resell their hosted cloud services. External IT, a leading provider of comprehensive cloud-based IT solutions based in Dallas, Texas and Global Micro, the first and the largest provider of hosted services in South Africa, are both working with MSPexcellence to roll out a structured channel program to enable VARs, interconnects and MSPs to become certified channel partners and successful Cloud Solutions Providers. The programs will provide a “franchise model” for selling cloud solutions to the SMB/SME segment of the market (from 10 to 1,000 employees), a customer set that represents the next area of high growth in cloud-based IT service delivery.

MSPexcellence is providing External IT and Global Micro with consulting services and strategic planning. The goal is to create a franchise model for Cloud Solutions Providers based on a proven success formula for identifying highly qualified sales opportunities and implementing effective customer acquisition programs in their local markets.

Dallas-based External IT is one the first cloud solutions providers to offer full service IT outsourcing around a unifying Web Portal, called OS33. External IT delivers secure, high availability services from multiple data centers supported by a nationwide service and support organization. External IT combines cloud service delivery with deep experience in regulatory compliance, application integration, security services and disaster recovery. They have also developed an advanced service delivery platform to manage the user desktop and to simplify the user experience with the cloud.

“We chose MSPexcellence to assist our company in expanding our channel program because of their experience, insight and professionalism,” said David Matalon, Co-Founder and CEO of External IT. “Todd and Dave have done this before and our goal was to accelerate the time-to-market for our indirect initiative as well as to base it on proven best practices for engaging the channel. MSPexcellence has met our high expectations and we are bullish on our potential to build successful partnerships within the channel.”

Global Micro, based in Johannesburg, South Africa, operates a network of virtual private data centers running state-of-the-art virtualization technology as a platform for cloud services. Available on this platform is an extensive portfolio of hosted applications and services that VARs and MSPs can offer to their customers and integrate with their existing managed services solutions. Global Micro’s hosted services include the full spectrum of productivity solutions including hosted Microsoft Exchange servers and Office on Demand services that provide unified messaging, collaboration and real-time communications services at a low cost per user. Also available is a sophisticated cloud backup and disaster recovery service that provides off-site backup for the customer’s critical information assets as well as virtual servers that offer a flexible, scalable and cost effective way to expand the customer’s IT infrastructure into the cloud.

“Global Micro engaged the services of MSPexcellence to do what we could not do alone – guide us to a profitable and scalable channels-based model that will solidify our position as the leading technology provider in South Africa,” commented JJ Milner, Managing Director of Global Micro. “MSPexcellence helps us to accomplish our goals by being part of our team, diving into the details and delivering strategy, content and producing very professional customer and partner facing materials that enable and accelerate the sales process.”

According to Todd Hussey, Partner and Co-founder of MSPexcellence, “The channel is perfectly positioned to profit from the cloud. There has never been a more pressing need for a trusted advisor to demystify the technology and offer a fully managed cloud solutions that minimize the risks and maximize the rewards of cloud computing for their customers. We are excited to join forces with External IT and Global Micro to combine their leading-edge technology solutions with our sales and marketing formula to fully enable their partners to play this important role.”

Source:http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2012/02/09/prweb9179152.DTL

I’ve written a lot about the IT industry in India – I wrote a blog on IT outsourcing for two years at our sister publication, CIO.com – and clearly that country is focused on building out its tech infrastructure. So when I saw the news about the development of a 900,000 square foot data center in a four tower building that is designed to support up to 100 megawatts of power, it caught my eye. And according to the developers – Tulip Telecom Ltd., and IBM – this mega data center is the third largest in the world. \

You can check out this behemoth – the so-called Tulip Data City – by taking a virtual tour here.

The facility, in Bangalore, is designed to serve as a foundation for cloud services. It is a striking symbol of Tulip’s evolution from its beginnings as a wireless connectivity provider, to a telecom services provider with a fiber-optic data network that reaches more than 2,000 locations in India, and now to a more comprehensive provider of managed services and data centers.

There are plenty of wow factors – rainwater harvesting, numerous generators with 4 megawatts of capacity each, an anti-fire system, three large diesel tanks, a maze of underground cables, and more than 30 chillers on the roof for providing cooling. On the ground floor are 16 generators (four more are outside), a state-of-the-art network operations center (NOC) with an integrated management system, and office space with meeting rooms. One half of the ground floor is empty and ready to meet future needs.

The four tours are five floors each (starting at the second floor) and currently house 20 Enterprise Modular Data Centers. It is capable of supporting 14,000 racks, and each cold aisle area is self-contained to keep cooling most effective. There are numerous sensors and monitors for tracking air flow, temperature, humidity, pressure differentials and more.

Physical security is tight. There’s a 10-feet stone fence surrounding the facility, and on top of that fence there’s another 4-feet of electrical fence. There’s a gated entry for vehicles. Anybody coming into the facility must pass through metal detectors; there are also handheld scanners and explosives sniffers. RFID-enabled access systems are used, as are biometric scanners. There are 1500 cameras for round-the-clock, real-time surveillance.

Redundancy is impressive too. There are two UPS systems that get power from two different substations, including one in the front of the building, within the grounds.

The Tulip Data City is estimated to have cost more than $180 million (or Rs.900 crore), according to this article in Forbes India. The article reports that analysts expect the third-party data center market in India to grow at a compounded rate of between 25-30 percent over the next five years, and that reports also suggest Tulip is expecting a steady state revenue of about $190 million (Rs.950 crore) from the data center, which could happen in four years.

Source:http://www.itworld.com/data-centerservers/248752/bangalore-gets-data-center-screaming-capacity-and-tight-security

Accent Computer Solutions Inc., an information technology service provider, has achieved Gold Desktop and Server Platform Competencies in the Microsoft Partner Network, establishing its ability to meet Microsoft customers’ needs in today’s ever-changing business environment. To earn a Microsoft Gold Competency, organizations must complete a formidable set of tests to prove their level of technology expertise; employ a sufficient number of Microsoft Certified Professionals; submit consumer references; and show their commitment to customer satisfaction by participating in an annual survey.

One of the largest IT service providers in Southern California, Accent Computer Solutions provides clients with user support, strategic technology planning and consulting, systems maintenance and security, monitoring services, problem isolation and resolution, and backup- and disaster-recovery support. Founded in 1987, the company focuses on reducing the cost and risk of utilizing information technology by offering IT services, IT outsourcing, network services, cloud computing, new building and remodel cabling, and wireless solutions.

Marty Kaufman, Accent’s president and founder, leads the company in catering to small- to medium-sized businesses.

When utilizing the Microsoft Server Platform competency, a business must demonstrate knowledge in building, designing, deploying and supporting the Windows Server operating system, Windows Server–based applications and Microsoft server infrastructure.

The Microsoft Partner Network is designed to supply organizations that deliver products and services based on the Microsoft platform with the training, resources and help they need to bring their customers a superior experience and exceptional results.

Source:http://www.ocmetro.com/t-Accent-Computer-Solutions-earns-top-Microsoft-service-designation-2-9-12x.aspx

Growth in India’s exports of IT services, business process outsourcing and related services is forecast to drop to 11 to 14 percent in the Indian fiscal year to March 31, 2013 from an estimated 16.3 percent in the current fiscal year, the National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom) said.

The trade body said Wednesday it had taken into account the economic uncertainty in key markets like Europe, and delayed purchase decisions by customers, to arrive at the forecast.

India’s ability to achieve the growth forecast by Nasscom will largely depend on developments in Europe, analysts said.

Global outsourcing revenue was down 15 percent in the fourth quarter of last year, in comparison to the previous quarter, and growth is expected to stay flat through the first six months of this year, unless the economic conditions in Europe improve, said Salil Dani, research director for global sourcing at Everest Group.

Government and public-sector spending on outsourcing in Europe and the U.S., the largest market for Indian outsourcers, is also likely to take a hit, Dani added.

Client sentiment is down, and IT budgets are stagnant and even getting cut, said Sudin Apte, principal analyst and CEO of Offshore Insights, a research and advisory firm in Pune, India. Clients are not yet spending significantly on emerging technologies that were once seen as growth markets, such as cloud, mobility, social networking, and analytics, he added.

Apte expects IT services and related exports to grow by 8 to 9 percent in the fiscal year to March 31, 2013.

Nasscom’s export data includes exports to parent companies by Indian subsidiaries of multinational companies like Microsoft and Dell, commonly known as “captives”. But Dani does not expect new projects to captives to make up for lackluster business to third-party IT service providers in the country.

Cognizant Technology Solutions on Wednesday forecast its revenue would grow by at least 23 percent in 2012. The Teaneck, New Jersey, outsourcer is usually grouped with Indian outsourcers as it has 75 percent of its staff in India, and competes with Indian outsourcers like Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Infosys and Wipro both for business and staff.

In a difficult period, companies like Cognizant and TCS that understand customer needs better, and have strong domain expertise will likely grow faster than other Indian companies, Apte said.

TCS said last month that its revenue for the quarter ended Dec. 31 was US$2.6 billion, up by 20.6 percent from the same quarter a year earlier, with net profit up 9 percent at $568 million. Wipro posted lower growth in the same quarter, as the company is going through a reorganization of its business focus. Infosys, another outsourcer in Bangalore, lowered its revenue growth forecast for the fiscal year ending March 31, citing the debt crisis in Europe and an uncertain market.

Exports in the year to March 31, 2012 are expected to be $69 billion, with IT services the largest component growing at 19 percent to $40 billion, Nasscom said. Business process outsourcing is expected to grow 13 percent to $16 billion.

Source:http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9224098/Growth_in_Indian_IT_services_exports_to_slow_down_says_Nasscom

Business Process Outsourcing (IT-BPO) industry visualizes their proximity to their goals after the Senate passed the third and final reading of the Cybercrime Protection Act 2012 or Senate Bill No. 2796, which is aimed to safeguard the confidentiality and integrity of the digital space from abuse or illegal access.

Business Process Outsourcing (IT-BPO) industry visualizes their proximity to their goals after the Senate passed the third and final reading of the Cybercrime Protection Act 2012 or Senate Bill No. 2796, which is aimed to safeguard the confidentiality and integrity of the digital space from abuse or illegal access.

The Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP) believes the bill will be a big boost to the industry’s goals as they aim to provide 4 million jobs to Filipinos and $25 billion in export revenues by 2016. “It will be one of the keys in providing our investors and customers with a sound business environment,” shares Benedict Hernandez, CEO, BPAP.

Meanwhile Alfredo Ayala, Chairman of BPAP, expressed his gratitude to the senators, led by the Chair of the Senate Committee on Science and Technology Sen. Edgardo Angara, in attaining this goal. “For an industry which is platformed on IT and the Internet, the bill will be a great help in securing the operations and transactions of our companies as they serve global clients,” denotes Ayala.

With 268 members, BPAP and its partner associations, Contact Center Association of the Philippines (CCAP), Philippine Software Industry Association (PSIA), Healthcare Information Management Outsourcing Association of the Philippines (HIMOAP), Animation Council of the Philippines (ACPI) and the game Developers Association of the Philippines (GDAP) represent all sectors in the industry.

The House version of the bill is now at the committee level and can be scheduled for bi-cameral deliberations after the House of Representatives passes the bill on final reading.

“We are confident that the bill will be passed into law before the present Congress adjourns as we believe that the President and law makers from both houses of Congress see the urgent need to update our constitution, in order to protect not only our industry but [also] the Filipino people from cyber criminals and terrorists,” underscores Martin Crisostomo, Legislative Committee Head, BPAP.

The Cybercrime Prevention Act is one of the triad of ICT measures authored by Angara for the IT-BPO industry in the country.

Other ICT-related measures pending in the Senate are the Data Privacy Act and the undertaking to create a Department of Information and Communications Technology.

Source:http://news.idg.no/cw/art.cfm?id=BD4F7A2A-0330-1EA8-BAEE1AC1F58A1571

IBM, the No. 2 computer services provider, took the wraps off a 900,000 square-foot data center in India for Tulip Telecom, one of that nation’s fast-growing telecommunications carriers.

The Bangalore center, a year in the making, cost “in the hundreds of millions of dollars,” IBM VP for global sites and facilities services Steve Sams said in an interview. He declined to be more specific.

The center is India’s biggest and Tulip Telcom has already invited in the chief information officers of India’s top 150 companies to show them its capabilities, Sams said. Morever, another leading U.S. technology company, which he refused to identify, is also conducting operations in the IBM center, he added.

Armonk, N.Y. based IBM is far from the only U.S. information technology company with many personnel and officers in India. Others including Hewlett-Packard, Accenture, Intel, Microsoft, Cisco Systems and Oracle have Indian operations, some for outsourcing for multinational clients but now increasingly to serve Indian customers.

Tulip Telecom, which provides business-to-business services rather than focus on the consumer, approached IBM for a long-term partnership more than a year ago, Sams said. Tulip CEO and founder Hardeep S. Bedi said he had chosen the 101-year-old U.S. company for its “global expertise in designing and building innovative energy efficient cloud data centers that should support our needs now and in the future.”

Besides Bangalore, the heart of the Indian IT sector, New Delhi-basedTulip may ask IBM to build another data center in Mumbai, the country’s financial center, the IBM VP said.

Only about half of the ultra-modern center’s space will be used for computing services, Sams explained. The other half will be for support services, including an extremely efficient power system designed with redundant services.

Sams, who said he has a staff of 1,000, including mechanical engineers as well as IT professionals and electrical engineers, said more such centers are in the works. One that has been announced is an IBM complex in China for Range Technology, intended to be the largest cloud computing complex in Asia.

IBM shares rose 53 cents to close at $193.35 Tuesday. They have gained 5 percent so far this year. Shares of Tulip closed down 6 percent at 108.2 rupees in Indian trading Tuesday.

Source:http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/294333/20120207/ibm-data-tulip-center-outsourcing-services-india.htm

On the back of the telecommunications boom in Africa, more IT service vendors are moving into the continent in search of new opportunities.

So says Brent Flint, services executive at Dimension Data MEA, who believes this trend is also driven by the maturation and growth of competition in the South African IT services market.

“This expansion is often on the back of clients’ businesses expansion into the rest of Africa,” he explains. “More businesses are moving into Africa and require IT service providers that will help drive IT efficiency as a key strategic business enabler and also an engine of innovation.”

Flint explains that organisations are looking for infrastructure, desktop, database and application support, as these play a key role in enabling business.

“Without a large IT department or justification for big expenditure on technology, businesses are looking for solutions that will get the job done cost-effectively and simply, while delivering a rapid return on investment.”

However, Flint says there is a shortage of specific skills in the African IT services market, and this is resulting in companies not always being able to efficiently provide the IT services needed to enable business.
Click here

He adds that there is, therefore, a demand for IT service providers with experience and knowledge to enable business strategy, improve competitiveness, and drive business outcomes.

“Businesses are moving from ‘out-tasking’ discrete managed and professional services to a complete IT outsourcing solution.”

Garth Hayward, regional manager, Africa, at Kaseya, also cites skills shortage as one of the challenges besetting managed service providers in Africa.

“Finding and keeping good staff in the managed services industry is a challenge,” says Hayward. “There’s also a perception by business that IT companies don’t need to pay their staff.”

Hayward adds that the managed service providers are also finding it tough to craft value propositions that have relevance within their target markets.

Source:http://www.itweb.co.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=51416:it-service-vendors-eye-african-expansion

No multinational information technology firms have so far committed to renting commercial space at Bhutan’s first IT park, operated by joint venture Thimphu TechPark (TTP).

Business processes outsourcing (BPO) company Genpact, which was supposed to have moved in this year, has also recently deferred its entry to 2013.

“We were in discussions with Genpact but they have recently informed MoIC (the information and communications ministry) that they have deferred their decision to come in this year,” said TTP’s Bhutan Innovation & Technology Centre (BITC) consultant, Anjali Gulati. “They might consider it for 2013,” she said.

Anjali Gulati added that discussions with other potential companies like WIPRO and WorldBridge, a BPO, are ongoing. She said that for 2012, only local companies would be taking up space at TTP, both commercial and in the BITC.

The park’s BITC is scheduled to be completed and operational by the end of March the centre’s chief operating officer, Tshering Cigay Dorji, said.

The BITC’s objective is to promote the private sector and Bhutanese entrepreneurs by providing an environment designed to allow businesses to be mentored, networked, and grow to the point they can move out and operate.

Currently, the BITC is still being fitted out but MoUs have already been signed with 10 local companies. A further three are due to be signed within this week, Anjali Gulati said. She said that the companies’ business proposals are being reviewed and a selection process is underway. Companies with business proposals that provide high potential such as in growth and job creation, among others, will be selected.

Once operating in the BITC, the ‘tenants’ will be able to access the centre’s various services and facilities. They will also be able to avail mentoring from international organisations and individual experts. BITC recently launched it overseas expert program. The program’s objective is to facilitate training and teaching of the Bhutanese business community by bringing in foreign expertise to share their knowledge and experience for a period between 3-6 months.

Anjali Gulati said that BITC has about three foreign individuals already interested in the program.

DHI’s BEGIN (business entrepreneurship growth and innovation) program, slated to begin in March, will also be run in tandem with BITC, said Anjali Gulati. The BEGIN program seeks to provide mainstream entrepreneurship by providing comprehensive training, sustained mentoring, and financing to individuals with strong entrepreneurial traits and sound business ideas. Anjali Gulati said that the BEGIN program will be available to BITC incubatees.

BITC incubatees will have to pay rent to TTP, but Anjali Gulati said that the rent would be subsidised and as a result cheaper than market rates.

Bhutan’s first IT park was inaugurated three months ago in November. TTP is a joint venture between Assetz Property Group of Singapore and DHI. The park was built at a cost of about Nu 250M.

Source:http://www.kuenselonline.com/2011/?p=26699

Sunrise industry investors will provide revenue and job opportunities to Balangueños. Although, Sunrise industries are new in the province, they are growing fast. Through the partnership of Public Employment Services Office (PESO) and the Software Ventures International (SVI) and a business process outsourcing (BPO) company, 150 residents are given job and they started their data encoding training. Eventually, they will be hired by a client of SVI.

In a statement of Mayor Garcia, this initial start of BPO industry in the City of Balanga has the possibility to reach 1,000 to 2,000 qualified workers. SVI is known as one of the premier global companies in the field of information technology (IT) consulting and business solutions development.

They provide software services and business services capitalizing in a team of more than 2,000 highly skilled employees. The firm also pioneered in the Philippine IT offshore outsourcing industry.

Garcia further explained that BPO is a subset of outsourcing which entails the outsourcing the operations and responsibilities of a specific business to what we call third-party service provider. For instance, real estate like Camella Homes had poured almost P700 million investment to generate employment here. The city government had also business ventures with the big names in the real-estate industry such as Ayala Land, Megaworld, Sta. Lucia, and Robinsons Land.

Source:http://www.mybataan.com/content/view/593/96/

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Shares in IT outsourcing company Computer Sciences Corp soared as much as 25 per cent in the morning session as the company wrote down losses from a UK government contract.

The shares pared gains but still closed up 18.5 per cent to $31.39.

CSC booked a loss of $1.5bn, or almost $10 a share, on a contract to computerise the records of the UK’s National Health Service. Shares had fallen 50 per cent in the 12 months to the end of last week on concerns about the UK contract and an accounting probe by the Securities and Exchange Commission, and, although CSC had pre-warned about the writedown in late December, some analysts said the move provided a degree of closure for investors.

“The risk of further large writedowns is significantly smaller than it was yesterday,” said Tien-Tsin Huang at JPMorgan. “People feel like we may have seen a bottom for CSC.”

But other analysts were unimpressed, and suggested investors might be well advised to take profit, with CSC now trading at an earnings multiple equal to industry peers.

“To say CSC should trade in line with its peers when it can’t give guidance for 2012, is subject to an SEC accounting investigation and has the overhang of further potential losses on the UK NHS contract is presumptuous,” said Darrin Peller at Barclays Capital.

He said the share price move was largely a result of short sellers covering positions. More than 10 per cent of available CSC stock had been on loan to short sellers at the start of the day, with many investors anticipating a sell-off if the company declared a larger writedown on the NHS contract.

Elsewhere, US stocks climbed, but gains were moderate as eurozone worries once again weighed on Wall Street.

The S&P 500 climbed 0.2 per cent to 1,349.96. The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up 5 points to 12,883.95, while the Nasdaq Composite index rallied 0.4 per cent to 2,915.86.

Energy stocks were the laggards with coal miners falling for a second successive day, as SocGen analysts said iron-ore shipments to China through Australia’s Port Hedland fell in January compared with December.

Peabody fell 1.6 per cent to $41.27 and Alpha Natural Resources fell 2.1 per cent to $21.85.

Option traders appeared sceptical about the latest rally in the face of renewed Greek default concerns, with data showing large bearish bets that would profit from a fall in the Dow Transport index.

The index is closely watched as a leading indicator for movements in broader indices.

But some analysts remained bullish. “Given other efforts to stabilise the eurozone, we tend to think a Greek default would only lead to a momentary pullback in US stocks, lasting one or two days, and indeed would present a good buying opportunity,” said Randy Frederick, managing director for active trading at Charles Schwab.
Luxury clothing chain Ralph Lauren rose 9.2 per cent to $17.73 after forecasting stronger than expected 2012 revenue.

Unlike jeweller Tiffany , Ralph Lauren did not see a slowdown in US or European sales in the fourth quarter, leaving investors free to focus on strong sales growth in emerging markets that Ralph Lauren reported in common with other luxury brands. The company also raised its forecast for 2012 margins.

“If we were to look for trouble, a cause for concern could be the recent gross margin deterioration, which reflects an increasing amount of technology resale that both boosts revenue growth and hurts gross margin,” said George Hill at Citigroup, although, along with most other analysts, he was upbeat on the results.

Bank stocks traded higher despite the Greek concerns. Citigroup was up 3.5 per cent to $34.23 and Bank of America topped $8 for the first time since September, closing up 3.6 per cent to $8.13 for the best performance in the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

Walt Disney shares climbed 0.7 per cent to $41.27 as earnings rose despite flat revenues.

The initial public offering of Caesars Entertainment made a surprise leap on its debut, jumping 71 per cent to $15.39 over its $9 debut price, the most of any US IPO since Zillow last July.

The offering of just 1.8m shares had been intended only to provide liquidity to a small clutch of investors in its 2008 leveraged buyout, ahead of potential larger exits by investors such Paulson & Co, Apollo Group and TPG Capital. But traders said that retail investors swooped on the offering at the discounted valuation, despite the risk of future dilution.

Source:http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/5231a8f8-5264-11e1-a155-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1llILQk4A

IT outsourcing firm Tech Mahindra on Wednesday reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 276 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2011.

“Profit after tax for the quarter ended December 31, 2011 and 2010 are not comparable as the figures in respect of 2010 do not include share in profit of Satyam Computer Services Limited (SCSL) for the period,” Tech Mahindra said in a filing to the BSE.

The company had a net profit of Rs 257 crore during the October-December quarter 2010, the company said.

Income from operations rose to Rs 1,444.87 crore during the quarter under review, against Rs 1,211.14 crore in the same period last year.

The total headcount of the company at the end of December 31, 2011 stood at 42,746 out of which software professional headcount stood at 25,218, BPO at 16,419 and support staff at 1,109.

The debt stood at Rs 1,376 crore as of December 31, 2011 and cash and cash equivalent stood at Rs 321 crore on balance sheet during the same period.

“We have had a satisfactory quarter, with growth in both revenue and margins. This is a result of our investments in growth markets, and in emerging technologies. We continue to focus on delivering enhanced value to our customers in an uncertain economic environment,” Tech Mahindra Vice Chairman, MD and CEO Vineet Nayyar said.

At the end of December quarter, the company’s active clients stood at 130.

Shares of Tech Mahindra settled at Rs 650.75 on the BSE, up 1.28 per cent from the previous close.

Source:http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-company/earnings/earnings-news/tech-mahindra-posts-q3-profit-of-rs-276-cr-shares-up-1-28/articleshow/11807950.cms

Under the deal, IBM will assume responsibility for the development and support of PJSC Ukrsotsbank’s information systems and applications as well as the management of the bank’s IT infrastructure.

Big Blue takes over the management and maintenance of PJSC Ukrsotsbank’s application portfolio, data centre systems, IT network, ATMs, end-user and deskside support.

The move will help the bank make significant operational savings, improve customer service, increase performance efficiency and lower operational risk across a country-wide network of nearly 400 branches, says the vendor.

The deal follows PJSC Ukrsotsbank’s recent migration to a new core banking system and UniCredit hopes that this, coupled with performance improvements derived from the IBM collaboration, will offer a model it can export to other parts of the business.

Francesco Pusateri, head, global banking services, UniCredit, says: “Having already successfully migrated and centralised PJSC Ukrsotsbank’s core banking systems, this decision will help us to strengthen our leadership in the Ukrainian banking sector. Leveraging IBM’s technology assets and industry experience we are able to transform the way we work and run our operations.”

Joseph Benaroya, VP, IBM global technology services, adds: “This is the first instance of full outsourcing in the region and marks a new era in the IT delivery model and in the development of Ukraine’s financial services sector. Banks across growth markets are currently under enormous pressure to reduce costs and operational complexities while at the same time improve the customer experience.”

Source:http://www.finextra.com/news/fullstory.aspx?newsitemid=23404

Ciklum, a Danish innovative IT outsourcing company specializing in nearshore software development in Eastern Europe, expands its cooperation with the international and European Outsourcing organizations by establishing a combined knowledge partnership with the Outsourcing Verband (German-Austria-Swiss Outsourcing Association) and the Outsourcing Journal.

The key concepts of the knowledge partnership are sharing and acknowledgement. By partnering with the Outsourcing Verband Ciklum pursues the acknowledgement as a valuable member of the European Outsourcing Community by contributing and sharing IT Outsourcing (ITO) related information and best practices.

Another important goal Ciklum aims to reach via partnership with the Outsourcing Verband is to focus more on the European German speaking area (DACH) and help companies from this region to explore their Nearshoring opportunities and benefits in Central and Eastern Europe (specifically in Ukraine and Belarus).

“Since 2011 Switzerland has been witnessing an exploding interest in nearshore software development,” says Franco Dal Molin, Ciklum’s Country Manager for Switzerland. “Every month we add two new Own Development Team clients to Ciklum portfolio. We have accumulated lots of reference case studies and best practices that should definitely be shared with a broader audience via the Outsourcing Verband’s online portals.”

The Knowledge Partnership is expected to be mutually beneficial for both Ciklum and the Outsourcing Verband. “Ciklum has a proven model in delivering IT and business services to European customers and as part of the partnership Ciklum will share some of its knowledge and project experiences with our network,” says Stephan Fricke, CEO of the Outsourcing Verband.

Ciklum is looking forward to boosting expansion of its corporate communication within the German speaking markets via such powerful knowledge sharing and accumulation platforms as the Outsourcing Verband and the Outsourcing Journal.

Source:http://www.prurgent.com/2012-02-08/pressrelease224036.htm

The global sourcing market saw a marginal decrease in outsourcing transaction volumes in 2011 compared to 2010 due to decreased transactions in the second half of the year, according to Everest Group, an advisory and research firm on global services. After a strong start, transaction volumes dropped in the second half of the year including fourth quarter activity numbers that were the lowest since Q1 2009. Although captive activity also dropped in the second half of last year, 2011 saw captive set-ups almost double in number compared to 2010. These findings and other market insights are detailed in Everest Group’s Market Vista: 2011 in Review and Market Vista: Q4 2011 reports, which capture key developments in the outsourcing and offshoring industry. A one-hour webinar will be held Feb. 16, 9 a.m. CST, to present findings and insights from both studies as well as a discussion of options for tier-2/3 service delivery locations in the United States.

Everest Group’s quarterly and annual Market Vista reports include analyses of outsourcing transaction trends, captive-related developments, market activity by locations, location risks and opportunities, key service provider developments, and implications for sourcing industry stakeholders.

“In 2011, the first two quarters showed a continuation of the upward, positive market traction we began to see in 2010, but activity dropped during the last two quarters, leveling out the year and thereby resulting in almost a repeat of the previous year,” said Eric Simonson, managing partner of Research. “We also saw strong captive activity in the first two quarters of 2011, which further validated our firm’s long-held opinion and research findings that the captive model can be a viable core component of sourcing strategies for many organizations. Our outlook for 2012 is cautious given several factors including financial volatility in Europe, anti-offshoring sentiments in the United States and United Kingdom, and the adoption of new technologies, particularly in ITO deals.”

Last year saw 1,929 outsourcing transactions compared to 1,979 in 2010, and annual contract value (ACV) of transactions decreased compared to the previous two years. Contract renewal and restructuring activity was higher in 2011 compared to previous years, accounting for one-fifth of transaction volumes and almost one-third of the market’s total annual contract value (ACV). IT Outsourcing (ITO) contracts accounted for two-thirds of total transaction activity; 32 percent were Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) contracts.

The Market Vista: Q4 2011 report includes a special focus section on the emerging offshoring locations of El Salvador, Guatemala, Mauritius, South Africa, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine and Vietnam. The Q4 report also examines global locations with French language capabilities, continued political unrest in Egypt, China’s new insurance scheme for expats, downside of Sao Paulo’s rapid IT market growth, and effects of the rapidly depreciating Indian rupee. Additionally, the Q4 report includes the companion study, Global Location Insights: Perspectives on Tier 2/3 Cities of the United States as Locations for IT Services Delivery.

Other findings in the Market Vista: 2011 in Review and Market Vista: Q4 2011 reports include:

Financial services and manufacturing sectors continued to dominate outsourcing activity while healthcare activity increased significantly and public sector adoption dropped.
While North American transactions decreased marginally last year, activity in the United Kingdom increased by 32 percent compared to the previous year.
Although Q4 saw the signing of four mega deals, each valued at over US$1 billion in total contract value (TCV), the trend for mega deals shows a continued and steady decrease over the past three years with 11 signed in 2011 compared to 19 in 2010.
Asia continued to see the most new captive developments but notable activity also occurred in Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa.
Last year saw the emergence of Brazil and Poland as mature global sourcing locations, underscoring their relevance in the global delivery footprint of leading players.
Political unrest in North Africa, examined in the Market Vista Q2 2011 report, reinforced the importance of risk management in sourcing portfolios.
Currency depreciation eroded arbitrage potential in Brazil, Chile and Malaysia while the rapidly depreciating Indian rupee created near-term opportunities for service providers and new entrants.
Revenues of leading service providers increased in 2011 compared to 2010, but operating margins fell.
Service providers continued to consolidate with Market Vista Index providers reporting about 50 merger and acquisition activities in 2011.

“The last year witnessed the continued trend towards service provider consolidation with many high-profile mergers and acquisitions,” said Salil Dani, research director. “Within leading providers, the offshore-centric providers witnessed higher growth in both revenue and operating margins compared to traditional global majors.”

Market Vista reports comprise key developments among 20 leading global service providers. Traditional service provider profiles include Accenture, ACS Xerox, AON Hewitt, Atos, Capgemini, Convergys, CSC, HP Enterprise Services, IBM, Dell Services and Unisys. Offshore-centric service provider profiles include Cognizant, EXL, Genpact, HCL, Infosys, Mahindra Satyam, Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro and WNS.

Source:http://www.prweb.com/releases/everestgroup/MVQ42011/prweb9174989.htm