Norton Rose reduced its salary costs by £5 million during the last financial year through its high-profile Flex programme and the outsourcing of around 60 London support staff.

The firm’s 2009-10 accounts, recently filed at Companies House, show that total staff salaries and wages decreased from £131 million to £126 million over the year.

The firm said that its flexible working program — which was used during the recession and saw a large number of lawyers and staff placed on a four-day week — accounted for about £3 million of the savings. Norton Rose has previously estimated that implementing the measures saved around 100 jobs at the firm.

The outsourcing of support staff to service company Mace Macro in February 2009 also contributed to the savings, although the firm now pays for the services as part of its general operating costs.

Staff numbers at the firm decreased slightly from 2,059 to 2,012 during 2009-10, with total fee earners falling from 992 to 982 and business services staff headcount decreasing from 1,067 to 1,030.

Norton Rose also increased its total borrowings by £22 million over the year to pay the tax bill on its pre-recession profits.

The firm’s total borrowings increased from just £2.3 million at the end of the 2008-09 financial year to £24.7 million. The firm said the increase came in response to tax debts on boom-era profits, paid for in January 2010, and a higher level of debtors than usual due to the recession, counting for £191 million compared to £164 million the previous year.

Total turnover decreased from £322 million to £314 million, while fee income was down from £314 million to £307 million, and total operating profit fell from £81 million to £78 million.

The highest-paid partner at the firm was paid £888,780 during 2009-10, compared to £739,416 the previous year.

Source:http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202477245637&Norton_Rose_Saves__Million_With_Flex_Scheme_and_Outsourcing

It\’s not surprising that small and medium-sized businesses choose payroll outsourcing services because of its advantages. Not only do business owners benefit from it, it is also advantageous for the employees and the company itself. The use of payroll outsourcing is pretty common these days.

If you\’re still doing it in-house, then you\’re missing out on the company\’s opportunities to focus on more profit generating tasks and to increase savings by a landslide. Here are a few reasons why successful companies are opting to outsource payroll services.

Outsourcing payroll functions allows you to save precious time. The task may be basic, but the workload can be immense and ***work can take time. This function is also very tedious since there are a lot of small details and figures that need to be examined carefully. Your time as a business owner is very valuable and better spent on thinking of ways to expand your business rather than calculate payroll taxes. Having this function outsourced will implement all the necessary payroll activities and you have more time to focus on ways to increase profits and other more important issues.

Having access to payroll outsourcing company also gives you the chance to access the latest state of the art payroll system available, along with employees with the highest standards of training. Most accounting services use the best technologies to ensure accurate and reliable results. In other words, why spend a lot of money on technology when you can access it for free?

Preparing employee salary can be pretty tiresome. If you have careless payroll employees, then chances are, you\’ll end up with irate workers and face stiff penalties. A payroll outsourcing company has payroll specialists specially assigned for this job. They have the professional know-how to understand the dirt behind the process so you can always expect a job well done. Governments impose stiff penalties for tax related errors. If you have the function outsourced, you face far less risks.

More importantly, hiring a payroll outsourcing company is cost-effective. Think of the endless hours needed to allot for payroll-related work, such as cost preparations, printing, and distributing pay slips, and the tedious work. There\’s also no need to hire and train employees since this service is already provided by the third party. There\’s no doubt having an outsourced payroll function ensures the success of any thriving business.

Source:http://www.bnr.co/01/03/advantages-of-payroll-outsourcing/

TEKsystems Global Services Canada today announced findings from its quarterly IT and Talent Survey among Canadian IT leaders.

IT contracting in Canada is on the rise relative to other North American markets, with nearly 50% of Canadian respondents indicating increases in IT project needs and IT hiring over the next six months. This is in contrast to 41% of the respondents citing the same in the United States. According to Executive Director of TEKsystems’ Montreal Solution Centre, Charlie Hall, “We are seeing a shift in that CIOs seem to be moving toward more variable-based or flexible workforce models to get work done. As we emerge from this recession, our clients are seeking the ability to ramp projects up and down quicker than ever as demands increase.”

Survey data shows IT workers will be in high demand to support the continuous flow of expected project needs moving into 2011. Of the most challenging projects, Enterprise Architecture tops the list with 55.9% of Canadian respondents rating the difficulty a seven or above, on a one to 10 scale. More than half of respondents also rated Business Process Engineering, Business Intelligence, Network Architecture and Database Administration a seven or higher in terms of difficulty to staff and manage. “Limited supply of certain technical professionals is just one factor that makes these projects a challenge for our clients,” shares Hall. “IT leaders are also challenged to find partners that possess applicable industry knowledge, a high degree of business acumen and have the chemistry to fit into their culture,” comments Hall.

Given the increased focus on IT initiatives to drive business value, IT leaders will need to conduct intense and proactive workforce planning exercises to ensure they can support business goals. However, according to the survey, 52.2% of Canadian respondents indicated feeling only “somewhat prepared” to handle an increasingly competitive labor market. “To obtain the right skill sets when and where they need them, many businesses are realizing the value of partnering with an IT services provider that can deliver project-based or outsourcing solutions with an underlying competency in attracting and retaining large numbers of quality IT resources,” said Hall.

IT leaders say they plan to maintain (50%) or increase (36.5%) their current level of IT outsourcing; and nearly 80% of respondents expect to maintain or increase offshore and near-shore IT services moving into 2011. “More often, we’re seeing IT leaders make the decision to outsource based on criteria that extends beyond cost benefits. They are thinking about the degree of complexity they want to maintain versus offload. They are also thinking about which providers can be a true partner, building customized solutions and delivering results through teams of qualified IT professionals,” said Hall.

Source:http://www.vadvert.co.uk/computing/7047-canadian-it-leaders-expect-significant-increases-in-it-project-needs-and-contract-employment-into-2011-finds-teksystems.html

Recovering from global tech meltdown, the resilient Indian IT industry returned to high growth during a tumultuous 2010 but is cautiously optimistic about 2011 in view of the economic uncertainty in Europe and the US, which account for 80-85 percent of its export revenue from software services and back office operations.

“Though 2010 has been a good year for our IT industry with a healthy growth, we are entering the new year with cautious optimism as clouds of uncertainty hang over Europe and to an extent the US due to less than expected recovery from the Great Recession,” Infosys Technologies Chief Executive S. Gopalakrishnan told IANS.

Putting behind fiscal 2009-10 as a year of downturn, when the annual growth plunged to six percent after a scorching cumulative growth of 25-30 percent during the previous four years, the industry returned to double-digit growth in this fiscal (2010-11), thanks to renewed investments by global firms across verticals in IT infrastructure, software and back office services.

“We have seen growth returning and business coming back because of transformational needs of our global customers and changing business models favouring more outsourcing and off-shoring of IT services and solutions we deliver cost-effectively,” industry body Nasscom president Som Mittal said.

With the worst behind and the industry on the recovery path, Nasscom has projected $56-57 billion or 13-15 percent year-on-year (YoY) growth from exports and Rs.768 billion (Rs.76,800 crore) or 15-17 percent YoY growth in domestic market this fiscal (2010-11).

“With growth surpassing our expectations during the first half, we will be revising the outlook for this fiscal after the third quarter (Oct-Dec) results, factoring the anticipated growth in the fourth quarter (Jan-March),” Mittal told IANS.

Emerging largely unscathed from the global tech meltdown, the Indian IT-BPO (business process outsourcing) industry grew 6 percent last fiscal (2009-10) to touch $50 billion (Rs.23,100 crore) in exports and 12 percent YoY in the domestic market to post Rs.66,200 crore ($13.25 billion).

“Sustaining this year’s robust growth in 2011 depends on how fast economies in Europe recover, as there are concerns over some countries still grappling with financial crisis. Sovereign fallout in any country will have a domino effect on the global economy,” Gopalakrishnan pointed out.

The year, however, began on a sluggish note with the industry reeling under the ripple effect of slowdown in 2009-10, conspicuous absence of fresh investments and hiring and thousands of techies laid off or fearing pink slips.

“The year demonstrated the inherent strength of the industry to get over the global recovery trend. As we exit 2010, the new year looks promising, as the industry is poised to get back to growth trajectory despite an element of uncertainty looming over Europe due to monetary and regulatory crisis,” Wipro Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Suresh Senapaty said.

If the global financial crisis and tech meltdown made the Indian IT industry cringe and resort to unconventional measures to stay afloat, the revival made them go overboard in exploring new markets, scouting for talent and investing in new service lines to offer end-to-end solutions across verticals.

“Unlike the crisis we faced during the dotcom bust earlier in the decade, the global recession tested our resilience and gave us an opportunity to provide more for less, as IT budgets shrunk and clients were in consolidation process,” Genpact Chief Executive and past Nasscom chairman Pramod Bhasin said.

To sustain the growth momentum and make optimal use of their resources, even export-oriented bellwethers like TCS, Infosys, Wipro and HCL turned aggressive in the domestic market as enterprises, state-run organisations and governments across the country have decided to enhance their investments in IT infrastructure, products and services for the benefit of its people.

Buoyed by increased tech spending in the private and public sectors, the industry has been gearing up to offer its services in new areas such as engineering services and product development.

With 450 delivery centres in 60 countries worldwide, the Indian IT industry has an unparalleled global value chain. The industry resumed enhancing its global workforce, hiring specialised talent in developed markets and building a truly global delivery model.

Mergers and acquisitions in the IT industry remained sluggish as companies were in consolidation mode and continued to be risk-averse.

For raising human capital, besides the bellwethers jointly offering about 100,000 jobs this fiscal to create bench strength and build capacity in anticipation of better growth in next fiscal (2011-12), small and medium business too have resumed hiring to meet the demand for ICT services and products.

As a top outsourcing destination and back office operations hub, India dominates the global IT services market with 51 percent share.

Source:http://mangalorean.com/news.php?newstype=local&newsid=214143

India is still the world’s favourite destination for offshore outsourcing, but attractive cost structures in the Philippines, Vietnam and Indonesia and the rapid growth of the business in China are posing tough competition, reports PTI quoting a new study by Gartner Inc.

In the study, the IT research and advisory firm identified the top 30 countries around the world for globally sourced activities in 2010-11, rating them on the basis of 10 criteria.

Many organisations that choose to move IT services to lower-cost countries are daunted by the task of determining which country, or countries, would best suit their requirement. Gartner conducted an analysis of these countries to assess their capabilities and potential as offshore services locations, it said.

India retained its position as the most successful country among global offshore locations, as per the Gartner study. It scored well across all 10 criteria. While its cost-competitiveness is being challenged due to the rising rupee, this is compensated by its strength in other areas, as per Gartner’s study.

“Clients continue to seek a portfolio of offshore countries and with India again experiencing increasing labour costs and attrition, this is creating opportunities for other offshore locations to target the services needs of more-mature Asian clients,” said Gartner Research vice-president Ian Marriott.

China improved its scores for “political and economic environment” from “good” to “very good”, and “culture compatibility” from “fair” to “good”.

Contributing to the increased rating for China is its rising global political and economic leverage, especially in the wake of the recent global economic crisis.

China experienced a steady positive growth rate, spurred by a $583.9 billion stimulus package, in 2009. The Shanghai 2010 World Expo has helped increase cultural awareness within China, which has helped the growth of the business in the country, according to the study.

Gartner’s scores for the Philippines remain largely unchanged, although its rating for “global and legal maturity” fell from “good” to “fair”.

Gartner continues to see foreign companies being attracted to the Philippine’s young, experienced labour pool specialising in contact centres and finance and accounting (F&A) business process outsourcing (BPO), complemented by its good language and cultural compatibility with western economies.

Source:http://www.moneylife.in/article/8/12533.html