The looming possibility of a double dip recession is likely to see more UK businesses striving to cut costs in 2012.

Figures released by the Office for National Statistics last week suggested the UK could be heading for its first double dip recession since 1975. The British economy shrank by 0.2 per cent during the three months to December and the Bank of England has warned that the private sector is planning job cuts. A country is deemed to be in recession when its output has shrunk for two quarters in a row.

Research published in early January by accountancy firm Deloitte claimed that half of all chief financial officers in the UK see cutting costs as a priority over the next 12 months. The growing prospect of a double dip recession is set to cement this view, with more businesses taking a proactive approach by turning to freelancers and switching to outsourcing now in a bid to reduce overheads.

Chairman of the National Outsourcing Association, Martyn Hart, said recently that as well as the upfront cost savings, outsourcing jobs such as accounting tasks, copywriting and IT projects to specialists allows firms to concentrate on their core business.

He said: “[It is] better to focus on things like customer satisfaction, outmanoeuvring the competition and securing new business. Outsourcing frees up resources to be the best you can be, in the business you are truly in.”

Source:http://www.outsourcemyproject.com/Newsdetail/1/Firms-set-to-turn-to-outsourcing-as-analysts-speculate-over-double-dip-recession/5056/default.html

Increased business confidence, recovering economies, infrastructure investment and enhanced product development will drive Africa IT markets, analysts say.

Analysts from IDC and Africa Analysis are projecting growth in cloud services as bandwidth becomes cheaper and companies seek ways to reduce capital and operational expenditure.

IDC expects IT spending in Middle East, Africa, and Turkey to 10 percent growth in 2012 and virtualization to attain must-have status, as a cornerstone and foundation for future expansion.

“Several medium-sized and large organizations, having proof tested virtualization in 2011 during data center consolidation efforts, will move to more extensive adoption with greater confidence in 2012; desktop, storage, and application virtualization initiatives will gain momentum, particularly within large organizations,” said Jyoti Lalchandani, vice president and managing director of IDC Middle East, Africa, and Turkey. “The emerging African countries of Kenya and Nigeria will also see higher levels of adoption in 2012 as awareness spreads and users begin to realize the benefits.”

In 2010, spending on IT services had slowed down in Africa but the budgets of international companies have once again started rising in outsourcing destinations like South Africa. An IDC study on IT services in South Africa released this month shows the country recorded moderate growth.

“After the freeze in IT budgets that came about as a result of the global economic crisis, 2010 saw a rebound in IT services spending,” said Suzanne Nolan, research analyst for IT Services for IDC South Africa. “The growth in IT services spending was driven by a recovering economy, increased business confidence, expanding bandwidth availability, and various infrastructure investments made in the country in 2010.”

IDC forecasts the total South African IT services market to expand at a compound annual growth rate of 8.7 percent to exceed $17 billion in 2015, with continued spending focus among end-user organizations and solutions that help reduce operating expenses.

Africa’s Business Process Outsourcing sector has stagnated with countries like Kenya unable to crack the global outsourcing market but South Africa has managed to sustain growth through innovative managed services.

“South African growth was mainly driven by managed services rather than by traditional information system outsourcing contracts,” added Nolan. “The healthy growth in outsourcing services signifies a level of sophistication and maturity within the IT services segment.”

In the telecom sector, the decline in tariffs has stopped as operators seek to streamline expenses as opposed to winning more subscribers. Bharti Airtel’s acquisition of Zain network in sub-Saharan Africa heralded the tariff wars two years ago but by late last year, call costs had started rising.

“The era of tariff war is over; operators have begun to streamline operational expenses and the strategy of winning more subscribers through tariff reduction will be terminated in 2012,” said Dobek Pater, senior telecoms analyst at Africa Analysis. “The economies of various countries in Africa are becoming more expensive to run businesses therefore the only way to have profitable revenue is proper product pricing.”

Pater expects enhanced product development, increasing product variety, and “last mile” telecom technology becoming more affordable outside urban areas.

“There will be a lot of focus on delivering quality service to subscribers rather than winning more subscribers especially with the large operators who have coverage in a lot of countries; subscriber retention strategies and loyalty will be the strategy employed for this,” added Pater.

With more operators rolling out their own infrastructure and improving on quality of service, competition is expected to be high in coastal countries that have fiber optic coverage, while connectivity costs in land-locked countries decline further.

Source:http://news.idg.no/cw/art.cfm?id=0B53F93D-E513-0666-EAECC3BEECC9AF33

This has been a challenge for small business owners for a long time. Outsourcing and hiring interns can be helpful.

Businesses both large and small have been outsourcing for years. Accounting, bookkeeping, proposal writing, web developing, even letter writing can be outsourced. And don’t overlook Internet help such as virtual assistants. I have found that many can meet most of your clerical needs.

Although outsourcing can save you a lot of time and money you will need plenty of references before contracting with a company. Also, make certain whomever you choose has the capability to do exactly what you want done.

A few years ago I was contracted by the marketing department of a corporation to record two-minute messages aimed at entrepreneurs to air on radio. The corporation hired a small production company to help me pull the program together. I wrote a couple dozen messages and sent copies to this third-party production team for their review before our studio recording date.

Several weeks passed and neither the corporation nor I had heard from the production company. We were beginning to wonder what the holdup was. It turned out that although the company called itself a media production outfit it had never worked with the kind of production that we needed.

So, before you turn your work over to an outside source that you are unfamiliar with, contact people you know to see who they use. This is particularly important for things like accounting, tax preparation, public relations and marketing. These are areas that can incur large expenses, so you better be absolutely certain of the abilities of the people you hire.

Working with interns? That’s less of a challenge. Hiring interns is beneficial to both you and them. They come with fresh ideas and methods that can benefit your company; they are anxious to enter the working world; and usually they are not yet overburdened with the issues of life. You get all of this, and it is cost effective, too.

As for the interns, they get an opportunity to work and perhaps get school credits. And the ultimate benefit for both of you is that both sides get a chance to experience the other. An especially compatible fit could lead to a mutually satisfying, long-term working relationship.

Interns are available in all areas of specialization. The majority of the people I have hired over the years have been interns.

They can come from trade schools as well as colleges and universities. Contact the schools in your area to get in touch with an intern program.

As far as keeping employees is concerned, there is no easy answer. It doesn’t matter if your company is large or small; you will find most people will move on to what they consider an improvement in their lives. Instead of feeling let down by these departures, feel good about having given them a start. This of course is especially true when you are hiring interns.

Source:http://www.usatoday.com/money/smallbusiness/columnist/edmunds/story/2012-01-31/small-business-hiring-help-gladys-edmunds/52908146/1

The marketing communication business in Nigeria has come a long way over the years in providing services to clients across various segments within the country. The industry has experienced remarkable growth in terms of delivery of quality product and service offerings, owing to the fact that there has been significant improvement in the country’s IT infrastructure.

This infrastructural development has aided the growth of the segment, currently estimated at N1 billion annually. In terms of losses, the marketing communication business has not incurred much loss rather; they have gained immensely from increased pricing on their products and services.

Their most prominent customer segments include the telecommunications companies who spend on average, over N30 billion annually on marketing. Marketing communication did experience some decline in its use by the financial services industry due to the need for banks to manage costs after the CBN led industry reforms.

Effect of removal of fuel subsidy on consulting industry
Concerns have been raised by various members of the larger society that the removal of fuel subsidy will have a negative effect on businesses across the country in the near term, but it is expected to ease up in the medium and long term. Although, businesses will be forced to better prioritise their expenses, a number of consulting firms that are well positioned for this economic period will do very well.

Based on the projections that the economy will be tight, we envision that a number of consulting firms will make reasonable gains in outsourcing businesses. For example, some clients would prefer to outsource certain technical functions such as HR and accounting to professional services firms as long as it makes financial sense.

However, consulting firms that do not have strong value propositions will struggle. Given that clients will be extremely cost conscious and in search for ‘real value for money,’ consulting firms that have typically thrived without differentiated and high impact solutions would not be approached for their services.

How consulting firms coped in 2011
The consulting companies that coped last year did so based on strong client relationship management: Some consulting firms have been able to build strong client base and relationships over the years, and have been able to leverage retainerships with these firms.

Secondly, a good understanding of the Nigerian market: The ability to navigate inherent bureaucracies within the market is also an advantage that made it easy for these companies to cope, and thirdly, staff strength and expertise: The quality of output of consulting firms has helped them gain the trust of their clients.

Addressing of delayed payment

Non-payment of fees by clients is one of the biggest challenges faced by business owners within the services sector. This problem is alarming as the consulting industry incurred losses of over N600 million last year.Some of the typical practices for ensuring that clients pay include signing of legal agreements and memoranda of understanding before the project commences. Now, firms are more creative in how payment terms are structured, for instance, some consulting firms collect a substantial part of their fee at the point of commissioning the projects and ensure that the client makes the final payment before the end product is delivered. Everybody wants to be a consultant.

In Nigeria today, there is room for individuals to work in whatever field of endeavour they choose. That said, the consulting space is not for people who do not have strong problem-solving and analytical skills. The consulting industry typically demands a high level of professionalism that cannot be mimicked. As the saying goes – “water will always find its level.”
Incompetent consultants often find themselves out of the industry in a matter of months, because the poor quality of their work is not tolerated by clients and supervisors in the firm.

Threat consulting poses to internal workforce
I think that this is a myth – that when a consulting firm is hired to do a job, that some employees of the client will be fired. To be frank, I do not know where this idea originated from, but we do notice it when we do work for different clients. Most times, we allay employees’ fears by informing them about the scope of work and our approach.

In projects that require that we look at improving employee productivity, we often use methodologies that promote right-sizing rather than downsizing i.e. moving employees to job functions that are appropriate and match their personalities and skill sets.

Economic outlook for 2012
It is expected that the economy will continue to grow at its current rate of 7 percent, with agriculture retaining its position as the dominant contributor to GDP. The agricultural sub-sector currently contributes about 46 percent of the GDP and is likely to increase its contribution this year through President Jonathan’s transformation agenda.

Based on some of the policies and developmental initiatives that will be undertaken this year under the President’s transformation agenda, it is expected that remarkable growth will be experienced in other sectors of the economy, especially the manufacturing sub-sector.

In the recently enacted Subsidy Reinvestment programme, plans are being made to increase the level of the nation’s productivity with huge investments in infrastructural development that will aid industrialisation.

Source:http://www.businessdayonline.com/NG/index.php/advertising/32406-consultant-sees-more-opportunities-in-outsourcing-businesses

Businesses across the UK are benefiting from a “quiet revolution” that has taken place in the management of their IT infrastructure over recent years through the introduction of more open source coding.

Dr Mark Thompson of the Cambridge Judge Business School noted in his latest podcast that this has resulted in firms being able to package business IT functions into independent commodities that can then be easily outsourced to professional contractors.

He commented: “The reason it is revolutionary is that if I can chop up an HR function, a finance function, rather than outsourcing the whole lot what I can do is distinguish between the utility and the commodity elements of that function, the more regular process parts of it, from the riskier parts of it.”

Mr Thompson added that process-heavy systems can be split into smaller parts to be managed by separate organisations, giving firms a greater freedom to innovate as they are less involved with managing their own IT requirements.

Furthermore, open source solutions mean organisations have a greater ability to innovate, as they are more easily able to implement changes to coding to produce more streamlined systems, thereby reducing costs and the necessity to employ large in-house teams of IT professionals.

His comments follow those of Phil Wainewright, vice president at EuroCloud, who recently claimed the uptake of cloud computing in business circles has been extremely beneficial in manner cases, as this has enabled companies to embrace the applications route of data management, as it offers connectivity and reliability for all members of staff no matter where they are.

“The customer can get straight on and concentrate on achieving business results with the technology, rather than having to go through all the palaver of implementation and getting everything ready,” he argued.

Source:http://www.taylorvinters.com/news/quiet-revolution-has-taken-place-business-it/4695

Business IT is ‘going through a revolution’Business IT is going through a quiet revolution, with integrated business logic moving towards open source.

This is according to Dr Mark Thompson of the Cambridge Judge Business School, who predicted a future of government IT and any “process-heavy” businesses to be much more integrated, where IT managers can “chop up” pieces of business logic.

“If I can chop up an HR function, a finance function, rather than outsourcing the whole lot what I can do is distinguish between the utility and the commodity elements of that function, the more regular process parts of it, from the riskier parts of it,” he explained.

“That has enormous commercial implication.”

Mr Thompson, a former senior adviser on the adoption of open standards in government IT to UK Shadow Cabinet under George Osborne, is now advising the Cabinet on developing an educational programme for senior policymakers in IT.

This week a Public Administration Select Committee reported that the government is making progress with its IT strategy, but it criticised a lack of competition between suppliers over IT contracts.
womenintechnology has a dedicated careers advice service for women, graduates and experienced professional looking for technology and IT jobs.

Source:http://www.womenintechnology.co.uk/news/business-it-is-going-through-a-revolution–news-801276526

The managed print services (MPS) market is increasingly growing. As per Photizo Group, the leading research and transformation firm for the MPS market, with a 27 percent year-on-year growth in 2010 revenue, the MPS market indicates a 20 percent CAGR (2010-15) and is forecast to top USD 78 billion in 2015. The research also listed India as the fastest growing country for MPS. This report shows that there is a huge opportunity for MPS vendors in India such as Xerox India.

Xerox India is not only focusing on MPS but on its entire services portfolio, which includes Communications and Marketing Services (CMS) and Document Transaction Processing Services (DTPS). Sectors like BFSI, telecom, retail, consumer goods and IT/ITES look very promising to Xerox India to accelerate its services business.

Xerox India claims to be the only player in the market that has the capability of streamlining the entire value chain for its customers. The company feels that it is well-positioned to participate and gain the leading share of the services growth market in India. Vishal Awal, Executive Director – Services, Xerox South Asia says, “There is an immediate need of MPS in the Indian market and the next logical step is print-related jobs that are outsourced. We have in-house end-to-end capabilities to transform and optimize business process and document management value chain. This is a key differentiator that Xerox brings to large enterprises in India. While several players offer compartmentalized solutions in these domains, the capability of streamlining the entire value chain is something that is unique to Xerox.”

Xerox India is looking at ways to expand their services business. The company has formed an alliance with Cisco, to provide its customers cloud-based services and solutions combining network intelligence and print. The two companies hope to use this partnership to improve efficiency for the workforce with solutions such as mobile printing.

To further increase its capabilities and asset base for offering differentiated services in the services space, the company is not just looking at partnerships but also acquisitions. For instance, in 2010 the company acquired Affiliated Computer Services (ACS). Through ACS, Xerox integrates MPS into the IT infrastructure to help businesses convert paper into digital, simplifying and speeding up workflows in ways that save time and money.

“For more than half a century, Xerox has been providing document technology and services. Through our acquisition of ACS, we are now in business process and IT outsourcing, offering global services from claims reimbursement, electronic health records, and automated toll transaction to customer care centers and HR benefits management. The acquisition also added BPO and IT outsourcing capabilities to our expertise,” elaborates Awal.

As a part of its market strategy for 2012, Xerox India has a two-pronged approach. It will continue to strengthen and accelerate its services business with focus on the fast growing verticals like BFSI and telecom. The company will also focus on the simplification of print infrastructure, robust security features and productivity enhancement technologies like mobile and cloud printing.

Source:http://informationweek.in/Services/12-01-23/Xerox_India_to_focus_on_services_business.aspx

A few years ago, competing in the western equestrian sport of team penning brought American businesswoman Leah Thiss to Calgary.

She even participated in the Calgary Stampede parade.

“I just fell in love with Calgary and started spending more and more time here,” says Thiss, the chief executive of BBBS Inc., a company that provides outsourced accounting and bookkeeping services. “And, of course, as more and more people knew what I did, they said ‘geez, you know we have a limited labour force here because oil companies are so large that they really consume a lot of able-bodied people. It’s very difficult finding employees. Your service would be fantastic up here’.”

As more and more people talked to her about it, she decided to move forward and establish an office in Calgary in 2007.

“I started off with a couple of clients right off the bat,” she says.

For many, the decision to outsource their accounting is purely a financial one. It saves them money. And it allows them to focus on their core business.

Today, BBBS has four full-time clients in the city — in effect acting as those businesses full accounting departments. There are also more than 125 clients BBBS provides various services for in Calgary.

In 1992, Thiss established The Byte Bender, an outsourced computer technical support and systems training company, serving the San Diego area. One of the company’s key service offerings was accounting system conversion services. The success in this area eventually led to the formation of BBBS Inc.

While working with companies on their accounting system conversions, Thiss recognized the need for small and medium-sized businesses to have a cost-effective, single-source accounting solution. In 1997, she structured BBBS and its offerings around this need in the United States where it has offices in San Diego and Yuma, Arizona.

In the United States, it provides full accounting services to 40 to 50 clients and various services for between 300 to 500 clients on an annual basis.

Thiss says she sees continual growth for her business in the Calgary market. In the past year, its business has grown by 21.5 per cent. Typical clients range in annual revenue from $1 million to $50 million.

“It’s growing because you have an employee shortage here. Accounting needs still need to be met,” she says.

In Calgary, the company has 2.5 staff. In the two American offices, there are nine full-time staff and 15 part-time.

“The Calgary growth potential here is phenomenal as far as I’m concerned,” says Thiss.

“To find qualified accountants and qualified experienced bookkeepers is difficult. We eliminate that. We hire our staff. We hire experienced staff. And we’re able to put them to work on a full-time basis.”

Source:http://www.calgaryherald.com/business/Outsourcing+accounting+services+growing+business/5999359/story.html

The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has awarded Accenture Federal Services a Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA) and four task orders to install an enterprise resource planning system to support the FBI’s Human Resources Information System (HRIS).

The BPA was awarded under the General Services Administration IT schedule that provides technology support services to the FBI. The task orders under this award will enable Accenture to oversee selection, installation, testing and support to the agency’s HR systems. Accenture also will complete a fit gap analysis to determine possible future costs to replace the FBI’s current HRIS systems.

“By modernizing its Human Resources information System, the FBI will be able to increase effectiveness and streamline processes,” said John Matchette, who leads Accenture’s Federal Public Safety practice.

“These improvements will help the FBI develop a modern, on-demand system for accessing personnel information.”

The contract, which includes one base year with four option periods, requires Accenture to submit a report with recommendations the FBI can use to determine whether to customize software, reengineer business processes or combine both options to support future needs.

Accenture is eligible to receive additional task orders under the BPA.

Learn more about Accenture’s Public Safety practice, turning Insights into Outcomes, Accenture’s work with federal agencies, and delivering Public Service of the Future.

Source:http://www.marketwatch.com/story/accenture-awarded-it-support-services-contract-from-fbi-2012-01-05

As technological development is a constant process, like during the earlier years, in 2012 too, a whole new breed of technologies are waiting to reshape the ICT industry. Of course, one of the most important changes that are taking place in the industry is the consumerisation of technology where it no more remains with the enterprises alone and will make a giant leap in the consumer space as well. This year is going to be the year of mobile devices as the personal computing space will see changes in shape and sizes as classifications in terms of sizes and performances are increasingly being blurred with devices shrinking in sizes and expanding in performance.

On the cloud

Technology enthusiasts are virtually on cloud nine when it comes to doing things in the ‘virtual space’. No wonder everyone is talking about ‘getting on to the cloud’. The term basically defines the next level of data storage and processing without using one’s own infrastructure or less of it. ‘Cloud’ generally has more users, more data, more applications and better standards to meet. Explaining the trend, Microsoft India Director of Microsoft Business Division, Sanjay Manchanda, said, “Soaring maintenance and energy costs, space constraints, the time and IT resources that are required to maintain the status quo is leading to an IT set-up which is inflexible and cannot evolve fast enough to keep pace with the dynamic requirements of an enterprise.”

Manchanda believes that in 2012, performance and flexibility of IT operations management will dramatically improve for services naturally adapted for cloud environments. Hence, the next generation data centres are being designed differently. They are more modular, more flexible and much more open to new technology as it becomes available. This said, the cloud has plenty of offerings for consumers apart from enterprises. Already, most of us are on the cloud most of the time when we are surfing the internet, sending mails, storing and sharing pictures using a services provided by a host of operators free of cost. Google’s e-mail, Youtube, Picasa and Facebook’s social networking are some of the appropriate examples of how we are using cloud in our daily life.

Director of India and Research Operations at Forrester Research, Manish Bahl, says that consumerisation of technology, for one, is not exclusive to the enterprise IT world and will make cloud in the government sector a reality. Citizens and businesses are putting pressure on government organisations to become more proactive and Internet-savvy.
There are a couple of other players that have now entered the market. Recently, Sify launched ‘mystorage’, its consumer cloud services for personal computing and SMBs.

However, unlike Google, this does not come for free as one has to pay a minimum of Rs 175 every month for availing 10 GB storage space on the cloud. Microsoft also offers 5 GB of space free of cost to users of Microsoft Office 360, where they can directly upload their documents to the Microsoft cloud.

The mobile factor

The explosion in the mobility segment will continue to grow even more in 2012 and demands that IT teams keep pace with the business and adapt their processes, tools, and approach to support an increasingly dispersed and technologically diverse workforce. The rise of internet accessibility has changed the equation for businesses and workforces alike. Gartner believes that mobility offers new access channels to applications and data, and at the same time, provides end users with a wide variety of device choices.

Mobile products such as smartphones, netbooks, notebooks and tablets are coming up in various sizes keeping in mind the form factors a consumer needs. The technology has expanded the usage of such devices to such an extent that at times they even supplement the use of a personal computer or a laptop. The penetration of mobile phones that now stand above 880 million in India, has made internet access possible for a huge number of people who otherwise would have taken many years to go on the net. The cheap internet rates coupled with much higher speeds have made this transition from computers to mobile devices, possible. Some other factors that contributed largely to this trend of mobile devices are the lethal combination of user-friendly operating systems (OS) installed on smartphones and the huge number of applications (apps), mostly free, now available.

The tremendous popularity of the open-source Android operating system in 2011 is a good example. A research report shows that Android now has a market share of 53 per cent in the September quarter, much ahead of Apple iOS that has 15 per cent share of OS on handheld devices. People are certainly moving from personal computer usage to mobile devices since there are very few functions that a mobile device lacks in comparison to a PC.

Apart from these, the tablet segment that has big players like Apple, Samsung and Research in Motion (RIM), is all set to become a down-to-earth product and more accessible to India’s teeming youth as Datawind, a Canadian company recently launched their ‘Aakash’ tablet, priced at Rs 2,500.

This also shows how open source software, like Android, is scoring over its peers. As Red Hat India Managing Director- India Subcontinent, Anuj Kumar, said that businesses are increasingly becoming more confident about deploying open-source technology within the enterprise, instead of reducing it to the periphery or for experimental projects. Multiple factors are driving this increased adoption of open-source software, including greater flexibility and lower cost. The fast-growing e-commerce business is also tapping the mobile market by developing apps and payment gateways that are essentially suitable for the mobile platforms. Since the penetration of mobile devices is much higher than that of personal computers, these e-commerce sites can reach to a larger base of customer.

Video communication revisited

Communicating with people using video will continue to be a priority, says Cisco, over the next few years. Cisco Chairman John Chambers predicted that four years from now, video is going to be the leading way in which we communicate and the primary form of information technology (IT). He stated that in 2010, video accounted for 51 per cent of internet traffic and by 2014; the number will skyrocket to 91 per cent.

Telepresence, a technology which connects meeting rooms over high definition televisions, though not new, is going to be the game changer in 2012 with more companies adopting it to substitute travelling of executives for meetings and conferences. The advent of video conferencing, however, has enabled people from various parts of the world to join each other almost like sitting in the same meeting room.

This is actually enabling customers, mainly enterprises, to cut major travelling cost and doing most of the work off-site. A lot of Indian outsourcing companies are shifting to telepresence as visa woes hit them hard in countries like US.

Most companies provide only 25 per cent of the work on-site, whereas the rest of the work is done in India, to reduce cost. Cisco, in 2010, had launched a telepresence room in Dubai, in association with Tata Communications and Etisalat. The setup acts as a public telepresence room which can be booked online by interested businesses. Apart from Cisco, Chinese network accessories maker Huawei, in December 2011 launched their telepresence business systems in India.

Looking beyond

To understand the trend beyond the present year, some of Gartner’s predictions might come handy in the next couple of years. By 2016, at least 50 per cent of enterprise email users will rely primarily on a browser, tablet or mobile client instead of a desktop client. By 2015, mobile application development projects targeting smartphones and tablets will outnumber personal computers by a ratio of 4-to-1.

By 2016, 40 per cent of enterprises will make proof of independent security testing a precondition for using any type of cloud service.

Source:http://www.deccanherald.com/content/215997/ict-innovations-dominate-2012.html

We looked at the IT Consulting & Other Services industry and measured relative performance to find the top stocks. Relative outperformance is a bullish sign of underlying fundamental and technical strength. We look at yesterday’s price action of all companies in this peer group.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) ranks first with a loss of 0.25%; International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) ranks second with a loss of 0.57%; and Infosys Technologies (NASDAQ:INFY) ranks third with a loss of 0.84%.

Teradata (NYSE:TDC) follows with a loss of 0.99% and Amdocs (NYSE:DOX) rounds out the top five with a loss of 1.02%.

Accenture Ltd. provides management and technology consulting services and solutions. The Company delivers a range of specialized capabilities and solutions to clients across all industries on a worldwide basis. Accenture’s network of businesses provides consulting, technology, outsourcing, and alliances.

Source:http://www.fnno.com/story/fast-lane/331-accenture-has-best-relative-performance-it-consulting-other-services-industry-acn-ibm-infy-tdc-dox-fast-lane

Outsourcing has been and remains the most promising trend in the IT-industry. Ability to see this introduced in 2009, when the background of general decline in the cost of information technology segment of the IT-outsourcing to keep up the pace. Having survived the crisis, outsourcing, and to this day remains one of the key drivers of growth of the Ukrainian IT market.

Resistant outsourcing

Being in the ranking of 30 countries that are best suited for IT-outsourcing, Ukraine has once again confirmed its status by winning the 2011 nomination of “Destination for IT-outsourcing” within the European Outsourcing Excellent Awards. Not the last role was played by a high level of professional development, competitive prices, and rich reserves of manpower and geographical location. For example, last year the growth of outsourcing industry has reached about 20-25%.

Active development of IT-outsourcing in Ukraine partly attributable to companies with western capital, which prefer to focus on core business, shifting automated processes on the shoulders of IT-outsourcers with the necessary level of service of special systems. In turn, this reduces the cost of routine operations, improve business processes and get more services in the shortest possible time. However, a certain percentage of companies with Ukrainian capital is still opposed to contractors, believing that outsourcing is unreasonably expensive, and assign to important infrastructure projects to staff members, out of habit considering IT department as a cost center, providing infrastructural functions, rather than a source of business advantage.

This position is with respect to system integration impact on the share of orders in the portfolios of system integrators. The main customers of outsourcing services today are foreign companies, big banks, industrial, energy and insurance companies. However, despite the odds, Ukrainian companies are increasingly showing an interest in IT-outsourcing, understanding the advantages and economic benefits of work with relevant experts. In connection with such distribution to estimate the real amount of IT-outsourcing market today is quite problematic. This is primarily due to the fact that most customers of these services use mixed scheme involving contracting companies and a large part of the functions performed by their IT-departments. In addition, an extensive number of companies use the services as freelancers and smaller regional services outsourcers.

Organizational issues

To date, the greatest demand among IT-outsourcing services are building IT-infrastructure, support for remote offices, information security and maintained equipment. Also in high demand projects, which ensure a relatively rapid return on investment, provide a clear and immediate impact on business processes.

In Ukraine, are in demand both types of outsourcing – partial and full. Under full outsourcing to a third party means a transfer of all service processes of IT-infrastructure company, while partial outsourcing – is attracting a service company to service a particular part of the company’s information system.

Business structures are trying to adjust to international standards of best practice library organizations IT (ITIL), which describes the best practices applied in ways of organizing work units or companies providing services in information technology.

In ITIL standards included in the division line of support in the processing of applications users. Thus, the first line of support can be performed by regular employees, since it does not require high technical skills and technical expertise in outsourcing. The main task of the first line of support – to let the user as quickly as possible to continue. At the same time, the second and third line tasked with the elimination of technical failures in the infrastructure, which may affect the users of IT-provided services. Therefore, these support lines are composed of specialized teams of technical specialists, each of which has a high IT competence in the specific area of ​​infrastructure.

But no matter what kind of IT outsourcing company nor used in any case it has two major advantages: cost savings on maintenance information system and obtaining a stable and quality of service.

How to choose a company-outsourcer

When selecting an outsourcing company, you must consider several key factors. The company should have many years of experience in projects of high complexity for various clients and have a portfolio of successfully completed projects for diverse organizations. Equally important is the qualification of experts, on which may indicate the presence of certifications and partnerships with leading hardware manufacturers and software developers. When selecting a system integrator is also important to consider not only the use by the best international practices, but also our own know-how. Equally important is the rapid response – the time, claimed the company to perform work at the facility, as well as control over the entire period of work at the facility.

Source:http://ubr.ua/business-practice/innovation-in-business/i-autsorsing-v-kraine-perspektivy-i-nadejdy-117224

Atos, an international IT services company, today announced that it has signed a global seven year contract with Bayer Business Services GmbH, the global competence center of the Bayer Group for IT and business services.

“Our possibilities to reach economies of scale are limited and the internal costs are too high, thus we decided to outsource particular services like end-user support and helpdesk support in Germany to an established IT service provider”, said Daniel Hartert, CIO of the Bayer group and CEO of Bayer Business Services. “I am convinced that Atos is the right partner for us”.

Atos will take over full management of the defined IT services from Bayer Business Services from April 2012.

“This is a major deal for Atos in Germany, consolidating our position as a top three IT services player in the German market,” said Thierry Breton, Chairman and CEO of Atos. “Our business technologists have the industry expertise and experience to drive innovation that will enable Bayer Business Services to optimise its IT-infrastructure and ensure it meets the business requirements of the Bayer Group today and tomorrow.”

In Germany Atos has 10.000 employees and is the biggest business unit by revenue within the Atos group. Atos is the leading provider of professional services to manufacturing and natural resources in Western Europe, and a major player worldwide.

Source:http://www.4-traders.com/ATOS-4612/news/ATOS-Bayer-Business-Services-awards-IT-outsourcing-contract-Atos-13945061/

Small-business owners in need of IT support may soon find it at Best Buy Co.

Next week brings the expected closing of the world’s largest electronics chain’s deal to buy Mindshift Technologies Inc.

ZDNet.com, a technology news site, called it a “watershed moment for small business IT services.”

Mindshift, of Waltham, Mass., was founded in 1999, and provides IT services to more than 5,400 small and medium-sized businesses throughout the U.S.

Best Buy has more than 1,100 big-box stores. But the retailer and other traditional chains face the prospect of becoming showrooms for online-only competitors. Some shoppers visit a mall or big-box location to check out merchandise and then find lower prices on the Web, sometimes while using smartphones right in the store’s aisles.

A spokesperson for Best Buy didn’t immediately return messages seeking comment.

Via email, Mindshift spokeswoman Lisa Masiello said the company currently has no plans to make changes to its prices or list of services, which include simple cloud-based email as well as more advanced services such as virtual servers and desktops, VoIP solutions, and overall IT management.

Demand for outsourced IT services among small businesses has been growing in recent years. Overall, the IT outsourcing market in the U.S. is expected to grow 1.9% to $40.6 billion in 2012, up from $39.8 billion in 2011, according to research firm IDC.

Small businesses in many cases can’t afford to employ large numbers of full-time IT professionals. At the same time, office technology has become more complex and diverse, and the threat of viruses and worms has increased.

Best Buy’s acquisition of Mindshift compliments its 2002 purchase of Geek Squad, a provider of IT support services to consumers, according to Jeff Roster, a retail analyst for research firm Gartner Inc. “It’s a really interesting cross-sell opportunity,” he says. “An owner of a small business is likely coming into their stores already” to look for electronics and other products, he adds.

Mindshift, meanwhile, is likely to gain more than just access to Best Buy’s massive customer audience. It could also benefit from the electronics chain’s legal muscle.

Case in point: Best Buy has disputed more than a dozen geek-themed trademarks in the past decade, The Wall Street Journal reported in June, citing federal records.

For example, earlier this year the Richfield, Minn., company threatened online rival Newegg.com with legal action, arguing that its Geek On advertising slogan sounded too similar to Geek Squad. Newegg responded, according to WSJ, by posting a cease-and-desist letter on Facebook.

Source:http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204552304577114760715912888.html

If you had to pick two words to describe how the market for management and executive level IT jobs is shaping up for 2012, you might channel Curb Your Enthusiasm star Larry David and say “pretty good. Pri-tay, pri-tay, pri-tay, pri-tay good.”

In other words, the job market for CIOs, managers, directors and VPs in charge of various IT functions is neither going to be brimming with or bereft of opportunity. The consensus among executive recruiters who hire IT executives and their direct reports is that the job market for these folks in 2012 is going to be marginally better than 2011.

Several factors are driving the management- and executive-level hiring that will take place in 2012. One is the need for people to manage the capital investments IT departments plan to make next year. According to a survey conducted on behalf of technology provider CDW, 76% of 1,045 IT decision-makers polled plan to replace or install new hardware for some portion of their enterprises. Their top spending priorities are PCs (60%), security (55%), cloud computing (50%), virtualisation (41%) and mobility (39%).

The second factor is that certain technology trends are currently overwhelming IT departments. For example, cloud computing, virtualisation, big data and mobility are creating a need for additional IT managers and directors as well as completely new IT management roles inside companies, says Martha Heller, president of Heller Search Associates.

Demographic changes are a third catalyst for hiring. Heller says that the Baby Boomers who’ve long held IT infrastructure positions (as data centre managers, technical services managers and help desk supervisors, for example) are beginning to retire, and IT leaders are hard-pressed to find enough Gen Xers with the right mix of skills to replace them.

Hottest spots for IT management jobs in 2012

Venture-funded internet companies, private-equity firms and the companies owned by them will be among the best places to find management- and executive-level jobs in IT, according to recruiters who serve those organisations. “Compared to enterprise technology and enterprise software companies, the opportunities at internet-related companies continue to be bountiful,” says Keith Giarman, global leader of DHR International’s venture capital and private-equity practice. “There’s tons of capital chasing those opportunities.”

Other good places to look for IT management jobs is at software-as-a-service (SaaS) companies, business process outsourcing firms, and the SaaS-related business units of enterprise software vendors, says Marc Lewis, CEO of Leadership Capital Group. “Demand for CIOs, CTOs, VPs and directors of IT at SaaS companies or business process outsourcing companies will be robust,” he says, as enterprises outsource noncore IT functions.

Meanwhile, Lewis anticipates demand for CIOs, CTOs, VPs and directors of IT inside most major companies in 2012 will be flat to 2011.

Despite this “meh” hiring outlook, some IT management positions will be in greater demand than others. Here are 10 of the hottest IT leadership jobs.

10 Hot IT Leadership Jobs

1. Head of technology infrastructure

Whether this is a manager, director or VP-level role depends on the size of the company that is seeking it. The bottom line: IT organisations are hiring heads of IT infrastructure because many of the Baby Boomers who’ve held those roles are retiring and because so many of today’s technology trends (cloud, virtualisation, consumerisation of IT and mobility) are infrastructure and hardware-related, says Heller. Adds Greg Ambrose, managing director of Catalyst Search Group: Companies are seeking IT leaders who have experience moving elements of the IT infrastructure to the cloud.

2. Director of outsourced services or vendor management

As companies “outsource” more functions to traditional IT services providers, SaaS companies and cloud services providers, they’re increasingly looking for an individual who can manage all of these relationships: a director of outsourced services. Some companies will seek a director of vendor management who oversees all vendor partnerships, not just with IT services providers. IT vendor managers who have experience with cloud computing will again be in demand as cloud computing presents new licensing agreements, contracts, terms, security and service-level agreements that are different from traditional IT outsourcing, says Heller.

3. Manager/head of unified communications

Heller says CIOs are starting to look for IT managers who can set a strategy for unified communications and break down the barriers between different devices, email servers, networks and telephony tools inside their organisations.

4. Manager of master data management/director of data architecture

These are two different roles, but their ultimate goals are the same: to help companies get a handle on big data by establishing and implementing data integration and management strategies. The director of data architecture may also be charged with creating the technical architecture that will support the company’s data management strategies.

5. Managers/directors in charge of mobility

With the proliferation of mobile devices inside enterprises and among consumers, companies are looking for IT managers who can address the challenges and business opportunities that mobile computing presents.

On the infrastructure side, they need IT managers and directors who can set usage policies for the company and maintain and secure the infrastructure needed to support those devices, along with the devices themselves. On the applications side, employers need people to determine which enterprise and/or customer-facing applications should be adapted or developed specifically for mobile devices.

6. Business relationship managers

For several years, CIOs have sought business relationship managers who report into the IT organisation, but who work for specific business units or functions inside the company to ensure they have the IT resources they need, says Heller.

“What’s different today is the rate at which companies need these people,” she adds. “Because of cloud and consumerisation, in some companies the business can work directly with the service provider and get an app for their business without even talking to the CIO. CIOs need business relationship managers to maintain some degree of control and understanding of everything that’s happening across the business.”

Another difference between today’s business relationship managers vs. yesteryears: Some CIOs are hiring them directly from the lines of business, rather than appointing someone from IT to serve as, say, the business relationship manager for the finance department, says Heller.

7. CTO/SVP of engineering

DHR International’s Giarman says CTOs and senior VPs in charge of engineering are in great demand inside technology companies. They’re seeking visionary leaders who can run technical operations, ensure products will scale to meet user demand, get products to market on time, manage geographically dispersed development teams, and motivate developers. Because this is no small task, Giarman says compensation packages for these executives can run into seven figures.

8. CIO

Chuck Pappalardo, managing director of Trilogy Search Non+Profit, expects CIO searches to continue to be a significant source of his firm’s business in 2012. “There will be plenty of opportunity for people to move into traditional CIO roles,” he says.

9. CISO/IT security consultant

The frequency and rising costs of data breaches are forcing companies to take IT security much more seriously. Interest in cloud computing is also renewing interest in information security. Those two trends are driving demand for chief information security officers and IT security consultants, according to Lewis at the Leadership Capital Group.

10. IT consulting firm partners

Good news for IT consultants who can sell and deliver: They’re in great demand, according to the Leadership Capital Group. The bad news: They may have to move to the Arabian Peninsula. Leadership Capital Group notes that the job market for IT consultants with ‘Big Five’ firms is hottest in emerging markets such as Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Iraq and South Africa.

Source:http://www.computerworlduk.com/in-depth/careers/3325155/10-hot-it-jobs-for-managers-executives-in-2012/

GameCorp Ltd. (”the Company”) (cnsx:GGG)(pinksheets:GAIMF) is pleased to announce that it has entered into agreements to acquire OC Communications Group Inc. (”OCCGI”) and a Joint-Venture and License with a Toronto-based direct sales company (”JV”) for the sale and finance of home energy products. OCCGI is a business process outsourcing (”BPO”) company that has been in business for 6 years and provides outsourced services, such as call center outsourcing, to a strong clientele both in Canada and the United States.

“The Company has been looking to broaden its investment scope and look for opportunities that could enhance shareholder value and provide a more significant asset base to the Company. With this acquisition, GameCorp is establishing a platform to expand its reach into the BPO and home energy services business, and will utilize this platform to further develop and build the business both organically and through the consolidation of complimentary entities.” stated Mr. J. Graham Simmonds, President and CEO. He added, “With this acquisition we also inherit a very strong management and sales team that will utilize the corporate structure of GameCorp to strengthen and expand OCCGI, while also broadening the companies reach and service offering.”

The terms of the OCCGI acquisition agreement includes the issuance of one million common shares of the Company and the assumption of a vendor-take-back loan of $1.65 million secured by the common shares of OCCGI and owing to the previous shareholders of OCCGI. There are an additional two million common shares of the Company being issued on a conditional basis (the “Conditional Shares”) and will be earned by the vendor upon the OCCGI Earnings Before Interest Taxes Depreciation and Amortization (”EBITDA”) for calendar year 2012 exceeding $1 million. The Conditional Shares will be placed in escrow and if the EBITDA does not exceed $1 million for the calendar year 2012, than the Conditional Shares will be cancelled and returned to the Company’s treasury. In addition to the OCCGI acquisition agreement, the Company also has entered into a debt settlement agreement with the secured lender to OCCGI to settle $625 thousand in liabilities for the issuance of two million common shares of the Company and the assumption of $300 thousand dollars in third party debt.

The terms of the acquisition of the Joint-Venture and License include the acquisition of all of the assets, including accounts receivable of approximately $500 thousand and the assumption of third party notes totaling $500 thousand. The third party notes have an adjustment that provides for the amount assumed by the Company to be reduced dollar for dollar if the related accounts receivable collected are less than $500 thousand. The License to utilize the home services brand and business practices was acquired for one million common shares of GGG and an earn-out royalty equal to ten percent (10%) of EBITDA greater than one million Canadian dollar and capped at a cumulative amount of five million Canadian dollars.

Closing of the transactions described herein will occur immediately upon receipt of any required regulatory approval. While Mr. Graham Simmonds is a relative of the President and CEO of the vendor, the transaction was completed on an arms-length basis and was reviewed and recommended to the Board of Directors by Lead Independent Director, Mr. Henry Kloepper, and it was unanimously approved.

GameCorp Ltd. is a public company that trades under the symbol GGG on the Canadian National Stock Exchange and under the symbol GAIMF on the Pink Sheets of the Over the Counter Bulletin Board. In general, the Company is a merchant banking company that is opportunistic with its investment scope. The company has investments in mobile and gaming technology and has recently been investigating opportunities to invest in the mining and resource sectors. The Company continues to look for investment opportunities and special situations as they arise.

Forward-looking Statements

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements with respect to the Corporation. These forward-looking statements, by their nature, involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated. We consider the assumptions on which these forward-looking statements are based to be reasonable, but caution the reader that these assumptions regarding future events, many of which are beyond our control, may ultimately prove to be incorrect. These statements involve risks and uncertainties including, without limitation, GameCorp’s ability to successfully develop and market its products, consumer acceptance of such products, competitive pressures relating to price reductions, new product introductions by third parties, technological innovations, and overall market conditions. Consequently, actual events and results in future periods may differ materially from those currently expected.

Source:http://www.marketwatch.com/story/gamecorp-to-acquire-bpo-and-home-energy-services-business-2011-12-12-165240

SA can take advantage of Europe’s economic climate to become a top destination for business process outsourcing, including call centres, according to Full Circle CEO Franco Cotumaccio.

With the uncertainty in Europe, companies were looking to outsource call centres to cheaper labour centres and SA could benefit.

Earlier this year, US online retail giant Amazon said it would expand its call-centre operations in Cape Town, creating 1400 jobs by the end of next year.

Full Circle was established in 2005 and helps international companies to move their call centres offshore. Mr Cotumaccio said on Wednesday that SA had a “rich proposition” globally that put it at an advantage ahead of peer countries such as India.

“We have great English language skills and an established resource pool of English-speaking people … we are very much aligned with countries such as the UK,” he said.

SA has in the past attracted many top international call-centre outsourcers, including Aegis BPO, Fusion, Genpact, Stream, Sykes and Teleperformance, as well as IBM and Deloitte, which provide a variety of services in English and Dutch for customers worldwide.

Mr Cotumaccio said Full Circle made it easy for international companies to set up call centres in SA. It enabled companies to set up test or pilot project call centres. Full Circle also provides the office space, infrastructure, human resources and training. If the pilot project is successful, Full Circle would then also take care of the transition to a full outsourced call centre.

“We offer a model office, which means that international companies can come into our offices and run their operations here for a trial period of up to 12 months,” Mr Cotumaccio said.

The company has assisted some prominent international companies such as Amazon and Bloomberg. To date, about 10000 jobs have been created in the sector and close to half of these have been in Cape Town.

Call centres generate an estimated R6bn for the Western Cape economy and employ 30000 locals, the provincial government said.

Earlier this year, Western Cape economic development MEC Alan Winde said the province’s call-centre industry had become a global contender for offshore call-centre operations. This was in part due to the strategic focus placed on the industry by the economic development and tourism department, through its promotion agency, Business Process Enabling SA.

Cape Chamber of Commerce president Michael Bagraim said yesterday that the future of the call- centre industry in SA was “bright” and the government should be “pouring more money into the sector to encourage its growth”.

“Our people are willing to be employed at lower wages compared with other countries…. It is an industry which is growing, especially in Cape Town,” Mr Bagraim said

Source:http://www.businessday.co.za/Articles/Content.aspx?id=160249

A few months ago, I wrote a post about cloud computing’s possible impact on business process outsourcing, in which I mentioned Indian outsourcing giant Infosys’ introduction of Infosys Edge, a series of cloud-based platforms that address specific business processes. I included a quote from Samson David, VP and global head for business platforms at Infosys:

Recent research from Horses for Sources seems to support the bet Infosys is making on BPO platforms. When HFS surveyed 534 buyers, advisors and providers about their sourcing strategies, 80 percent of buyers cited better access to standardized business processes as a motivating factor to outsource. Driving out immediate operating costs, named by 87 percent of respondents, was the only factor that earned a higher score.

That’s good to hear. While companies surely understand the cost and productivity benefits of standardizing processes, they tend to think their own processes are so, you know, special that they are somehow exempt from this logic. Also, some employees undermine standardization efforts because they fear they could lose their jobs.

As a recent post on the HFS blog points out, cloud-based BPO platforms should help ease the hassles associated with on-premise software and licensing and minimize the impact of resistant employees. The challenge for BPO providers will be to build closer relationships with their clients and to focus on long-term strategies instead of simple cost reduction. (That could be a big challenge indeed, given the large number of HFS survey respondents that identified lowering operating costs as a motivation to outsource.)

The post also lists four key characteristics of BPO platforms:

* They provision managed standardized business processes.
* They focus on business outputs or outcomes rather than inputs such as labor and physical assets.
* They service more than one client.
* Service providers manage the business processes associated with the platform and provision the people who operate them, the underlying software-as-a-service platform, and the supporting public or private cloud infrastructure.

Source:http://www.itbusinessedge.com/cm/blogs/all/the-clouds-role-in-standardizing-business-processes/?cs=49212

THE Constitutional Court ruled yesterday that the cancellation of an outsourcing contract between South African Airways (SAA) and cleaning company LGM obliged LGM to transfer the business back to SAA as a going concern.

The judgment means that SAA has to take over the business it had outsourced to LGM in 2000, along with the contracts of staff employed by LGM. The key question in this case was whether upon termination of the outsourcing agreement in 2007, the LGM employees were to be transferred to SAA together with the business they were engaged in.

The judgment guarantees the rights of workers at risk of losing their jobs when the business is sold as a going concern. Section 197 of the Labour Relations Act states that all rights and obligations between the old employer and an employee at the time of transfer remain in force.

The question that had concerned the Labour Court, the Labour Appeal Court and the Supreme Court of Appeal was whether section 197 still applied during a second- generation transfer of a business.

The first transfer happened in March 2000, when SAA concluded an agreement with LGM for the outsourcing of infrastructure, support services and maintenance. Workers’ contracts of employment were transferred to LGM. When SAA terminated the contract in 2007 and signalled its intention to take back the business, the airline contended that the contracts of 64 workers were not guaranteed.

The Aviation Union of SA applied to the Labour Court for an order declaring that the termination of the outsourcing agreement between SAA and LGM constituted a transfer of business. The Labour Court held that the section does not apply to a second or subsequent outsourcing agreement. In turn, the Labour Appeal Court held that the section did apply to a second agreement. SAA appealed from the Labour Appeal Court to the Supreme Court of Appeal, and won.

Yesterday Justice Zak Yacoob said an inquiry whether a transaction fell under section 197 would be misleading if it focused on the generation of the transfer.

“The true inquiry is whether there has been a transfer of a business as a going concern by the old employer to the new employer.”

Source:http://www.businessday.co.za/Articles/Content.aspx?id=159672

Business Connexion, a South Africa technology firm, is in buyout talks with IT departments of at least seven top companies in Kenya, in a move expected to raise the profile of the outsourcing business.

The seven firms, which it could not name citing confidentiality agreement, are in banking, retail and utilities sectors.

The Johannesburg-listed firm which entered the Kenyan market last November, said it is adopting this strategy since it’s a faster way of getting contracts from the top organisations as opposed to buying out companies already in the Business Process Outsourcing.

The firm’s group executive business development director, John Jenkins said the strategy is part of their Sh2 billion investment plan in the country and which has proven successfully in South Africa where it bought an entire IT department at Sasol Group—an petroleum chemical firm.

“We are not going to acquire small IT or BPO firms here and there as this strategy is not only slow, but has high failure rates, instead we are going for IT departments within big corporate organisations,” said Mr Jenkins.

“Normal outsourcing does not involve buying, however, we are changing this by adopting the new approach which will add more value to both parties rather than going the traditional way and also enable us kick start our operational much faster.”

This new approach will entail buying out an entire IT department from the corporate organisations it is targeting, including the staff and telecommunication equipment such as servers among others.

The currently trend is that corporate firms outsource none core business to the BPO firms who they pay retainer and monthly service fee, and does not involve selling of such departments as an ongoing business concern making the corporate organisations hold on to equipment which they no longer require.

Under the new approach, the corporate firms are set to benefit by recouping back part of the investments made when setting up these facilities, cutting on their operational expenses such as recruiting and paying staff as they will be off loaded to Business Connexion.

On the other hand, the South African firm says it will benefit from the arrangement by getting long-term contracts much faster and also utilise the equipment bought from the corporate firms to offer services to other organisations thus minimising its capital expenditure were it to set up a new platform.

The corporate firms are expected to enter into a contract ranging between five to 10 years in which they will only be required to pay a monthly fee. In the event that the IT department is located within the building of the corporate firm entering the deal, then Business Connexion will pay for lease of space.

Mr Jenkins, who is in the country to attend a regional ICT summit that he is also using the opportunity to do follow up meetings with three out of the seven corporate firms.

Most corporate organisation are adopting the strategy of transferring their none core business to third parties as means of reducing their capital and operational expenditures, and which experts say can be reduced by up to 30 per cent.

Other than financial and insurance firms, telecommunication operators such as Airtel and Essar’s Yu have also adopted this strategy.
Airtel Kenya has entered into an agreement with IBM to manage its IT infrastructure.

Source:http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/Corporate+News/Business+Connexion+to+buy+IT+departments+of+top+firms+/-/539550/1265758/-/h77ew4/-/